#dolls patterns

[74daysofsewing]

Pattern Overload!

I have a LOT of doll patterns that I've picked up over the years of hoarding fabric and patterns I was planning on making when I 'got better' at sewing.

I was planning on getting better via osmosis - the knowledge in the fibers and the paper instructions would magically seep into my brain despite my never actually practicing, reading or using any of them.

So aside from a huge stash of fabric with no patterns in mind, and a whole BUNCH of patterns that I now find I have no desire to make....

These are here. I'll got through them one by one for ease:

My Etsy patterns are from Pemberley Threads - these are historical patterns based on actual dresses worn in the past. I LOVE historical dress and am really excited to start these but I'm a little nervous as they are... complicated!

PemberleyThreads:

Elizabeth 1780s Jacket and Petticoat

 Anne Shirtwaist and Skirt

Antoinette 18th Century Cap and Stays Corset

Charlotte 1780s Robe a l'Anglaise

Simplicity:

1484

1443

S9500

S9566

S9567

S9516

S8942

3551

5276

8072

8714

McCalls:

M7734

M7006

Butterick:

B6150

B6320

[74daysofsewing]

McCalls 7006

I've started on this packet this week and... I'm not gonna lie, I'm not really loving it so far.

I've discovered I'm terrible at shoes - the pair the doll in the middle is wearing are... vile and misshapen and EXTREMELY hard to sew neatly. Actually looking at the picture you can see how uneven and wonky they look. The also suggest fabric for them, even though you can clearly see they are some kind of coated material like pleather, or vinyl.

Not only that, BUT the pattern packet suggests this super cute red vinyl jacket shown on the doll on the right should be made in twill or similar.... I know it's a little thing, but if you get the pattern pack, I kind of expect the instructions to show you how to get to the image? Obviously they won't tell you to get the colour or exact fabric but working with a material like that needs some different steps. They surely did NOT press those seams, or use pins!

This is my attempt at A and B. They are exactly the same except B has an applique on the front, which... is cheating. It makes it seem like there are more items in this pack and its already bloated to hell. I added an elastic in the white hem to try and combat the wavy edges I am CONSTANTLY getting with knits - this is user error and nothing to do with the pattern itself:

Now... I saw this jacket on the cover (the red one I complained about) and I knew exactly what I wanted to make it from. As I've mentioned in a previous post, I have built up a hoard of fabric and remnants over the years and although I might not use them, I certainly know what I have. I go through them every now and then, like a dragon with a special interest.

I had this light pink pearl faux leather/vinyl - its like a quarter yard and I found it in a offcuts box like 10 years ago, too small for anything.

But PERFECT for this:

Now - The size of this is wonky - so it's far more double breasted than the packet image, but I don't care because it meant that I could turn down the collar if I wanted and it looks fab. I used this IKEA floral I've had for a bit for the lining and honestly... aren't you in love? don't you just want this for yourself?

The skirt here is also from this pattern packet and... perhaps user error again but... I just didn't like it. i think maybe my netting was too stiff because gathering it down was a trial and a half, and the back ended up waaaaay chunky. However, the fit is good and it's the first skirt I've made in an age so it was fun to dress April up in something more girly.

Also Kass was not impressed by the baseball cap from the last pattern pack.

[stregacorvina]

Winter times...coats and future projects

Good morning and welcome back! ❤️ Another entry, so close to the last one, crazy right? 🤣 

As a New Year resolution I’ve decided to “force” myself to have a regular schedule for all my Social Media and to do so I bought the cutest planner ever! ❤️ It just arrived in the mail but I still need to receive the matching organizer to start planning my 2021! I can’t wait to start customizing it and to show you my process.

I need to fit in my weekly rotation this journal, my Etsy shop (or maybe more than one? 🤫 we’ll see...), Instagram, Facebook and of course all the commissions already booked and....2/3 new projects that I want to start next Year! But I am not revealing anything yet, it’s too soon and I have to figure out if I have enough hours in a day 🤣

They will be slowly revealed along the beginning of 2021, maybe the first couple of months, meanwhile I need some time to catch up with my commissions as I’m quite behind lately 😖 I am having some really bad backache problems that are really slowing me down and I cannot sew or work on my computer for more that 2/3 hours straight and it’s becaming so frustrating 🤬 I hope to solve these problems soon as I have a lot of new ideas and sewing projects to bring out to you next year! ✨ 

Speaking of new projects, today I wanna show show a little side project I did a couple of weeks ago, during a cold and rainy Sunday like today (I know this goes up on Monday but I am writing it on Sunday 🤣)

Some cute Tartan Coats for dolls! ❤️ (Lately I found making dolls clothes so relaxing!) You can find as usual these babies on my Etsy shop: here the listing for these ones in the pictures READY TO SHIP! and here the pattern if you want to make this coat for your dolls (different sizes available) 

This project marked also the first appearance of my new MSD doll, the purple haired one on the left. It’s not a “big brand” doll like the other 3 that I have (she cames from Aliexpress actually) but I decided to add her to my collection as I was missing a 1/4 size doll.

I make these coats from leftovers of other project as usual, as you know I started to make dolls clothes following a Zero waste philosophy to try to give new life to my several fabric scraps instead of throwing them away.

The green one on the left was made with the leftovers from a soft wool tartan I recently bought for myself to make a miniskirt (following a cute vintage pattern that I found on Pinterest)

The red one instead comes from taking apart some old Punk Lolita legwarmers that I made for sale ages ago, I don’t think I still have the original pictures... no wait I do! (you can see my old website template on the picture)

Well anyway, I decided to use these scraps to test a new pattern and so the MSD coat was born! ❤️

I was quite happy with this one so I decided to do a matching one for my SD dolls and also the red one was born!

OMG how short is the MSD compared to the SD 🤣 

Luckly I had in my stickers stash a lot of cute plastic buttons, the perfect size for the doll so I used the white ones for the green coat and the black ones on the red. The belt buckles as you can figure out came from the legwarmers.

I am really happy how they turned out, it started as a way to test new patterns and to spend the Sunday and the results were two cute little coats ❤

Here some pictures of my models and the finished coats.

I still have some leftovers from a jacket I made for myself during the first quarantine in March with some fucsia tartan so I think I will make another one soon, maybe for one of my Monster High dolls this time. If you are curious about the jacket, I will show you someday (I seems to not have taken any pictures when I sew it 😅 But this is the fabric) and if you are asking yourself...yes I really DO love tartan fabrics ❤️

What do you think about the coats? Do you like them? I hope you do! Should I make them also in “human” size? Let me know ❤️

I will be back soon with another entry, let’s try to stick to Mondays as new journal-day (so I will have the whole weekends to write) and we’ll see...

Meanwhile I hope you will have a wonderful Christmas 🌲even if you will be apart from your family (like I will 😢) and let’s try to enjoy the Holydays anyway!

See you very soon ❤️ 

Chiara (StregaCorvina)