Crissy Clothes: Sweet Sweet Suede**

We bought a fabric grab-bag at the thrift store, but most of it turned out to be half-sewn leather and suede scraps.  Maybe it was unwanted stuff from a  factory?

I used a piece of lightweight soft green stuff to make this shirt.  But I wasn't sure what to do with the rest. 

Then I saw a piece of purple suede in there that wasn't too heavy for dolls, and it just called out "Crissy."

The vest is vintage Simplicity Crissy pattern 8519.  The purse I put together from a scrap that was left.

I used the same pattern (8519) to make a suede jumper, but the first one turned out pretty short (even for Crissy, the mini-skirt girl).  OK, we'll just call it a tunic.  I was surprised, though, that the pattern was so skimpy--usually Crissy patterns are sized correctly. (Looking at the photos on the Crissy And Beth sewing page, though, I think it WAS meant to be very, very short.  And I do remember skirts at the time being very, very short.  But we like Crissy to be just a bit more covered.)

I tried again with a piece of cranberry-red suede, and cut it longer.  This one turned out knee-length.  Just for fun, I put the fuzzy side of it inside, and left the "back" side for the outside.  Both Dollygirl and I thought it looked better like that anyway.  Dollygirl thinks the jumper will look really good with Crissy's burgundy turtleneck.

Cost of outfits:
Pattern:  free download--cost of ink and paper, not much
Bag of suede scraps--$1, and we still have some left.
Thread and snaps--all on hand, didn't cost much
TOTAL for jumper, tunic, vest and purse:  maybe $2?

Seems like a "suede" deal to me.

 **That's a joke for Electric Company fans.  Doesn't Morgan Freeman's outfit look a bit like Crissy's purple stuff?

Linked from Hidden of Art of Homemaking linky (Chapter 5) at the Ordo Amoris blog.

Love To Dress Up: 18-inch Doll Clothes (Book Review with Photos)

All these outfits were sewn from patterns in Love to Dress Up: 18" Doll Clothes, by Lorine Mason.  I liked the idea that you could mix and match the popular "fat quarters" from stores like Wal-mart (something readily available for us, even in Canada), although I ended up using thrifted fabric and bandannas to sew the sample outfits.  The clothes are pretty and contemporary-looking (unless you don't want them to be, see wrap dress below).  Some of the patterns are basic enough that you could use them for your doll "go-to's" if you didn't add extra embellishments, such as the shorts that match the smock top (bottom photo).

We wanted a 30's-style wrap dress for Kit. The pattern in Love to Dress Up is a more contemporary, shorter style; but all I did to change it was lengthen the skirt and use a calico print instead of something brighter.

Did I say anything somewhere about not liking to sew bias tape around bolero jackets? Well, I did it anyway.  I do have to mention about the sun dress, that it would NOT have fit any of the 18-inch dolls without pattern adjustments--too snug around the chest. Crissy was the only one it would fit. The green and pink dress fabric is a bandanna; the purple bolero is from a pillowcase.

Crystal's smock top and matching shorts, sewn from a bandanna and some plain blue fabric (for the shorts). You can't see it in the photo, but the shorts have stripes of bandanna fabric sewn down each side (it's in the pattern).  This would make a cute pinafore pattern too if you cut the top longer.

I haven't sewn any of the more complicated outfits in the book, but so far the instructions have been straightforward, and the only thing that didn't fit a "standard" 18-inch doll was, as I said, the bolero and dress outfit.  If you go on the publisher's website, you can print out a few corrections to instructions and pattern pieces.  Overall rating:  good.

Photos are by Dollygirl.

Crissy's new clothes (with link to online patterns)

For Crissy fans, one of the best sites out there is CrissyAndBeth.com. Beth has very generously scanned in all the commercial patterns that were made for Crissy (and Velvet) from 1969 through the early 1970's--that is, the actual tissue-paper pieces.  My mother had some of these patterns and made clothes for my own Crissy and my sister's Velvet; I don't think any of ours are still around, though--the patterns or the clothes.  The CrissyAndBeth sewing page also has photos of Crissy and friends modelling hand-sewn clothes.

I tried printing out some of the pattern pieces a couple of years ago, but the printer we had at that time kept shrinking the pieces to fit the page, even when I asked it nicely not to, so I gave up.  Recently we got a colour printer that is more co-operative (remind you of our sewing machine?), so I tried again.  The pattern pieces printed out beautifully, especially in colour.  The Simplicity patterns are very, very easy to follow...well, some of them are a little bit fussy with getting elastic in the right place, sewing lace on, and so on, but generally they're meant to be easy to sew.  Almost too easy in some places--where some doll clothes books would have you turn under an edge and then turn it under again and hem, these patterns just say to turn edges under a quarter inch and sew them down, which can leave a bit of a raw edge.  Elastic on pants is just sewn across a turned-down waistband, rather than put through a casing. If you are a fussier sewer, you could do more than the minimum for things like that.  But I think a lot of the appeal of these patterns is in the choice of fabric and trims, rather than in detailed sewing techniques.

From Simplicity pattern 8519, I made a "dress" (or a smock top), a vest, and two pairs of flared pants.  If you put the vest with the top, they go together in kind of an unexpected 1970ish way.  A little bit Russian, a little bit Sunshine Family.  The dress or top is supposed to have lace around the neck and wrists, but we went with rickrack instead.

I remember my mom sewing one of these capes (Simplicity 9698), so it was a step back in time for me to recreate one for Dollygirl's Crissy.  The fabric is red corduroy, from a rummage-saled pair of pants.  There was just enough useable fabric to cut the back, two fronts, and two hood pieces.  The ribbon trim is craft-type, not meant for clothes; but I liked the old-world vibe of the print, plus its stiffness gives a bit of structure to the cape.  I've seen this cape made up with softer lace trim, but I like it better with this edging.  The pattern instructs you to turn back the edges of the cape and sew the trim along the turned-back piece, but with the stiff ribbon I just sandwiched it along the edges and topstitched it down.

About the only thing we think Crissy still needs is a nice maxi-dress, peasant style, maybe in green to go with her shoes.  But that will have to wait until we replenish our fabric a bit.

All photos by Mr. Fixit.  Copyright Dewey's Treehouse 2012.  Simplicity patterns made available by CrissyAndBeth.com.

In which I make a monkey of myself with a ball of yarn

Today I tried out the Red Heart monkey pattern.

It went pretty smoothly and came out about the right size--7 inches.  That's 17.78 cm for the Canadians.

I got to the end and suddenly realized--this monkey doesn't have a tail.

Since that wouldn't do, I added one.  Make a chain the length of desired tail, then single crochet one row into the chains.  It will curl a bit, as single crochet into chains does even when you don't want it to.  Sew to the monkey's...um...tail-hitching place.

Sewing...it gets easier with time. Really.

My mom knew her way around a sewing machine very well. Me?--no.

You could attribute some of my sewing hangups to the typical middle-school home economics class, which, if I had paid any attention to the cooking units, would have finished me in the kitchen as well. Or just the fact that I hardly ever had to machine-sew anything, because my mom could do it better and faster, and liked to.

For some reason, it was not only the machine that stymied me for many years (yes, I do have ongoing battles with things that plug in), but the whole bewilderment of patterns. And fabric stores, which not only largely disappeared around here before I ever got the hang of them, but which are usually set up to be as confusing as possible.

My first breakthrough was a pair of maternity overalls that I finished about one week before The Apprentice was born. (Better almost late than never.)

My second was a purple jumper that I retooled for toddler Apprentice from a free pair of corduroy pants. It was, honestly, quite adorable and so was she.

My third was a set of stuffed Christmas elves that The Apprentice helped me make when she was three. (No, she didn't use the machine.) I sold most of them at a craft sale and bought myself a lovely angel which we still have. Which just goes to show that people buying Christmas crafts don't care what grade you got in home economics.

Since then I've become slightly less spatially challenged when it comes to figuring out patterns. (Fabric stores still give me a headache.) I am never going to be making wedding dresses, but at least I know how to get both pajama legs right side out now. The Squirrelings have all grown up quite chummy with our sewing machine. (Maybe because they didn't feel like I knew more than they did?) The one thing I've never done yet is put in a zipper...I don't think my machine even has a zipper foot. And through the magic of You-tube, I may even get past that one. I know Ponytails' ambition is to have a serger someday, and maybe she'll let me use it.

In the meantime, if you share some of my hesitations, or even if you don't, can I recommend my favourite sewing site? Sewing.about.com. Besides basic instructions and tips, there are tons of patterns (with lovely photos) and links to more. If you click on Free Patterns, you get a choice of Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced, all sorted and ready to go. But there's another link in the sidebar that takes you to this page, and if you keep scrolling down the page, you'll find links to using Scraps of Fabric, Sewing Slippers, Projects to keep You and Your Home Warm, and more.

Got you interested yet?

If I can do it, anybody can.