Thank you so much!!!

About two weeks ago I received packets of fabric and trim from Purl Soho. I asked followers if anyone was interested in sewing for children in need. I did not expect such a sweet and amazing response. You are incredible!

Thank you so much! I have such amazing readers! I received approximately 70 responses from talented sewists generously donating their time to making doll dresses for children in need. Just reading all of the offers was amazing. I feel sad that i don't have enough Purl Soho packets for all of you.

I have selected six and will be photographing their dresses and maybe writing a few sentences on each as their dresses get shipped back.

I am in touch with the six and will be mailing them their Purl Soho packets within the next few days.

And I hope to do something like this again.

Thank you. I am truly touched.

ExtraSmall Phoebe Gets Her Own Dress Patterns

About a year ago, I started including a pattern with the purchase of a Phoebe doll. And from what I've been hearing ExtraSmall Phoebe would also like her own better set.

Introducing ExtraSmall Phoebe Gets Dressed. The pattern will be included with the purchase of each ExtraSmall doll.

The existing tutorials can be used for sewing these extra cute little clothes. But I will also do a few posts about sewing small, which can be tricky. 

The good news, all of those tiny pieces of fabric that you thought might not even be big enough to sew a doll dress are actually great for ExtraSmall doll dresses!

ExtraSmall Phoebe can be found right here.

This ExtraSmall Phoebe has quite the life!

When Phoebe&Egg dolls go out into the world, I am always happy to hear snippets about their new life. But this past month, two Phoebes got their own Instagram accounts. So I get regular peeks into their new lives.

One of them is an ExtraSmall Phoebe, whose has quite a big life for a little doll. Over the last few weeks, I've watched as she's acquired her own bedroom, books, teeny tiny doll, closet full of new clothes and some art lessons. And apparently there is a lot more in store for her.

A few scenes from Scout's Instagram feed

ExtraSmall Phoebe is called Scout the Phoebe or Scout for short. I am going to assume she was named after Scout in To Kill a Mocking Bird, since early on I saw her reading her one tiny one inch copy of the book.

Scout belongs to 14 year old Elena. Elena is very involved in all sorts of creative arts, drawing, painting, theater and making tiny bedrooms, furniture and books for Scout. And Elena's best friend Maggie, who is also involved in all aspects of the arts (that's how they met) is Scout's seamstress. She made Scout's amazing wardrobe. 

Elena

"I’ve always enjoyed sewing. I made a few (very tiny and very simple) rag dolls here and there, and then small stuff like pillows as presents for people. I also went to a camp where we would make larger rag dolls. I didn’t sew doll clothes or anything until I met Maggie."

"One day we decided to make two little matching dolls. They’re 6 inches tall! They were so much fun to make and I learned a lot along the way. Maggie has taught me almost everything I know about sewing, and I think that’s really cool.

"Now that I have Scout, we’re working on building her a huge wardrobe! Sometimes it’s fun to pour all your attention into one doll. 

"Maggie surprised me with THREE dresses for my birthday, and they’re all so perfect and adorable!

I planned Scout’s room long before I even ordered her, and making the bed, the lamp, the corkboard, and the wardrobe was so fun! I’m hoping to make the lower floor of her “apartment” into an art studio - Scout loves to craft! We’re planning on making miniature art supplies for her."

Maggie

I started sewing when I was about seven; I made a hand-sewn rag doll at camp. I got my machine when I was nine. I’m self taught (unfortunately, nobody else in my family loves to craft) and mostly sew dolls, stuffed animals, and doll clothes.

When I was younger, I would make up patterns whatever I wanted to make, so I made a lot of two-dimensional animals and doll skirts. After a couple of years I started using real patterns and got really into sewing for my dolls. I make them a lot of dresses and pajamas.( I want to make t-shirts, but I find knit fabric difficult to work with.) It’s really fun to make something that your dolls can then use afterwards.

Maggie's large rag dolls

"Right now, Elena and I are also in the midst of sewing larger rag dolls. We’re really excited for them; we thought hard about how we wanted them to look and picked out the perfect skin, hair, and eye colors. It will fun to sew clothes for them and give them personalities! Some of the most special dolls we’ve made, though, are Pippa and Peridot, two tiny rag dolls that we made together two summers ago." 

Talking to Ally of Ally Sews

I've said it a few times, I love Instagram. It's where I find incredible and inspiring makers. Like Alexandra Yount of Ally Sews.

Alexandra, who goes by Ally, sews gorgeous vibrant doll clothes. She currently sews and sells a lot of American Girl dresses, but she only recently added the American Girl line. 

How sweet are those little tote bags?

Ally opened her store two years ago and began by making and selling Waldorf doll clothes. 

"I opened my store at the very end of 2014 when I was 16, I didn't have that much fabric, just a few different prints, I liked cutting up clearance clothing from stores and using them for fabrics. I had shopped on Etsy for a while and researched selling handmade on there, I wanted to try opening a shop because I didn't have a job yet, I struggled finding one because I left school earlier than most.

"I made 20 or so Waldorf doll outfits to start and sat down one day and listed them all, I was so excited. I waited 2 months for my first sale which was a long time for me, then I started making Barbie clothes and that's when it all went crazy.

"Two months with no sales and then 12 months with over 700.

Ally now sells both on Etsy and on her website.

"Earlier this year I started making American girl doll clothes and that was a whole new craziness because there's such a huge fandom around that doll. It's been so fun, sewing and designing is my life now.

"I started out sewing for Waldorf and Barbie dolls, but I've made clothes for American Girl, Skipper, Chelsea, Stacie, Lammily, Lalaloopsy, Gotz dolls and a few others. The smaller the doll, the more difficult it is but I think the difficulty is just how fiddly it gets when you're trying to maneuver something so tiny around the sewing machine! 

"I read and follow a lot of children's/baby clothing blogs and I love the styles little girl's clothes are made in, its so hard to find patterns that are like that so I started trying to make the patterns that I loved in doll size. It took quite a few tries but it gets easier, it helps to have a model right next to you to measure and make adjustments with :)

My favorite things to sew are dresses! I love dresses. My least favorite is anything made out of knit fabric, I prefer working with non-stretchy materials....too bad, I love t-shirts, so I have to cope.

Three tips for sewing doll clothes. Can be for beginners. My top 3 tips would be:

1. Use pinking shears to clip curves, it saves time rather than snipping little triangles out by hand. I use them for trimming Peter Pan collar seams! 

2. Buy a mini iron for ironing hard to reach places, especially for Barbie clothes. My normal sized iron is so much bigger than the things I make so it's hard to only iron part of it without squashing it. 

3. Get a serger that has a narrow over locking stitch for finishing seam edges, it'll save so much time! 

You can find Ally her doll clothes:

On Instagram

On Etsy

And at allysews.com

Zamora Moon Update

Last week Zamora Moon traveled with her family to Bristol, England to undergo CED treatment for her brain tumor. My earlier post about her journey and her doll is here.

Today I received an update from her mother, Marisa. Zamora has braved the eleven hour surgery that inserted the catheter directly into her tumor, so that her chemotherapy can bypass the blood brain barrier. You can read more about the treatment here. She will have her first infusion in a couple of days.

For more information on DIPG brain tumors or to donate to continued and increased research, you can visit the Defeat DIPG website.

Also Zamora's fund raising site is here.

And in addition, please keep Zamora and her family in your thoughts.

Looking for Five People to Sew

As most of you know, for every doll sold I make and donate a doll to a child in need. So far it has been either a child in foster care or in the Family Promise program. Above are the dolls I make for girls ages 3-10. 

Last week I received an amazing donation from Purl Soho. They sent me six packets of fabrics and trims to be used in sewing for the foster children. Of course, the packets are amazing!

Packets from Purl Soho

I actually don't need any fabric (a bit of an understatement), but I'd love to give the packets to Phoebe&Egg friends who would love to sew for these dolls and children.

I was sent six packets, but one is spoken for. For five interested people who sew, I'll send a packet, my pattern and an envelope to send the dresses back. You can keep the pattern and the remaining fabric and trim, but must send the dresses you make to me to be donated with a doll.

I will take photos of the dolls with the dresses.

Packets from Purl Soho

If you are interested I'd love to hear from you.

The Zamora Moon bag

Marisa Martinez is both a Phoebe&Egg customer and the mother to eight year old  Zamora Martinez Lusinchi (Zamora Moon). Zamora is battling a rare form of childhood brain cancer called Diffuse intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). The tumor grows near the brain stem--the area of the brain that controls are most basic and necessary functions. About 200-400 children are diagnosed with this form of cancer each year. 

You can read more about DIPG here. And you can read more about Zamora right here.

Zamora named her much loved Phoebe doll "Forget" because she wants to forget she has cancer. And  her family and team are doing everything possible to try and make that a reality. She has travelled to Germany twice for immunotherapy and will be leaving this week for England for a chemo treatment that injects the treatment directly into her tumor.

Zamora's doll and her younger sister and her sister's Phoebe doll will all be accompanying Zamora to England, so I designed travel bags for them to make the trip easier and maybe a bit more fun.

The bag is made from a soft but sturdy brushed twill and lined in a bright cotton print. 

Inside there is a button up elasticized seatbelt for securely fastening your Phoebe doll in for trips. She won't fall out, but she can peek out over the top.

Phoebe is fastened in with an elasticized seatbelt.

Inside there is a pocket that closes with a button. It can hold her clothes and shoes for the trip.

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Each girl has their own color scheme.

I am hoping Zamora, her family and the dolls have a safe trip and that this is the treatment that cures her.

To support Zamora’s treatment, which will not be covered by insurance, please visit her Go Fund Me page.

To read more about Zamora, visit her FB page.

Doll Dressmaking Series: Long Sleeves for the Peasant Blouse

First apologies for the scant amount of blogging these last two months. I've been focusing on the ExtraSmalls and a number of custom orders and kind of neglected the blog and doll dressmaking. But I'm back. And I'm getting back to sleeves, which is where I left off.

My last tutorial was for long sleeves for the dresses. This tutorial is for long sleeves for the raglan peasant blouse (or dress). The short sleeve tutorial for the blouse is here. And the dress is here.

I am not going to repeat all of the instructions. Just skim over the making of the peasant blouse as discussed in the original tutorial, but with long sleeves. 

And of course the long sleeve pattern will be in the upcoming newsletter.

Cut out your pattern pieces, front and back (both the same) and the two sleeves.

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Sew three of the four "shoulder" seams. Make sure you are attaching a sleeve to a body and a body edge to a sleeve.

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On the bottom of each sleeve, fold under (to the wrong side of the fabric) 5/8 of an inch, press and stitch. This is the sleeve casing, meaning you will guide elastic through here.

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Do the same along the neck edge for the neck casing and elastic.

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Run elastic through the neck casing and then each of the sleeve casings. Directions for elastic and casings are here in the original tutorial. Finished wrist lengths (with the elastic) should measure as follows:

Phoebe: 3.5 inches, Sasha Dolls, 3 inches, American Girl and Waldorf: 4 inches. Neck length for Phoebe: 8.5 inches, Sasha 8 inches and AG and Waldorf 9-9.5 inches. Neck length is a bit of personal preference depending on how you like the neckline.

Stitch up the remaining "shoulder seam. 

Stitch up only one of the two side seams. Leaving one open makes it easier to add a trim on the bottom if one side is still open.

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Stitch trim onto bottom edge right sides together. Fold under and stitch down.

Stitch the other side seam and you are down.  Make the body a few inches longer and you have a dress.

Phoebe is a bit camera shy in this photo, but you can see the sleeve at least : )

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My love of custom dolls

This past week, I took the custom listings down from my site. Not because I don't love customs, but because I would like to refine the process, so that customers and I can more clearly mix and match all of the options and to make the process easier for both myself and most of all my customers.

But while I'm working on the customization worksheet I was also working on a few custom dolls. And well, as often happens, my customers come up with ideas that I love and would not have thought of.

Such as this girl. An artist Phoebe in her smock.

How lucky was I to have such an amazing request. 

And soon I will have the customization work sheet.

More of the ExtraSmall Phoebe

It's been a little over a week since the first extraSmall Phoebe was listed in my shop. A number of ExtraSmalls are now in their new homes. Some even have their own Instagram accounts. I love peeking into their lives.

I will continue to list ExtraSmall Phoebes and a few clothing sets over the next few weeks. 

I have been asked by several people if there are custom ExtraSmalls. There are. I'm not a magician, but please send me your ideas and I am happy to let you know if it is possible.

ExtraSmall Phoebe

ExtraSmall and Extra Cold

ExtraSmall Clothes

ExtraSmall Phoebe before she flew off to her new home

ExtraSmall Smocked Dress Set