MIA; Making Doll Clothes & Surviving Winter... Introducing PCR Doll Rags!

Greetings And Salutations Doll Friends!

Oh. My. Goodness.

I feel like I've just returned to planet Earth after having been away for... 

Weeks? Months? Years? Decades? 

In any case, away so long I feel like I've neglected ya'll and my little blog here despite all my wanting to get here and make posts the last few weeks. I've just felt like I've been slogging through quicksand or something. At least when it came to my entire grown-up 'To-Do' list of basics...

However, one thing I kept hearing from the Spirit as I was trying to keep my head above the water/quicksand was 

"Just do what you can do and do it as well as you can..." 

So...

I sewed in an attempt to keep my rattled nerves from coming apart at the seams! Also, to continue to teach myself some quick techniques and inexpensive cloth source options so I could pass the techniques and cloth source option ideas along to you fine folks, my sweet readers..

Another objective of my weeks months (?) long sewing frenzy was to start making a few of said doll clothes to sell in an upcoming Etsy Shoppe!

Or that's the plan...

My Doll Clothes 'line' is going to be called 

*insert-drum-roll-here*

Penniless Caucasian Rubbish Doll Rags!

Cos I have a weird sense of humor and it makes me giggle every time I think of it and...

I'll take my giggles where I can find them, lately. Eh?

The idea behind them is to sell very simple basics that can coordinate with other simple basics so, together, the items can help bulk up a doll wardrobe and provide as many style options as possible from each item. Therefore, most of the items will be separates, tops and bottoms or skirts and I want to try and make a great deal of it reversable as well so you can get two looks out of one item! So that's my working concept anyway...

One inexpensive cloth option that I took a bit of a risk with but was happily surprised by...? These 12x12 inch quilters blocks I got on Amazon. You get 50 different squares, no duplicates and mostly small and unique patterns. The only tricky part is that this size of fabric doesn't really lend itself to any manner of pattern sewing unless you're just going to use a 'chunk' of the fabric as an accent to a fabric you have in more abundance... You'll see what I mean by that in an upcoming post when I used one panel to make two bodices with coordinating fabric otherwise...

For now, I wanted to see what I could do in a really simple way to use the fabrics by themselves... And... I came up with a really simple skirt you can make using the blocks.

. Quick caveat: mind you I didn't pre-wash the fabrics... That may be a huge no-no but all I read on the reviews of the fabric on Amazon said that they frayed rather badly when they were prewashed and so I decided I'd sew with them first, using the zig-zag to keep any frays from ruining the finished product. I hope. I haven't laundered any of the finished skirts yet but plan to soon just to see how they stand up... But for now, especially if you're an adult collector like myself and likely won't need to launder your doll skirts very often, this might be a nifty way to get cute skirts in fabrics I literally don't think you'll find anywhere else. Fifty unique skirts, if you're willing to make that many, for less than $22!! (Well, not counting the thread...) That's not bad at all... Eh?

I, of course, fell in love with the kookiest of the bunch and set to work right away!! I literally giggle every time I look at the bear fabric you see above and hate to report I'll probably have to keep that skirt for myself because I just love it.... LOL 

That might be a problem actually with my upcoming Etsy store plans; 

"Oh I like this one too much to sell!!?" 

Just kidding!! I'll be good! I'll post it for sale and if it doesn't sell, it's mine! 

Oh wait..... LOL LOL LOL 

Can't tell I've been locked in four walls too long can you? I've begun to LOL at my own jokes. Thank goodness it's mid-March. 

Actually the winter has thawed but now my whole state is flooded... I am lucky, I am one of the few without problems other than taking on a bit of water in our basement... Pray for Nebraska if you don't mind, ok? I can't even wrap my mind around all the destruction the water has created. Mother Nature can really be a monster sometimes I am telling you. We are supposed to be getting even more rain today... So, yes, please pray if you're so inclined to be a praying person. 

(Which I highly recommend because Jesus rocks! but I digress yet again...)

Anyway, so back to the skirts... What I did was... 

I cut them in half exactly at the middle which made two 6x12 inch pieces, then I sewed the two pieces together to make a really long 6x24inch piece, see below:

Then pressed my seams open (because my Granny taught me right and it makes the end product much nicer and makes running the elastic through the eventual casing much easier! 

Next I zigzagged around the entire outside perimeter to prevent fraying and so that I would not loose as much length in the skirt from having to turn it under twice when hemming and/or creating the casing for the elastic at the top of the skirt. If that makes sense at all. I suppose you could also use a serger (spell?) but I don't own one nor do I know how to operate one and just looking at them kind of stresses me out... How do you even thread all that thread and where? So maybe a serger owner can help me by clarifying it it would work the same? 

So here you see the bear fabric all zig-zagged. 

All of them zig-zagged and ready for hems and casings... 

Did I mention I generally always sew things at least a few at a time. Having been a prior rubber stamper, I got used to doing 'productions' of things and it just seems nearly as easy to make 2-4 of an item as it is to make one... Right? Not to mench, the upcoming Etsy store will not stock itself. 

I sewed the hem 1/2 inch and the casing 3/4inch. I used the Dritz Easy Hem I got at a garage sale once... they work like a charm! Well, at least they make hemming a lot less annoying!! YouTube likely has lots of videos explaining how they work so I'll let you check them out if you're interested. 

This fabric was another favorite and one I'll have a hard time selling... What can I say? I love kooky and strange and wholly original fabrics and how much more original can you get than these whimisical kitty cats on bright yellow background? I love it!

Here's a better shot of the bear fabric one... I just love it. 

Here is Layla showing you the other 'side' of her reversable top... That's what I mean about wish that Penniless Caucasian Rubbish Doll Rags will be able to have as many of the items be reversable as possible. What could be more fun than having two tops in one? Eh? Well... I suppose there could be a lot more fun things than that but... Still, nifty and something I would've loved in my doll clothes as a girl. I had ONE reversable cape my Granny made and it's still an all time favorite of all my doll clothes. 

Here are Carissa, Taryn and Harper modeling more tops and skirts. 

(The pants Harper is wearing and leggings Carissa has on are ones I purchased, I didn't make them... I do plan to attempt pants soon though...)

I've made a few blunders... If you look at the fabric on Harpers top? The pattern is upside down. Ugh. I did that more than once and on more than one kind of item. You'd think it'd be a mistake you only make once but when I end up cutting like six items out at a time, I sometimes get in a hurry and... 

Upside down birds happen. 

Oops. 

Did I mention I am going to keep my mistakes? LOL

Maybe it's on purpose afterall? 

KIDDING!

Second batch of skirts...

And some of the finished products that I just didn't get a chance to have the models put on...

(I showed more about the top in this post,)

So I'll keep you posted about the Etsy Store as I work on getting it up and running!

Once again, I am out of time!

Better run!

XXOO
Heather

Glitter Girls At Tuesday Morning! Cute Shoes At Walmart!

Hi Doll Friends!

Look what I ran across at Tuesday Morning last week! I was so proud of myself for not buying anything! Don't think I wasn't tempted by the shoe/leggings sets!! They only Poppy left in the dolls, three of them were there.

Oh how I wanted to buy more clothes for my Wellie Wisher & Glitter Girl & Paola Reina & Heart4Hearts dolls! But... I was good and left them there. 

They also had these cute little puppies that were perfect sized for the dolls... But I didn't buy one! 

I also ran by Walmart recently and saw these cute shoes!!

That's it for now... Sorry about my somewhat sporadic nature of my posts lately. So many reasons for it but suffice to say I have way too many irons in the fire lately. Many of them are really great 'irons' but... Still making my time management skills not as good as they should be. I have many posts I am working on currently... So I'll get them posted eventually!

Have a great week!
XXOO
Heather

Aubrianna Visit's The Fairlfield!

Doll Friends!

This past weekend I went to a Ladies Retreat with Flatland Church. Unlike prior years, it was held at the actual church... So a friend and I got a hotel room so we could still have the slumber party aspect of the retreat and it was so much fun! Of course I brought along a doll... This time it was the beautiful Aubrianna! So, here are the photos... I also made a YouTube with more photos as well if you wanna check it out...

Better run!
XXOO
Heather

Sewing For My Dolls... Making Simple Basics!

Doll Friends,

As I have been mentioning recently, I have been bitten by the 'sewing bug' for sewing doll clothes for my lovely dolls. I am a bit of a doll clothes addict and recently have just begun to crave doll clothes that literally don't exist anywhere but my own imagination... However, I dreaded 'pattern sewing' because I know how tedious and time consuming it can be to make just one outfit. So... I started studying the Tubes-O-You for sewing tutorials. If you're curious the ones I have been watching, I've been saving them to a playlist I created so I can find them more easily myself. 

One of my favorite YouTube sewing teachers has become Diane Morello. She's got such a sweet soothing voice, much like a female sewing version of Bob Ross really. She's also a very good teacher and has so many videos she could be your sole teacher and you'd likely learn all you need to know about sewing doll clothes. Reecently, I've been using her basic bodice tutorial to make some of my own and it's been a lot of fun...

Here is my very first prototype. Don't mind poor Carissa's bad fasion choice here, I made her do it. LOL I wanted to show you the top though. I decided it went a little too deep into her arm pits though and so I modified the pattern....

My idea was/is that I would make them all reversable so there would be double the play value in each top. 

Here is my stack of cut out tops. 

Ready to pin!

As you can see, I've been using fabrics from actual clothes, in this case a mens shirt, for fabrics. Fabric is really expensive, I've found (at least to me who is cheap!) and I am finding I really like making doll clothes with these fabrics you literally can't buy in the stores. It's high quality fabric too, from makers like Polo Ralph Lauren. Anyway, I digress. But when you can get an entire shopping basket of clothes for a few bucks (my thrift stores do that once every few months... I love it!) you literally cannot go wrong!

Here is that first top... All I had to do to modify it down was to sew a second seam under that first one... See?

Here is my original 'pattern' and you can see the pencil marks where I modified it. I am sticking with strait lines because I want to share these patterns/techniques with you and so easy even a beginner could do them. If you can make a pillow (one of easiest sewing items to make really, four seams!) you can make this top. 

Here is a finished top with the pattern... Just to remind you not to forget seam allowances!

I got a bit braver after my first ten or so tops and decided to try and make some with straps... I am loving how they are coming out... Here is Juliet-Olivia modeling one of them. (The skirt is an OG skirt, I didn't make that...) Someday!

Here is my messy but happy sewing space. You saw this photo in my little post about my absence but I figured I'd show it to you in context. 

As you can see.... I recently decided to try more traditional bodices... After figuring out the basic procedure from this amazing video from Happy Bankky Crafty Mommy She also gives away her patterns and has written tutorials for this and the other patterns she gives away so she's fabulous! Anyway, I think making traditional bodices is going be something I can get faster and faster at. As you may notice I am all about everything being lined. Two reasons, one, I think it looks nicer and two, I think it's easier, honestly. I hate hate hate having to 'hem' the little area around the kneck on unlined items and I don't think it's very easy to make them look 'finished'. So... Line everything and you don't have that problem. Plus doll clothes need to be very sturdy if they are going to be used by acutal children and I think lined items just hold up better. 

So... I'll keep you posted. I am having a lot of fun sewing actually... Surprising even myself. But being able to make something with fabrics I choose in styles I decide/design? That my prove to be just a little more temptation than I can withstand. Hahaha. As a girl I actually always dreamed of growing up and designing clothes... Until someone told me there was loads of math involved and I ran for the hills! So... A lifelong dream, fullfilled, in doll size. Whodathunk?

Better run!
XXOO
Heather

Upcycling Doll Clothes From Girl Dresses!

                                                                           Doll Friends,

 I am so behind on everything in my life... I feel like this winter has sucked the life out of me and I can't seem to dot all the i's and cross all the t's. Again, let me apologize for being behind on answering comments! I've gotten so many sweet one's recently but as you can see, I am barely getting here to make actual posts... So I am hopeful that I will dig my way out of being behind on all things the same way I've been digging myself out of snow for weeks months years decades? now.

As I said recently and in my last post, I've been doing a bit of sewing in order to try and stay sane. It's worked, somewhat. LOL As I mentioned in that post, I have decided to take on pattern sewing for my dolls. As a girl, I sewed with my Granny every summer and she taught me very well exactly how to sew from patterns. So I knew well in advance how much more work it was than upcycling baby clothes into doll clothes as I've done so often in the past.

In my large bag of items I've purchased solely with upcycling doll clothes in mind were these two beautiful girls dresses. I don't know what compelled me to purchase them because upcycling them the way I've done smaller dresses is impossible. But I never could get rid of them... I guess I thought perhaps I'd make a simple skirt with them or something? In any case, I am so glad I held on to them because I had them to take apart and use the fabric and trims to make doll outfits with.

And here is Dallas modeling the outfit/dress I made over from one of them. I say 'outfit/dress' because I made them as 'separates' in the bodice isn't attached to the skirt. I have always loved 'separates' in fashion because you can change the look so much more easily. Having them be two items means I can put the skirt with other tops and the bodice with other skirts or pants. As a girl who loved dolls, my main 'want' was fashions I could mix and match so I'd have more outfit alternatives. I guess as a woman collector, I feel the same. Hahaha.

Mind you, these are far from perfect... I am kind of in the prototype making stage of teaching myself to sew again. I want to come up with some really easy methods for you, dear reader, to make some fashions for your own dollies. I'll post more about that when I have more to tell but suffice to say if/when I get some simple patterns and/or ideas put together I will certainly come and share them with you. 

Here we have Alyssa modeling the second outfit/dress. I love love love the fabric and colors of this one. It was actually a dress some seamstress had made for a little girl and so it's wholly original and I kind of liked the thought of remaking some other persons dress instead of it ending up in a rag bag somewhere. 

I closed them with snaps but I am beginning to lean towards using velcro on things. Snaps are so much more work because you have to sew them on by hand. They are more expensive too, now that I've looked into 'new' ones. I was using snaps I'd picked up at thrift stores over the years for next to nothing so when I saw what 'new' snaps cost I almost fell over. I tell you, when you live life as a thrifter who really doesn't buy anything new and/or full price unless I have no other options, sometimes the cost of things shock me. 

This one wasn't totally finished when I added these photos to drafts. I couldn't decide if I wanted it to tie in the back or if I wanted to try and make the straps attached...? As I sit here typing this I am thinking to myself "Which did I end up doing?" Hahaha. I am going to have to go look. I am telling you, the snow has addled my brains!!

Don't mind the silly white thread that I used to make the casing for the elastic. I didn't have any navy thread and I guess I could've used black... But sometimes I just go with that I have and roll with it. Since this dress is for me anyway, it doesn't bother me. I do, going forward, have plans to start making doll clothes to sell (more on that as soon as I am able to find the time to make a post about it but exciting times!) and they will be to much higher standards. 

I better run... Many a draft in this here computer to be finished. I hope this finds you staying warm and enjoying the first couple days of Lent.

Till next time!

XXOO

Heather

Sewing My Way Thru February! Stitches To Stay Sane!

Doll Friends!

February was a doozy this year... Cabin fever really started to eat my brains the last few weeks! So... I  have been sewing to distract myself! I’ll be back to posting more regularly soon...!! Here is a photo of my sewing space, my current happy place! Can’t wait to show y’all what I’ve been making!

XXOO
Heather

PS I am REALLY behind on answering comments so I’m sorry about that! I love getting them but I’ve just been in such a funk I can’t keep up with the “have-to” adult stuff... I’ll catch up as soon as possible! ❤️