AG Doll Go Everywhere Anorak Jacket

Yes! I sewed! Broken wrist and all. I was having withdrawals, so I just had to give it a try. It wasn't too bad... but pressing was a challenge. I won't be doing a lot of that for a while. Since typing on this keyboard is a challenge, too, I'm going to keep this short and sweet.

This is the Go Everywhere Anorak Jacket, and the pattern is from Pixie Faire. I had it about 90% done before my accident, so it didn't take long to finish it up. (Well, sorta... with a broken wrist, EVERYTHING takes a long time.)

It was easy to sew, and I love how it turned out. I made it from some brushed denim that I've had around here for probably 25+ years. Here are some progress pics.

Only the hood is lined. The inner seams are all finished with the serger.

Wonder clips were once again very useful.

I was so happy to get it finished, and I had just enough time to take advantage of the "golden hour" sunlight for photos. I knew the jacket would look good against the fall colors outside... but it was so windy that I had to prop Kit against the sedum to keep her from falling over. It worked, and I was very pleased with the photo quality.

So that's that. I'm itching to sew something else now (also itching inside my cast once in a while). I haven't tried rotary cutting yet, and I'm sure that'll present another challenge, but I have three different kinds of cutters, so surely one of them will work, right? I hope!

By the way, here's my "upgrade". Thankfully, it's much more streamlined, the best part of that being that it fits inside many of my sleeves, especially my winter coats!

Only about 2½ weeks to go........

AG Doll Footie Jammies... and other stuff

I didn't think I'd be showing you this for a while (I'll tell you why in a bit), but I guess I can do it, so here goes....

I happened to come across another Pixie Faire pattern a while back that was so cute I couldn't resist. (Have you heard that here before?) It was the Footie Jammies pattern. Could you have passed this by?

The pattern calls for 4-way stretch fabric, and I happened to have some stretchy velour that I'd gotten in an online grab bag several years ago. I also had some ribbing from back in my T-shirt sewing days when my kids were little... like 35+ years ago(!), and they worked together nicely.

The stretchiness was necessary for the jammies to fit properly. It was a bit challenging in places, but it also was forgiving when it came to seam allowances. The biggest problem I had was the ends of the ribbing above the zipper. They're kinda wonky, but Kit doesn't care. ;) I'm still very pleased with how the jammies turned out.

Soooo... the reason I thought I might not be posting for a while... here it is...

Yup, that's me. And that's my right wrist inside all the padding and bandage. (Of course I'm right-handed.) I tumbled down the three steps in our garage and landed on the cement floor. All because of a cat. If you know cats at all, you know how they yowl if they even 'think' you're gonna step on them... and you automatically jump, right? Well, I jumped and missed the step and it was downhill from there. Though it could've been way worse, I did a pretty good job, anyway. The surgeon put in a plate and 9 pins!

That was on the evening of Oct. 8th. (Good timing, as it was rainy and Grandpa was home and not out harvesting.) By now I have pretty good use of my fingers, but as you can imagine, typing is slow. Incidentally, the brace thingy keeps bumping the home key and sending me into a panic when all my painstaking work disappears! Ha! Thank goodness Blogger automatically 'Saves' often! Anyway, I'm really looking forward to getting my stitches out and a regular (less bulky) cast on next Monday.

Living one-handed, left-handed, is pretty slow. It takes forever to do anything. But I get there, and I'm blessed to be having no pain.

To make life even more interesting, we got this on Sunday. Exactly 6 months to the day, after our horrendous April blizzard. NOT a welcome sight to see!

Fortunately, it started melting quickly and was all gone in a couple days.

Actually, today it topped 70°! I'll take it! Crazy weather, anyway.

Don't look for me back here anytime soon. Not only is it too hard to type, but I CAN'T SEW! :( Well, I might be able to sew a little, but I can't use the iron. So 'bye for another 5 weeks or so... till I can finish the really cute project I had almost done before this happened.

Little things, more color

To cover up the previous post so I don't have to see those awful white photos every time I check my blog, I'm going to do another post right away. One with some color! 

I made a simple little pouch, because I needed something to store my large size Wonder Clips in. The fabric is canvas from one of Jess's older collections from several years ago.

I boxed the bottom wider than usual...

... so that it would open wide for easy access.

I used techniques that I learned from sewing Dog Under My Desk patterns, which are THE best. Look how those seams came together at the end of the zipper!

I'd also had so much fun making doll-sized "crocs" (the first of which you can see here) that I decided to make another pair.

The holes are made with a paper punch, and since I had a star punch, I went with that. Too fun!

So now there are two pairs!

Next up... a garment. But it isn't finished yet, so you'll have to wait. :)

I needed some color

We've had snowstorm after snowstorm this 'spring', and I'm sooo tired of seeing the white scenes out our windows. Many of you can relate. I decided I needed a quick, fun and colorful project to work on. At about the same time, I'd gotten the Pixie Faire newletter. You know the one... that comes every Friday and offers a free doll clothes pattern? I've gotten so many free patterns, although I confess I haven't made many of the items... yet (I have lots of good intentions). After downloading last week's free cute dress pattern, I happened to look back at the newsletter and made the mistake of scrolling down to see what other patterns were listed. I say "mistake", because all the patterns are so stinkin' adorable that I'm always tempted to buy, and on occasion have. This was one of those times! I couldn't resist. I bought.

I bought this pattern. And look what I made!

I've made little American Girl doll shoes before, some from patterns by the same writer, so I knew these would be pretty simple and fun to make. They certainly were! There was no sewing involved - just a lot of hot glue (which I admit I'm pretty messy at doing, but the photos hide that). The holes were made with a regular hole punch, and there are eyelets on the sides that hold the straps on.

I chose that color (which, thanks to Blogger's thinking it knows better than I do, is not quite true) so that they'd go with the dress I'd made for my doll from Jess's corduroy fabric. You can read more about that here. Below is Kit, modeling both the dress and the "crocs".

Yes, that in the background is some of the white that I'm so tired of seeing (and which we have potential for getting several inches more of this weekend). My sweet model got pretty chilly, but she didn't complain a bit. I was glad Grandpa didn't drive in while I was taking photos, or he'd have thought I'd lost my sanity for sure, since I was lying on my stomach on the cold cement. Hey, a photographer's gotta do what she's gotta do! At least I had a winter jacket on.

Making the little "crocs" was definitely a day brightener. In fact, I smiled and even giggled a little during the process and when seeing the final result, because of the cuteness. I think I just might make another pair while the how-to is fresh in my mind. I have a couple of colorful sewing projects lined up, too. So I'd better go get busy............

Surfrider Romper

I've managed a little other sewing besides the Port & Sort Tote. In fact, I'd started this project and had it ALMOST done when I got the pattern to test. Since it wasn't anything urgent, I put it aside until the testing was finished. So I finally finished it a couple days ago. I did take some progress photos along the way.

Yes, it's a garment. Yes, it's little. Very little, but still nearly as much work as making something for an adult. Basically, the seams are shorter. Ha. The bodice is fully lined even.

I made the romper from the pattern I got from Pixie Faire, the Surfrider Sundress & Romper. Here it is on my Kit. It's even for her, as her wardrobe is seriously lacking.

I love how it turned out. It was pretty easy to sew. I only had one problem, and that's that the pattern called for ¼" wide velcro down the front which is supposed to be stitched on from the top side (so you can't see the velcro while you're sewing) on top of topstitching that's already there and catching the velcro underneath. It was just too hard to catch that narrow strip! I ended up with several rows of stitching, none of which caught the velcro sufficiently. I finally ripped out all the stitches and used a wider strip of velcro, and that worked fine. In looking back at the pattern, the photo showing how to do it even had a wider strip in there! Wish I'd noticed that in the first place. Other than that, it was a breeze.

Easter gifts for Courtney

FINALLY I can show you what I made for Courtney for her Easter gift... I've been dying to show you for about 3 weeks (yeah, can you believe I had something done that far ahead of time? me, either!), but of course I couldn't because it might've spoiled the surprise.

First you must try to guess what I made. Here are 3 of the 4 pattern pieces. Keep in mind that those are ½" squares on my cutting mat. Can you guess?

Okay, what if I added the final piece... now can you guess?

In case you can't, here are the pieces turned over:

Yes, they're pattern pieces for a pair of loafers... very SMALL loafers! Finished they look like this:

Modeled by my assistant, Kit (true color above, not as dark as they look below):

Before making those, I'd also made a pair of sandals (from ribbon scraps and hair elastics):

You see, that's the problem when I go to the Pixie Faire website. Their patterns are just so darn cute that I can't resist! And I love making itty-bitty things. They're so quick and easy to make, and they're kind of a nice break from more complicated patterns. (Okay, that motorcycle jacket does not fall into the "quick and uncomplicated" category!) Mostly they're just plain fun. And so little - heehee!

Courtney was here all day on Monday because she had Easter vacation from school, and she brought her dolls along, so they got to try out their new shoes right away. Coincidentally, they happened to be wearing outfits (after we got them out of their nighties and dressed, that is) that went very well with their new footwear!

Here's a shot of the best friends!

You can about imagine that with Courtney being here for a full day, we had to do a little crafting. Or maybe more than a little. Of course I took pictures! Keep an eye out for them in future posts.

AG Doll Snuggly Summer Nighties and Knickers

Hmm... the ol' blog seems to have gotten sorta neglected lately. By me, at least. It's kind of taken a back seat to a lot of other things. Well, here's one of those "things"!

For Valentine's Day, I did my usual "un-sweet" (as in no candy/treats) thing for Courtney. I figure sewn items are much better for her teeth, etc. And since she got a new American Girl doll for Christmas, I thought that doll needed some new clothes... or something to sleep in, at least. So I made her a valentine-ish nightie!

(Modeled by my doll, Kit.)

And a pair of matching "knickers":

The pattern is from Pixie Faire, as usual. They have the darnedest cutest patterns! It was easy to sew, although I made it more time-consuming, of course, by adding the heart embellishments. I used knit fabrics, and for the bias binding, I used some thin double-knit fabric that my mother-in-law had given me some time ago. It had already been cut into 10" squares for a quilt, but I cut it into strips, and they happened to be just the right length, so I didn't even have to splice anything - yay! However, I've never seen a print so crooked on fabrics before (and I've seen some doozies!). I did have a hard time finding stripes that were straight enough for the binding, but they turned out okay. And the blooper I made on the back of one of the gowns by putting the binding on the wrong way hardly even shows. ;-Þ

Then, I was afraid Courtney's first doll would feel bad about the 2nd one having a new nightie and she didn't, so what could I do but.....

Heheh.... I have a feeling I will be making pairs of any future doll clothes. Which is fine, although doing them "assembly-line" does require lots of thread changing!

So here are Courtney's "Valentine"....

.... all set to "mix or match".

I think Courtney was quite pleased. She said she was going to put them on her dolls when she got home last night. They'll probably get a lot of use, because I think the dolls spend a lot of time in bed - ha! Why not, when they have such cute bunk beds and monogrammed blankies?! :)

My next project is already in the works! But Courtney had her own idea for a project when she got here after school yesterday, and we managed to finish it before Daddy arrived to pick her up. I'll be showing it to you soon!

American Girl doll Motorcycle Jacket

What do you do when you have a pattern for an American Girl doll Motorcycle Jacket that you snagged on a Pixie Faire Freebie Friday giveaway, plus some leftover faux leather from making a tote bag? I don't know about you, but I couldn't resist the temptation to make said jacket out of that faux leather. And THAT is what took up way more time than I anticipated before Christmas. BUT, I'm soooo happy with the result! Here it is:

And on my little model, Kit (it's really brown, like above, not black like it appears on her):

Up close:

It even has functioning WELT pockets... very LITTLE pockets,

and elbow patches on the sleeves.

It has tiny belt loops, and eyelets and a buckle in the belt.

It is fully lined, too.

It also has some imperfections that bug me, but they're really not that bad, all things considered. I blame them on the pleather.

If you're not familiar with the size of American Girl dolls, here's Kit on a real full-size motorcycle. Compare her smallness with the back rest or the saddlebag.

Yep, that's a very small jacket, with lots of tiny details! And lots of pieces - like 37(?) pieces plus zipper, eyelets and buckle! I found it a challenge to sew, although mainly because the faux leather was a bit too thick. It also couldn't be ironed into folds. I could press it with a press cloth, but it was springy and wouldn't begin to stay folded. So anything that needed pressed folds ended up being fold-as-you-sew... like that strip that made the quarter-folded belt loops... the belt loops that started out as a 1" wide strip and ended up being ¼" wide when finished. Yup... they were a challenge, to say the least.

Each time I made it through one difficult part, I'd think the worst was over. NOT! I think the hardest part of all was the very last part (not counting the belt, whose eyelets were a new experience for me)... hemming those tiny little sleeves. This pressed sleeve lining...

... had to go inside this outer sleeve that, yes, needed to be folded inward.

Wonder Clips were ever-so-helpful in this project...

... but they just seemed to get in the way here. I then found a forceps to be invaluable! I used it to pull the lining into place as I sewed, because my fingers were too big to work in that small space and hold things at the same time.

Yeah, that's a seam ripper in that photo. I had to make use of that a few times, too, unfortunately. But, I managed to get the project done... and in time for Christmas! So what if nobody got Christmas cards from us this year, right? ;)

What next? Umm... these canvas shoes somehow don't look right with the jacket:

Maybe something like this would be more appropriate, in some matching faux leather?

(Image from PixieFaire.com)

That pattern can be found here. Can I do it? I have plenty of eyelets and pleather. They really can't be any harder than the jacket! Can they???

Here's Miss Courtney on Christmas Eve, giving you another little size comparison of the jacket. It's actually about 6" across.

She was lucky enough to get another AG doll for Christmas! Will I make another jacket for that one, too? Maybe. But it won't be out of the same faux leather. Cute as it turned out, I just won't do it again. The pattern suggested micro suede, which I think would work considerably better. We'll see......