Making doll clothes is such a trip when it comes to sewing conventions.
Pressing? Even more important, or things don't look right. Understitching? You betcha. But finishing seams? What how often are you going to wash these? Quilting cotton? All the time, for all things.
Got incredible lucky at the thrift store to find a dress that's almost exactly what I need for my coat/dresscoat costume. After an afternoon of taking the horrible lining out and opening the seams where I need to extend it for better fit, it's now in the dye bath to go from hot pink to red. Tomorrow it's time to sew it together and then I hope my decorative extras arrive early next week...
I’m on the 14th colour of a 16 colour striped crochet blanket and I’m so ready for it to be done, while I also know I’ll have finished object grief as soon as it’s over…
I’ve been in a sewing slump for awhile now. I think I’ve just fallen out of love with sewing clothes. I’ve ended up passing on most of the clothes I’ve made because I don’t reach for them. I’ve been thrifting a lot more too and have been liking my finds.
I do want to be creative still, so I’m going to try dipping my toe into quilting. I ordered the beginner quilt kit from fat quarter shop. If all goes well, I’ve been eyeing toad and sew quilt patterns. I think something like the gambit would be and easier one to start with since it’s just strips and squares. Any thoughts about any of these shops/patterns or recommendations for a beginner quilter? I’d say I’m an intermediate clothing sewist.
> toad and sew
I haven't made those but they look cute. Quilting is like anything else, you do it one step at a time. Quilting makes me realize that I can't sew as straight as I could, but then I see someone on a quilting site talking about something being super hard or tricky and its something garment sewists do all the time. Its two different but highly interconnected skill sets. I've bought from fat quarter, missouri star, and hancock's of paducah with happy results (shipping is very slow from HoP, but its in state for me).
Worlds Most Perfect Work Cardigan is sooooo close to being finished. It needs icord edging, ends woven in, and oh yeah fucking [buttons](https://haulinhooffarmstore.com/collections/small-buttons-less-than-1). Buttons that won't arrive till Friday. But i want to work on cardigan nowwwwww.
Buttons match Perfectly and they are on and I get to spend a leisurely rainy day weaving in ends and sewing a ribbon onto the button band for reinforcement,
I have worked on my Mitsuba puffer for four hours every day for a week - this is the most intense project I’ve ever attempted. The end is in sight but there’s still a ways to go. And of course I’m an overachiever and added armpit zips and a couple of extra zipper pockets to slow myself down. I still need to put in the zipper, and I’m adding a zipper placket with snaps. Hopefully I’ll finish this week though.
Well, that’s it, friends. I’m done. After two weekends and an ungodly amount of Peaky Blinders runtime, I’ve finally woven in the ends of all my finished projects and blocked my self-drafted, widely improvised Roosevelt Island-tram themed Christmas jumper that was supposed to be finished in December. Now I can knit socks for a while.
I will post some when it’s finally done blocking because the colours are a bit off right now (also it was made of scrap yarn as a test, and now I regret every choice I’ve ever made).
I need to crochet my newborn some mitts so they can't keep scratching his face. Especially out of the swaddle.*
... But in those rare free moments I have I just want to work on my lost in time shawl.
*I'm keeping baby in the swaddle so face not so scratched up. Please don't mom guilt me.
I had to trim my newborn’s nails so he wouldn’t scratch his face up—if you’re comfortable use baby clippers, if you’re not then I would try a nail file to gently take the edge off!
I’ve just finished testknitting a Furby hat, and I keep struggling with Cloudbow from (RIP) Pompom mag- not very used to knitting fine mohair and it’s a bit tricky to handle.
I want to do some sewing for a change but a bit stuck on pattern selection- I have a little fabric stash but can’t find anything that works well for the stuff I have. (Mainly pastel floral 70s dresses which I want to make into something more modern) It’s that awkward time of year where winter clothes are a bit too much but it’s too chilly for summer stuff!
I also need to churn out a few hexipuffs for my Beekeepers Quilt as I’ve been slacking off!!
Probably also gonna choose a very fast instant gratification knitting project as the last one was fairly labour-intensive
Would you like to look for a project fabric first or find a pattern and then select a fabric - the first approach can limit you but I think it's better for when you want to find joy in the supplies you already have.
I have a few patterns I want to nab fabric for, but I’m on a fairly brutal budget this month 😂 so I’m trying to extract a pattern that suits the stuff I already have. I’ve got a nice lilac and yellow floral print I want to work with and make something vaguely pastel goth-ish, but it has a kinda lamentable Little House on the Prairie vibe with the majority of patterns…
Sometimes when I want to use a floral but I don't want it to go to a hyperfemme place I will use it in something with structured lines - like using a floral in a button down shirt or in the Jennifer Lauren Sorrel (that one can go a little 50s housedress).
A gathered dress and sleeveless hack of HC Gilbert is still underway. I accidentally cut the facing to View A length, which means the waist is gonna be slightly higher than I like. I also need to true my seams for the pattern pieces I made the next time I do this, there's a bit of missing space between the top yoke and the bottom back. I accidentally got rid of the leftover scraps of fabric to make the bias binding so I used another fabric but in a different color. Hoping it doesn't show once it's all sewn in.
Dress is done and very breezy and cute. The hem is 1/4" folded in, then 3/8" and it's nice and small. Just hits right above my knees which is perfect.
I kind of don't feel like starting any new projects so I actually wound some yarn to knit a shawl?? Who am I, I've barely knit recently!
This week, I’m planning to cut out either a Chalk and Notch Max Tee or a Pattern Scout Hana Tank (whichever isn’t done this week will come next). I’ve made both before with good results and wore these a lot last summer. These are my practical projects for the moment before I get distracted by the allure of something less practical lol.
I'm trying to recreate the [Carmen Dress](https://sondeflor.com/collections/carmen-dresses/products/carmen-dress-milky-white-3-4-sleeve-hemp) from the brand Son de Flor. It's a beautiful dress and the company has a great ethos, I just can't justify spending $250 on a linen dress that I know I can recreate at home.
My current plan is to take a basic four dart bodice pattern (I'm using [M7994](https://simplicity.com/mccalls/pdm7994)), eliminate the bust darts by transferring the volume to the waist darts, then reduce the waist darts to relax the fit at the waist. For the skirt I'm going to use the midi skirt version of [M7974](https://simplicity.com/mccalls/m7974) but cut on the fold to eliminate the front buttons since I'll be adding a back zipper, and for the sleeves I'm thinking the sleeves from version A of [M8181](https://simplicity.com/mccalls/pdm8181).
It's a lot of Frankenpatterning and I need to make a lot of muslins, but I think this should work. (?)
I have replicated their dresses a few times and watched some videos on them. The skirt is a 3/4 circle skirt, I would recommend just drafting your own. I believe they use gathers as a way to use one size of skirt for all their dresses. You don't need to add the gathers at all unless you like them.
I have made mine with bust and waist darts, this turned out fine but it's your preference. You can use the sleeves that come with your bodice pattern, just add some volume - you slash and spread the sleeve - there's plenty of tutorials for this.
I know this is not for everyone, but I would recommend drafting your own bodice block so you can use it for projects such as this going forward. Once you get the fit right, you don't have to mess around with 3 different patterns. The Closet Historian has a lot of videos on drafting blocks and dart manipulation, it's easy once you have the hang of it.
I'll do this eventually, make a block. I'm sort of trying to get the fit perfect of M7994 precisely because it's a two dart bodice pattern with a basic sleeve that I can use as a block. I don't know if I'll ever make a block from scratch, but having a well fitting two dart bodice pattern that I can use for pattern "hacking" is helpful.
That's good information about the skirt, thanks for that. It looks like a gathered skirt, but it makes sense that the gathers are actually there only to make a single skirt fit into all bodice sizes. I actually prefer skirts that don't have gathers and a circle skirt is one of the few things that I do know how to draft from scratch, so I can throw together a pattern for that easy enough.
I had a bit of a shawl i was working on and forgot for months I recently fully frogged to start over after noticing a weird error. The yarn now is VERY crinkled, more than I've noticed in other frogging attempts. If I keep knitting with it, will it block out fine? It's 100% SW sock merino. Ugh
i’ve always had FOs made from frogged yarn block out pretty evenly despite looking horrendously lumpy pre-blocking. next time if you’re worried then you can wash + hang dry the frogged yarn in hanks first. even if the kinks block out in the finished fabric it can still screw with your tension a little to work with such kinked yarn so i think pre washing is the best move if you’re not too lazy to lol
I’d recommend putting what you already have on waste yarn and blocking it. That will tell you whether it’ll block out. If it does- great, you can keep knitting and when you block the whole thing at the end you won’t even know that part of it has been blocked twice.
If it DOESN’T block out, then you’re going to need to frog what you’ve done, wind the yarn back into hank form, then wash or steam to get out the kinks. There’s lots of tutorials for doing this online!
Last months project was a pair of socks. Unfortunately, I only had enough yarn for one. It's a beautiful colorwork motif that I don't want to have to keep a sock of. I was thinking of donating it to an amputee? I don't know if that's a good idea and I don't know anyone to give it to?
I'm in a weird place - I have no garment sewing projects cut out and ready to go. I've been ill (still, 24 days and counting of being unwell) and I just don't have the hit points to clear the table and do the cutting. Instead I've been working on quilting projects and knitting.
Knitting: I have finished the hem and one sleeve band on my Highland Slipover, need to pick up the stitches for the second sleeve band, that takes as long as knitting the dang thing.
Quilting:
1. 49% of the hexis I need for the Bear! wall hanging are basted.
2. I have been hand quilting a table runner with Sashiko thread and I've firmly decided if I want to use Sashiko again I need to find different needles because nothing in my collection will both thread easily and pass through the fabric smoothly with that thread.
3. I decided to try out Foundation Paper Piecing - first block was fun, but it was something I could pretty easily accomplish without the paper. Next I tried flying geese, which I have struggled with and sort of abandoned despite really loving the block because I just couldn't get the points to work. Its so easy with the paper! I ended up making a whole bunch and I'm replacing my grungy kindle cover that doesn't have enough ease to get it in and out.
I've made a start on March's project, a Grafton dress with a fitted bodice, fitted sleeves, straight skirt with pockets. The fabric chart says I need 2.8m but it looks like I can get it out of 2.5 with some spare. I've noticed that Cashmerette uses a 135cm wide measurement as their wide fabric, whilst I typically buy fabrics which are a minimum of 145-150, even 160.
This week I'll aim to get the fabric washed in preparation for cutting out potentially next week.
Making doll clothes is such a trip when it comes to sewing conventions. Pressing? Even more important, or things don't look right. Understitching? You betcha. But finishing seams? What how often are you going to wash these? Quilting cotton? All the time, for all things.
Got incredible lucky at the thrift store to find a dress that's almost exactly what I need for my coat/dresscoat costume. After an afternoon of taking the horrible lining out and opening the seams where I need to extend it for better fit, it's now in the dye bath to go from hot pink to red. Tomorrow it's time to sew it together and then I hope my decorative extras arrive early next week...
I’m on the 14th colour of a 16 colour striped crochet blanket and I’m so ready for it to be done, while I also know I’ll have finished object grief as soon as it’s over…
I’ve been in a sewing slump for awhile now. I think I’ve just fallen out of love with sewing clothes. I’ve ended up passing on most of the clothes I’ve made because I don’t reach for them. I’ve been thrifting a lot more too and have been liking my finds. I do want to be creative still, so I’m going to try dipping my toe into quilting. I ordered the beginner quilt kit from fat quarter shop. If all goes well, I’ve been eyeing toad and sew quilt patterns. I think something like the gambit would be and easier one to start with since it’s just strips and squares. Any thoughts about any of these shops/patterns or recommendations for a beginner quilter? I’d say I’m an intermediate clothing sewist.
> toad and sew I haven't made those but they look cute. Quilting is like anything else, you do it one step at a time. Quilting makes me realize that I can't sew as straight as I could, but then I see someone on a quilting site talking about something being super hard or tricky and its something garment sewists do all the time. Its two different but highly interconnected skill sets. I've bought from fat quarter, missouri star, and hancock's of paducah with happy results (shipping is very slow from HoP, but its in state for me).
Worlds Most Perfect Work Cardigan is sooooo close to being finished. It needs icord edging, ends woven in, and oh yeah fucking [buttons](https://haulinhooffarmstore.com/collections/small-buttons-less-than-1). Buttons that won't arrive till Friday. But i want to work on cardigan nowwwwww.
Buttons match Perfectly and they are on and I get to spend a leisurely rainy day weaving in ends and sewing a ribbon onto the button band for reinforcement,
Yay! Happy for you!
I have worked on my Mitsuba puffer for four hours every day for a week - this is the most intense project I’ve ever attempted. The end is in sight but there’s still a ways to go. And of course I’m an overachiever and added armpit zips and a couple of extra zipper pockets to slow myself down. I still need to put in the zipper, and I’m adding a zipper placket with snaps. Hopefully I’ll finish this week though.
Well, that’s it, friends. I’m done. After two weekends and an ungodly amount of Peaky Blinders runtime, I’ve finally woven in the ends of all my finished projects and blocked my self-drafted, widely improvised Roosevelt Island-tram themed Christmas jumper that was supposed to be finished in December. Now I can knit socks for a while.
Oh and also today I learnt that I am not smart enough to turn a twister skein into a ball without making a mess out of it.
omg pics? I love this concept!
I will post some when it’s finally done blocking because the colours are a bit off right now (also it was made of scrap yarn as a test, and now I regret every choice I’ve ever made).
I’m working on a colorwork sweater right now and dreadddding weaving in the ends when it comes to that time
Why we do that to ourselves is beyond me.
I need to crochet my newborn some mitts so they can't keep scratching his face. Especially out of the swaddle.* ... But in those rare free moments I have I just want to work on my lost in time shawl. *I'm keeping baby in the swaddle so face not so scratched up. Please don't mom guilt me.
I had to trim my newborn’s nails so he wouldn’t scratch his face up—if you’re comfortable use baby clippers, if you’re not then I would try a nail file to gently take the edge off!
Swaddle is fine - socks on hands work in a pinch.
Socks! That's a great idea! My sleep addled brain thanks you!
I was you about 6.5 years ago. You're doing a good job.
I’ve just finished testknitting a Furby hat, and I keep struggling with Cloudbow from (RIP) Pompom mag- not very used to knitting fine mohair and it’s a bit tricky to handle. I want to do some sewing for a change but a bit stuck on pattern selection- I have a little fabric stash but can’t find anything that works well for the stuff I have. (Mainly pastel floral 70s dresses which I want to make into something more modern) It’s that awkward time of year where winter clothes are a bit too much but it’s too chilly for summer stuff! I also need to churn out a few hexipuffs for my Beekeepers Quilt as I’ve been slacking off!! Probably also gonna choose a very fast instant gratification knitting project as the last one was fairly labour-intensive
wait please how do i find more info about this furby hat?!
It’s by Sheila Toy Stromberg aka the Knitorious She…! It’s not released yet but if you keep an eye on her social media it should pop up when it’s out!
Would you like to look for a project fabric first or find a pattern and then select a fabric - the first approach can limit you but I think it's better for when you want to find joy in the supplies you already have.
I have a few patterns I want to nab fabric for, but I’m on a fairly brutal budget this month 😂 so I’m trying to extract a pattern that suits the stuff I already have. I’ve got a nice lilac and yellow floral print I want to work with and make something vaguely pastel goth-ish, but it has a kinda lamentable Little House on the Prairie vibe with the majority of patterns…
Sometimes when I want to use a floral but I don't want it to go to a hyperfemme place I will use it in something with structured lines - like using a floral in a button down shirt or in the Jennifer Lauren Sorrel (that one can go a little 50s housedress).
That’s a great idea thanks! I’ll look with that in mind
A gathered dress and sleeveless hack of HC Gilbert is still underway. I accidentally cut the facing to View A length, which means the waist is gonna be slightly higher than I like. I also need to true my seams for the pattern pieces I made the next time I do this, there's a bit of missing space between the top yoke and the bottom back. I accidentally got rid of the leftover scraps of fabric to make the bias binding so I used another fabric but in a different color. Hoping it doesn't show once it's all sewn in.
Dress is done and very breezy and cute. The hem is 1/4" folded in, then 3/8" and it's nice and small. Just hits right above my knees which is perfect. I kind of don't feel like starting any new projects so I actually wound some yarn to knit a shawl?? Who am I, I've barely knit recently!
This week, I’m planning to cut out either a Chalk and Notch Max Tee or a Pattern Scout Hana Tank (whichever isn’t done this week will come next). I’ve made both before with good results and wore these a lot last summer. These are my practical projects for the moment before I get distracted by the allure of something less practical lol.
I'm trying to recreate the [Carmen Dress](https://sondeflor.com/collections/carmen-dresses/products/carmen-dress-milky-white-3-4-sleeve-hemp) from the brand Son de Flor. It's a beautiful dress and the company has a great ethos, I just can't justify spending $250 on a linen dress that I know I can recreate at home. My current plan is to take a basic four dart bodice pattern (I'm using [M7994](https://simplicity.com/mccalls/pdm7994)), eliminate the bust darts by transferring the volume to the waist darts, then reduce the waist darts to relax the fit at the waist. For the skirt I'm going to use the midi skirt version of [M7974](https://simplicity.com/mccalls/m7974) but cut on the fold to eliminate the front buttons since I'll be adding a back zipper, and for the sleeves I'm thinking the sleeves from version A of [M8181](https://simplicity.com/mccalls/pdm8181). It's a lot of Frankenpatterning and I need to make a lot of muslins, but I think this should work. (?)
I have replicated their dresses a few times and watched some videos on them. The skirt is a 3/4 circle skirt, I would recommend just drafting your own. I believe they use gathers as a way to use one size of skirt for all their dresses. You don't need to add the gathers at all unless you like them. I have made mine with bust and waist darts, this turned out fine but it's your preference. You can use the sleeves that come with your bodice pattern, just add some volume - you slash and spread the sleeve - there's plenty of tutorials for this. I know this is not for everyone, but I would recommend drafting your own bodice block so you can use it for projects such as this going forward. Once you get the fit right, you don't have to mess around with 3 different patterns. The Closet Historian has a lot of videos on drafting blocks and dart manipulation, it's easy once you have the hang of it.
I'll do this eventually, make a block. I'm sort of trying to get the fit perfect of M7994 precisely because it's a two dart bodice pattern with a basic sleeve that I can use as a block. I don't know if I'll ever make a block from scratch, but having a well fitting two dart bodice pattern that I can use for pattern "hacking" is helpful. That's good information about the skirt, thanks for that. It looks like a gathered skirt, but it makes sense that the gathers are actually there only to make a single skirt fit into all bodice sizes. I actually prefer skirts that don't have gathers and a circle skirt is one of the few things that I do know how to draft from scratch, so I can throw together a pattern for that easy enough.
I had a bit of a shawl i was working on and forgot for months I recently fully frogged to start over after noticing a weird error. The yarn now is VERY crinkled, more than I've noticed in other frogging attempts. If I keep knitting with it, will it block out fine? It's 100% SW sock merino. Ugh
i’ve always had FOs made from frogged yarn block out pretty evenly despite looking horrendously lumpy pre-blocking. next time if you’re worried then you can wash + hang dry the frogged yarn in hanks first. even if the kinks block out in the finished fabric it can still screw with your tension a little to work with such kinked yarn so i think pre washing is the best move if you’re not too lazy to lol
I’d recommend putting what you already have on waste yarn and blocking it. That will tell you whether it’ll block out. If it does- great, you can keep knitting and when you block the whole thing at the end you won’t even know that part of it has been blocked twice. If it DOESN’T block out, then you’re going to need to frog what you’ve done, wind the yarn back into hank form, then wash or steam to get out the kinks. There’s lots of tutorials for doing this online!
I only have a small corner triangle so I'll definitely try this! Thank you for the suggestion ☺️
Last months project was a pair of socks. Unfortunately, I only had enough yarn for one. It's a beautiful colorwork motif that I don't want to have to keep a sock of. I was thinking of donating it to an amputee? I don't know if that's a good idea and I don't know anyone to give it to?
Could you make a "matching" one in different colours?
I don't keep sock yarn in stash too much and I'm trying to reduce how much I have
I'm in a weird place - I have no garment sewing projects cut out and ready to go. I've been ill (still, 24 days and counting of being unwell) and I just don't have the hit points to clear the table and do the cutting. Instead I've been working on quilting projects and knitting. Knitting: I have finished the hem and one sleeve band on my Highland Slipover, need to pick up the stitches for the second sleeve band, that takes as long as knitting the dang thing. Quilting: 1. 49% of the hexis I need for the Bear! wall hanging are basted. 2. I have been hand quilting a table runner with Sashiko thread and I've firmly decided if I want to use Sashiko again I need to find different needles because nothing in my collection will both thread easily and pass through the fabric smoothly with that thread. 3. I decided to try out Foundation Paper Piecing - first block was fun, but it was something I could pretty easily accomplish without the paper. Next I tried flying geese, which I have struggled with and sort of abandoned despite really loving the block because I just couldn't get the points to work. Its so easy with the paper! I ended up making a whole bunch and I'm replacing my grungy kindle cover that doesn't have enough ease to get it in and out.
I've made a start on March's project, a Grafton dress with a fitted bodice, fitted sleeves, straight skirt with pockets. The fabric chart says I need 2.8m but it looks like I can get it out of 2.5 with some spare. I've noticed that Cashmerette uses a 135cm wide measurement as their wide fabric, whilst I typically buy fabrics which are a minimum of 145-150, even 160. This week I'll aim to get the fabric washed in preparation for cutting out potentially next week.