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.