The reveal

Awhile back, Jess decided it would be fun to have a dress made out of her new Time Warp fabric. She searched for patterns online, and in the meantime, I searched through my "vintage" patterns to see if there were any she might like. Here are a couple of mine that I sent her photos of, and she loved them!

Since I'd made dresses for myself from these patterns many, many, many years ago, I knew something about the fit in relation to their size charts, so I hoped I could get a reasonable fit for Jess from one of them.

Jess created a couple of mock-ups of dresses she thought would be cute, and if you happen to be followers of her Facebook page, you probably saw them.

Since one pattern had a sleeveless dress and the other had the pocket flaps and a collar of sorts, I combined the two. If you noticed, the patterns are two different sizes. Jess mailed me a couple of her dresses that fit well, so I compared them with the patterns to determine which one would work best. I used the smaller one, but fortunately I was able to use the sleeve facing from the larger one, as it fit the smaller armhole perfectly. (Apparently armhole sizes don't change much from one size to the next.)

Since neither pattern had a Peter Pan collar, which was Jess's favorite of the two designs, I just googled for a tutorial, and I ended up making my own pattern, which was pretty simple.

So that's how it all came together, and here, finally, is the result!

Jess was quite impressed that I even matched the print underneath the flaps. (Shhh... don't tell her, but I didn't actually plan that. Nice how it worked out, though, although I doubt she'll go around lifting the flaps for everyone to see! Ha!)

Of course you know how kids like to act silly when doing a photo shoot. My kid did, too:

Really, though, it was the photographer(hubby Alex)'s fault... he told her to act like a tiger for some reason. :) Scary, isn't she?!

You can click on the photos to enlarge them. And be sure to notice the coordinated orange bits on the shoes!

So, there... it's DONE! And it fits! *BIG HAPPY SIGH*

Vintage doll clothes, part 5

This is the final vintage doll clothes post. Gosh, this dolly almost had more clothes than Jess did back then!

A peek at my assistant hurrying along at her job....

And finally, one of my favorite outfits. I love the little pinafore.

That's it, folks! Thanks for following along... and especially for your nice comments!

Now I should do some more 'current' sewing to show you. I have NO projects in the works. How sad is that? But I have a free weekend coming up (as in no cooking, mainly - hurray!), so I'd better figure out something quickly!

Vintage doll clothes, part 4

My little assistant insisted on assisting (say that 3 times fast!) by putting the baby in the photo tent each time. She didn't appreciate getting her photo taken in the process, though. ;)

This is a little sunsuit or romper or whatever you want to call it (Courtney calls it a swimsuit). It seems to have very stretched-out-over-the-years elastic in the legs. It's made from scraps of fabric I'd used to make a shirt for Grandpa. There will be no modeling by him, although I could probably dig up a photo of him wearing it way back then, along with a pair of double knit pants and sport coat I'd also made. But I won't, even though he was pretty good-looking with his dark hair and sideburns. ;)

Did you notice how tan that baby was? Gotta be a sunsuit! Ha! (Or poor photo editing.)

Below we have blue jeans and a sleeveless shirt. I'd made myself a pair of jeans and shirt from those fabrics.

And here's another little dress. I don't remember that fabric, and maybe I didn't even make the dress. I'm just not sure. Jess's grandma had borrowed the pattern for a while and made a few things, so this might be one of them. Or maybe she gave me the fabric. Jess, do you remember?

I did make the bloomers, though. They go with the red dress. And the baby is crawling here to show them off. Or maybe she was tired of getting her picture taken.

Sorry, Baby Beth... we're not quite done yet, are we? One more doll clothes post coming up. Gosh, I wonder how many hours I spent making them! And how did I find the time to do it? Oh, yeah... there was no internet in those days. ;)

Vintage doll clothes, part 3

My little assistant is working hard here to get the next outfit on our baby model! Such a job to dress a squirming baby!

And here is My Baby Beth, all dressed in her vintage Christmas outfit! Do take note that the bow under the chin was tied by Courtney... all by herself!

Her outfit is made out of scraps left from Jess's Christmas outfit that year. (Too bad I didn't save that, too!) And below you can see how they looked originally. Also pictured is little brother, Nate... Courtney's daddy. Don't they look like a happy family? :)

The photo below has nothing to do with doll clothes. It does look a bit like Christmas, though. It's the view from our living room window a few minutes ago. Blech. I kept the picture small, 'cause I'm not ready for this yet. If you really want to, though, you can click on the pic to enlarge it and see the flakes coming down in all their "glory". (I'm betting Mark will do that.)

More doll clothes next week. Tomorrow will be another fun craft session with Miss C!

Vintage doll clothes, part 2

Every baby has to have lots of sleepwear, right?  Here's my little assistant, diligently assisting by putting on one of the sleepers.

This hooded sleeper (sleep sack?) is closed at the bottom to keep the toes secure and warm.

This next one is just a nightie with no hood or any closure at the bottom. I think it also has some very stretched-out elastic at the cuffs. ;)

Goodness, that baby has a case of bed head, doesn't she?! Courtney combed it (with a cat brush) at the beginning of the photo session, but the further we went, the messier the hair got. We didn't have time or the inclination to re'do' it with every outfit.

The last sleeper has elastic at the bottom. Still keeps the toes warm but is much handier for changing diapers.

That's it for today. More daytime clothes next time! But if I'm lucky, maybe I can squeeze that Halloween costume in first. We'll see how our photo session goes this afternoon.

Vintage doll clothes, part 1

I was going to do more than one outfit per post, but I'm running behind this morning, so I'll start off with just one this time. It's made out of double knit, scraps from an outfit I'd made for an adult. Gotta love double knit... no wrinkles even after being crammed in a duffle bag for years!

Nearly every dress has matching bloomers, too.

That's it for now. To be continued.......

P.S.  I whipped up a quick ("quick"? haha... as usual, it took longer than I expected it to) Halloween costume for Courtney over the weekend. I delivered it last night, as it was needed for Show 'n Tell at school today, but since Courtney had a wet head and was in her pj's, I took no pictures. However, she's bringing it back tomorrow for a slight adjustment, so we'll do photos then!

A portent of things to come

Courtney had yesterday (and today) off from school, so she spent the entire day with me for the for the first time since school started - hurray! We had such a busy day, and we still didn't get in everything we wanted to do. But we did work on something for you to see... the long-awaited dolly fashion show!

It was a longer process than I thought it was going to be. I'd forgotten just how many outfits I'd made for Jess's baby Beth way back when! Courtney did all the dressing herself, so that added a lot little to the time, too. Here's a video of one of her dressing efforts. Be sure to turn up your volume, because what she's telling the doll is pretty cute. And watch all the way through, because you don't want to miss the ending!

At least she let me take the outfits off, so that helped time-wise. Here's the stack of most of the outfits after we got done. 

Actually, they looked a lot like that before we started, too, since they'd been stuffed into a duffle bag. So prepare yourself for a few wrinkles in the "fashions". We'll start the parade down the runway from the photo tent next week!

Vintage sewing #6

Here's one more outfit I made for Jess. It's apparently from the same pattern as this one. If I'd realized at the time that it was the same size, I'd have had Courtney model it, too.

It's actually a dress (with a waistband that needs pressing), not a skirt and blouse.

The (velveteen?) vest is reversible.

From the leftover fabrics, I also made this little matching outfit for Jess's doll, "My Baby Beth".

Her vest and bonnet are also reversible! And she has matching bloomers.

That's the end of the vintagely-sewn people-garments I have around here. I do, however, still have lots of the doll clothes I made for Beth (I also have Beth herself, still in fine shape!). If you're interested in seeing these, let me know in the comments. I might be able to convince Courtney to help me do a little fashion show for you.

Speaking of "My Baby Beth", just out of curiosity I did a Google search. I see you can still buy her on eBay, wearing her original outfit... used, of course, and the starting bid is more than I paid for her originally. That's "vintage", for ya! You can also get the clothes pattern like I used. Fortunately I ran across mine just the other day, so I don't need it. You can even buy a 2-page advertisement about her. Ha!

Vintage sewing #5

This is a jumper that I made for Jess when she was a teenager, for her confirmation, I think. I didn't make a top to go with it, but if I remember right, she wore a pretty rose-colored knit top with it. Or maybe it was a teal/green? Help, Jess!! Maybe you had one of each... I don't remember.

The fabric is so pretty. There should be some kind of repurpose project for it! Hey, maybe a bag out of LiEr's pattern!!

I had intended to dig up a photo of Jess wearing it, but that might take a while. You know how it goes when you start looking through old pictures! Anyway, I have a couple projects in the queue that have deadlines, so I need to get at them ASAP! The first one is a photo book Groupon deal that I bought months ago. I paid $15 for a $50 book. The Groupon expires this Friday... yes, that's in TWO DAYS... and I haven't started it yet!!! Nothing like procrastination, huh? But I have been busy this summer! I'll get 'er done. The other one is due before next Tuesday! I might give you a sneak peek at that one tomorrow. Maybe. But if you don't see anything of me, just know I'm workin' on stuff!!

Vintage sewing #4

Hmmm... sooo hard to get good photos! You'll have to forgive the fuzziness. Anyway, here's a dress that I made for myself all those years ago. I loved it! It was so cool and comfortable!

And the fabric was so pretty!

It had a narrow self-fabric belt. It also had a jacket that went with it.

Since I can't wear it anymore (my shoulders got fatter?), I may just have to repurpose that fabric into something else. Anybody have any great ideas for that?

In case you may be wondering how the pattern testing is coming, the bag is almost done! The pattern is a bit more complicated than you can tell just by looking at the bag, but it hasn't been difficult to sew. It's mainly taken this long simply because there have been other things to do, too. But hopefully I'll be able to show it to you soon! LiEr has completed another one, which you can take a look at here. Isn't it gorgeous?! She's also making two more, which I can't wait to see, because they sound stupendous!!! And guess what? Her bags, and possibly mine (unless I find a better purpose for it), will be for sale in her Etsy shop, along with the bag pattern. Stay tuned... we'll let you know when everything's available!

Vintage sewing #3

As if I hadn't gotten enough of sewing on the wool fabric for Grandpa's 3-piece suit, I went and bought some more of it (I think it was at a pretty good discount) to use for myself! I made another suit! Here's the skirt:

So yep, Grandpa and I matched. Partially. I wasn't quite crazy enough to do the whole suit in the same fabric, though. I didn't want people to get sick of us. Ha!

Although it's hard to see in the photo, this wool is more of a tweed. I still like it a lot. Very pretty.

The pattern was much simpler than the one for Grandpa's coat. Just patch pockets instead of welts. LOTS less time involved! It was fully lined, though.

I loved that suit, and I wore it a lot. Well, on Sundays, anyway... I didn't have too many other places to wear it besides church. I'd still wear it... if it weren't so snug in a few places. Gosh I was skinny back then! ;)

Vintage sewing #2

Courtney and I finally got around to digging out some more clothes that I'd made all those years ago. This is a dress I made for Jess when she was about 7 years old. Unfortunately, I don't have a very good place for taking garment photos, so these pics aren't too great.

I put my little model to work, since the dress looks cuter 'on'.

She thought it fit her just right, since it didn't go down to her feet. :)

I think she has a little more growing to do, though. But she will get to wear it when it does fit her.

Vintage sewing #1

Thanks for your curiosity interest in my sewing from earlier days! Here we go! I should've saved this one for last, because it was by far my most crowning achievement... or at least the one I spent the most hours on. And one I said I'd never do again, because of those same hours!! (Whew! I still can't believe I did it!) But it was the easiest one to get at, still hanging in Grandpa's closet. (Why is it that men's closets have so much more room than women's? Not fair! Ha!) So I grabbed it first, dusted it off (literally) and took pics. I wasn't about to iron it, so you'll have to forgive its saggy look. And being a dark color, it didn't photograph well, so you'll also have to forgive lousy photos. But here it is.....

It's a 3-piece suit I made for Grandpa... many years ago.

It's a lovely wool fabric.

Everything is fully lined.

It has many pockets. Here's an outside one on the jacket:

And an inside one:

There were many welts to make. Here's one on the pants back:

And the inside of that pants pocket:

It was a big job! I wish I'd kept track of the hours I spent on it! I was lucky in that Grandpa wasn't hard to fit. I know I had to lengthen the sleeve pattern piece, and possibly the pants one, but other than that, I think the pattern fit him very well.

I examined the sewing... it was pretty impressive, if I may say so myself. I still feel amazed at having done that!