Dolly and Me

Doll dressI was never a doll girl—at least, to the best of my memory. There were dolls in my childhood life, but they were never something I couldn’t live without or something that I spent time playing with. I’d rather play with this toy where you had a square green plastic plate with holes in it, a whole bunch of flowers (I especially remember the daffodils, which we didn’t have in Florida), and a planting tool with which you pushed the base of the flowers into the holes in the green square. I wish I could remember the name of that set so I could find it on eBay. I’d totally play with it today! (Just as my pushing-40 son loves to build Lego figures with his son.)

So when my DIL told me she was getting my DGD an American Girl® doll, I was kind of surprised. I have never envisioned DGD as a doll girl. But that first AG doll was followed a year or so later by another AG doll, and last November, when discussing Christmas lists, DGD told me her dolls needed Christmas party dresses. (Yes, I totally love that DGD just assumes I can make anything she suggests.)

Being the pushover grandma that I am, I started searching for 18″ doll clothing patterns. I found McCall’s 3474 on eBay and a lovely purple paisley velour in my stash (which later yielded a tunic top for DGD to match her doll’s outfit). And a pretty outfit for a doll emerged.

Here’s the review:

Pattern Description: View A has jacket, top, and skirt; view B has jacket, top, pants, hat and scarf; view C has lined vest, top, flared pants and beret; view D has lined vest, top and skirt; view E has top and skirt; view F has top and pants. I made View A jacket and skirt.

Pattern Sizing: One size.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? Simple well-thought-out construction and classic styling. Jacket collar very easy to construct. Because I used a knit, the fit was a little generous. If I make it again, I will use a woven fabric for a sleeker fit.

I think the beret is darling, and I will use the rest of the fabric scraps to make that after the rush of the New Year settles down.

Fabric Used: Stretch velour from my stash, probably polyester. Quarter-inch seam allowances were a little difficult to maintain because of how the right-sides-together velour tended to nestle into itself. I recommend a woven instead.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: Flat sleeve construction; topstitched skirt hem rather than handstitching (because of deadline – and DGD doesn’t care!). Used snaps for front closure and omitted the decorative buttons (only because all I could find on a rushed trip into Jo-Ann’s were too large for the scale of the jacket).

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes.

Conclusion: A cute classic pattern with multiple variations for an American Girl doll. If your DD or DGD is asking for clothes for her doll, you can do an entire wardrobe from this one pattern!

Velour_Seated

A Pretty Top for a Pretty Girl

Velour_SeatedWhen Butterick 5954 was released last fall, I ordered it as soon as it went on ClubBMV sale. In fact, I ordered two (one in each size) so I could make one for a friend. And that friend is … DearGrandDaughter.

Velour_BackFor Christmas, Ridley had asked for a Christmas party dress for one of her American Girl dolls. As I was nosing through my stash, I saw a lovely purple velour knit in a sort of paisley print. I believe I bought the fabric from fashionfabricsclub.com about 12 years ago. Simultaneously, I saw a pattern on eBay for pants, skirt, and jacket to fit the AG dolls. I made up the jacket and skirt out of the velour (review to follow), but then realized I had enough to make B5954 for Ridley.

You might remember when I made a top for her in early December. It was a Girls’ 14, and was shortwaisted. I stated then that I must measure her before making anything more. Let me tell you why I broke that edict—the December top fit her perfectly in the bust. Only the length was a problem. Velour_BackAt 10, she is about 5’6″. I looked at the Misses’ size chart for B5954, and saw that the Small would probably fit her in the bust exactly as the Girls’ 14 had. So I just took a chance.

Velour_HemWhen I delivered the tissue-wrapped top to her last night, the fit was perfect. Neither she nor I could have been happier. Success!!

[Picture at left, see the excess at the back seam which gives the flare. Picture at right allows you to see the dip in the back. The picture above of the front view doesn’t show that length difference.]

Here’s the review:

Pattern Description: MISSES TUNIC: Close-fitting and flared, pullover tunic has front variations, shaped hemline and narrow hem. Wrong side shows on back hemline. C and D: collar.
Designed for lightweight Two-way Stretch Knits. I chose view B – collarless and ¾-length sleeves.

Pattern Sizing: Combinations: Y(XSmall-Small-Medium), ZZ(Large-XLarge-XXLarge) I cut a Small.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow? I hardly used them. Only referred to how they wanted me to treat the neck opening.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I would have preferred to put a binding on the neck opening rather than just turning and top-stitching, but it turned out fine. If I make that same neckline for myself on a future version, I’ll use a binding that turns to the inside.

Loved the various versions. So much room for creativity!

Fabric Used: A velour (knit—fiber content unknown, probably polyester) purchased a thousand years ago from FashionFabricsClub.com.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: Cut the Small exactly as is. Used flat construction on the sleeves. Fused a soft knit interfacing to the hemline of sleeves and skirt. Used strips of the same interfacing on the back shoulder seam allowance to stablize that seam.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes and yes!

Conclusion: Beautiful, flattering top with a flare to the skirt. Lots of options for design possibilities. Bravo, Butterick!


What happens when you give a twirly girl a skirt with excess flare? Why, she twirls, of course.
Velour_Twirl

Fleece: an antidote for sub-freezing temps

Fleece BlanketIf you’ve read the newpapers or watched television or opened up Weather.Com in the recent week, you know that—along with the rest of the northern and eastern half of the Continental United States—we have been quaking in our long underwear. My son recently moved into a new-to-him, old-in-the-world-of-insulation house and has asked me for insulated drapes for windows.

R in blanketAs he was moving in and getting settled, he decided to paint a few of the rooms that were the most color-challenged. The Jazzman helped out, and the project involved taking Miss Ridley to the paint store and asking her what colors she would like her room to be. She settled on a pale lavender with yellow trim.

As I was thinking about ways to make the house warmer, I decided Ridley needed a new blanket for her bed. The colors would, of course, be pale lavender and yellow. I thought instantly of a no-sew fleece blanket my cousin had made for my mother several years ago. Searching the internet, I found the instructions I wanted. While in Jo-Ann’s looking for drapery fabric on the big-sale Saturday after Thanksgiving, I noticed the fleece was marked 80% off and threw a purple/yellow owl print into my cart, along with a coordinating turquoise solid. Yesterday I set to work.

FleeceWith help from the Jazzman, I spread the two fleece layers out on an open space in the foyer. I measured and trimmed to make it as much of a rectangle (rather than a quadrilateral) as possible. Then I turned on an audiobook on my iDevice, settled on the floor with tailor’s chalk, a quilting ruler, and a pair of very sharp scissors, and set out to cut “fringe” and tie square knots. Fleece blanketThe whole project, for a twin-bed size blanket, took about two hours. Today, my legs are barking and my forearms are crying, but the job is done. And without the use of even one needle.

Fun? Yes. I enjoyed making the blanket, especially knowing how much this sweet 10-year-old would love it. She loves everything I make for her, which makes it real easy for me to come up with other garments and gifts to make for her.

And, boy, does she love this blanket!

Letting it speak to you

FranceFramesAs I reviewed the photos I took in May on our tour of the Burgundy and Champagne regions of France, Paris and Giverny, I realized I had a number of flower photos that I really loved. I started toying with ideas of how best to display them.

I love looking at the pictures in the Houzz.com email newsletter and browsing Pinterest decorating ideas. At some point I saw a photo of white frames with white mats in a single horizontal line and thought these might be just what I wanted. I browsed several dozen sites searching just the right frame, then found them on sale at Pottery Barn. I ordered a set of five 9″x11″ frames with 4″x6″ openings and printed off my favorites of the photos. When I lined them up on the wall, they didn’t have the impact I expected. I had also ordered an 11″x13″ frame with 5″x7″ opening in which I placed the photo of the pond and the green footbridge at Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny. I had it alone on one wall, opposite where I envisioned the five-in-a-row frames, until a Boothbay Harbor photo I took on a Maine vacation called out to live on that wall.

Now that I was thinking of grouping the various-sized frames, I wanted an odd number. The five 9″x11″ frames plus the 11″x13″ frame needed a friend. I ordered a 9″x9″ frame with 4″x4″ opening and kept trying different photos in that frame until I found a shot I took of a charming window in the medieval walled city of Pérouges, France. Voila! My flowers were going to brighten my breakfast room.

White Frames in a Row

Frames all in a Row
Photo credit: http://www.sarahgordonhome.co.uk/friday-afternoon-qa-cont-hallways/

I laid them out on the floor and moved them around until I had something I liked, then—without measuring, aiming for an ordered randomness—I hammered the hangers into the wall. I liked the way everything looked except the top center frame. It wasn’t quite right, but I didn’t know how I wanted to change it. But every morning for about three weeks, I ate breakfast at the table in the room, facing those frames. And finally it hit me: center the top center frame between the top left and top right frame.

The Jazzman helped me measure and hang, and now I love it!

I just had to sit and observe long enough for it to tell me where it wanted to live.

Starting the Year Off Warmly

PCOnRecently I saw an ArtYarns post on Facebook that screamed “touch me.” PuffyCowl Really, just look at that thing of beauty. To look at it is to want it around one’s neck.

Before fully researching the pattern, I started dreaming about yarns. On a visit to my LYS, The Flaming Ice Cube, my friend Melinda pointed out a merino/tussah silk yarn in a sorta variegated/hand-painted teal that had some lighter streaks in it. This is my color! I quickly purchased it, then went home to find the pattern.

Oops. The pattern was only available from Mont-Tricot Yarns in Sutton, Quebec, Canada, free with the purchase of a hank of one of three ArtYarns varieties. Nowhere else. (Although soon it will be available from ArtYarns.)

I purchased the yarn on Wednesday or Thursday before a long, 6-performance weekend in Cleveland, and I badly wanted that pattern. So I did the only thing a knitter could do. I called Mont-Tricot and ordered a hank of the specified yarn. The lovely and customer-service-oriented Lucinda emailed me the pattern. I spent all my spare time over the weekend working on this cowl. I took it along to Asheville, NC, and Columbus, OH, for Christmas visits, and finished it about two hours before New Year’s Eve dinner.

PCFrontI had purchased a cashmere jewel-neck sweater (on sale at Talbot’s on Christmas Eve) specifically to wear with this cowl. That’s the sweater in the picture above. I’m standing on my back porch on New Year’s Day. The temperature is about 24 degrees, and there’s about four inches of snow behind me (and much more to follow tomorrow).

I love the cowl. Warm, soft, delicious.

PCBackAfter I finish a sweater for DGD’s American Girl doll, I’ll start the second version of this cowl, with my ArtYarns acquisition.

What do I love the most about this cowl? Besides the yumminess? The three-needle bind-off. Look at that beautiful finished seam! I’ve done two or three three-needle bind-offs now, and I just think it’s a brilliant way to finish a seam. So clean. So professional-looking.

Yep. More of these cowls to follow.

Wardrobe note: My earrings are from Hsu Studios in Berkeley Springs, WV. If you ever have a chance to visit Berkeley Springs on their open studio weekend in September, go! Anyone who loves handcrafts will be in heaven!! (Almost Heaven, West Virginia … Get it?)

Creativity Comes in Many Forms

(c) http://grinandbakeit.com/

(c) http://grinandbakeit.com/

My experiments with creativity involve fabric and thread or yarn or glass or clay or crystal beads. But for many people creativity involves vegetables and fruit and flour and meat. Art comes out in a lovely presentation.

That’s not me. I don’t like to cook. I cook out of love—to have something interesting and delicious ready for the Jazzman to eat when he gets home after a long day on the railroad. Not out of love for the process. For me, the hours spent preparing food could better be spent—definitely more enjoyably spent—cutting out a pattern or adding more rows to a knitting pattern.

I was in my friend’s home last night, looking at her exquisitely decorated Fraser Fir and eating her hand-crafted kolache. We were talking about all the work that goes into making kolache, and the satisfaction of making it instead of buying it.

Suddenly it dawned on me. My friend could buy a kolache, and it would be delicious. But when she makes her own kolache, she drifts away into the joyful satisfaction of measuring and mixing, forming and watching the rising process, baking and smelling the wonderful aroma.

I realized her joy in that process is the same as my joy in determining where on the printed fabric to place the pattern pieces, in using my wealth of sewing knowledge to fuse a light interfacing into the shoulder seam allowances, in slipping into the basted garment and realizing I’m going to love it.

Creativity is creativity, no matter what form. And creativity feeds us in many ways.

May you have a creative couple of days as we head toward 2014.

‘Tis the Season …

NotebookcoversOne of my great joys since my grandchildren started school has been to make holiday and end-of-year gifts for their teachers. Each year the teachers would get similar items, but each different. And all have been handmade.

One year it was handknit scarves, one year the mesh zipper bags that I love to make, one year little purses. I deliver the requisite quantity to my daughter-in-law, and the children pick out which item is “perfect for” which teacher.

CollageThis year it’s notebook covers. You know those fabulous Moleskine notebooks that you pick up each time you’re in Barnes & Noble? Yep, those. I found this great selection of fabrics in my local quilt store last week. They’re from the ‘Collage’ collection by Carrie Bloomston of Such Designs for Windham Fabrics. I’ve made padded notebook covers for the Moleskine notebooks. The lining is the newspaper collage fabric, so when the teacher uses up one of the notebooks and inserts another, she has inspiring words to read. The outside is the bright fabric – one with birds, one with polka dots, one with vertical stripes. And each has a tie to hold it closed in her bag.

Why, yes, I did make one for myself. Out of a jazzy piano keyboard fabric, of course.

What have you done for your kids’ or grandkids’ teachers this holiday season? They do so much for our beloved babes—how could I not put the effort into these lovely gifts?

And in my normal fashion, each year I wonder if the teachers wouldn’t just rather have a gift card to Staples or Barnes and Noble. And then I get a comment on Facebook that makes me smile the rest of the day:

Nesha, who has been my knitting friend for several years, and this year became my darling Boston’s teacher, posted on my Facebook page today:

Every year around this time, I read your posts and think, “Boy, I can hardly wait until those kids are in MY class!” At last!

Happy Grandma.

Creative Use of Selvedges

BlueTopI never wear blue. Probably the last time there was anything blue in my wardrobe when I was in a local sorority, Tyes, at Florida Technological University (now University of Central Florida) and our colors were blue and gold. I made a blue jumper for a rush party. (Wait for it … you know the photo is to follow.)

For the next year I will be serving as campaign treasurer for my friend, Michele Lepore Hagan, who is running for the Ohio House of Representatives seat her husband, Bob Hagan, is vacating. I went with Michele to the Mahoning County Board of Elections office to file her paperwork declaring her intent to run, and—in my best patriotic intention—wore my favorite red sweater. My friend, who served as Bob’s campaign treasurer, said, “You can’t wear read. That’s the Republicans’ color.” Well, duh. So I came home and started looking for something blue-but-not-too-blue.

BlueTopFabricI found this blue rayon print at GorgeousFabrics.com and grabbed enough to make another version of Katherine Tilton’s Vogue 8817. I’ve done this top before; here is a list of the blog posts. The fabric is very soft and cotton-y feeling. This will be a great three-seasons top.

Review:

Pattern Description: Close-fitting, pullover top has neck binding, seam detail, stitched hems, contrast variations, and optional double needle topstitching and silk screen motifs. A and B: sleeve bands. B:lower front cut on crosswise grain of fabric. D: purchased trim. Note: included are Katherine Tilton’s instructions for silk screening. This is view C/D.

Pattern Sizing: B5(8-10-12-14-16), F5(16-18-20-22-24) This is my fourth or fifth go-round with this pattern. I am 5’8″ and 38DD – I make no alterations in the pattern and love it as it is.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

Fabric Used: Rayon/lycra knit from Gorgeous Fabrics.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I cut the back a little shorter and straighter — left the length of the side seam as is and just straightened out the back a little.

I cut the middle front piece lengthwise along the selvedge, which was the darkest blue in the print.

The next time I make this top, I’ll do a vertical-only FBA, so the front won’t pull up. But really, if you don’t want to do an FBA, it’s fine as is.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Absolutely yes – five times yes!

Conclusion: Easy, flattering top with two very different versions – both equally flattering and easy to make. Looks good in a variety of fabrics.

See the full write-up on my blog, with photos and links to the other versions.


BlueTopBackHere’s a view of the back. I wish the Spousal Equivalent had gotten the hem, but one must take what she can get when relying on the kindness of housemates. I like how the hem dips down a little on the sides after my slicing a little off the back.

That guy on my shoulder in the picture is Angel, whose disposition is anything but angelic. He is part Maine Coon and lives life on his own terms. “Pet me twice. If you pet me a third time, I will attempt to bite your hand off.”

TyesBlueGoldI’ll be wearing this top to our next campaign event. I guess any blue is better than my fave red sweater. Oh, well. Politics is not about fashion, right?

And, here’s my Tyes rush costume, circa 1969: