So, no summer sew-along is currently planned for this year. Well, there were ideas of K/C-drama cosplay and Erika’s summer wardrobe, but…
I’ve been paying WordPress to host this blog for over a decade, and this year I decided to change from a paid plan to a free one. I’ve backed up the content, but what appears here in a couple of days may look a little different, and some things may no longer be available. It’s still not entirely clear how the transition will affect the site, so I’ve been holding off on working on anything new until I see how it ends up.
The internet has changed so much since I started this blog. Right now, everything seems built around grabbing attention for three seconds on Instagram or YouTube and funneling people toward paid/paywalled content. There are fewer people still doing the old-fashioned kind of blogging, where the creator shares content freely just for fun.
In the meantime, I’m trying to find a focus for what comes next. I’m also planning to list some dolls on Etsy/eBay to make room, both physically and creatively, for new things. At the moment, I have a UFDC Peggy Sue and a Silkstone Barbie available. There will likely be more for sale over the summer!
We are in the last week of Erika’s fall wardrobe! There has been some great participation on the MeWe group, but it’s been kind of crickets here on the blog where, according to my stats, there were thousands of views of the Erika series.
It’s also true that Erika is not a super-well-known doll, so moving forward I’m considering a few options about how or whether to start up with her series again for the winter.
Image above from ChatGPT – please see week 1 for more info.
Here is the final reveal of ChatGPT’s image for this set. I have to say, there are mixed feelings about using ChatGPT again for exactly this purpose. When we did the summer sew-along, it was a novelty, and I just took the images as it made them and had fun trying to recreate them IRL. In this case, I had ideas in my head for what each outfit should look like, and tried to get it to match that with my descriptions.
It took so many descriptions and iterations to get it to produce something like the looks I wanted, and in the end I still had to cobble some things together and change a few colors in a graphics program. It would have probably been quicker to put my ideas in a sketchbook and keep it for myself as a reminder like I often do. It doesn’t really seem worth the effort to have spent as long as I did on the image when really, the photo of the completed garment is what you actually want to see!
Super rushed post today because it’s been a really hectic week. I ran out of time to finish the sweater I was making for Erika, but did happen to find one in similar colors I made for my Sashas at some point. It didn’t fit Erika, and the pants didn’t fit Gregor, but he didn’t seem to mind a couple of pins holding his pants up… 🙂
Note that Sasha’s waist is a little smaller than Erika’s! You can fold some small tucks in the front (about 1/2″ on each side) to make them fit.
Most of the weeks have resized well, but pants can be especially challenging to resize. If you are not sewing along with Erika or Sasha and have a basic pants pattern that fits your doll, you might consider using that instead.
Image from ChatGPT. Please see week 1 for more info about it!
I deviated a lot from the image in the picture this week. The coat was designed to close all the way up to the neck, but I didn’t have enough buttons, and now that JoAnn is closed, and Michael’s refuses to open fabric stores in CO, my options are pretty limited. You can choose whether close yours up all the way, or fold down the edges and tack them to the coat like I did.
It was designed to fit over the school dress, but my husband was kind enough to tell me that in my picture it looked “kinda weird with the two collars together like that.” So poor Erika had to go back outside for more pix.
It’s a basic, slightly flared, loose-fitting coat that’s really adaptable to a lot of styles. I cut a flannel facing for mine, and lined the collar with a thinner matching cotton to reduce bulk. Line some little scraps for fake pockets too if you’d like. This would be really fast to make as an unlined version with felt, just removing outside seam allowances and hems where necessary and topstitching for strength.
Image above from ChatGPT. Please see last week for more info.
So, for fall, of course, I had to include the obligatory “Oktoberfest” costume. The festival actually starts in September in Munich, so if you make it now you can be ready for then!
One other challenge I set myself with this series was “Less Drafting, More Sewing!” Even though I love drafting new patterns, I don’t know if people actually realize/appreciate how much time and effort it takes to scan my little taped-up scraps of paper and muslin, trace them in a drawing program, turn them into a pdf and upload them here. The other side of that is the time/paper/ink it takes to download, print, and cut them out. SO, to make this easier and more fun, I’ve so far done a number of basic patterns that you’ll see again with variation instructions to turn them into different things. Last week’s A-line dress turned into the pleated one, and wait until you see what fall coat pattern turns into! All that to say, if you’re usually the kind of person who prints patterns, uses them, and recycles them (that’s me) DON’T do that this time! Save them in an envelope because you’ll be using them again to make different outfits!
You may have noticed that wordpress “broke” my blog. While trying to add a tab at the top called “Erika’s pattern treasury” where I hoped you’d be able to find everything linked, it seemed I had to give up my old theme. All the themes they have available now seem to be trying to promote people concentrating exclusively on selling stuff rather than just “old-fashioned” blogging and I actually had to figure out how to show my content again. 🙄
I wasted HOURS, yes, HOURS of my weekend getting it “back” to this boring white-background theme with no functioning menu or pattern repository yet. I’m so angry at wordpress I really want to switch to another platform but with >10 years of blog posts, it’s a daunting task.
During the summer, I happened upon a good deal on a repro Schildkröt Erika, and thought, “Why not?” I have liked their look for quite a while, but never bought one. It seemed like a fun new challenge to see if I could do a wardrobe for all seasons for her, and asked you to vote between that and another project.
Erika won, and after the SSA, I worked a lot more with ChatGPT especially in the areas of image generation. During the SSA I was new to things and just taking the stories and images as they came and bringing them to life as a novelty. I used a lot more direction during this round. Specifically, I was asking ChatGPT to create images that looked like a vintage sewing magazine from the 1950s for this doll. When it failed too terribly, I specifically described how each outfit in a 5-outfit layout should look. The page below is the result of maybe 6-7 different tries, with very specific instructions for each outfit, and I did still end up manually having to change some colors in a drawing program and use the border from a different image whose clothes I didn’t like. I’ll reveal another part of it each week!
There will be 4-5 weeks of this fall series, and then in November-ish the plan is to start up again with winter outfits. Chat GPT not only generated the images for Erika’s wardrobe, but also helped put them into a year-long plan. It suggested to have each season’s outfits posted beforehand so people could make them first, and then use them during that season. So, yeah, we’re sewing fall clothes in August while you dream of snuggling up in cozy flannel and crunching through fallen leaves.
Who is this doll?
Erika is a 41cm reproduction Schildkröt who is similar in size to Sasha with a bigger tummy and shorter, wider arms. Her chest is around 9”. Everything I’ve made so far looks great on my Sashas, and the bodices will likely fit AGAT as well. Disney Animator dolls are smaller, but have a similar body shape and can wear the dresses with a little bit of shortening. If you’re picky about fit, maybe experiment around 92% for the bodices for Animators. What about AG/OG/Maplelea/etc.? Again, it’s an experiment, since I haven’t tried, but I’d start with 125% and plan on a bit of shortening. There will be fitted pants in a couple of the outfits, and they will fit Erika and Sasha, but they will probably be really tricky to size up or down for anyone else.
To summarize, if you don’t have a 41cm Schildkröt, Sasha is a good substitute.
Our first dress is a cute, pleated A-line in traditional plaid. Here are a couple of ideas to change it up:
You can make a really easy version by eliminating the pleats and collar.
Lengthen the sleeves and consider buttons down the front and maybe a belt. Depending on your fabric, this could make it more “old-fashioned” (maybe Edwardian) looking
Use contrasting sleeves that match the collar so it looks like a jumper
Shorten it and use a band collar and mod print for your 1960s doll
The center front between the pleats is the perfect place for a little bit of embroidery
Get the pattern here. SUPER IMPORTANT: I pasted the pieces into the document in a different way than usual. PLEASE check the inch/cm box and make sure it printed at the right size before you start sewing!
What about the sweater pattern? The sweater was done with Tunisian crochet using an Animator doll who happened to be nearby as a model. Unfortunately, although it did fit her, Tunisian knit stitch comes out much thicker than “real” knitted stockinette stitch and doesn’t stretch as well, so it was too tight to fit Erika. However, I did do a fun, super-adaptable crochet pattern calculator for doll sweaters that seemed perfect for the winter set, so hang on…it’s coming!
What did you make?
When you sew for yourself or your home, there’s a potential that everyone who sees your new blouse/curtains/etc. might compliment you in person. Doll sewing is a bit more of a niche craft, but it’s so much fun to share your creativity with others who like it as much as you do! I thought it would be fun to keep the MeWe SSA platform going for this Erika series and maybe think of it as a seasonal sew-along. Join us here: https://jenwrenne.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/mewe.pdf
Our winner in the Nirandel belt contest was Sewbig and you can see her elegant dress here!
Thank you for voting in the poll! The winner for the next blog series was… Erika, with 62% of the votes! We’ll start with her 1950s fall collection some time in August. In the meantime, should you be looking for the same/a similar doll, she is a reproduction Schildkröt Erika who is 41cm tall and has toddler proportions. Her bust and waist measurements are 9.5″ and 10″ respectively. Who else can share with her? So far, the first dress I made that fits Erika perfectly is a bit loose, but still looks great on Sasha, Petitcollin Marie-Francoise, and reproduction Effanbee Patsy Joan. It could work for Disney Animators with a length adjustment, and would probably scale up fairly well for 18″ dolls but I haven’t tried yet.
It was great to see there was so much interest in Leonor, so maybe there will be a few posts in the future of her or another doll with stories and associated costumes/accessories.
I’m contemplating the next blog project with images and possibly stories inspired by AI again. This time they would be historical/realistic instead of a fantasy world like the SSA. Both of the images below were generated by Chat GPT.
The Sasha on the left represents a costume series that is based on short stories about one specific doll’s “life.” She lives in rural Portugal around 1900 and would likely have some associated accessory and embroidery projects related to her stories. It would be for either Sasha or an 18″ doll, I’m not completely sure yet.
The image on the right is a page meant to look like something out a 1950s sewing book (GPT is still working on things like cropping.) It would be seasonal outfits, maybe published quarterly, without stories about the doll. I started this for my Schildkröt Erika, who is ~16″ tall but can share clothes fairly well with similar size dolls like Sasha, Disney Animators, Petitcollin Francoise, etc.
The image above is my absolute favorite that Chat GPT generated for this year’s sew-along. Most of us who like handmade things would love to step into that lovely, sunlit room and be surrounded by colorful skeins of handspun yarn, baskets, pottery, handwoven tapestries and rugs. Amara’s face is so peaceful as she weaves, smelling the scent of the herbs drying by window and hearing birds chirping outside.
We just need to suspend our disbelief a little bit because the loom bears little resemblance to functional looms in our world. Just for fun, here is another hilarious ChatGPT-generated image it did for me that it claimed was a loom:
It makes REALLY clear that AI does not understand in the slightest how a loom looks/works. My husband likens these “looms” to an MC Escher design, with all kinds of random yarns and wooden rectangles going all over the place. The colors and designs of her dress really captivated my imagination, though, and I even started a tapestry based on the one behind her.
The dress is a lengthened version of the week 1 dress. My apron pattern and the design that Chat GPT created for the flowers on the apron are HERE
If you need some construction details for the apron they are HERE
If you’d like to learn more about the tapestry click HERE
For the bird festival, AI did do a good job, but again loses major points for consistency in image generation. It made a story (linked here) and then a beautiful illustration:
Since the designs are distorted by movement, I asked for help generating a black and white embroidery template to make the above dress and got this:
It’s a mishmash of geometric and floral styles that bears no resemblance to the original, but I did like some of the elements. I refined them into this dress:
In keeping with AI’s inconsistency, I substituted last week’s AG Moana with a Disney ILY available at Target. These dolls are nice quality for the price (around $35) and similar enough in size to AGs that they can share clothes perfectly. The cartoonish/anime look of this doll fits quite well the the original illustration. Her hand is up because I was going to photoshop a little cloth bird in, and that didn’t end up working.
I’m hoping this week gives everyone different kinds of inspiration. Maybe your dress is like the first illustration? Maybe you prefer the geometric elements on the black/white version? Maybe you change the colors of my version? Share your creativity! You can join the MeWe group here: https://mewe.com/group/663f66bdd8969334fe934932. There are already a number of interpretations of last week’s dress to inspire you if you haven’t started on that one yet!
The Summer Sew-Along this year is brought to you with help from AI!
I know the readers of this blog vary greatly in their technology expertise. But even if you haven’t used it, surely you’ve heard of AI, specifically ChatGPT.
After the survey results were all in, I put the raw data into ChatGPT and asked it to summarize and find overall trends. There were a lot of different answers as far as themes and time periods, but most people seemed to be asking for 18” dolls.
I asked ChatGPT to create a fictional backstory for a doll to give me ideas. Wow. It came up with a really, really detailed fantasy world called Nirandel. Not only that, but it offered to create a lookbook of costume ideas. I’ll be honest and say it can be a challenge to direct AI to do image creation to get exactly what you’re going for, and it’s frustrating to be “cut off” after a few images on the free tier.
The main character in the Nirandel world is Amara, and what you see below is the first picture where it did a good job on her wardrobe. If you are interested, here is some info it created about her world.
So…what’s the sew-along?
Well, I drafted a basic A-line dress shown in different variations above for Nirandel children. The first week’s dress was based on the white one in the picture.
I liked the bodice design a lot, but it didn’t seem to match the skirt, so I took the bodice elements and adapted them into my own design for the skirt. After embroidering, I made a mistake cutting out the armholes of the bodice and couldn’t fit the sleeves onto it, but it is included in the pattern if you want to use it. There were a lot of little dots on the dress that I chose to interpret as beads.
The doll pictured above is AG Moana available here. You can use these designs with any kind of embroidery, or other decorative technique you want to use. Some examples would be fabric markers or fabric paint. You can also use this basic dress pattern along with other designs in the previous picture to make different Nirandel dresses.
Then, because I was having so much fun, I asked ChatGPT to expand on Amara’s character with short stories and generate an outfit to go with each one. It was kind of a mixed bag. Sometimes it did a fantastic job, but overall it really lacked consistency between the stories unless I did them in the same session and reminded it to reference the previous one. It changed things like names and jobs of her parents, and gave her different siblings in different stories, as well as even changing her age and re-doing one story’s plot within another. Also, pretty important for all of the stories was that it knew a lot about textile creation from the initial spinning, through weaving and dyeing, to the final sewing and embroidery. But clearly, it has only a vague “understanding” of the process.
The sew-along for this year then, will be dresses to go with some of the stories it created. This week is “Introducing Amara and Nirandel” and next week, Amara celebrates the festival of “Petalwind.”
The stories and images ChatGPT created do lack cohesiveness and consistency. So unlike a typical sew-along, the dresses don’t look like they uniformly came from the same place. If I were a movie director or art director for a book, I’d have serious problems with that. However, this is something completely new that’s meant to be fun and inspirational, so let’s take these as they came and I’ll show how I interpreted them.
I hope these will spark your imagination and lead you to a joyful day of sewing and creativity!
Just like last year, you can share your creations on our MeWe group here:
This is the time of year when I am usually brainstorming and then asking you to vote for your favorite ideas for the summer sew-along. While I have some fantastic historical ideas, maybe that’s not what you want to do this year. So, I’m opening the brainstorming to your suggestions!
If you’re new to the blog, the SSA is a series of related sewing/crafting projects on a theme for a specific size of doll that lasts around 4-6 weeks. The patterns are posted free each week, and people make their own versions and share pix. It’s always a lot of fun!
When I chose dress styles for the SSA, I didn’t do the very-high-bodice look, where the dress has a separate bodice and skirt that meet about mid-armhole in the front, because it’s usually a style more appropriate for a younger-looking doll. This higher-but-not-too-high bodice is perfect for a breezy summer dress or nightgown for any age doll. It’s also more adaptable if you are trying to center a small motif; large enough to fit something, but small enough to draw more attention to the motif than a full-size bodice.
In this case, I used the 50s-60s bodice from the SSA this year, but you can use this with any bodice, cutting it off ½” below the seam allowance under the arm. This allows ¼” for sewing to the skirt and ¼” so that seam and the underarm seam don’t touch. You might also want to square it as shown, instead of leaving it angled.
This higher bodice is perfect for when you might have limited fabric, like an antique textile. Old tea towels are often perfect for doll clothes, but finding one that works, doesn’t have stains, and is in your price range might be a challenge. Even when you find that perfect towel, taking your scissors to a gorgeous piece of antique linen that someone spent dozens of hours embroidering can be nerve racking.
Since I could not bear to cut up the “real thing,” I adapted some cross stitch motifs from the Antique Pattern Library, specifically pages 14 and 17 from this book to make my own tea towel for this dress. The advantage there, of course, is that you’re not limited to the designs that are already on the fabric. You can choose your own motifs and place them wherever you’d like.
If you do have some antique textiles gathering dust that you would like to recycle for human scale clothing, you might be inspired by this post.
I’ve spent SO MANY hours on this. From brainstorming to researching vintage pictures to making (and re-making…and re-making) muslins, to scanning my paper scraps and digitizing the patterns, taking construction pictures, writing instructions and historical notes, buying fabric, making finished garments, taking/editing portrait pictures, etc…
The collection has an additional 2 new sleeves and a rolled Peter Pan collar and was resized so smaller and larger dolls can share in the fun! This is really a versatile collection that works for many historical periods as well as modern!
I have a goal in mind, and if that many patterns sell, I’m going to put up the matching Victorian boot pattern pictured above on Ella in a size to fit Götz Happy Kidz and Maplelea.
Also this week is a way for the SSA fun not to stop! The two bodices that don’t have darts are PERFECT for adding interest with trim, embroidery, etc. and I put together some ideas for decorating and embroidering by machine…WITHOUT an embroidery machine!
I got a new-to-me repro Effanbee Toni last year, and the dress she came in just didn’t seem to suit her. I did a lot of looking online for examples of real dresses Toni dolls came in and found a cute one with some simple trim that looked to have originally been machine embroidered with variegated thread. Because my embroidery machine kept shredding the expensive variegated thread, solution #4 ended up being this cute little dress that actually used 3 separate colors of embroidery thread.
If you are thinking, “Well, never mind, I don’t have an embroidery machine…” hold on!
Look closely and you will see this was all done with stitches that might be already programmed into your regular sewing machine. A buttonhole stitch on top, knot stitches on the curves, and the smallest possible eyelets in the centers. It’s not an exact reproduction of the original, but close enough, and my Toni was so happy with it!
As a rest-of-the summer (or whenever!) project, I’d like to encourage you to use a couple yards of plain muslin or solid-colored fabric and get creative with what the programmed stitches on your machine might be able to do. Don’t have any decorative stitches? Try rickrack, lace, ribbon, etc.
As you’re probably aware, there was a HUGE shift in fashion that occurred during the 1960s. At the beginning, for girls’ dresses, the waistline raised a little and sleeves were often straight or cut in one piece with the bodice, especially for ease-of-sewing with doll clothes. This was balanced by extremely full skirts, often in stripes and geometric patterns arranged in creative ways. As time went on, A-lines took over and synthetic stretch knits increased in popularity. Our basic puff sleeve bodice was gone! Until the 70s granny dresses brought it back 😉
There is a new bodice for you this week that is SO quick and easy. I was aiming for something in between sleeveless and T-shaped/short Dolman sleeves and surprisingly it took a LOT of trial and error to get exactly the right look. At its simplest, you just cut the bodice on the fold and line it, but to me, ease of cut often means “excellent canvas for decorating” and I’ll go into that more next week! For the skirt, the pictured dress here has 3x the waist measurement fullness.
FYI – this is the sort-of last week of the Sew-Along. There will be another related post to use these patterns in another creative way in maybe two weeks. I’m also working really hard on getting the whole collection resized and adding some new pieces for slim 14-15″ dolls like Ruby Red, Toni, Wellies, etc. along with an 18″ slim size like Götz Happy Kidz, etc. I hope it will be available in my etsy shop in the next couple of weeks!
Welcome to the 1940s dress! Wartime fabric restrictions during WWII meant long, full skirts were out. The “tailored” look was very popular, and, as I mentioned last week, the main fullness to be found was in the sleeves and shoulders. I absolutely adore the look of these sleeves, which are gathered, but don’t require additional gathering at the bottom into a band. Squared and sweetheart necklines on dirndl-style dresses were popular with both girls and women for informal wear. This was inspired by a dress from the 1942 Sears catalog I saw here: https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1942-Sears-Spring-Summer-Catalog/0001 Fashion trends are cyclical though, so try doing a search for McCall’s 4082 from the 1990s to see something with a very similar shape.
Don’t forget, you can still join the MeWe group and share your creations or just enjoy the eye candy of what what others have posted! There are so many beautiful dresses on a variety of dolls and I’ve been really enjoying everyone’s creativity so far!
Click here for the pattern. Note that I combined these in a different way than usual this week. PLEASE make sure the pattern pieces printed at the correct size by measuring the inch box before you start cutting your fabric!
If you haven’t yet, please join the MeWe group and share your creations! Note that where it says “handle” it’s asking you to create a username.
Our sharing platform for the SSA this year will be a special group I’ve set up on MeWe. Multiple people in the survey recommended this as a facebook alternative, and as I explored it, I had to agree.
Firstly, MeWe says they prioritize your privacy. You might not be aware, but with most browsers, if you’re signed into FB they are actually tracking your activity across other sites you visit so they can target ads to you. Companies pay FB to place their ads, so even though all you want to do is share pix of your dolls, you are generating revenue for FB every time someone wants to see your pic but instead has to scroll past ads. If you’re not familiar with FB or MeWe, I personally think MeWe has a less cluttered interface and is easier to navigate.
I feel like this should go without saying, but there are two expectations:
1. Everyone will only post doll pix with dresses made from patterns from this sew-along
2. Everyone will be kind to each other if they comment. If not, you will have to leave the group. There is a time and place for things like knitting projects and cute baby animal pictures, but this group is not it! 🙂
I will leave comments open on these posts during the SSA also, so if you prefer to put your pix somewhere else and share by linking in the comments, you can do that too!
If you are wondering what kind of fabric and trim to stock up on, think mid-century! There will be patterns from 1930-1960 for 16” dolls and at that size, all can be made from a fat quarter.
At least one person mentioned they might “need” to buy a new doll to participate. 🙂 You probably don’t, but just in case, click here to see more about which dolls can wear these patterns.
OK, Here’s the plan:
This year’s SSA will be a mix-and-match journey through the 30s-60s. EVERY bodice will work with every sleeve, skirt, and collar to create an incredibly versatile wardrobe. I have six weeks planned, with 5 weeks of dress patterns and one week of mid-century dress decorating ideas.
So, in case you hadn’t noticed, last year was the first year in the history of the blog that there was no summer sew along! I usually start brainstorming ideas around February and work all through March and April to have everything ready some time in May. Last year, the plan was for a 1950s embroidered dress theme inspired by a then-new-to-me repro Effanbee Toni.
That was my busiest Spring in about a decade at work and on top of that, I was dealing with some health issues, so there was just not a lot of extra energy available to be creative. When everything was finally sorted out, we went on our first vacation in about 6 years.
Fast forward to now. I pulled out what had been started last year to consider finally doing that theme and had visions of 50s designs in my head. At the same time, after a lot of trial and error, I managed to get a really well-fitted sloper for my Petitcollin Lisa, and started expanding variations on it to include different collars and sleeves. Then I realized that with a few more collars/necklines/sleeves it could be perfect for a whole mid-century wardrobe! Yes, that’s me, always thinking big. Why do just one dress pattern when you could do a whole wardrobe? In fact, why even do just one decade when you could do several? Or even a century?! Ok, I actually do have a whole century project started, but let’s just focus on this for now. 🙂
For this year’s sew-along, every week we’ll explore how the “basic dress” changed between the 30s-60s, and come up with our own creative interpretations of the basic pattern. Yes, including the 30s really stretches the definition of mid-century, but you know you’re looking for an excuse to buy more cute feedsack prints! 😉
Because these are basic patterns with lots of room for creativity, I’d like a place for everyone to share their creations to inspire others. Many years ago, it was flickr, but since they have changed their ownership/model, I don’t put anything there anymore. My thoughts would be either a specifically designated Facebook group, or something like Google Photos, Dropbox, or Instagram.
Since none of these is ideal, and some are more difficult to use than others, I’m open to suggestions. Ideally, it would be something free, easy enough for your grandma to use, and not require downloading a certain app or creating an account. My other thought is to just let people post pix wherever they’d like and put the link to the photo in the comments on each week’s blog page.
What I’d like to know from those who plan to participate is: What would be your preferred platform to share photos with this group?
Maplelea Charlsea is wearing a Scandinavian-inspired outfit with a jumper made from this pattern that originally appeared with the Shirley Temple summer sew along and was adapted from an antique McCall pattern. The blouse is from an as-yet unfinished pattern collection, and I’m going to assume you know how to make an apron. 🙂
A very kind person gave me a TON of fabric over the summer, and I had originally earmarked this striped one for a Christmas dress. Even though red and green are considered “Christmas” colors, folk costumes in Scandinavia (and elsewhere) often use them together, especially combined with black and white for a very striking visual impact.
The red part of the design below is a very common one in textiles where a geometric pattern can be used, such as in woven, cross-stitched, and knitted designs. Like this. Depending where you are, though, apparently you see it differently. It was referred to as a rose motif in something I was reading about Scandinavian weaving recently (see lots of examples here), but I had personally always seen it as a star or snowflake.
You can use the pattern above if you’d like to stitch by hand
This apron design is not traditional to any specific place. I started with a row of the star/snowflake/rose designs and just doodled around them to fill in space with the colors chosen to match the fabric.
Some other ideas:
Change the colors to match your doll’s dress and use it on an apron any time of year!
Repeat the design all along the bottom of a solid-color skirt
Use waste canvas and embroider part of the motif to decorate a solid-color bodice with a print skirt.
Be creative and enjoy!
Can anyone guess exactly what Charlsea is “helping” me with in the photo? Post a comment if you think you know!
This week we have the continuation of last week‘s post about knitting with a crochet hook. This sweater can be easily modified for 18″ slim dolls (the brown unfinished one above) or cloth-bodied dolls (the red one).
I know not everyone who reads this blog knits/crochets, and if that’s you, you’ll be happy to hear I’ll be back to sewing with a free machine embroidery download next week!
Can you believe I made this with a crochet hook? And then spent hours and hours and hours taking pictures and writing a tutorial? And then more time redoing parts of it after compatibility problems between my two word processing programs?
If you, like me, are stuck inside because of blizzard-like weather, click here and then curl up on the couch with some tea and start a new doll sweater. It’s very long, so part 2 is coming next week. Enjoy!!
Just two quick notes for today. First, there’s a black Friday sale in my etsy shop through Cyber Monday. You can get 20% off any purchase of $20 or more with no coupon code needed – just click here: jenwrenne.etsy.com
Also, I’ve been working on resizing last week’s sweater for AG/OG/Maplelea -type bodies and that info is here.
Coming over the next two weeks is a REALLY different way to make yet another sweater. See you then!!
If there is one look that says “perfect dress for a little girl” it’s this. Penelope used last week’s bodice and added a peter pan collar and short, puffy sleeves. This was the iconic silhouette for girls’ dresses throughout the 1950s, and just about any catalog, paperdoll set, etc. will give you plenty of great ideas to dress this up with different kinds of trim. It was often covered with a pinafore…maybe she can find one of those for next week?
I’m giving my new doll a column of her own for a while called “Penelope’s latest find”
Penelope is a doll that loves to imagine herself in all kinds of stories that take place “long ago.” She is happiest when she’s curled up with a book and a freshly-filled teacup. On the weekends you can find her browsing through used book stores, or making the rounds of her favorite antique stores in search of wardrobe additions, or beautiful old bits of lace, embroidery, and buttons.
She likes to see how things were done authentically, and then take inspiration from them to create something new. All the dolls in the house get excited when Penelope pulls out her sketch book or comes home from an adventure with her latest find.
Since she loves antiquing, and wearing things with a vintage vibe, we’re going to pretend that she is sharing her latest antique treasure with you. I’m imagining that being everything from a new dress or bag to an embroidery or crochet pattern. Maybe it was a great set of buttons or a vintage paper doll that inspired her latest creation? I’m eager to see what she comes up with!
Last weekend, Penelope found the perfect dress for the end of summer. The colors give a nod to autumn, but the sleeveless bodice is perfect for weather that’s still so hot. She thinks it’s from the 1950s, with its extra-full skirt and rickrack-trimmed bib, but it seems to be missing a sash or belt that certainly would have come with it originally.
When she makes the next version, she’s going to use a vintage cotton print, and then a solid contrast fabric. The contrast fabric is going to make a narrow belt, a thin line of fabric at the hem, and piping to go around the bib to pull everything together. This fabric was from the “Granny Chic” collection here
As an aside, in the past I’ve done very complete patterns with construction pictures and sometimes written instructions too. It got to be a lot, and took away from the fun of sewing things to blog about when I have to keep stopping to take pictures and spend hours writing instructions.
In order to keep things manageable for me, I’m assuming you have the necessary sewing skills to figure out the construction, and will only provide the pattern pieces for the free patterns from now on.
Who is this doll and who else will the pattern fit?
Penelope is a 19” Tonner doll. I found her online while actually searching for Betsy McCall because she had been tagged as such. Although she’s not technically a Betsy, you can definitely see similarities to the Tonner 14” Betsy sculpt, and I think they would be perfect displayed together as big/little sisters. The name “Penny” is engraved on parts of her body, so I wondered if that was actually her name and decided on the Penelope variation.
A little research found this site, [link to more info] which says she has the same body as Tonner’s 19” Ann Estelle and another line that was called “Penny and Friends.” The Penny dolls all came with names, as does Ann Estelle, obviously. The others in the same line as my doll were Alice in Wonderland and another called Baking Gingerbread; mine came dressed as Red Riding Hood without any other name.
Those are all out of production, but she has a chest measurement of about 10” and shares clothes quite easily with some other slim 18”-19” dolls. So far all the dresses I’ve made for my Götz Happy Kidz fits perfectly on her, and vice versa.
I have not tried yet, but would imagine the 9.5” chest Kidz n Cats and Magic Attic could share clothes with her as well. That also means that the patterns are likely to reduce easily with just a percentage for 14” dolls like Hearts for Hearts. I’d suggest experimenting with muslin with a reduction around 77% for them, and maybe a little bigger for Wellies.
So, a while back I had a request for a custom pattern. It was for a Wellie-size boy outfit so Felicity could have a little brother. I threw myself wholeheartedly into the project, to the point where, on the big loom right now there is enough warp for three colonial coverlets to fit Felicity’s bed! Yeah, priorities. I had amazing plans for shoes and hats, craft projects for accessories, a whole girl collection, resizing of everything for different dolls, and, and, and…
Just a shot of one partially finished coverlet:
You don’t know it, but this happens ALL the time. Whenever you see a collection here or on etsy, the final project shows at most 50% of all the actual things I managed to finish, and maybe 10% of the grandiose initial plans. Another piece of this puzzle is engagement with you, the blog readers. AG Claudie had a plan that spanned MONTHS, yet the comments after the last ~2 things I published did not seem to say that people really wanted any more 1920s stuff for her. So she’s got a coat and apron and Halloween costume and a really nice dress collection that never appeared, because it takes a REALLY long time to get out even one blog post. From designing the outfit, to making and revising muslins, making the final things, digitizing the pattern pieces, taking construction pictures, final portraits, writing instructions, editing everything, fighting with the horribleness of wordpress, etc.
I could go on and on with the Tudor collection I did for AGAT Elinor, the Georgian/Colonial collection for my Gotz Happy Kid, the Victorian project that followed the Regency collection for AGAT Helena… OK, you get it. What’s amazing, though, is that even though I’ve published hundreds of patterns, I’m often more upset at myself for what I haven’t finished than proud of what I have done. Crazy, right?
Anyway, for the “10%” from this project:
At its minimum, a boy’s outfit from the 18th century would have comprised breeches, shirt, and waistcoat, and that’s what is included. You can get the new pattern here
If there’s interest, I have lots more partially-finished things like a coat and some girl items and…
Free for you today (and easily adaptable to any size doll) is a stock/faux cravat:
Just like a well-dressed 1950s man needed a necktie, a well-dressed 18th Century man needed…something around the neck. A cravat was just a long rectangle that could be tied to suit the wearer’s fancy, but the stock simplified things greatly. All the pleating was done during construction, and the man just buckled it on. This pattern is for a stock that you can also adapt to a faux cravat.
Here are some links for you to see authentic cravats and stocks:
I have not seen any stocks from the time with attached ruffled bits in the front, which leads me to believe that when you see a painting with something that looks like that, it was probably a cravat. There is a stock with an attached “frilly bit” here: https://emuseum.history.org/objects/9977/stock?ctx=7d1b4d8d283ef339577503fb47883449e218c9e1&idx=12 but note that it is labeled 19th century.
My Nancys got ready a little early this year for el Día de los Muertos. I was so happy with how the skeleton one turned out, I decided to post templates in case your dolls want a quick skeleton costume too. As someone who is usually a stickler for details, it was hard to compromise on the shapes of the bones, but eventually I convinced myself “cute and easy” was better than “realistic but too complicated to actually make.”
The adorable Coco fabric on the other Nancy is from Joann, in case you’d like a dress like that too.
Suggestions for using this skeleton template with your favorite T-shirt and leggings pattern:
Cut the bones out of fabric/felt (fusible web is very helpful – just follow package instructions) and sew on
Use freezer paper to make stencils
Human clothes can usually be decorated even after they’re sewed, but at this tiny scale, I’d recommend decorating while still in the flat stages of sewing. In this case, I did the pants appliques after sewing the center front seam and waistband casing, and all the pieces of the shirt were done separately before sewing them together.
The file below has a green marking which is the 15” size shown on my Nancy. This should also work for dolls around Wellie Wisher size, possibly with leg bones needing shortening, and I’d probably use that size for Sasha.
There is also an 18” size marked in blue which I have not tried yet. It is just the original scaled up 120%, so you may need to adjust the lengths of the arm/leg bones to fit your pattern pieces
Click here for the pattern in pdf format. Note that it is more of a guide than an actual pattern, since I’m a bit more fluid and organic with my crocheting than with knitting/weaving that I usually precisely calculate ahead of time. 🙂
Bleuette had a hat similar to this in 1928, which was a little after Claudie’s time, and there are some really fantastic 20s hat pictures here: https://vintagedancer.com/1920s/1920s-hats-styles/ to inspire you to do different things with your brim/trim!
I’m going to try to start blogging a little more regularly again and am hoping Claudie becomes a catalyst for that.
The new AG Claudie in a FREE PATTERN! Scroll down to download
Claudie is so adorable! My first thought was that they had used the Makena facemold, but after seeing both side by side, Claudie’s eyes are smaller and her head seems a little wider. I like the darker skin and lip tones that they chose but, you will notice below that my Claudie looks a little different from the factory version…
I was more or less OK with the extra face paint on the World By Us dolls because they’re meant to be a little older, although don’t get me started on my makeup rant. Even if I liked the lower eyelashes on Claudie though, the fact that the paint is shiny means it can look weird in a photo. For example, my first photo of her was this:
You can see the lower lashes fine on one eye, but there’s a reflection shining off them in the other eye that looks unnatural. I originally planned on removing both top and bottom lashes, but after my husband removed the lower lashes, all of a sudden I went from “Yeah, Claudie’s cute” to “Oh wow, is she ever adorable! I love her so much!” So the top lashes stayed.
The more pictures I take of her, the more photogenic I feel she is! There’s one bad angle where her eyes can look a little uneven, but for the most part, I love this facemold and hope they use it again!
Her wig is what I’ll call “delicate.” One curl pulled completely out of place while I was dressing her, and wouldn’t curl back up into place, and another in the back seems to have succumbed to gravity while she was just in a stand. AG wig quality is usually good, so I hope it’s the case that there was just some issue with this particular wig.
To celebrate Claudie and the equinox, your gift this week is a free pattern for a really cute dress based on an actual 1920s doll dress
After all that happy sunshine, autumn arrived here this week with fog, rain, and much colder temperatures, so she’s going to need warmer things soon! Some are already made, let’s hope I stay motivated to keep posting them here! 🙂
PS: I was informed (Thank you, Sophie!) that the waistband measurement was missing from this dress in the summer sew along – that’s been fixed!
If you’d like to sew even more for her, I did a 1920s collection a few years back when I got my Disney Animator Tiana, and then resized everything for AGs also. So this is not a new collection, but it’s perfect for the new Claudie! Right now you can get it at a discount, because:
There’s a 20OFF20 coupon code in my shop this weekend only
It will take 20% off any order of $20 or more – which includes this collection!
There are templates for all the beautiful embroidery included for you to hand embroider if you’d like, but machine embroidery files in pes format are available too – just put in the “notes to seller” that you need them and they will be emailed free!
Soutache/decorative braid was an incredibly popular method of decoration for everyone of the era, and you’re bound to find at least a few examples of it in the trousseau of any French Fashion Doll. Magazines and books overflowed with complicated designs that women spent hours and hours painstakingly hand sewing to… pretty much anything you could sew it onto. This was the Victorian era after all! If a little decoration on a dress is good, a lot of decoration is better – on the skirt, and the bodice, and the sleeves, and the belt, and how about we add some extra pocket flaps and a peplum for more braiding space?
While we’re at it, those pillows and pincushions and my husband’s smoking hat need some too! What else can it go on…hmmm…purses? Yes! Watch holders! Spectacle and “Segar” cases ! Kids, quick, bring me all your shoes and slippers, they need some braid too!
Makes you want to go back in time and buy stock in some braid manufacturer LOL.
So this week we have a very basic short-sleeved 1860s dress for your AG that you can soutache to your heart’s content. No, that’s not an AG in the picture and no, the pattern below won’t fit a slim Götz, but you know how sometimes you get a new doll and you can’t stop sewing for them for even ONE day to finish the Summer Sew-Along? That’s me, and I made a smaller version for her, but don’t have it ready to post yet.
For the soutache pattern, I was randomly doodling the sort of “standard” loop you often see that looks kind of like an elongated cursive capital “L” on the bodice with a marker and thought…hmmm…I kind of like that! So it got digitized for machine embroidery in pes format!
If you don’t have an embroidery machine, I also put it into pdfs herefor you to use with actual soutache/fabric markers/hand embroidery. If you don’t have an embroidery machine, please DO NOT download the ones ending in .pes and then email me that you can’t open them. They are embroidery machine files.
No instructions, but it’s super simple. Just make a lined bodice and gather the sleeves into it. It closes flush in back. The skirt is a rectangle about 33″ by desired length+hem. For some reason the sleeve band says to cut a lining…don’t. Please note: The waistband piece is missing! You can either lengthen the bodice by about 1.25” OR cut a waistband measuring 1.5” tall by the width of the bodice after sewing. Sorry about that!
Authenticity notes:
It would have been more likely that the skirt was fitted to the waist with little box pleats all the way around. I spent way too long trying to make the math work out and have the pleats fit around the embroidery, but kept ending up with a skirt that wasn’t full enough. My compromise, as you can maybe see in the photo was to baste little box pleats in between the embroidered panels and then just gather the whole thing all the way around.
It’s also highly likely that the dress would have been embroidered all around the skirt, so the embroidery designs are broken up for you in case you’d like to try that.
If you’re making up your own soutache design, keep in mind that when you look at examples of the “real thing,” the braid designs are not perfect, especially at tiny doll scale. The patterns in magazines do not always show perfect symmetry, and when being sewn, each little curve and loop in a design like this would have been wrapped around a pin and stitched down by hand. I tried to reflect that “organic,” handmade sort of feeling in my design, even though with a computer it’s actually easier and faster to make each loop perfect and symmetrical.
Don’t forget to check back to week 1 and make sure your boots match the dress! I bet they would like some braid on them too LOL 🙂
AG Gabriela in this week’s projectAG Evette in this week’s project
Too hot to sleep? You probably need a summer nightgown…
Most French Fashion Doll (FFD) trousseaux include a lot of lingerie. This ranged from chemises and pantaloons to nightgowns, blouses, fake sleeves, chemisettes, etc. Although it’s very common to find long-sleeved, floor-length nightgowns, as well as robes, bed-jackets, combing jackets, shawls intended for night time, etc. in FFD collections, I have yet to run across anything specifically labeled as a nightgown that a doll would have slept in during the summer. (If you have, please comment and let me know!) I’m going to make an assumption, then, that it’s possible a chemise would have been used for sleeping in hot weather, instead of a heavy flannel gown.
There are some links in the pdf to see examples of period chemises – this is sort of a hybrid of the two with a yoke similar to one and sleeves like another. 🙂
Ugh. This was a nightmare to put together. No, don’t worry, the sewing is easy-peasy. But the pattern pieces wouldn’t paste at the correct size, so I exported them as separate pdfs, but then the program to combine them messed up the text when I tried to turn them into one pdf, and then wordpress wouldn’t allow you to conveniently download them all together as a zip file 🙄 Make sure you get all three! Also, make sure to check scaling and the inch box on the pattern pieces to make sure they’re correct!
What is a sew-along if you can’t see what everyone else is sewing?
Some of you have been asking about sharing your pix and seeing what others have done – I have a few options! If you’re on instagram, you can tag them jenwrenne and then see all of the tagged ones here: https://www.instagram.com/jenwrenne/tagged/
You can also post a comment with the link to your pix if you put them elsewhere!
I think there will be one more week of the SSA with a dress, and then possibly another bonus crochet project at the end. I actually do a TON of crocheting for dolls, but it’s challenging for me to write them down and get them posted. One thing that I absolutely love about crocheting is how it’s possible to easily alter things as you go along, which is not possible in knitting. Whatever I’m making, I’m constantly trying it on the doll and just increasing/decreasing as needed. But it seems like even when I try to be precise about writing down exactly what I did in each row, I will sometimes try to re-follow the instructions to make it again only to find out the stitch count doesn’t match or something and I have to make adjustments on the new project. So we’ll see…
What? It’s not an outfit to go with the boots? No, not yet. French fashion dolls were not just about the clothes, they had SO many other accessories too! While they probably slept under the finest silks and lace money could buy, our American dolls from that era slept under quilts! Specifically, patchwork quilts made of scraps, and it seemed necessary to make sure to include one in this collection.
Teaching girls to sew doll quilts using old fabric scraps seems to have been very popular back then, and there are many examples of doll quilts that survive today. Even if you didn’t have a piece of fabric large enough to sew a doll a new dress, I imagine even the humblest rag or corncob doll could have had a quilt!
Ours will be a little fancier than something a rag doll might have had. This type of quilt, where all your friends would make a square or just embroider their name on fabric for you to piece in was called an album or friendship quilt. Because so many modern quilters love to reproduce quilts from the era, there are LOTS of choices when it comes to fabric, and any dark/light/medium combination will work. The color combination I chose (deep pink/brown/tan) is a popular one in quilts from that period, and if you have a quilt store nearby that stocks reproduction fabrics, you might even get lucky enough to buy a pre-coordinated bundle in these colors like I did.
I had grandiose plans of having people embroider their names on a bunch of squares and sending them to me, and then sending them back a bunch of squares other people had done with different names like a real friendship quilt. Then visions of the post office losing things, or someone’s squares arriving late after the rest had already been mailed out, and all kinds of other complications arose before that post even got finished.
This will be far easier! Of course, it’s most authentic to embroider names by hand, but if you have an embroidery machine, or your sewing machine can embroider text, you can do this very quickly. If you don’t, it’s even faster to write names with a fabric marker.
French Fashion Dolls in their day were similar to 18” dolls of our day. No, they weren’t actually that big, though.
[pictured here: AG Evette and Patience Rohmer head painted by Jackie Chimpky on a resin reproduction body by Dollspart.]
They were made in a standard size so manufacturers of other things from seamstresses to miniature tea set makers could make things that would be in that scale. Artisans created all the things from “real life” that a well-to-do doll would need, including furniture, outfits for every possible occasion, and exquisite little accessories. These ranged from still-commonplace things in our era, like hair brushes and writing utensils to things only a wealthy doll of that era would possess, like opera glasses. The dolls also “needed” pets, like dogs, sheep, and horses.
Certain stores in Paris became destinations for little girls to obtain their dolls and outfit them with a complete trousseau. There are even accounts of dolls being sent to a seamstress to have an exquisitely stitched and perfectly fitted wardrobe. More on them next week!
Since I’m well aware that few readers of this blog have actual French Fashion Dolls, we’re going to use 18” dolls for our sew-along instead, and have more of an American focus to our clothes and projects while staying in that era. This week we have these adorable and easy to make boots!
Yes, the pattern piece page shows up and prints a bit blurry, thanks to the new software. I’m not yet sure what to do about that, but what’s important is the scaling and shape of the pieces is correct. Make sure you are clicking “print actual size” in your settings dialog when printing!
[You may want to skip this part and scroll to the summary in bold below]
After a long battle with slow, unreliable internet service, we were told that we “just” needed a new modem. So we bought the recommended one from our horrible internet provider, and, surprise! The computer wouldn’t connect to it. It’s only four years old, but “something” was “wrong” with the network card, so we had to get a new computer. Which did connect…to slow, unreliable internet service. When I say “slow” I mean a download of about 20 MB took over an hour after we disconnected every other device from the wifi. When I say “unreliable” I mean that it would randomly stop working over and over dozens of times per day.
So then, we got a new modem AGAIN, and dealt with more of the most awful customer service you can imagine, which basically consisted of them trying to convince us over and over that everything was actually OK. Finally, they sent a tech out, which they should have just done at the beginning of this whole mess. After he fixed some wires outside, we magically had actual internet service again. But the old computer still wouldn’t connect to it, so the fun process of installing software and transferring files to the new one started.
After installing the latest version of my drawing program it turns out…EVERYTHING ever done on the old version of the program won’t necessarily open at the correct size or with correct proportions.
Why am I telling you this? Because it means everything relevant to the 1930s sew along that I did was no longer available at a size I was sure was consistently correct. After a lot of thoughts of just giving up on the blog at the prospect of trying to redo everything, I remembered this isn’t a job, it’s a hobby. Since there’s no reason to do the blog if it’s not fun for me too, I decided to just start over with a fresh project on the new computer.
The second choice in the vote was for the era of French Fashion dolls, (roughly 1850s-1870s-ish) so I threw myself wholeheartedly into that project, bought a ton of fabric, and worked on getting ideas from old magazines of the time and planning them in 18” size. And then more life things happened…
In summary, the SSA is changing to the second-choice vote, and will be starting soon.
While you wait, you might want to work on this “tidy.”
The original graphed pattern was intended for netting, which is not a very well-known craft these days. Cross stitch is an easy option for using graphed patterns like this, and I turned it into a simple drawstring bag that’s going to hold shoes and other little accessories.
Skilled with filet crochet or other types of needlework? What about trying to adapt this to a larger bag or doll bedspread or…?
You can also do a search for “French Fashion doll trousseau” and see many, many more examples of these types of costumes/accessories
1910s/20s
There are a few plans being considered for the 10s-20s, including a boy/girl twin set, paper dolls like Lettie Lane/Betty Bonnet/Dolly Dingle/etc. brought to life, and adaptations of actual doll patterns of those times resized for modern dolls.
1930s
would probably be Shirley Temple or Patsy doll patterns sized for modern dolls
All of these options would most likely be a coordinated wardrobe for various activities of the era sized for some modern doll.
Note: You need to be signed in to ensure you only vote once, but it will not record your email so your response is anonymous. Again, I’m going to close the poll Monday morning so get your vote in now!
After you’re done with your latest dress made from a fat quarter, do you just recycle the cardboard that came inside? Keep it! I especially like it for the soles of shoes, but here is yet another use!
Hangers for doll sizes besides AG and Barbie can be hard to buy commercially, so this is an option that will work for Sasha and Wellie sizes.
Use this pattern to cut out a hanger, fold your cardboard in half, and use any nontoxic glue that works for paper (glue stick, tacky glue, etc.) to stick the two sides together. Weight it down with something if needed to flatten it out while the glue dries.
Did you get your nightgown or dress done from last week? Remember to post a link to your pic! Need some inspiration to get started? Check the pix in the comments to see what everyone else has made so far! If we reach our goal of 300 pix by June 24, there will be an extra free pattern for the cape and bonnet! I did find some that I had moderated that mysteriously went back into un-moderation and reposted them so they’re counted now too. FYI – your comments go to my email first for moderation before showing up here, so if your link doesn’t show up immediately, please just be patient! 😊
Here is a fun link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/363254380070 It’s a pic of this exact dress on a vintage doll. Whether it was actually made back then or more recently, I don’t know, but it’s certainly fun to browse antique shops or look online at vintage dolls and be confronted with a dress you absolutely know came from a certain pattern!
I have a love-hate relationship with this dress. In terms of its look, the party dress is my favorite because it’s totally unique. The hate part comes in with the absolutely AWFUL time I had resizing and fitting it, and then there is the challenge of sewing it for the first time. It’s a little difficult to wrap your brain around the ruffle and shoulder pieces the first time you make it. My step-by-step pix should be a help though, and after the first time, it’s much easier, so plan on making a couple of them! Use a fancy fabric for a flower girl or shorten the skirt and use a cotton print for a summer play dress. A lightweight batiste or eyelet would also make a perfect summer nightgown!
OK, as I write this we are at a grand total of…34 pix posted and as a reminder, we need 300 to get to the cape/bonnet pattern goal. (Scroll down to week one for more info) I’ll give it a week after week 4 is posted to get the pix up (so June 24 is the deadline)
OK! So if you missed week 1, you can get it here. If you missed last week’s pattern, you can get it here. That pattern was also resized for Sasha AND includes the sleeve from week 1 and a tutorial on how to “fake” a pinafore.
I made this for Sasha with the week 2 pattern and week 1 sleeve, but am fairly confident this week’s sleeve would work too. I don’t usually “name” my outfits, but I thought at first I’d call this “Mommy’s little helper” and how cute it would be to take pix of it on Toni in a 1950s play kitchen. That I don’t have. It’s equally cute in a forest setting, though. Doesn’t she look like Gretel ready to find a candy house?
For further inspiration – this was made for my Toni, not from this pattern, but from several different actual 1950s Toni patterns that I hybridized/modified. The embroidery was inspired by a vintage Vogart iron-on transfer you can see here: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/209628557626610240/
Now on to this week’s pattern!
It was originally intended to be a nightgown/housecoat and floor length. Of course, if you have some amazing little crocheted slippers you want to peep out, you’ll need to shorten it a little 🙂 You could also shorten it a lot and turn it into a dress.
Wellie Wisher Willa gets ready to start her day
Trendon Sasha in a shorter version of the robe to wear as a dress
This week’s dress continues our series with a lovely pinafore dress. This was a style popular all through the 40s and into the 50s. I made a really cute variation of it as a dress with sleeves and a fake pinafore on top, but haven’t gotten pix yet. Check back tomorrow – it should be up then!
So as not to rehash everything, I’ll ask you to go back to last week’s post for info on how the sew-along works this year. And…we need a LOT more pix to meet the goal, so keep posting! If you go into the comments from last week, you can see links to everyone’s creations.
I also resized last week’s pattern for my 16″ Toni and found it looks fabulous on AGAT and Sasha. Should you want to make matching big/little sister dresses, you can now get it here:
So I’m not sharing my muse, who happens to be a P91 Toni. I’m going to continue sewing for her on my own for now, because there’s something BIG in the works! Here is a spoiler pic:
The vote was roughly 50% for the 1950s and 25% each for 1930s and 40s, so this pattern should please 75% of the voters! 🙂
Butterick 6349 was originally published in the 1940s, and stayed in publication through the early 50s. I like it because it’s a little less derivative than a lot of 50s doll patterns, yet is more versatile than it seems. There are even a lot really fun mix/match possibilities with the pattern pieces themselves, which I’ll get into as we get to those patterns. I did need to make changes to the original pieces to make them fit, especially at the arms/sleeves, and updated a couple of construction techniques but the general mid-century feel of the clothes is the same. For example, closing with an overlap for buttons/snaps in the back instead of Velcro.
Doll is a reproduction Toni
Here’s how this year’s sew-along will work: Each pattern will be available in 14” size FREE on THURSDAY. Make sure to download it then, because it will be taken down on Friday, but yes, available to purchase in a multi-sized version later. I’m planning on 4 weeks, which would be 3 dresses and a nightgown, but the pattern also originally had a cape and a sweet little bonnet. Do you want me to post them too? Here’s your challenge: Get yourself and your friends sewing! Instead of doing this individually and sending a pattern just to the people that finish, I’m setting a group goal. Right now during the 4 weeks of free dress patterns, I’m aiming for 400 (total) comments with links to pix of what you sewed. You can post your pix anywhere online that you want (facebook, instagram, flickr, etc.) and then put a comment in blog for that week with the link to your pic. If we meet that goal, I’ll post the cape and bonnet patterns free for everyone! If not, it will be for sale later along with the other patterns which I’m probably going to be resizing for 16” dolls too.
Speaking of Resizing:
These were all originally fitted on a 14” Toni (p90) with a 7.25” bust and 6.75” waist
They will also fit others of a similar size like Wellie Wishers (no need to resize)
They fit vintage Nancy Famosa if you lengthen the bodice and skirt a little.
These dresses are a little loose on thinner 14” dolls like H4H and Betsy McCall – you might experiment with using the bodice and sleeve reduced at 90% but leaving the skirt measurements the same.
Enlarging 14” Toni patterns to 123% usually works fine for 16” dolls like Sasha/AGAT but as always when resizing, make a muslin first!
In keeping with the originals, these close with an overlap, which might help them fit even more dolls if you adjust the closure placement.
A word about darts: I don’t know what doll this was originally meant to fit, but it did have rather wide darts at the waist and fits my Toni better with them. If you’re using this for a doll with a more cylindrical shape such as Sasha, you might want to omit the darts or at least reduce their width. For all dolls, if you are resizing and want darts, baste the bodice together first and try on the doll to check the fit. If darts are needed, baste in place to ensure the fit is good before sewing.
I’m not answering any other resizing questions, it will take time away from getting next week’s post ready!
It’s that time of year! Vote for your choice of decade for the summer sew along below! (you might have to wait a few seconds for it to load)
I was thinking today that some of my favorite summer sew-alongs have been ones where I used vintage patterns and adapted them for modern dolls. My doll who’s going to be featured this year is a 16” vintage one that my husband won on ebay, who actually turned out to be in much better condition than I had feared given what he paid! Nope, not revealing yet who she is, but I will say that I just cannot stop sewing for her because she looks amazing in pretty much everything you put on her! 😊
SO, I’m going to base this year’s sew-along on an actual vintage doll pattern again, with the decade based on the results of your vote. If it matters, the size will be for a 16” doll – a little slimmer than Sasha/AGAT but the pattern will be easily resize-able/usable with vintage Nancy Famosa, Wellies, H4H, Toni, Betsy McCall, etc.
Hi everyone, I have a special treat/guest post for you today, courtesy of Susan M!
She made this adorable fairy costume for her glitter girl from this pattern:
Susan digitized the wings to do for machine embroidery and graciously agreed to share her embroidery files and step-by-step instructions with you here on the blog! I’d rate this project as something for people with at least intermediate machine-embroidery skills and enough crafting experience to know what your equipment can handle in terms of stitching through plastic when needed. If the plastic part intimidates you, you could leave the wings floppy as in the original or experiment with using an extra layer or two of water-soluble stabilizer and wetting it well, but not rinsing it out. I’ve found that often leads to a reasonable amount of stiffness for small projects.
(I have a Pfaff Creative Sensation and the hoop I used is 360 mm X 200 mm, enabling me to put both wings on one hoop.) If someone doesn’t have embroidery software to change the hoop, email me with your format type and hoop size you need. I’m at slmayhew0311@gmail.com
Instructions for In The Hoop Butterfly Wings:
Materials:
• 505 Spray adhesive organza ( enough for hooping) • Thin clear plastic sheet I used the sheet of very thin plastic to cut out Jennie’s wing pattern and then cut away 1/4″ all around so I wouldn’t be stitching through plastic on my embroidery machine. • Load the same thread in both the top and bobbin. I used all black.
1. Hoop 2 layers of organza with one layer of water soluble stabilizer in between the layers.
2. Stitch out the step fill part of the design. I used 3 different colors show in the embroidery design for each wing for user control, but in my case I used only black thread with gold organza.
3. At the second color change in the design, which straight stitches around the holes in the wings, I removed the hoop and cut away the threads from the jump stitches.
4. Lightly spray your clear plastic with 505 adhesive and position it on the back side of the design, well away from the edge, so you won’t stitch through the plastic.
5. Take another piece of organza, enough to cover the plastic and extending over the entire wing, spray the plastic that’s already adhered with 505, and attach the organza also, on top of the plastic. Re-insert your hoop into the machine.
6. Stitch the final stitching which is a satin stitch around the outer edge of the wing.
7. Repeat process for second wing.
8. Remove wings from hoop and cut close to the satin stitch. I used Fray Check around the outer edge, just to be safe.
9. I sewed a small strip of black plastic faux leather to the wings, and used black elastic straps to fit the doll. I needed my Juki 2010 to go through the plastic and wings.
What a busy couple of weeks it’s been! I am so thankful that today begins a week of Thanksgiving Break! To celebrate that, here is the final pattern in our Nancy Trousseau/A-line Series. Nancy had kind of a surprising number of coats, even at the very beginning of her wardrobe. The white one that came with the trousseau set was also sold separately as “Noche de estreno,” and then she had an animal-print faux-fur one called “En las carreras,” another plain light brown faux-fur called “Días de frío” and finally, a really cute raincoat called “Bajo la lluvia” or just “Lluvia.” You could use this basic pattern to make any of Nancy’s faux-fur coats, or check out some of the really fun fabrics available now in wild prints and colors that are so soft you just can’t stop petting them! 😊 For best results choose a furry fabric on the thin side, mine pictured here was about the thickness of a heavyweight fleece…which would also be a great option for a sportier version of this jacket and could be hemmed instead of lined.
Not one but TWO versions of original Nancy dresses this week! The blue one is part of the original trousseau we’re recreating and the red one is an easier alternative if the scarf collar seems too challenging for you. Or make both!
These are my interpretations of Nancy’s originals from the 1960s called “De mañana” and “De tarde”
Also in the pdf is a body comparison pic of how Nancy’s shape compares to dolls that might be more familiar to you and below is a view of how the dress looks on a Wellie Wisher. Please also check the comments section last week about some other resizing ideas!
Judging by last week’s comments, which is one way I gauge how popular a post was, the Soviet A-line book was not as much of a hit as I’d hoped. In a lateral move (still A-lines, same doll, same era) I switched gears to one of Nancy’s original “trousseau” sets. She had a few over the years, this one from the late 1960s included a dress similar to the one pictured here called “Presentación” that she came dressed in. It came in a few different colors, and was accompanied by a dress with a unique collar/scarf combo called “En la manaña” and a fluffy, white faux-fur coat.
OK, I just have to interject that sometimes I get so excited about sewing for one doll I think, “Oh wow, I’m just going to dedicate the next X weeks/months of my life to sewing for this doll!” With a few rare exceptions, I get tired before my ideas run out, but I am hoping to take Nancy from the 60s into the 70s with sewing and crochet projects. We’ll see how long it lasts LOL
The original Presentación dress had two layers; a shorter underdress and a longer, sheer overdress. The armholes and hemline were bound with bias or some kind of seam binding. Not my image but you can see a pic of an original here: https://i.pinimg.com/474x/c0/4f/b5/c04fb56e2e8dbcef6e78ef43c6689567.jpg
In this pattern, the underdress pattern is a suggested guideline, since I didn’t do mine that way, so take it with a grain of salt and consider doing a muslin to check since I didn’t.
To make things easier, I just cut mine the same (2 overdress layers) and basted the two layers together. The armholes and hem were then bound with extra lace, which in my case was a bit stretchy.
The A-line style is so adaptable, I was even able to make a couple of other dresses of hers with the same basic pattern by changing up collars and sleeves…yes, they are going to appear here soon! 😉
One last thing: This dress is SHORT! It was the style at the time, yes, but for a more modern doll you might consider lowering the hemline by quite a bit (check last week’s post for a guideline) or using it over leggings/pants.
Wren*Feathers 
You must be logged in to post a comment.