2016 - Page 11 of 12 - Handmade by Carolyn

a shearling jacket

07/02/2016 7:25 am \ 34 Comments \ Carolyn

As sneaky-peeked previously; my shearling jacket, and man, I’m so happy with it!! It turned out just exactly how I hoped, and was the most wonderfully cuddliest, comfiest thing to have with me in our recent visit to Japan; I loved bundling up in it each day in Tokyo and used it as a snuggly rug while on the plane… without a doubt the warmest coat I’ve ever made formyself, evah. Like wrapping myself in a fluffy blanket, and I was perfectly snug enough even in the subzero temperatures of Hokkaido.

Obviously, and with my usual attention to weather appropriate sewing ahem, I chose to get started on this super fluffy thing during the most heinously hot heat wave… 42C anyone? phew, try-ons were hideous. Seriously I question my sanity sometimes. Well, lots of times actually 😉 Anyway it was all worth it in the end, since I’m quite chuffed with how it turned out.

What is it about making jackets that is so enormously satisfying and fulfilling? I don’t know exactly why, but I always find jackets, and dresses too, to a slightly lesser extent; to be the projects that give me the biggest of happy warm fuzzy buzzes… 🙂

wrt this one; well I’ve wanted to make a shearling jacket for oh, about ten years now. Ever since the first time I clapped eyes upon one belonging to our friend S; a colleague of my husband’s who is always super suave and cool and has a slightly alternative, very hip and happening taste in clothing. He owns a beautifully thick, oversized shearling jacket that he’s had for years and years and trots it out every winter once or twice. Every single time I see it I’m struck all over again by how awesome it is and have harboured a secret desire for one of my own…

I bought the faux shearling from Spotlight and the burnished, dull metal buttons from Fabulous Fabrics. The pattern is loosely based upon McCalls 5276, a pattern I’ve had for years but only muslined once and not got any further… oops! I pretty much chose the pattern just for the collar alone, since I wanted that big oversized 70’s lapel collar on my jacket, but not much else.

My alterations included;
Body and sleeves slimmed down and lengthened somewhat.
Welt pockets added as described here,
Belt and belt loops added.
I also fine-tuned the front edge and collar to have it so I could happily wear it in a variety of ways… a) open, cardigan style b) buttoned up halfway with the lapels flared, c) buttoned up to the neck with the collar laid down in a peter pan style, and finally d) with the collar turned up and buttoned up right to the very top in a funnel-neck style. Also, having the belt tightened or hanging loose adds to the wearing options too.

Because I was using a shearling obviously I left off all facings and all edges are left raw. When working out how to seam the pieces together, I checked out a pattern for a shearling jacket from one of my Burda magazines… which mentioned overlapping some edges to be joined and top-stitching the overlaps to minimise bulk. So; I overlapped the shoulder seams in this way, and also the collar-to-neckline seam. The other seams; namely the sleeve, side and armscye seams are sewn right sides together in the conventional way.

Even though I used the McCalls collar, I still cut it a bit bigger on the edges – just in case!!- never forget the golden rule of sewing… you can always cut away but you can’t add it back… EVER!!! And then trimmed it here and there to allow it to sit how I wanted it to look, to fit how I was imagining my collar. I’m particularly pleased with how the collar looks when buttoned up to the neck like this..

I made the sleeves extra long, so I could turn them up and have a woolly “cuff” on the sleeve ends, and also made wrist strips. These are sewn to the sleeve, then wrapped around and buttoned to themselves. The seam allowance of the cuffs are topstitched down for a neat look when they are turned back, and then I stitched-in-the-ditch of the sleeve seam down to the sleeve so the cuffs stay folded up permanently.

Welt pockets: my tutorial for how to do the welt pockets is here

Buttonholes: I’ve written a separate post detailing how I did the buttonholes here, so as not to clog up this post more than it is already! aaaaaagh! picture overload!!

In summary; I thoroughly enjoyed having and wearing my cosy new jacket in the subzero temperatures of Japan, and now we’re back home…. and it’s 35C… lol! so it’s off to the back of the wardrobe with this fluffy hulk of a thing. See you again next winter, you snuggly bundle of cosiness!

Details:

Jacket; my own design based loosely upon McCalls 5276, faux shearling
Top; the twist top from Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi, in ivory ponte, and in charcoal ponte
Jeans; Burda 7863 modified to be flares, in ivory cotton denim, and made as regular bootcut in black cotton corduroy
Gloves; hand knit by me in 4ply charcoal merino, details here
Socks; hand knit by me in Noro 4ply, details here
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: coat, daily outfit, jacket, McCalls 5276, own design, parka

buttonholes in shearling; a tutorial

06/02/2016 6:46 pm \ 11 Comments \ Carolyn

When making my shearing jacket I came up to the important matter of buttonholes… what to have? I’d googled and pinned a few shearling jackets when planning the details and features that I wanted to have in my new jacket, but it’s not always easy to make out the finer construction details of the nitty gritty like buttonholes in far-away, full-length pictures on the net. As usual, it came down to knuckling down and working out how to do it myself.

I trialled several different types of buttonholes but am only sharing here the details of my two “finalists”, the two types I eventually decided upon using for my jacket.

Sewing details: I’m using a faux shearling, but this technique would be fine for real shearling too, as well as for thick leather or other thick and bulky, non-frayable fabrics. For real leathers which can be very thick and tough, use a leather needle and sturdy threads like upholstery or topstitching thread.

The first buttonhole, pictured above; is designed to look well-finished and to look identical from both sides of the fabric, meaning, both the suede outside and the woolly inside of the shearling fabric. I used this technique for down the front opening edges of my jacket and on the buttoned wrist bands. It is like the shearling version of a bound buttonhole, if you like.

Mark the buttonholes on the suede right side to be the same length as the buttons; in this case 2.5cm (1″), and cut two rectangular, self-fabric “bindings” per buttonhole, each the same width as the buttonhole – 2.5cm (1″) wide, and 2cm (6/8″) long. Trim away the shearling from the wrong side of the bindings as closely as possible, and cut the buttonhole slit in the fabric between the marking pins. I used a rotary cutter for the middle bit, for straightness and for a clean cut, then clipped into the ends with small sharp scissors.

Trim away the wool from around the buttonhole slit on the wrong side out to a width of 1cm (3/8″) each side

Wrap the bindings around the buttonhole edges and align edges top and underneath as neatly and as evenly as possible; pin. Stitch carefully along the long edge just inside the cut edges. Also, stitch-in-the-ditch along the short edges of the buttonhole also, to strengthen the slit and help prevent it from ripping out. Truth be told, I wouldn’t think ripping is all that likely in a tough fabric like shearling, but not impossible of course, so I reckoned it was better to be safe rather than sorry!

It’s more important for the stitching to be perfectly neat and even on the right side of the jacket than the wrong side, obviously. If the inside shows uneven edges, they can be trimmed off with small, sharp scissors.

And that’s it! pretty simple really. Apart from the fact that it looks almost smart and sorta polished as much as a raw-edged rustic technique can look, the beauty of this buttonhole is also that it looks identical from both right and wrong side of the fabric.. also I think the suede wrapped edges looks quite attractive against the woolly insides too!

The second type of buttonhole I devised is an easier, more workmanlike, “invisible” buttonhole, which is situated on the lapels and collars of my jacket. I wanted this one to be less obtrusive; to still look acceptably nice if seen from the outside of the coat, but more importantly to be as invisible as possible on the wrong, woolly side of the fabric. Reason; I wanted to have the option to wear the coat sometimes with the lapels and collar fully buttoned up, and also sometimes unbuttoned; and when unbuttoned I didn’t want them to show at all.

This one is like a letterbox-on-a-door, with an outside facing to reinforce and strengthen it on the right side. Cut a rectangle of shearling, 4cm (1 1/2″) wide and 1.5cm(5/8″) long, for each buttonhole, and trim away most of the wool from the wrong side. You can trim away the wool as completely as possible if desired, or if you want a frame of wool to fluff out around the edges, leave a slim border untrimmed around the edge. I decided a lightly woolly frame looks pretty cute, and couldn’t resist having it for my buttonholes.

fluffy edges are cute!!!

Pin the trimmed rectangle to the right side of the fabric where the buttonhole will be, and stitch just inside each edge. Remember to use white or ivory thread in the bobbin! Cut the buttonhole through both layers, using a rotary cutter for the middle bit, and snipping out to the edges with small sharp embroidery scissors.

I think it looks nice from the outside, but the best bit is that it is almost completely invisible on the wrong side!

For the button inside the collar, I needed something matching the woolly interior; and found the perfect, ivory tweed, covered button, originally from my grandmother’s stash and, knowing my grandmother, I expect it was salvaged from off of an old coat or skirt or something. Waste not want not! and I’m glad she did because it has finally found the perfect home 🙂

I hope my tutorial proves useful to someone… as always if it is helpful then please do leave a comment saying so. Thank you!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: buttons, tutorial

scarlet Miette

01/02/2016 6:31 pm \ 33 Comments \ Carolyn

My newest knitted creation is a cardigan; in a toasty, tomato-y, fiery, hot-chilli scarlet. Photographed most attractively against the snowy drifts of Hokkaido in Japan where it looks rather stunning, I think! I should come to Japan more often, so photogenic for photography. I’ve styled it tres fashion-y with my KMart snow boots, bought circa 2001, and my hired ski pants. O yea, rockin it fashioneestas!

Sorry to be repeating myself, but yes it is yet another Miette, a free downloadable pattern by Andi Satterlund… my fourth! Knitted up in Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran, again!… and this wool is so divine I just can’t stand it eeeeeeeee! The last time I was in Calico and Ivy I couldn’t help going over and fondling the new colours, and it took every bit of self restraint I possessed, which is a pretty pathetic supply in the first place I must admit, NOT to buy another new colour for yet another little cardigan. Honestly, I could easily have something in every colour way. Just adore each and every one, and can’t help thinking they’ll seem to be so very very me! This colour way is 360033, Scarlet.

The buttons are also from Calico and Ivy, and I sewed them on upside down, because the upper side was a little shiny for my taste. The underside has the perfect level of non-shiny matte-ness to suit the slightly lumpy, comfortable, homely look that this yarn has.

Everything else I’m wearing here is made by me, including as hinted on instagram, all the underthingies 🙂 In fact, my skiing holiday is an almost exclusively handmade affair… I knew I was taking a bit of a risk in packing nearly all me-made clothes, and most fortunately it has all worked out quite successfully, if I say so myself. The one non me-made thing I packed was a ski jacket. Actually, I’ve been having some thoughts on snow gear and how I reckon a person can make it fit into a handmade ethos… I think it is entirely possible! not that I’m an expert, haha. No West Australian can actually ever lay claim to knowing the ins and outs of snow gear, really! In spite of my snow-noobiness, I’m thinking of writing my thoughts here on the ol’ bloggeroonie soon…

Some knitterly notes mostly for my own alteration purposes…

3 1/4mm needles, size 42, 6 balls of the Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran. Switched the bust dart shaping to the underarm using the same little fix as described here for my previous, navy-blue Miette. Added two pattern repeats to the bottom edge; same as I have done for every one of my four versions of this same pattern. I just like that little bit of extra length, I think this suits me and my figure better than the original design, which is very cropped. This means picking up 78 stitches along each front edge. And 9 buttons too, natch.

Booyeah! done!

Details:

Cardigan; Miette, in Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran, colour scarlet 360033
Striped Tshirt; self-drafted, grey and ivory striped cotton jersey, details here
Cowl; own pattern, mustard 8ply merino, details and my pattern for this cowl is here
Armwarmers; own pattern, green 4ply 100% merino, details here and my pattern here
Gloves; from a 1963 Patons pamphlet, charcoal 4ply 100% merino, details here
Beanie; own pattern, cream Patons pure new wool, details here

also wearing socks and leggings made by me
Ski pants; hired
Snow boots; Kmart, circa 2001

Posted in: knitting \ Tagged: cardigan, daily outfit, knitting, Miette

Cassie’s bikini

23/01/2016 3:48 pm \ 28 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello!

so here is Cassie modelling her new bikini, previewed on instagram the other day. We both popped on our bathers this morning and headed off to the beach for a quick photo op, and of course a swim! aaaah, it was totally divine, like heaven. The water was crystal cool and clear and it was all just so delightful. Every time we head off to the beach I think “hmmm, should come down here more often…” but then we get busy and a few weeks go by just like that. I guess it wouldn’t feel like such a treat when we do get there, so maybe we’ve got just the right balance!

The colour may look a little familiar… remember when I told how Cassie had given me some lovely brick fabric from Fabulous Fabrics for my birthday, with which I was make my bathers this year? well this is the exact same stuff! Cassie liked it so much she bought some for herself too, to make her own bathers! We must’ve made a kinda funny sight this morning, in a Sound of Music kind of a way.

But anyway, sewing stuff re the bikini…

Cassie designed and made the top herself, basing the wrap-around band design on that of Madalynne’s free sierra bra pattern; except she drafted her own halter neck bodice pieces and gathered them gently underneath the bust into a double layered, turned out band. The band ties at the back in a self-tie, likewise the halter tie. All pieces are self-fabric lined.

I was commissioned to make the bottoms. I used the ClothHabit Watson briefs as a basic starting point, splicing the front piece and gusset together and cutting them together as one piece. I always do this mod every time I make this pattern. To get that tied-together-sides style; the side edges were extended by 2cm each side, and the elastic starts and ends at those extensions. The extensions were then just turned under to make casements, through which I threaded a little self-tie up and down each side. Meaning the bikini is held together at the side edges by this tie.

That’s it, really!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: bathers, Cassie, own design, sierra, watson

a palace skirt

16/01/2016 3:37 pm \ 50 Comments \ Carolyn

The latest instalment in my quest to “fun up” Cassie’s work wardrobe…

I dub thee the Palace skirt. Fabric a soft, heavy, slightly stretch sateen from Fabulous Fabrics. Of course. Pattern; Vogue 8363, my other favourite skirt pattern. Those discreet, yet deep, slanted pockets; so chic and so useful!

I had to buy quite a bit of the fabric in order to get the full printed panel and so as to have it centred on the skirt both front and back, and I only just managed to get the pieces out! Meaning, there was more wastage than I can normally tolerate… oh well, them’s the breaks when you choose an obvious large-scale print like this! The only downside.. notoriously fabric-hungry. 🙁 I only have the most awkwardly shaped scraps left. Oh well, it was worth it. I absolutely adore the print and am so damn happy with this skirt, I think it looks just gorgeous on her. I want one too!!

So I’m sending my daughter out into the world with naked men printed on her clothing… It’s art, ok?

And also, don’t you just hate it when people boast smugly about their perfect pattern matching?
*proceeds to boast smugly about my perfect pattern matching*

Actually, the print placement at the back gave me serious pause, and I’m talking specifically about that door there, ahem. I didn’t want to have the print off, I really wanted all of that magnificent palace room to be there on the skirt as beautifully as it appears on the fabric and just could’t see any way around the door, or any way of eliminating it either, but it just had to be there, right boom in the centre back of the skirt. The best way I could think of doing it was just to have it there, no apologies,and to make sure the print matched up as well as I could.

Pale silver-grey invisible zip from Fabulous Fabrics as well, all raw edges inside are overlocked inside to finish, and I finished all the edges before sewing the seams, so as to get maximum lee-way in matching up the print on the side seams as well. I managed to cut the pockets from the self fabric, only one had to be pieced at the bottom due to the difficulty in cutting out around that print satisfactorily. The pocket lining, pictured above, is silver-grey polyacetate lining fabric, scraps from le Stash.

The final verdict from the recipient…? “I can’t wait to wear it to work on Monday!”

Details:

Skirt; Vogue 8363, stretch sateen, my original review of this pattern here
Tshirt; Cotton on

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Cassie, skirt, Vogue 8363

set de la tree frog

15/01/2016 1:24 pm \ 27 Comments \ Carolyn

My new lingerie set is inspired by the red-eyed tree frog. Yes, really! and this is my “thing” for Jungle January, the fun yearly challenge set by Anne of Pretty Greivances.

Deja vu!! because last year I also made underdaks, also froggy-inspired.

photograph credit, Carey James Balboa; source

So, hello there, Agalychnis callidryas. This little cutie is native to the rain forests that extend from Mexico down through Central America to Columbia… and thank YOU, Wikipedia. Also according to Wikipedia, its name callidryas is derived from the Greek for beautiful wood nymph. So while I am wearing it I shall imagine myself as a … bwahaha, I’m joking of course, I cannot even type that with a straight face. Lol.

It’s an exquisite little creature, is it not? the colours are quite magnificent. So bright and vivid and with those eyes; big, round and true scarlet, with a vertically aligned pupil. I positioned my two-hole buttons accordingly, and used black thread on purpose to mimic that.

Well I reckon it’s the attention to the whimsical detail that becomes the most fun thing about making your own clothes!

Actually this was all a bit fortuitous… I kinda forgot about Jungle January, then Sue posted her dress and I was like doh! Jungle January! aaaaaagh! but as it turned out, I’d only just cut all the lingerie pieces of green jersey, like the night before. I’d managed to squeak these pieces out from the leftovers of a Tshirt… anyway, I looked at the colour and immediately thought “frog!”

So, with the perfect colour fabric (Fabulous Fabrics), plus it was already cut out and ready to go, I already had the blue fold-over elastic, navy blue underband elastic and the red buttons in Le Stash… so I just needed to dash out to Homecraft Textiles for some orange fold-over elastic; bob’s your uncle.

squeezing all details into one picture…

Patterns; both knickers are the Watson briefs and the bra is my favourite pattern, MakeBra 2610. This is hands down the most wearable of the bra patterns in my collection.

Oh, I mentioned the lingerie set was leftovers from a Tshirt? well, now seems a good enough time as any to blog about that too. Lime green jersey from Fabulous Fabrics, pattern is the Nettie byCloset Case patterns, my go-to Tshirt pattern. It’s actually way too hot for me to really wear it right now, it’s 37C phew! so this is like a 20 second photo shoot happening here. I bought this fabric at the same time as the black-and-white striped fabric for this recent skirt, because I reckoned they’d be kind cool together, Tim Burton-ish, in a good way.

Actually, this project is pretty funny to me; see, the Tshirt was really my primary objective, because I wanted more colour options in my Tshirt department… the lingerie was cut out just as a “oh, what the hey” afterthought because the fabric was already out. In all likelihood the pieces would have got shoved away like the three other unmade lingerie sets I’ve already cut out under the same circumstances…. oops! must make those too… *blush*

Then Jungle January breathed inspiration into those scrappy bits, and I got all excited and super focused and enthused about making the lingerie and it became a much bigger deal in my head… I almost forgot about that Tshirt!

Later edit; I eventually got tired of the Tshirt’s lime-green colour and dyed it brown, now it’s a delightfully sludgy shade of olive!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Closet Case files, cloth habit, jungle january, lingerie, makeBra 2610, Nettie, top, watson

zebra crossing

12/01/2016 6:24 pm \ 48 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a little black-and-white striped skirt… another Vogue 1247. How many is this by now? Okaaaay, just counted and this is version number seven, and that’s not even counting the ones that I made leaving the pockets off. Counting those ones too, this is version number fourteen. Wowza! what a great pattern this has been!

yes to the pockets this time

I bought the striped fabric from Fabulous Fabrics during their end of year sale. It was brand new in the store when I first spotted it and bought this bit, and it must have been popular because on my next visit a couple of weeks later, it had all gone! Don’t remember its composition… often when I buy something spontaneously like this I don’t pay much attention to “what” it actually is… whoops! bad me 🙂 However, the fabric is almost like a light upholstery; loosely woven, with slightly coarse, silk-like cords of fibre-dyed threads. Quite stiff and unpliable, and doesn’t hold a crease well.
I’ve been ironing it on the silk setting, and that seems to be about as much heat as it can take.

As usual I added length about 10cm or so to the bottom edge. I didn’t measure exactly, just made it so as finish off with a black stripe at the bottom of the front hem. Since I’d measured so as to have black at the top merging in to the black waistband, it felt balanced to have the black at the bottom too. And this turned out to be a nice length for me too. There’s a little bit of the next white stripe graduating out the bottom of the back but I’m ok with this, it felt a little short when I trialled taking it up so as to eliminate that.

The black waistband is just cut so as to have exactly one full black stripe showing… the seam allowances are both in the white stripe on either side.

The camouflaged waitress pockets on the front of the skirt was the result of some very obsessive measuring during the cutting stage… followed by obsessive pinning, basting, slow sewing, and then some obsessive unpicking and re-sewing. #muchobsessiveness

I used a pale yellow poplin to line the waistband and to bind the seam allowances inside with HongKong seaming…. and I absolutely LOVE how this looks! I don’t always bind my seam allowances, but it always feels so good when I do! aaaaaah, there’s nothing quite so nice and deeply deeply satisfying for the home seamster than to gaze contentedly upon some HongKong bound seaming, yes?

Hmmm, that came out sounding a bit more navel-gazing and pathetic than intended. Clearly I need a life. Or at least to get out a bit more…

Whatever; new skirt, in too-cool-for-school black and white stripe, love it, ultra happy. I think this is going to be a very useful little thing to have in the wardrobe. I’ve already tried it on with a few of my current rotation of tops and it just goes with almost everything… yay! I LOVE it with my warm floral shirtdress, worn underneath here, so much so that I’m seriously considering re-hemming the dress a little shorter, so I can wear this combo more often.

Detail:

Skirt, Vogue 1247; striped silk-like woven, my original review of this pattern here
Shirt; Burdastyle 05/2010;111, silk georgette, details here and my review of this pattern here
Slip (under); the Ruby slip, a free pattern by pattern scissors cloth available here; mine made in ivory crepe, details here
Shoes; bensimon, from seed boutique

horizontal seam? what horizontal seam? *self back pat*

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: skirt, Vogue 1247

world, meet Sally. Sally; world.

09/01/2016 2:20 pm \ 61 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello there. I’m Sally 🙂

Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve indulged in making something like a doll and doll’s clothes but omigosh, this was SO MUCH FUN. Honestly I think I’m just about to explode with the exquisite fun-ness of it all! I’m still on a bit of a high. All those cute teeny little bits and pieces. Quick as a snap, with barely any fussy finishing details. My inner child has been squealing fit to burst, here.

So, my Mum took me to to Calico and Ivy for my belated birthday present; and we chose this book The Making of a Rag Doll, by Jess Brown, and a little stack of fat quarters. I know, right? I’m so lucky: FABULOUS birthday present! This was on Thursday and I finished this lot last night, so obviously I just could not wait to immediately get stuck into making my doll.

LOOK HOW CUTE OMG I CAN’T STAND IT

So I’ve named her Sally, and she has a complete summer and winter wardrobe. I’ve made for her everything from the book, bar the patchwork quilt. I might make the patchwork quilt too, well… everyone needs a little bed on which to rest our weary red head, non?!!! but in the meantime I want to do something else with the leftover pieces of fat quarters and I’ll wait until I’ve finished that before assessing my scraps for the quilt.

WARNING: NSFW, the following picture depicts nudity, do not proceed if a naked body causes offence to your eyes… bwahahahaha! I’ve always wanted to say that in a blog post! gawd so juvenile. *eyeroll at self*

I made my doll as per the book, but did my own face and hair design. I liked the face in the book but Craig reckoned it was a bit creepy … apologies to Jess Brown! Anyway I tried to make a face as sweet as possible, a fairly unsophisticated and simple design. I left her hair until last because I thought it would be the hardest bit and I was a little unsure about how to do it. The book has you just sew a piece of felt along the top, but I knew I wanted really thick woolly hair. As it turned out, doing the hair was lots of fun too, and I enjoyed every minute! I sewed strands of wool, two at a time, all over her scalp, so there is actually complete coverage of her scalp. I know from when I played with dolls as a child, my favourite dolls had complete hair coverage so that I could leave out or put up into pigtails or a pony tail, or do plaits… whatever I wanted. Even though I’m probably past the age of wanting to do my doll’s hair – or maybe NOT?! Anyway I still wanted proper hair. I absolutely love her wild shaggy mane of hair and decided to leave it untrimmed and just as is.

this first picture is the closest match to her actual hair colour

She has:

a summer wardrobe, comprising knickerbockers, a sundress, a pompom necklace, and a newspaper hat,

and; a winter wardrobe, comprising a long sleeved dress, an overcoat and a beanie. She also has an apron, for housework, and a little tote bag. A tote bag! eeeee the cuteness!

This whole project was heaps of fun. I know I keep repeating that, but honestly, the whole time I was playing about with this I just kept thinking “Omigod, so. Much. Fun!” you know, one of those projects where you cannot bear to put it down but you just want to keep doing a little bit more. Then a little bit more. Some, if not most of her clothes took a mere handful of minutes each; SO zippy and super super easy. And fun. Did I mention it was fun?

yup, she’s standing in a soup ladle. She has trouble standing up by herself

My materials; Sally herself is unbleached calico, stuffed with Australian-made Hobby-fill from Spotlight, pom pom for her necklace also from Spotlight. Hair is Morris Empire Superwash merino 4ply, in colour 441, Rust Twist, from my sock wool stash. Fabric for clothing; a bundle of fat quarters from Calico and Ivy, the ribbon for the tote bag handle was cut from the ribbon holding the fat quarters together. Also some scrap ribbons, yarn, embroidery thread, button, and other small bits and bobs from my stash.

My only slight regret is that the ends of the embroidery yarns show up a little bit behind her face… I tried to hide them in the stuffing as I went but evidently my calico is wide-weave and a little see-through, and as I stuffed her head, compressing the stuffing has forced the thread ends forward a bit. Well, we live and learn, I’ll know to be more careful about this next time.

don’t want to wear your beanie, Sally? Just stuff it in your TOTE BAG!

Quickie review:

The Making of a Rag Doll, Jess Brown

Hardcover book, 136 pages, high quality paper, beautifully photographed and all over a very attractive presentation. Would be equally nice as a coffee table book actually!

The book contains patterns and full instructions for making the 41cm doll, plus clothing and accessories; knickerbockers, a sundress, overcoat, long-sleeved dress, beanie, apron, tote bag, quilt and a newspaper hat.

The patterns are full size, printed on both sides of two sheets of sturdy thick brown paper, kept in a slotted page in the back of the book, and are clear and easy to trace.

Contents; introduction is a nice summary of the author’s journey in doll making, then the next 20 pages or so are devoted to explanation of basic sewing terms and notes on sourcing supplies of fabric, haberdashery and sewing tools. All the explanations are extremely detailed, starting from the absolute basics and aimed at the complete beginner to sewing. As in this could be an excellent first sewing gift for a child. Instructions are exhaustively thorough, well laid out, and most are also accompanied by simple illustrations. All measurements are helpfully given in both imperial and metric.

Summary; excellent for a beginner to sewing, but really anyone could enjoy this book too, I certainly did! I was initially attracted to it because of the cuteness of the doll and her clothes and found it all to be a super easy as well as an incredibly fun project. Highly recommended!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: doll, dollmaking, pattern review, the making of a rag doll

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