Anybody like to sew? (Human-Sized)

I grew up in the SCA, so sewing is a big thing over here! That said, my mom is much better at it than I am. She sews because she enjoys sewing, I sew as a means to an end.

1. What kinds of things do you like to sew? Clothing? Accessories? Household items? Historical things? Modern things? Knits? Wovens? Heavyweight fabrics? Gauze? Shirts? Pants? Blazers? Coats? Dresses? Fancy clothes? Casual Clothes?
I really only sew clothing for myself and my dolls. For myself, I'm partial to making cutsews because they're easy gratification and I wear them a lot. I did a stint in the depths of Lolita fashion, you see, and retained some the hallmarks even after I left the hobby. Another thing I tend to sew a lot of is gored skirts, because I like wearing them and they're impossible to find in stores in the fullness and length I want.
I also make my SCA garb, unless I can convince my mom to do it for me. For that, I go early period Celtic, so it's rather simple sewing. My mother makes all of her clothes, and is currently obsessed with those Norse apron dress things for SCA.

2. Do you use patterns? If so, do you use storebought patterns? Big Four/Two (Simplicity and Vogue/Butterick/McCalls--quite the merger) ? Online printed patterns? Patterns off of existing clothing? Do you make your own patterns? Or do you drape on a dress model? Or use yourself as the dress model?
My mother says there are two types of seamstresses: Those who draft, and those who drape. I am definitely a draper. Unfortunately, my mother is a hardcorps drafter, and since she taught me to sew that's what I learned to do. So despite that my personality is given to draping, I'm not very good at it. I'm currently actively working on getting better, though. In the mean time, I prefer to draft my own patterns for most things. (Especially for doll clothes, since dolls tend to have unique proportions.) If whatever I want to make is really complicated, I ask my mother to help me. I don't think she's bought a pattern someone else made since the mid 90's.

3. Do you have a fabric stash? What types of fabric do you hoard?
Oh, dear lord. I knit because I enjoy it, and sew as a means to an end, and hoard the materials for both out of some ancient draconian instinct.
Jacquards are my favorite thing to hoard, apparently. I very rarely use them, but I always find myself buying them. I have delusions about waistcoats, you see. I also have a weird tendency to hoard muslin/calico. I think it's the same reason I hoard solid colored worsted weight wool: It's always useful for something, so my brain figures I might as well buy it whenever it's on sale.

4. Do you have a fabric you would kill to buy more of?
In New York City in 2007 in a teeny tiny Pakistani fabric shop in the garment district I ran into some dupioni silk that was done like shot silk so it changed colors depending on how you looked at it. It was rather expensive, and I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, so I only took home a few yards. I've always regretted that I didn't buy more of it.

5. [Opinion] What fabric is the devil? Do you have a fabric that you hate working with, or that you refuse to work with?
Ditto on the metallic lamé. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Satan's bodysuit is made of gold stretch lamé, I swear it.

6. What sewing tricks have carried over from human to BJDs/other dolls? Which ones don't work so well?
I'm not really sure what to say here. I think knowing how to draft patterns has been a huge help for my doll sewing. I don't have to worry about trying to resize, or things not working out due to odd proportions. But as for actual sewing techniques, I don't know. I do switch up the armscye/armhole, though. I think everyone probably does, if they don't want to die.

 

It very well might have been. I don't remember the name of it at all, but there was no air conditioning and it was family run. My mother and I were overwhelmed at all the beautiful silk they had. The store I went to seemed to specialize in silk. They were very kind and shipped the fabric for us. It was a good thing, considering how much mother bought.

 

1. What kinds of things do you like to sew? Clothing? Accessories? Household items? Historical things? Modern things? Knits? Wovens? Heavyweight fabrics? Gauze? Shirts? Pants? Blazers? Coats? Dresses? Fancy clothes? Casual Clothes?
I really haven't had much time to sew lately but I like sewing knit everyday clothing and I've been making my way into sewing Edwardian fashion.
2. Do you use patterns? If so, do you use storebought patterns? Big Four/Two (Simplicity and Vogue/Butterick/McCalls--quite the merger) ? Online printed patterns? Patterns off of existing clothing? Do you make your own patterns? Or do you drape on a dress model? Or use yourself as the dress model (harder...interesting to say the least--but possible)? I mostly draft from measurements or existing clothing but I'll occasionally work with indie patterns or some big 4 patterns from the 70s and 80s that my grandma gave me.

3. Do you have a fabric stash? What types of fabric do you hoard? Most of my stash has a project in mind but I have a habit of acquiring rayon jersey.

4. Do you have a fabric you would kill to buy more of? I have this dark green velveteen from my great aunt which is about a yard and 1/2 short of a frock coat. Oh, and that brushed twill she gave me.

5. [Opinion] What fabric is the devil? Do you have a fabric that you hate working with, or that you refuse to work with?
I got this awful purple stretch lame which shredded when you stretched it. *shudders* I thought it was cool when I was 12...

6. What sewing tricks have carried over from human to BJDs/other dolls? Which ones don't work so well?
I got my first to practice drafting so I don't have to wiggle around in the mirror and stab myself with pins for hours....

 

1. What kinds of things do you like to sew? Clothing? Accessories? Household items? Historical things? Modern things? Knits? Wovens? Heavyweight fabrics? Gauze? Shirts? Pants? Blazers? Coats? Dresses? Fancy clothes? Casual Clothes? Household items and accessories for me-- I'd LOVE to someday make some historical garb for myself, but I'm just not there. I've worked on children's things mostly, as far as sewing for humans goes-- making plush toys, a child's quilt, some costume things... some as part of a sewing circle for charity some years ago, some for my little cousin. I bought fabric for a couple pillowcases for myself but in all this time I've not gotten the sewing machine set up in the new house, so I've just done small hand-sewing stuff lately. One project I really enjoyed was sewing reusable coffee cup insulators, with personalized appliques for different people, because it let me focus so much on the embellishing, which is my favorite part. Fabric Christmas ornaments is another one. (when I worked in the college theatre costume shop for a semester I never did any full costume sewing, which was a shame-- I constructed a new-sew one for a class challenge, which was still fun, but it's not the same)

2. Do you use patterns? If so, do you use storebought patterns? Big Four/Two (Simplicity and Vogue/Butterick/McCalls--quite the merger) ? Online printed patterns? Patterns off of existing clothing? Do you make your own patterns? Or do you drape on a dress model? Or use yourself as the dress model (harder...interesting to say the least--but possible)? Sometimes-- I do love my pattern stash, when I find one I like in my size. But because I do small household things or kid things, I wind up doing a lot of my own patterning. For simple things like the ornaments or a child's hat, I can handle drafting my own patterns, and I know a little about how to re-size or to remix pattern pieces that weren't necessarily meant to go together... but I'm just not confident enough when it comes to fitting nice things to myself!

3. Do you have a fabric stash? What types of fabric do you hoard? I love soft things. So I have... kind of a huge stash of cuddle fleece, quite a bit of jersey, some soft fashion knits... and a fat quarter of quilting plush fur that I couldn't resist. I have some cotton fabric that's just not suitable for doll-scale projects that I haven't figured out what to do with for me, that may become a travel pouch for makeup, or something like that, since it's not something I'd wear... and I used to have a bunch of scraps of leather and a LOT of stretch crushed velvet in different colors. I mostly go for things I love to touch, and come up with projects later. Oh! And of course I have a bunch of cute flannel right now! Flannel prints are my weakness... great for comfy, cozy bedding up here in the Pacific Northwest, especially (my flannel addiction was hell in central California, I could only indulge coming up to Oregon to visit relatives because even in the dead of winter it just wasn't that cold there...)

4. Do you have a fabric you would kill to buy more of? Anything soft, really... I'd love to get my hands on enough quilting plush fur for a huge fluffy blanket for ME, I bought the fat quarter on a whim but yardage gets so expensive... and of course, cute flannels-- there are so many quilting fabrics I wish were in flannel as well as cotton. I've got a Star Trek one, one with cassette tapes, and one with unicorns in space... I just want more cute flannels that would go with those I guess.

5. [Opinion] What fabric is the devil? Do you have a fabric that you hate working with, or that you refuse to work with? Just as I love all things soft, I hate all things insufficiently soft. There are fabrics that trigger my misophonia, as well, like... sometimes even quilting cotton approaches my threshold. So there's a lot of things I struggle to work with based on sensory issues, even though the fabric itself is quite easy to work with.

6. What sewing tricks have carried over from human to BJDs/other dolls? Which ones don't work so well? I'm not really sure... I mean, most of my sewing for humans is for non-clothing. But making a doll quilt is just as easy as making a child's quilt. The one thing that doesn't work so well... I am making a fully-lined bag for my daintiest BJD, and it's a bit of a nightmare. At least I don't need to set up an ironing board since I can use my flat iron to iron all the pieces... but it's a lot of work for the teensiest little bag.

 

1. What kinds of things do you like to sew? Clothing? Accessories? Household items? Historical things? Modern things? Knits? Wovens? Heavyweight fabrics? Gauze? Shirts? Pants? Blazers? Coats? Dresses? Fancy clothes? Casual Clothes?
Fancy clothes and cosplay! I'm a hard body type to fit, so I want to make the leap from cosplay to casual so I can have clothes that don't pinch here and bag there. I need more practice, but I'm getting to where my garment quality is actually good enough to do it. Now I just need to... well, DO it.
..also, find or make patterns I'd actually wear daily. I'm not happy to always wear jeans and a T-shirt, but button-up shirts are so. much. work. to get right.

2. Do you use patterns? If so, do you use storebought patterns? Big Four/Two (Simplicity and Vogue/Butterick/McCalls--quite the merger) ? Online printed patterns? Patterns off of existing clothing? Do you make your own patterns? Or do you drape on a dress model? Or use yourself as the dress model?
I buy and make. Mostly, I buy, mod to the ends of the earth, and then clone when I'm happy with it. This process is fiddly and time-consuming, and is the main reason I haven't sewn more of my own wardrobe. I'm very picky about armscyes, for instance, and they're a real drag to work and rework.

Truly Victorian does some great patterns. I have their Vest Basque pattern, and love it to itty bitty bits. Of the Big Four, I like McCalls, and it helps that they picked up Yaya Han's cosplay line. Those are some good stuff.

3. Do you have a fabric stash? What types of fabric do you hoard?
Gosh yes.
Quilting cottons in neat patterns, jacquards of various weights, twills and gabardines, and some kimono silk that I aspire to work into a dress shirt some day. (It, uh, needs to stop being a kimono first. Bring on the movies and the seam ripper.)

4. Do you have a fabric you would kill to buy more of?
The fabric I made my Vest Basque out of, actually - it's a navy-and-gold jacquard with a large-scale pattern of sheaves on it, and it's so smooth and supple. I have no idea what the fiber content is, but it sewed like a dream and shows no sign of wear, despite the jacket being several years old. I love that stuff, and I'm nearly out of it.

5. [Opinion] What fabric is the devil? Do you have a fabric that you hate working with, or that you refuse to work with?
Synthetic satin. You know, the inexpensive, colorful stuff sold as "lining fabric" that shreds if you so much as breathe on it?
I hate that stuff. Good, middleweight satin is fine. Silk satin is.... well, the devil for other reasons. But the cheap stuff? I wouldn't buy it to set it on fire.

6. What sewing tricks have carried over from human to BJDs/other dolls? Which ones don't work so well?
I'm used to doing fiddly curves with minimal seam allowance. That's a good thing - usually when the pattern tells me to make a 3/4 seam allowance and then cut half of it off (!?) I just draw it with a 1/4 inch allowance to begin with. My partner in couture crime has successfully handled down to 1/8, but I start worrying about strength at that point. For a doll, of course, they're not going to flex their shoulders and rip a seam open.

Also, trim everything. Trim the snot out of it. Trim the trims. This works really well at doll scale, unless your trims are too big.

What doesn't work so well? I have to work really hard to avoid bulk in the closures - and I don't even want to contemplate trying a zipper fly at doll scale. Clever folding, tiny magnets, and press snaps will have to do.

 

@americanseamstress
Ooh, no-- mine is a black and white one that I randomly found on sale in the fabric store... the kokka fabrics one is beautiful!

I've never done any intricate quilt patterns-- I like the basic large squares style, which leaves room to add embroidery. I wish I quilted more... maybe the next time a cousin has a baby.

 

@americanseamstress Gosh yes, I feel you on the sway back. I have one too, and it makes pants fitting just... not so fun.

Hah, I feel you about the kimono fabric and its intent! I may end up making a doll kimono out of the leftovers, that way I can still enjoy the kimono fabric in its intended form.. if somewhat smaller. (I ended up in a used-kimono shop and bought this probably-synthetic dark brown one, and then a pastel green-and-pink yukata - it's prettier than it sounds, I promise! - and then I've dithered over taking them apart. Bah.)

I haven't worked with the Yaya Han fabrics at all yet. It's a bummer to hear about the stretch pleather - I had higher hopes than that for it. The heavy, texture-y stuff looks like it'll be fun to work with, though.
I did buy her bodysuit patterns, and the skirted coat, because it looked like it'd make a good base for about a zillion things. Naturally, I haven't had the time to make them yet. /o\

... that dance project sounds /awful./

 

@americanseamstress I feel you on the fitting issues... on paper it seems like I'm a straight uk size 12 except I somehow manage to need to make narrow shoulder adjustments and an FBA on anything from a standard pattern not to mention the length adjustments cuz I'm short... I'm kind of obsessed with finding something with perfectly fitting shoulders in a retail store...

 

1. What kinds of things do you like to sew?
I like to sew cosplays, bags, and pillows. I'm really only just starting to really get into it.

2. Do you use patterns?
Not very often, as cosplays are very unique and specific to the character (often with crazy shapes and cutouts). I have used a few for reference, but I usually end up making my own.

3. Do you have a fabric stash?
I have a box in my closet full of tiny pieces of fabric I've managed to scrap together.

4. Do you have a fabric you would kill to buy more of?
Four-way stretch fabric is my best friend. They make amazing boots, and are very easy to hide your mistakes with.

5. What fabric is the devil?
I haven't had any specific fabric that was particularly terrible, it's the sewing part that's the devil!

6. What sewing tricks have carried over from human to BJDs/other dolls? Which ones don't work so well?
Sewing has definitely let me understand clothes more, but since I'm still relatively a beginner, I haven't attempted making bjd clothes. I definitely will in the future, but there's so many bjd clothing companies out there that it's easy for me to be lazy!

 

1. What kinds of things do you like to sew? Clothing? Accessories? Household items? Historical things? Modern things? Knits? Wovens? Heavyweight fabrics? Gauze? Shirts? Pants? Blazers? Coats? Dresses? Fancy clothes? Casual Clothes?
Costumes! I love the challenge they provide since each design is so unique. I have a degree in fashion design so I do want to start sewing myself some clothes though; it's sometimes very difficult to find exactly what I'm looking for and I tend to be very picky about the clothes I buy, especially for their fit. I want to try having a style of my own but it takes a lot of time.

2. Do you use patterns? If so, do you use storebought patterns? Big Four/Two (Simplicity and Vogue/Butterick/McCalls--quite the merger) ? Online printed patterns? Patterns off of existing clothing? Do you make your own patterns? Or do you drape on a dress model? Or use yourself as the dress model
Usually I try drafting the patterns myself. Cosplay often calls for it because each character is so unique that it's just easier to start from scratch. However I am starting to dabble into commercial patterns to save some time on the designing process. For example, if I need to make a costume for a group (where every costume needs to be the exact same) or some "typical" clothes, I'll sometimes start with a commercial pattern and modify it to my needs. I won't draft, test and re-draft an overalls pattern if there's already a great pattern that exists. I tend to hate commercial patterns though, I find it very difficult to find ones that I actually like and tend to ditch the instructions to make the garments in a way I prefer. I also did copy some clothes once or twice as references (especially for leggings).

3. Do you have a fabric stash? What types of fabric do you hoard?
I do! Usually it's fabric from my previous costumes or for costumes that never end up happening. I have a lot of shiny satin fabrics, cotton twill (my favourite), taffetas and linings. I've recently taken a great liking to four way stretch fabrics so I can imagine that a lot of them are going to end in the stash too! I used to hoard a lot of fabrics I didn't need though. Now I try to only buy what I know I will use since I have limited space.

4. Do you have a fabric you would kill to buy more of?
Cotton twills or beautiful taffetas. I love twill fabrics because they're very resistant and cotton is very easy to work with and to dye if needed, so it's useful for a ton of characters. I love taffetas because it shines, but not as much as satin does, and it doesn't snag like satin does either so it's more durable for cosplay purposes in my opinion. I would probably kill for some great sequin fabrics or quality gymnastic fabrics too! I adore how they reflect the light on a stage but they're so expensive! I really want to learn more about how to work with those because I love shiny fabrics.

5. [Opinion] What fabric is the devil? Do you have a fabric that you hate working with, or that you refuse to work with?
Any fabrics that snags constantly on my needle or continues fraying despite using a serger. I haven't come across a fabric that I absolutely hated yet though. I'm a very tactile person so if I don't like the fabric to the touch I don't buy it. I won't purchase fabric that seems of low quality to me.

6. What sewing tricks have carried over from human to BJDs/other dolls? Which ones don't work so well?
I don't sew a lot for my dolls yet, however I did find that you need to switch some steps around to be able to sew a garment for a doll without trouble. I often sew the hems before closing the garment or sew the sleeves to the bodice before sewing the sides together. I usually hate doing this on "human" clothing but since dolls don't move and wear clothes like humans do it doesn't matter.

On a side note, I also used to work in a costume workshop until last January! I had the chance to sew some costumes for the Cirque du Soleil and Disney (not as a designer of course, I was only an employed seamstress). This experience taught me how to work with stretchy fabrics and gave me great insight on how show-ready costumes were made, so I'm very grateful that I had the chance to dabble into this world for a while. Unfortunately I had to resign due to health issues that are completely out of my control... I can't say that having arthritis in my dominant hand is useful when you've got to use your hands full time. So instead of continuing to mope at the loss of my career for another year, I decided to pursue a degree in industrial fashion management (if I'm translating that right) so that I can hopefully stay in the industry without having to sew any clothing full time.

That being said, I'm not dropping sewing! I loved doing it for years and I still do now even if it's at a slower pace that's more appropriate for me. Plus, there's a lot I still want to learn, even if it's on my own. I absolutely hate cutting though, it tends to hurt every time I do it even with specialized scissors. So if any of you happen to have tips and tricks on how to sew efficiently even with arthritis, I would really appreciate them!

 

@americanseamstress It's actually coton twill (I looked it up)! I call them serged cotton because that's all I can think of when I try naming the fabric. I didn't know there was another name in english until now . By saying "serged" I was trying to refer to the way the fabric is woven, which is "sergé" in french. Basically, the weave of the fabric forms diagonal lines, which makes the fabric a lot more sturdier. Another good example of a fabric with this type of weave is denim. I guess I learned something new today! I'll go fix my post right now.

What kinds of costumes do you make?
I mostly make cosplay costumes! Here's a picture of the latest one I finished, which is Inspired by Princess Knight by Osamu Tezuka. I have a few more pictures up on my instagram as well (which you can access in my signature)!



I definitely agree on the "less exciting" part of making wearable clothes. I've learned how most of them are made already so there isn't much challenge in it for me! I love how atypical cosplay / costume patterns can get. I think that's mainly why I'm not really into drafting full patterns for normal clothes. Why redo the work when it's already be done (unless it concerns a fashion designer)?

 

Oh, yeah. I love to sew.

I started out sewing for Barbie dolls as a kid, sitting next to my grandmother as she made real clothes for me/my sister/my mother and aunt. I made a terrific flop when I tried to make clothes for myself (no guidance or assistance; my grandmother had quit sewing by then) and retreated back to sewing doll clothes. My American Girls had tremendous wardrobes! Then I rescued a vintage “walker” doll who can wear real clothes in 3T size, dragged out my grandmother’s patterns from my childhood, and started sewing “real” clothes at last.

Thanks to that doll and her siblings (I have five of them now) I was ready to take the plunge back into sewing for myself. I’m not yet capable of making everything I need, but I’ve sewn tons of skirts, some blouses, a denim jacket, and a vintage-style coat with an enormous hem (it was princess-style from a 50’s inspired pattern, and the hem was close to 10 feet long when measured straight!)

I’m still sewing for my dolls most of the time, which may be obvious from my user name. But I’m trying to take on more sewing for me - from tailoring store-bought stuff to sewing from other people’s patterns to learning to draft my own.

You are all inspiring me to get back to my machines and my fabrics!

1. What kinds of things do you like to sew? Clothing? Accessories? Household items? Historical things? Modern things? Knits? Wovens? Heavyweight fabrics? Gauze? Shirts? Pants? Blazers? Coats? Dresses? Fancy clothes? Casual Clothes? Doll clothes, in a variety of styles. I’m kicking off a “children’s clothing through time” series of projects with my BJD, and that’s what I like the most. But I’ve also sewn contemporary basics for me, and tons of household items like curtains, slipcovers, and pillows.

2. Do you use patterns? If so, do you use storebought patterns? Big Four/Two (Simplicity and Vogue/Butterick/McCalls--quite the merger) ? Online printed patterns? Patterns off of existing clothing? Do you make your own patterns? Or do you drape on a dress model? Or use yourself as the dress model (harder...interesting to say the least--but possible)? I tend to use either heavily-modified storebought patterns or the ones I’ve drafted for myself and liked.

3. Do you have a fabric stash? What types of fabric do you hoard? My stash is largely doll-suitable scraps from other projects or other people’s hoards. For some reason, I have way too much “fancy” fabric - silver and black taffeta, burgundy knit shot through with gold, and a ridiculous amount of sequined fabrics! I only buy about half of this, the rest is all gifted to me, so it’s odd how much of it all fits the same general “type.”

4. Do you have a fabric you would kill to buy more of? Wool crepe, along with heavy wool twill. You wouldn’t think it, since I live in Texas, but I’ve gotten the most joy (and compliments) out of the garments I made from those.

5. [Opinion] What fabric is the devil? Do you have a fabric that you hate working with, or that you refuse to work with? Duchesse silk satin, in any weight. That stuff frays apart if you just breathe on the raw edge.

I also have a lingering hatred of doubleknit polyester, and sometimes run across fabric (mostly ponte) that remind me of it. My grandmother looooved that stuff, and as a child I wore countless outfits made from it.

6. What sewing tricks have carried over from human to BJDs/other dolls? Which ones don't work so well? Pattern drafting and alterations - let’s face it, I’m never gonna find patterns for some of my dolls. And knowing how to take a pattern apart and modify it, or how to scale “real” pattern drafting down to doll size, has been a gift.

I haven’t yet figured out how to insert a BJD-size zipper in a pleasing way, though.

 

@americanseamstress it's no problem! I'm glad that I've finally got the proper name for it if anything. I must have confused a ton of people in the past few years because I was using the wrong term this whole time! Sometimes my thoughts just don't translate as well as I would like them to.

And yes, that's me in the picture. Thank you so much for the compliments ! I've patterned and sewn everything myself. I've also made all the accessories and styled the wig (it was my first time making a crazy curl like this)! I'm no photographer though, so I've got to thank ThinkNu (his username is watermarked at the bottom of the picture) for being an awesome photographer and my younger sister for being an amazing cape thrower. It was pretty windy too, which must have helped a lot to get the effect!

Right now I'm actually supposed to sew a new costume, but since it's for a group I'm trying to get everyone to coordinate their techniques together. I think that I'll start by making some tutorials for the group (for what I've already made) and divide the workload of finding out how every single remaining piece is created. I find that figuring out everything by myself for a group project becomes tiring very quickly.

 

@americanseamstress This costume is for a cosplay group! Generally speaking, a cosplay group is when a group of people all cosplay from the same series. We're making Sailor Moon costumes for a costume competition (hopefully) and since all the characters are wearing a variation of the same outfit the key to having an outstanding group is to have everyone coordinate their fabrics and costume-making techniques as much as possible! I don't think I would mind coordination as much if it wasn't for the fact that this group project is for a competition in the "master" category, which is basically the highest rank you can aim for.

If one of us clearly doesn't use the same techniques or finitions as the others (ex. not serging hems or missing lining, unclean sewing or pressing, poor accessory construction, etc.) it's going to cost us a lot of points. I don't think you're supposed to enter a cosplay competition with "winning" in mind when there's clearly nothing to gain but bragging rights but I still like the thrill of the competition nonetheless! Getting some recognition for a work well-done is a bonus.

Being in a costume group is indeed a ton of work! I've never been in a group of more than three people before and it's proving to be a challenge, especially when we need to communicate with each other. I really hate the feeling of talking to myself all the time when it's supposed to be a group effort. There's a lot of time for us to get our things together though, so I'm hoping that this will change soon!

 

1. What kinds of things do you like to sew? Clothing? Accessories? Household items? Historical things? Modern things? Knits? Wovens? Heavyweight fabrics? Gauze? Shirts? Pants? Blazers? Coats? Dresses? Fancy clothes? Casual Clothes? I've done all kinds of sewing - I was in the SCA, and a beledi dancer, so made historical & dance costumes. Went to DragonCon yearly for years, so made cosplays. I've done commission clothing for people (some wedding outfits in fact), had costume booths at Ren Faires as well. I run hot & cold making my own clothes but many of the items in my wardrobe are my own handiwork. I made my wedding gown, & the entire christening outfit plus baby blanket & pillow for my children. Plus their annual Halloween outfits. I also knit & crochet, & make curtains & throw pillows etc. I learned how to sew making Barbie clothes & started collecting BJDs mainly to sew for them (they are soooo much easier to make things for than people, who complain about fit & don't stay the same size - me included BTW)

2. Do you use patterns? If so, do you use storebought patterns? Big Four/Two (Simplicity and Vogue/Butterick/McCalls--quite the merger) ? Online printed patterns? Patterns off of existing clothing? Do you make your own patterns? Or do you drape on a dress model? Or use yourself as the dress model (harder...interesting to say the least--but possible)? I certainly have a LOT of patterns - but I know how to draft them myself as well. Lots of the stuff I have made over the years required me to draft a pattern. I have historical costume patterns (Folkwear, Period Patterns), practically all of them that Butterick, McCalls & Simplicity make (thanks to Hancock Fabrics pattern sales LOL), and AG doll patterns.

3. Do you have a fabric stash? What types of fabric do you hoard? OMG yes. I've got a closet, most of a dresser, a TV cabinet, & this 6X2 foot outside storage area filled w/bins of material. LOL I really need to give away the big bolts of fabric that I got for SCA garb - I can't use it as doll clothes LOL

4. Do you have a fabric you would kill to buy more of? There's this Italian worsted wool suiting that I got a major deal on - very fine material but I only have about a yard & 1/2 of it. I would like enough to make ALL my boys suits...maybe a couple of my girls too LOL

5. [Opinion] What fabric is the devil? Do you have a fabric that you hate working with, or that you refuse to work with? Oh, yeah. Cheap satins, for one. Sequined stretch stuff that I used sometimes for flashy bellydance outfits - totally hurts my machine. I also hate cheap polyester doubleknits and it's way too bulky for the dolls.
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6. What sewing tricks have carried over from human to BJDs/other dolls? Which ones don't work so well? Most carry over quite well. However, there are some techniques that simply add too much bulk when used for dolls. The smaller the scale, the finer the material has to be to drape properly, and the more important finishes are - ones that do not add bulk.

 

1. What kind of things do you like to sew?
I haven't sewn for myself for a while, but when I was I enjoyed making myself fancy clothes, complicated blouses, beautiful dresses with full circular skirts in nice flowing fabrics, tailored pants. I had a serious wardrobe, I would come home after work Friday late afternoon, sew myself a nice garment and wear it that same night!

2. Do you use pattern?
I'm a fashion designer by trade, I would make my own patterns for skirts and pants, I drafted a set of fitted basic patterns for myself. But I must confess to having been a Vogue Designer pattern junkie if only because they were a challenge to sew. I know how to drape, but I really do flat pattern-making.

3. Do you have a fabric stash?
Guilty! mostly crepe de chine, silky fabrics and cottons and some nice wool gabardine. I have tried to reign myself in though!

4. Do you have a fabric you would kill to buy more of?
Yes, in fact two.
The first one is a woven fusible interfacing made of shirt weight cotton absolutely the best I have ever found to make my doll size men's suits. Interfacing is hands down the most important thing to make a suit that drapes properly and finding the proper weight for the thin fabrics that we use for dolls is really hard in my neck of the woods. It needs to be woven so I can make those french buttonhole pockets, the tight stitching I use simply disintegrates the synthetic ones.

The second one would be real thin wool felt used to line men's suit collar, still haven't found that one around here, it needs to be wool so I can steam it into shape.

5. Devil fabric
Velvet is probably the one I hate the most, pieces tend to move on one another as you are sewing because of the nap, it's impossible to iron unless you have one of those uber expensive and impossible to find pin boards. Give me thin silk, yards of the thinnest chiffon no problem but velvet no thanks.

6. What sewing tricks have carried over from human to BJDs/other dolls? Which ones don't work so well?
Pretty much every technique carries over, I always set my sleeves in, I have even done it for Lati size dresses ( by hand in this case). The greatest obstacle is the size of the presser foot and the throat plate hole. Usually any sewing problem is pretty much dealt with by putting tear away interfacing under the fabric to stabilize it under the presser foot.
The only "technique" if you will that doesn't work IMHO are buttonholes, they just don't look in scale, one only has to look at most doll shirts you buy the buttons look so big as to be laughable.
I go to great lenghts to find in scale buttons and always use the tiniest snaps instead of buttonhole.
I also don't like zippers in pants, the slider is just too thick, I would rather use a very thin micro velcro.

 

I have had excellent results with Tiny Zippers - the slider is to scale for 1:3 anyway I've made jeans w/real flys.... Mind, Iplehouse EIDs & 72 Idealians are pretty large guys LOL

 

@americanseamstress With all the talk of twills I've remembered two very lovely fabrics I haven't been able to find more of and don't know the names of... The first was a thick twill that was brushed like flannel on one side which came to me through various cousins and was originally my great aunt's and probably from the 50s. The second had narrow stripes of twill weave and plain weave and looked kind of ribbed.