Quilting and Doll Clothes

Quilts! Vintage Stitchers met this week at Marilyn’s.

Brenda showed us this great quilt in pastels. It’s “Good Night, Irene,” from Missouri Star’s Block, Spring 2015. Marilyn made the same quilt in her usual bright palette.

Rebecca showed us some examples of a fusible appliqué style developed by Laura Heine (see link below), first this bunny… 

…and then this flamingo, which she calls “Pink Floyd:”

It took hours and hours just to cut out the pieces to make up the flamingo. The pattern is by Laura Heine at Fiberworks. 

Marilyn’s had finished this machine appliqué. The raw edges are covered with satin stitch.

Brenda had machine-embroidered this dish towel with a recipe for meat loaf.

I spent the meeting working on this version of my “Everyday Play” dress, my own pattern, which is available on Ravelry as a free download. I used a sock yarn Rebecca had given me. I think it’s Paton’s Stretch, now discontinued, but I couldn’t figure out the colorway. 

As you may remember from last week’s blog post, someone from Habitat for Humanity has asked me to clothe a doll (which she purchased) for the silent auction to be held at Habitat’s Overall Ball in October. I enjoy making doll clothes, so I saw this as a way to have some fun and contribute to a worthy organization at the same time. Of course, she wanted the doll to wear some…overalls.

Here’s a closeup of the top-stitching:

The pattern is a hybrid I developed from the Liberty Jane’s Boot Cut Jeans pattern and the bib from McCall’s 2506 Crafts pattern, which I’ve had since DGD1 was little in the late ‘90s. The T-shirt was from a free online pattern I had found here. 

I used a cotton jersey for the T-shirt and the skirt shown with this jacket.

The skirt and jacket were both from the McCall’s pattern. The jacket called for self-lining, but I thought that would be too thick, so I used a quilting fabric to line it with. To avoid having raw edges on the inside, I made two “jackets,” one out of the fleece outer fabric, and one out of the lining. Then I sewed them, right-sides together, along one side of the bottom, up the front, around the hood and down the other side, then back along the bottom, leaving an opening large enough to turn the whole thing right-side out. I stuck the sleeve lining through the sleeves and sewed the bottom shut by hand, then top-stitched the whole thing. The photo above was taken before I got the zipper for it on Thursday and sewed it in. The zipper was too long, so I cut it off at the top, stitching satin stitch over the teeth at the very top after I sewed it in place. Here it is with the zipper:

From Fancywork and Fashion’s Best Doll Clothes Book by Joan Hinds and Jean Becker, I got the pattern for shorts and a top. 

The shorts are corderoy, very simple. The top was supposed to be self-lined, but since I was using two different fabrics (quilting scraps), it ended up reversible. With the Velcro fastening in back, it looks the same and closes the same either side out. Here it is with the other side out.

The skirt was a rectangle of quilting fabric I had, with the eyelet trim attached and elastic at the waist. No pattern needed. Of course, no self-respecting doll would sleep in her clothes, so here’s her nightie:

Of course, Lauren needed some lingerie. The panties were made from the cuff of a girls’ lace-trimmed sock. I used the foot of the sock for the camisole, adding the lace and ribbon.

Remember the sisters dresses I knitted for Dolly and Gabi? 

Gabi’s dress and apron went off to Daphne Jr. and since Daphne Jr. doesn’t need two almost-identical dresses, Dolly kept hers. When Lauren came to live with us, Dolly decided to give the dress to her. Lauren looks great in it. 

Lauren is a Modern Girls Doll from Michael's, made by Creatology. 

Summer is here (until the next snowfall, at least). We decided we should get some hiking in before we have Dusty in tow, so we hiked Toll Canyon up to the Fairy Tree. It was 3.6 miles, mostly in the shade, with plenty of water along the way for Rocky.

Next week: Dusty! We pick him up on Friday.

What's on my needles: Still hand-quilting the “Delectable Pathways” quilt. No progress on the “So-not-my-palette Cardigan” this week while I made doll clothes.

What's on my Featherweight: Put away after finishing the doll clothes.

What's on my wheel: Still the Waimea Rooster Merino/Tencel from AlohaBlu, no progress this week.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished listening to The Selection by Kiera Cass. It’s clearly unfinished, so you have to buy the next book. It was interesting, but I’m not sure I want to get the rest of the series. Now listening to Woof by Spencer Quinn from Audible, actually a book for pre-teen kids, but told from a dog’s point of view, which makes it a fun listen. Still reading Remember This by Shae Buggs on the Kindle app on my iPad.

What's in my wine glass: Nathanson Creek Merlot. The big bottle.

What's my tip of the week: My kitchen isn’t huge, but it takes more than a few steps from one end to the other. I use my kitchen shears a lot, so I keep an extra pair in another drawer at the other end of the kitchen.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.