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I've been back from a vacation for a week and I've been extremely busy with a few custom orders, designing new things for the shop, and a very cool charity project. Here's a sneak peek at the a few new dolls and clothes, but I'm not quite ready to reveal the charity project just yet.
Also stay tuned for voting on the Beloved Handmade Doll Dress Contest and of course, the doll dressmaking class I will be starting.
Later this week I will be uploading a basic doll dress base for us to start the lessons with. I will use this base to teach some sewing techniques and some basic pattern drafting.
To even begin, you will most likely need to make some very rudimentary adjustments to ensure the pattern base fits your doll. So before altering this base pattern, I thought I'd show you my favorite pattern making and altering tools.
The most basic tool: a measuring tape. You will need to know lengths and circumferences of various parts of your doll before you make adjustments.
Basic
You will need to alter pattern pieces. This is best done by tracing with a pencil and tracing paper. Lots of erasing. More tracing. And sometimes getting a bit more accurate with graph paper. And when you think all is good, drawing a clean final version with a medium tipped black marker.
kind of basic
Although you can use tracing paper for your pattern pieces, I prefer freezer paper. You can trace onto it. And then you can iron the pieces onto your fabric for accurate and easy cutting. You can even copy onto it. Amazon sells sheets that go through your copier, which allows for easy replicating, enlarging and reducing. You can also just get a roll at the grocery store for a lot less money.
luxury items
Coming in the next few days...the base dress pattern pieces for a variety of dolls. Adobe illustrator and I are becoming friends (sort of) as I try to create these.
Thinking about starting to sew doll clothes?
Already sew doll clothes but would like to learn a few techniques?
Have a few doll clothes patterns but would like to have more?
Have a doll you'd like to sew for but do not have a pattern?
Through a series of blog posts, I am going show you how to make a few doll dress patterns and walk you through a number of doll clothing sewing techniques that I use.
We will start with making a base pattern to work off of. I will provide a base pattern for the following dolls:
Phoebe (of course)
Toddler Phoebe (of course again)
American Girl Doll
A Standard 16" Waldorf Doll
A Sasha Doll
I will then help you resize to fit your doll.
And then once we all have base dresses, I will teach you how to use that base to create a lot of other dress patterns. Along the way, as we sew the dresses, I will show you a few basic doll dress making techniques. Nothing fancy, but enough so you can make a number of kinds of dresses.
Are you ready? By the end of the week, I should have the base patterns ready to go. I'm still an Adobe Illustrator novice, but I'm getting better at the pattern tracing.
For the past few years, I’ve noticed a growing trend among doll-makers and other crafters to claim that their finished product is made from upcycled materials. It’s one of those terms that make consumers feel good about what they are buying. Sellers get to feel good and sell more, because consumers want products that they believe are good for the environment. Organic, recycled or upcycled are all terms that connotate environmental good.
But I started to wonder about the trend and the word, when I was confronted with an “upcycling” opportunity myself. Our family, like a lot of families, has a “Good Will” pile that we bring to a station in our town and the clothes are given to the Salvation Army (despite the name of our pile). For the past few weeks, three of my old J Crew merino cardigans have sat atop of the pile, sort of taunting me.
They could easily be washed, felted and made into upcycled doll clothing.
Three Sweaters, what should they be? A question about upcycling
The first step would have been throwing them in the washing machine to felt. The second step would be to cut them into doll clothing components. Both very easy steps, but both were irreversible. The sweaters could no longer be a sweater for someone else who was a little less fussy than me, possibly someone who could really use a free sweater.
I could not bring myself to take that next irreversible step, which led me to research the term upcycling. What exactly is it?
According to Wikipedia, upcycling "is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.”
I would not be doing that.
In fact I would be doing the opposite. I would be making a useful object, slightly less useful. Although there are many upcycled crafts that are making useful objects out of what people normally toss, this wasn’t one of them.
Maybe I could consider this recycling. I looked up that definition too (I have a Masters in Environmental Policy, you’d think I’d know these things):
Recycling is a process to change (waste) materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling) by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions (Wikipedia again).
Although I would be using used fabric instead of new, I would not be preventing the waste of the original product, since its destiny was not the waste stream. So I could rightfully not claim recycled either.
I do not want to judge other crafters, I have no idea what their original materials were before they were "upcycled", but I could not convert my sweaters into doll clothing, I realize that I am using new fabric, which is not exactly an environmental choice either, but using the sweaters would not qualify as upcycling. Repurposed yes, upcycled not so much.
But for now, I am keeping the sweaters in our “Good Will” pile, which should soon be packed up and donated.
But that actually wasn't why I wrote this post. I mostly have an issue of accuracy in labeling if you are going to sell your product as having environmental benefits.
Been busy with a few custom dolls and some new doll clothes. Here's a sneak peek:
A bit of my stash
I do not live near any good fabric stores. The nearest JoAnn"s is half an hour away and for me JoAnn's is hit or miss. Great for thread and sometimes a great find. I can't count on it. So I buy a lot of my fabrics online. Here's what I buy and a few great resources for where you can find it.
For sewing doll clothes I use a lot of quilting cottons, some natural knits, including bamboo and cotton and occasionally wool. Since it is the fabric that often inspires me, I love choosing it out.
Quilting cotton is a great weight for sewing small, it is not bulky, irons easily, can be used for a large variety of clothes. I am even experimenting with making a few dolls out of tea-dyed cotton (that's for a later blog post). Although small scale prints are easy to find, it can be fun to play with scale and use a larger scale on a small dress. I have several favorite online quilting cotton stores:
Hawthorne Threads: Large variety, often ship the same day as your order. They also group collections together. My only complaint. I like to see some sort of measurement on the photo of the fabric to determine scale and they don't do this.
Fabric Worm: Great collection of cottons, especially with playful children's themes. Large selection of organic cottons.
Cia's Palette: Do not add to their collection as often as others but also have discontinued fabrics.
Farmhouse Fabrics: Have a great selection of quality small scale plaids
I like to use soft squishy knits for tee shirts, leggings and pajamas. I prefer my knits to be from natural materials, this makes them feel good, but to have lycra or spandex, because this gives them 4 way stretch. Four-way stretch helps small hands get doll's clothing on easier. Here's where I find good knits:
Harts Fabrics; Great Selection of Bamboo Knits
Fabric Worm: Great selection of organic cotton knits
Hawthorne Threads: A good place to get the Riley Blake knits, which are super basics
Once and a while I need good wool. Usually for winter coats, winter doll boots or maybe a skirt. I have found only one good source of wool online:
Mood fabrics: The online store is as overwhelming as the real thing in NYC.
Happy sewing small!
More stash
Over the last few years, as handmade has become more discovered and discoverable through the Internet, a whole new range of cool dolls is popping up. As a doll-maker I’ve been in awe of how other doll-makers have thought outside of the box. The result for parents is that in a digital age where parents are worried that their children’s imaginations could be languishing, there is now a range of toys and dolls that will spark imaginative play.
Ginger and the Wild Horses
The dolls from Minnie and the Monster are a very different type of doll. Like the company’s name, they are creative and extra sweet. The Minnie folk are carved out of sustainable wood. The dolls are then sanded, woodburned and then handpainted with nontoxic watercolors that are colored with lovely things like beetroot, wild mustard and black elderberry. They are then coated with an organic mix of lavender, beeswax and jojoba oil.
Minnie Folk coming into their own
Jennifer Browning is the creator of the Minnie Folk. Although the Minnies are small, the name of her company is not from the word “mini”. Minnie was a childhood friend of Jennifer’s grandmother, who Jennifer enjoyed hearing stories about.
“Minnie’s family came to America from Italy and opened a pasta shop. And while Minnie didn't have much in the way of material possessions, some of what she did have found its way into my grandmother's treasure drawer. And that's how I knew her. I never saw Minnie's picture, but I could imagine her wearing the beautiful blouse my grandmother kept folded and wrapped with a note that read, "Belonged to Minnie." So Minnie and the Monster is a humble tribute to Minnie, to her loyal and lovely spirit, and to my indomitable grandmother whom I loved. “
A custom family of Minnie Folk
Jennifer lives in Bend, Oregon with her husband and three children. The whole family has some role in her company. The idea for adding the “monster to the name came from her husband. “ My husband is an ultra runner, specializing in 100-mile mountain races. He's often referred to as a beast for his epic endeavors. He also happens to be the grand cutter of all my pieces, so I wanted to include him in my shop name. Minnie and the Beast didn't sound quite right.”
Her husband also assists with the cutting of the dolls and her children help inspire ideas for characters.
The dolls are small sturdy and are often sold in sets. The sets are often families or characters from popular stories or books, such as Little House on the Prairie or Goldilocks and the three bears or a Nativity scene. Or there are custom sets, like Ginger and the Wild Horses, was a custom request for a little red-headed lover of horses. Individual historical stars like Shakespeare, Amelia Earhart and Frida Kahlo also have become Minnies.
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Minnies have backs!
I imagine hours of playing and creating stories and scenes with Minnie characters since they can be perched on all sorts of landscapes throughout the house and yard. I can also imagine if my children were younger, collecting a few sets and expanding into a Minnie village.
Each character is drawn by hand, so no two are alike, so not only are Minnies adorable, they are works of art.
Minnie Folk can be found on Etsy.
And the Minnie and the Monster can be followed on Instagram.
The Shakespeares and their goose
Frida
I've been open for business just a little over six months. I have thoughts about what is working , what I should add, and all sorts of other fun ideas. But what's more important are your thoughts.
I really want to know what matters to you.
Clicking the image below takes you to a survey. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. You will receive a 15% discount in my Etsy store for sharing them.
Polka dotted Fabric: It's simple, at the moment its easy to come by, and it is nothing new. But I still love it. Always have and probably always will. I have a lot of it and I use it often. Some of my favorites are discontinued, but they are always new variations of dots on new fabrics. Over the last five years, dots are so common almost every designer has a version and every fabric store has a section.
My polka-dot obsession is apparent in my doll clothes, my own clothes and my house. My kids now choose out their own clothes and have escaped the dots.
For doll clothes dots are perfect. There's a range of scales that work and the pattern is the same horizontally and vertically, so laying out your pattern on small pieces of fabric is easier.
I own a lot of polka dot fabric. But these fabrics varie a lot once you start really looking and I'll explain why. Here are some of my favorites:
First and most obvious is color. Often polka dots are just two colors, foreground and background and this graphic simplicity is what is appealing. Sometimes they are more than one color dots which changes the look and feel--it amps up the playfulness. The dots can be colorful, the background can be colorful, or both, which is a bit much unless the tones are similar.
Colorful Dotted fabric
1. Sarah Jane Fabric by Michael Miller, swoon for everything she does
2. Bonnie and Camille from the Calliope Collection from Moda, most of their stuff has a retro but colorful feel
3. Amy Butler Lotus Collection, available everywhere. This dot pattern shows up all over the handmade world. I love how close together the dots are and that it is cream not white or off-white.
4. Aunt Grace by Marcus Brothers. This particular one is discontinued, but they still make a lot of retro polka dot fabric.
5. Funky Monkey Dots by Moda. Still available.
6. Calliope again. Several of you have Phoebe smocked dresses from this one.
7. American Jane fabric. These dots are discontinued but they often have dots in their newer lines.
Not so colorful, a different look
The lack of color gives a different look and feel.
1. and 3. Michael Miller Ta Dot. Available everywhere in a zillion colors.
2 and 4 . American Jane again.
Size of dot and how close together the dots are changes the look too.
I like big dots.
1. American Jane
2. Michael Miller Ta Dot
3. Ta Dot again
4. Amy Butler Lotus
5. My new favorite (and organic) Jay-Cyn from Birch fabrics
where is the best place for cute Polka dots:
Here are a few of my favorites (clicking through will bring you straight to the dot section):
Fabric.com (warning over 1000 but not all cute)
Coming next. Polka Dot Style--some polka dotty clothing combinations.
PS. there is no clear explanation for why they are called "polka" dots except that the polka was popular the first time they were trending.
I have been sewing for longer than the internet. In the 1990s when the Internet first became a part of many of our lives, it had little impact on my sewing life. I loved both things, but they were quite separate.
Twenty years later, and these two worlds definitely overlap. Not as much as knitting and the lovely world of Ravelry, but the sewing community is starting to gather.
I was quite interested when someone from my online sewing community took a closer look at the online world of sewing. Amanda Lerum Faulkner of the SewPandiPatterns blog used Facebook and other social media to do a survey for a business class about who sews, why and their use of their use of the internet for sewing.
She received about 100 replies and from those replies, she saw some patterns. Some things despite the internet have not changed. The large majority of those who responded were women, most were between the ages of 25-44 and most had starting sewing before the age of twenty.
What I found interesting was what most people were sewing. From what I see online I would have thought quilts would have been hands down the winner, but although quilts are popular we are producing far more costumes and clothing than quilts. Amanda said since she sews historical costumes, the survey could be biased towards her peers. My guess is more of us enjoy photographing our quilts, so we see more of them. We are a little more shy about photographing our garments.
Amanda also quantified why we sew. Although economics and environmental reasons play a role, many found a more personal satisfaction from the craft.
Amanda also asked which sites do those who sew search for information and community. Pinterest was a clear number one with Etsy and Facebook close behind (this is my experience too)
One thing that surprised Amanda (and me once she pointed it out), "I think the thing that surprised me the most is how many responders said they use YouTube in relation to sewing. I have not really done that, it isn't the way I think about learning sewing. It is particularly popular among those in the 20's just learning to sew, these sewers essentially grew up with the internet and may not have someone to teach them the sewing techniques they want to learn"
How do people use the internet for sewing. Below are some of the more common reasons. I see myself in two of these. I love the inspiration, but also have to tune out the noise.
Thank you Amanda. This was a cool peak into how the community has evolved and is still evolving.
