Fall and the 2019 Asian Fabrics Quilt...

 

Moving right along with the quilt...after a few months!  All the triangles are ready to be sewn together. I thought if I posted that here it would get me going. I have a pile of the oranges and a pile of the greens and there isn't much difference in the values - this time it is all about the colors.  All Asian fabrics and ready to become a quilt. The blocks were 16.5, and from them I cut the triangles. I already have the Warm and Natural for the batting and the cotton flannel backing fabric ready to go. All I have to sew is sew the top together.

 The oranges in these fabrics remind me of Fall and we are now into Fall.

It's a Wrap! Simplicity 1484

 

Finished the little wrap dress from Simplicity 1484. What a nice pattern! The fit is perfect on Pilar. I added the little bow-flower to the closure, after using Velcro fabric adhesive for the closure.  That product works well. I still have some from a wedding clutch project of a couple years back. 

I put the little glitter pink shoes on her as well, and changed her glasses for the polka dot ones. These little cute doll accessories have me so amused! Brittany's and Sophia's on AMAZON are my favorites for these accessories.   

For the fabric, I used fat quarters of light cottons. These were low priced, but of nice quality though a bit thin, and had a nice set of patterns - from small to larger. I love to coordinate the fabrics and use the smaller scale for the bodice and the larger on the bottom. For dolls smaller scale patterns give a better look, but the larger scale add interest to parts of a garment! Just as we might wear a large scale print skirt, so may our dolls!  AMAZON has a nice selection of these cotton fat quarter sets. They are all imported and not the quality of a Kaufman fabric, but the good news is they are soft. Not the hard scratchy really cheap fat quarters you see at JAs in their lowest priced line. 

More about 1484 from Simplicity. This pattern has so many styles and is done so well. I will be choosing another few styles, probably E and then F, to sew up later on, but I have several other patterns cut out already and need to also make little Journey Girl shoes. 

I did buy my pattern on Etsy, where there are loads of previously owned but unused patterns for sale every day.  I do love to look at patterns on Etsy because you can have a list of favorites that you can refer to later.

Detour for Knit Funnel Neck Top Redraft...

So, back in April or so I made a self-drafted top in navy knit.  It really didn't fit in the shoulders or neckline, and the neckline, which was supposed to be a turtleneck (?!?) gaped horribly. So yesterday I whacked parts of the shoulders and neckline and resewed it, and today I marked the pattern up to match the garment. One of these days I will be in JAs and see a stretchy knit I like or a remnant of same, and make this up again because it is comfy and will be warmed in the Fall and Winter.

I had made this from a funnel neck LE's stretchy top I bought and love.  As you can see, my pattern drafts tend to be casually marked as far as the marker art. I do a lot of revisions and the main mark to get correctly on there is the grain line, and then of course the outline, and it is important to mark folds. All sorts of notes can be added!   I use a large roll of tracing paper from Blick's.  In the end the neck fits so much better and I added more height to the neck on the pattern for the next go.

18" Doll Patterns Big 4 PDF Pattern Storage Works in Progress...

I have lots of patterns now - that's for sure...I have dress D, the wrap, from Simplicity 1484 cut out and the bodice is lined and ready for the skirt step. 

Such a cute pattern!! So many selections here in this pattern that I like. I also love view B, but I have a couple of other patterns cut out and ready to go as well, including an Island Dress from the little Too Cute Doll Designs magazine. Another one cut out is the Flutter Sleeve Dress from HappyBannky.  And then another Simplicity, 1136 with the cutest yoke!  

That is what's cut out presently, but I have purchased probably way too many patterns from Etsy so I have my work cut out for me.....hahahha.....if only!  Meanwhile, storage of PDF patterns - someone was interested in this so I took a picture of my stored patterns - a few. I print the picture and the directions and so on two pages to a page, and then the patterns themselves at 100%. Saves paper. But you have to make sure you can read the directions at that size. Sometimes I also print out the full page if the directions have a summary sheet.  I would rather not sew with my tablet beside me peering at the tablet screen. It goes dark a lot, and paper seems better for this purpose.  Then my patterns are stored in 7x10 zippy plastic bags I sourced on AMAZON.  And then I toss 'em into a large ArtBin SuperSatchel.

New Dress for Vintage Doll...

Connie sits on the quilty I made her several years ago. Her last new outfit was in 1974, so she has been waiting awhile. I have had her since my 3d birthday, and she was restored in 1974 by my mother.  Mainly I want to sew for my 18" dolls, but Connie is a 22" baby doll who can wear newborn baby sized clothing. This dress is from a cute cotton print, and I used Simplicity Doll Pattern 4707, which is a favorite among doll sewing  enthusiasts.

This pattern is a reissue of a vintage doll pattern illustrated on the cover as you can see.    It was fun sewing this. Has a lined bodice, unlined skirt, and I cut the skirt and band as one piece because I didn't care to put a band on it.  Somehow the pattern of little chicks has a few upside down where I didn't pay attention when cutting but it doesn't seem to matter! :) The little sleeves and skirt sewed in well. 

Flutter Sleeve Dress That Became Cap Sleeved...

Yes, this is Kelsey, and she is a Journey Girl. Thus, she is slimmer than an American Girl Doll or my Kindred Hearts or my My Life dolls. This outfit is all too large but she needed a new outfit because she came in huge work boots and a flannel shirt plus a crazy little hat and skirt.  Nope.  So I already had this cut out - it is from HappyBankkyCraftyMommy.   I used two fat quarters which really were not the full measure of fabric that they should have been! That seems more common these days in fat quarters!  Anyway, first I ruined the sleeves by not cutting them properly, and then I realized I didn't have enough fabric to recut them. As well, I hadn't enough to cut the skirt on the fold. So I sewed up the front seam in the skirt and added a rick-rack touch. Then I hemmed what is actually the band of the sleeves and added them (with some gathering) to the garment after already finishing the lined bodice! this should fit my other dolls perfectly. It is large on Kelsey.  She is wearing Sophia's brand little pink glitter shoes. SO cute! Also too large.   I think I will need to learn to make JG shoes because there aren't any on the market as far as I can tell.  She is wearing Brittany's brand pink glasses from AMAZON as well.

Rosie's Summer Nightie and My Life As Hearing Aids

 

Finished this project!  It is the Summer Nightie from Rosie's Doll Clothes Patterns.  Bought the little slippers to go with the dolly nighties. LOVE the bunny slippers!!   The little nightie was easy, but the straps are the bit that takes some concentration. One of them is a bit crooked but not too much. :) Her glasses are starry and cute.    So my DDIL asked if there were hearing aids for dolls and YES, there are.   I bought some for this doll, who is now Pilar, and here they are on! She is a My Life Doll and it is the WALMART My Life brand that has the hearing aids. :) 

These fit perfectly and the glasses still work! Very nice going on the part of this brand!

A New Girl, and Some Summery Clothes...

Here are the gals in their Rosie's Doll Patterns tops and sarong. The pants are from another pattern, although quite like the Rosie's shorts.  I do not care for the look of the halter top on a soft body doll, but on the My Life Dolls , which have vinyl upper torsos, the halter and crop tops look good! :)  The first halter top took me three hours. I made silly errors like sewing right side to wrong, which even after 50+ years of sewing I still do occasionally. However the second halter top took under half an hour. So easy really.

I have about 8 outfits cut out to sew for them now, and they just got a new addition to the group. This is the My Life as Soccer Captain Hispanic dolly with her new glasses I purchased from Brittany's Doll accessories on AMAZON. LOVE the glasses!!  She does need to get out of those soccer clothes and into something summery though.

 

She is really cute. Love the hairdo. :)  She was a really good price on the AMAZON Warehouse. Usually things there have damaged original packaging but are in fine shape. She is the second doll I have bought there and it has worked out so very well! I have named my soccer girl Pilar, and she and her gals will be dressing in some rather more fancy outfits in the near future. :) 

2019 Vermont Quilt Festival

This year's show was perhaps the best I have attended. In terms of how it was organized and how it felt to take a class and shop, it was outstanding. The expo has two main buildings, and this year one was housing all the quilts - the quilts in the show as well as the exhibits of teacher quilts and the New York curated show of antique quilts. All is all a tremendous job is done by the organizers of the show.   The vendors were all in the other building, and this made for room to shop and room to sit. There were more benches and chairs this year, and that was much appreciated.  The food vendors were all top notch and I enjoyed two taco salads - one on the day we had a class and one the next day.  My good friend and I had a ball shopping, and even though we bought no big ticket items we each came home with something we couldn't get here locally. 

I featured this quilt up top, and this is the detail and the attribution. This was a lovely quilt - you just cannot imagine all the stitching that went into this lovely work of art. The pictures do not do it justice of course, as is usually the case with fabric art. 

The curated show of the New York Historical quilts was wonderful. Some really lovely work went into these quilts and some were amazingly colorful! The picture below is of my very favorite in this collection.

This is an absolutely beautiful quilt. Very old, and those colors still pop out at you like crazy!! I was stupefied for moments looking at it and just had to photograph it and its card.

1890, and still vibrant colors....just lovely.  Usually I am not a fan of orange, but in this quilt I love it!

Ladies enjoying these lovely detailed quilts - more from the New York Treasures collection!

We took RaNae Merrill's class called Free Motion Mastery in a Month.  It was a lot of fun. We did the half day, and I think it was a good class for beginners or for more experienced folks like my friend and I - we aren't experts but we have been around the quilting block awhile now and we have done several classes. RaNae is a born teacher, and her approach was so kind and so supportive. No negative remarks at all - just a "keep trying" approach if things weren't going well, and a "great work" approach if they were!! Very nice lady!  We had to shlep our own machines to this one, and it was one of the classes held at Vermont Technical College in Williston, just down the road from the Expo itself, which is in the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction.   Note the detailed variegated quilting in the quilt by RaNae above!  This was hanging in the Teacher's Quilts exhibit.

I took my trusty little Janome 8050, which while not actually a small machine compared to the Janome Jem, is smaller than some machines people managed to haul in there. HAHAHA.

Here is the Janome in her EverythingMary tote that was purchased just for this event! I will store the Janome in there though - it is handy.

And yes, there was one doll there at a booth with her "gramma." Belonging to the vendors daughter - she is traveling with the vendor to shows this year!  I bought the Indygo Junction pattern in the background...and couldn't resist this picture! 

And as a finale, my haul. Amazing how cute little coordinated fat quarters can be - planning on several doll outfits with these. And who could resist a 6"x8" Olfa mat and smaller cutter? Not me for sure. As to those Alpaca socks, I bought them at the EmptyPockets Alpaca Farm booth!  They feel like silk. I bought them because I wore my sandals and had begun to get a blister. I wanted socks, and outside of bulky wool, the wool and yarn vendors only had these, and oh how wonderful they are! I put fashion aside and popped them on and the blister had no chance.   Another year gone by - looking forward to the 2020 show already and hope many of you will be there too!

Doll Sewing After All These Years....18" Dolls....

Here is Paige in her little Crop Top and her little denim shorts - made from my old jeans which I cut apart for fabric. :)  And yes, those little saddle shoes are so darn cute it makes me smile over and over to see them!  Doll shoes are available online and come in so many cute iterations! 

So, Although I have not yet sewn up the dress I have cut out for my Connie, who is a 22" baby doll I received in 1947, I for some reason noticed dolls and doll clothing - oh yes, it was on PatternReview.com in the Doll Clothes thread - such lovely work people do. SO  -  I bought several patterns and a couple books, and off I went - then I bought one doll then another and now another. Cough. Yes, two are from AMAZON and are in the Kindred Hearts line and one is a My Life As Doll which although a WALMART brand, I purchased at AMAZON as well.   The dolls in the My Life As line are really pretty and well made, and the AMAZON KH dolls are very nice as well.  They are all very nice dolls and the one above is a Lotus Doll, one of the KH dolls, and she is just so pretty - I bought her the glasses, as I did my My Life As girl. :) ALL my dolls must have glasses.  

This is Cassidy (without her glasses) in the Kindred Hearts series, in a dress I made her. Home Sew has lovely little doll embellishments, and that's where her bow came from.  I have several little fat quarters and coordinates that I am planning on making into dolly dresses.  There are so many patterns out there for these dolls that it could be a never ending story of fun!!

This is my other Kindred Hearts Doll and she is the Lotus Doll. She is wearing the Crop Top and the Sarong Skirt from Rosie's Doll Clothing Patterns.  Rosie also has a course of doll sewing with free patterns to use in the classes and these are both featured. I did sign up for the class as it has many many videos of step by step construction of garments, and her voice and presentation are extremely pleasing!

Here is my My Life as a Winter Princess Doll in her little robe and jammie pants made from flannel I had left over from backing a quilt. :)

Cassidy in the crop top and wearing her glasses - which she came with!  I am sure more adventures are coming up!!

Catching Up With Table Runner and Two new tops....Bellavista from Itch To Stitch Headlines...

I did finish my Itch to Stitch Bellavista, probably the most popular top on PatternReview.com for awhile now. It *IS a nicely drafted pattern. I made the cowl way shorter, as I am short. I love the curving panel lines of the bodice - it fits so nicely, and is made to flare like that over the lower bodice and high hips. I think I made mine longer. My one critique is that the arms had to be completely redrawn for me. Even the largest size was a tight fit. I redrafted the whole sleeve pattern and redid the armhole on the bodice as well. Now it is a fit. As far as the shoulders - it was perfect.  I think the pattern sizing is a bit small, and I used the largest and next to largest sizes to cut. However people must like a snug fit because I suppose had I used a more stretchy fabric it would have had stretchy form fitted sleeves. I did not - so had to redo the sleeves. I wouldn't have likes a snug fit anyhow. I used a somewhat stretchy, rather on the upside of a midweight woven - it had a bit of stretch and is a synthetic blend, but not really made for this pattern. However, it worked and i like it - not crazy about a raw seam on the cowl either inside there, but that seems to be what the pattern wanted me to do so I did it - another time I will use another method - like you do with a turtleneck. Don't care for raw seams.

Finished the Bellavista in April along with a top I made from a self drafted pattern this didn't turn out so well, but it is very comfy and wearable - the neckline, instead of being like the funnel top it was drawn from, turned out to be a boat neck really - very odd and it is like a boat-cowl - if that's a thing!  HAHHA...but it used up the last of my garment fabrics so that's a good thing. Picture makes it look like an unformed entity but it is very comfy. :)

Here is the way the neckline and shoulders look - the rest is a drapy loose fit.  I may have another go at designing the neckline much better or maybe I won't.

This is a catch-up post really!! I did finish that table runner I was working on in the last post or so, and here it is!  Not the most artistic of table runners, but in person it looks better and it has a use already! I love it on my long coffee table. :)

Cranes and Pointy Kitty...

Pinned the Kaufman panel as a wall hanging today. Trying to make strides with projects I have had sitting around for a long time! I have had this panel and backing for several years - I also cut binding for the table runner and sewed eyes on my Pointy Kitty which had lost one. :)

I love crane panels. I know I have more than one in my hoard of Asian fabrics still. I don't know yet what I am going to do with the wall hanging - hang it on a wall? I just don't know. But it will come. 

Tabe Runner a GO....Cutter-Ruler excellent!

Pinned and ready to quilt! Going to FM of course. Yes, the backing is a rather startling contrast - doesn't really "match", eh? But this whole project is fabrics I want to use up - stash depletion is a GO!  There are other projects percolating around in my brain as well. They are only for me so if the backing doesn't match it won't matter, plus this makes it varied and multi-use - I can use either side of any of my table runners. :)

I have a pile of projects to cut out now, and before too long I will do it - now that we are in DST the light is inspiring! Stay tuned for more excitement. ;)

The Fiskars Cutter-Ruler is excellent. It really works. After I figured out how to position it - my fault not the cutters, we were a team. I highly recommend these gizmos!

2019 and New Projects...Table Runner...

New Year, new projects...simple coffee table runner out of old stash I have had for years. The sunflowers are Robert Kaufman and so pretty!  The kitties are prettier than the picture - the flash wiped them out!  Coffee table runner will be in the vicinity of 60" by 21".  I used my new Fiskars Rotary Cutter Ruler Combo.  And at AMAZON.  It is a great tool. I find I like it, and I am not mechanically inclined. Did not want an expensive machine thingie.  Took me a little while to get in the groove with it, so to speak, but I love it. I was cutting 12"x12" squares.  I usually use my Omnigrid squares but this time I wanted to see how this thing would work.

When progress happens I will write again. :)  There is a quilt plan as well and a couple of tops. Slow and steady maybe...Here is my review on PatternReview.