Ikat Accordion Pleat Dress

On July 4th I went thrift shopping with a friend and found this awesome accordion pleated skirt originally from The Gap [1]. After a few days, though, I decided that this cotton, silk blend skirt was not for me and it ended up as sewing scraps.

                                                                               

Originally I was intending to use the Lisianthus Dress pattern by Melody Valerie Couture but it took a life of its own when I encountered issues due to my inexperience working with this type of fabric. But in the end I won.

 

  

Side detail

All in all, this dress made a great learning experience for me. There are some things I now know to look out for with fabrics that are light and fray very easily.

               

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Foot Notes

[1] I forgot to photograph the skirt before I took it apart but was able to find a picture of it through the magic of Google:

Image soure

Latest Doll Addition!

I am very excited to say that I received my Cecile doll from American Girl/ the Jill's Deal and Steals offer. Despite the fact she arrived with a  crooked wig, I will be keeping her as-is. I think it suits her.

The past few days I have been tossing around potential names I'd like to use for her.  Petra is the current front runner (I've been on an Ender's Game kick).

Blue Birds in Flight Dress

Hello, hello! Unfortunately, I will be taking a break from sewing for a while. I will not have a a sewing machine at my disposal for a while but before that happens here is my latest dress design. The design is based off of a dress I took apart for the fabric.  It features 100% cotton fabric, a smocked back, sweetheart neckline, and adjustable straps.

I found the original dress at Kohl's and fell in love with the fabric. While creating the pattern for the smaller dress, I referenced American Girl's Molly's Birthday dress to figure out the paneling on the bodice, the hair ribbon was borrowed from Samantha's Cranberry Holiday dress, and the necklace and boots came from Saige's Sparkle dress. 

SO Chambray Sleeveless Dress

I don't know whether to laugh or cry

 Have you ever had one of those moments where you suddenly figure something out you should have ages ago?  

Well I did while taking pictures yesterday. I could not get my pictures to have the lighting, depth, and balance so many others achieve but I couldn't figure out what was missing. Turns out I had "white balance" left on automatic when working in manual mode..... it made a difference  -_-.

I could't decided whether to be ecstatic or to cry it was so simple yet effective.

Anyways, my favorite season is here and Addy has been mixing and matching some new wardrobe options to suit the weather.

Fall Fashion Jump Start

With the fall coming up, I decided to get a head start on some wardrobe pieces for the fall season when cooler weather sets in.  The fall is my favorite season by far. I love the clothes that go with it, the temperature change, and the rich colors of the season.

All of the pieces for this outfit were created from Liberty Jane patterns (minus the shoes and necklace).  With a few alterations here and there. I made a few sewing hiccups but now i know what to look out for in the future such as making sure the jean vest panels are going the right direction!

When sewing it is always a good idea to double check things before you officially sew it together. 

I have had numerous occasions where I had to pull out the seam ripper and pull apart something I

 just did.  -_-

 The shirt Addy is wearing was up-cyled from an old, gently used, plain, white tank top. After sewing it together i added iron-on gem stones for a final touch.

Although the vest was left open for these pictures, it does have functioning buttons that do hook closed.

I love, love, love the jean patterns from Liberty Jane.  Tiny working pockets were even included in the pattern.  The pattern does not include a working fly but is held on the doll with a elastic waistband.  All you have to do is stretch the band and scooch it up over the doll's bottom. 

The fabric of the pants came from an up-cycled jacket.

Note: The shirt, vest and pants were made from or based off of Liberty Jane patterns.  The shoes are from American Girl Julie's Calico dress. The necklace was made by me from my own design.
Also, all images can be viewed larger by clicking on them.

My "Chobits" inspired dress for The Doll Wardrobe 2013 Fashion Design Challenge!

Hey everyone!  I'm excited to say that the blog The Doll Wardrobe is holding a sewing and design contest and I decided to enter.  So far 9 of the entries are posted but there may be more to come. Many of them look fantastic and I love looking through them all to see what others have created. I look forwards to seeing what else is in store for round 1.

Please check out and vote for mine (entry #6) and other entries here:  http://2013dwfashiondesignchallenge.blogspot.com/2013/07/entry-6.html

This is my entry for round. I created an empire waist line gown, inspired by regency era gowns and by a dress worn by the character Chi from the manga series "Chobits"

Chi's dress from "Chobits".

Regency era gown.

To achieve the floral decoration on the dress, I decided hand embroidery would be the best option.  I spent many hours with 5 different embroidery floss colors, an embroidery hoop, my fabric, and needles for this step but the end result was well worth the effort.

Below are a few more pictures of my final dress. I minimized them to conserve space but you can easily view them full sized to see details by clicking on an image.

                       

 You can also see more samples of this dress by viewing my entry on the contest page here (entry #6): http://2013dwfashiondesignchallenge.blogspot.com/2013/07/entry-6.html 

Also check out The Doll Wardrobe which is the blog hosting the contest.  It is a great source to read about clothes and fashion for 18 inch dolls.

So please. Take a moment to vote.  It will be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

Up-cycling Shirts

Making doll shirts is the perfect way to reuse favorite old t-shirts that no longer fit and to add variety to your collection. It is also a great source of fabric when experimenting with new patterns. I first started learning to make doll shirts through a free Liberty Jane Pattern. Once I felt confident which how the pattern pieces worked, I began sketching out my own patterns.  I tried out different necklines, sleeves, hems and more.  There is a lot of freedom when it comes to making a t-shirt truly unique.

My doll wardrobe was so full of little t-shirts all made from the same base pattern I was getting tired of it. So who says you should be limited keeping the front panel of a shirt 1 piece? I was inspired by the curved seam in the new "Tropical Bloom Outfit" by American Girl when I created the Tank top Samantha is wearing.

Tropical Bloom Shirt From AG

Up-cycling shirts is also a great way to give your dolls something name brand.  For the t-shirt Addy is wearing I made certain to include the little "Aeropostale"printed on the shirt.

Yellow Dog Shirt Project

I sometimes like to look back through photo albums of past family vacations.  One album I looked at, from the summer I was 12 years old, had an outfit that caught my attention. A yellow shirt I fondly remember wearing on hot days.  It had an oddly proportioned dog embroidered on with dark brown thread.

I lack a "mini-me" so Addy is my stand in.

Anyways, I had a similar color of knit fabric in my stash so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try some hand embroidery and sewing with stretchy fabrics.

The embroidery part was easy enough once i sketched out the little dog and had it in my embroidery hoop. It was the sewing with knit material that proved difficult.  I quickly learned thin and stretchy is a frustrating combo with fabric.  -_-   But after some work it turned out pretty well overall.  I picked up a few little tricks and am ready to tackle stretchy, knit materials again!

Note: The shorts are from a Liberty Jane pattern. The shirt also started from a free Liberty Jane pattern but I ended up fussing around with it.