Wearables Sewing Project: Basics [ Round 98]

Yeah, I'd go for redesigning, too. Definitely make sure you're happy with whatever you're investing your time in!

(As for me, I'm being counterintuitively slowed down by my new machine being returned from service, because it's still having issues and I need to go sit in the room where it's set up and figure out just what the everloving fudge is happening to it so it can get fixed properly.... ugh, sewing machines!)

 

Thanks. It really helps hearing someone else say it as well. I always get lost in my own head when thins don't go to plan. There is a little creature in my head, running in circles in panic. And it's so silly, Iv'e been sewing for most of my life, I should be able to handle it, but oh, well.

I'm sorry to hear about your machine problems. Few things are as frustrating as a sewing machine that acts up.
I'm luck that both my machines are at least pretty reliable. Unfortunately, in the case of the newer of the two, that usually means that if it fails at a task it will very reliably fail at that very task every time in much the same way no matter what I try to do to fix it.

 

After fighting three different image hosting websites, some bad indoor lighting, and an enthusiastic cat, Ivy (minifee Lishe) and I are at last able to join. I have some green and gray knit fabrics off the remnant pile that I'm hoping to turn into some basic tops and/or leggings. I've already got the patterns for some tops, but not leggings yet. I remember Lomi's playground on youtube having some that look promising, if I don't end up drawing them out myself.

 

I'm hoping that I can get it sorted out, but it might take a little while longer... it's a super fancy embroidery machine that seems (after going in for service to hopefully fix the issue) to be doing just fine when I sew, but messing up badly when I embroider. So I'm going to start eliminating variables by setting aside the project that keeps messing up, hooping up something else, and switching out the thread, bobbin, and pattern, so I can determine if it's the machine or one of those other factors and start narrowing it down from there. But that's potentially a long task that'll eat up most of my weekend, so that kills working on much of anything else, sadly.

 

What about sewing what you can with the new machine and doing the tiny details by hand?

I'm interested in anything pre WW I. How's that for a wide range lol! But more defined, I enjoy 16th century, certain 18th century gowns and pretty much all of the 19th century, particularly the gowns with three part curved back bodies. They are just so feminine and elegant to my eye.

I love the idea of embroidery on your shirt. Are you thinking color or blackwork?

I Love the larger print on your skirt. It's very elegant!

 

It's not a bad idea, but it's not going to work for this. The clothes are contemporary and are supposed to look store bought, not home made.

 

I had no idea how difficult hand sewing was going to be. After sewing all day yesterday my hands are shaking. I'm considering buying a sewing machine to use for longer seams and things. I don't want to spend more than $200.00 USD. Any suggestions about good reliable machines? I don't need a lot of fancy stitches, just basics, but a self threader would probably be a good thing, and a sleeve arm maybe. I definitely want a full machine not one of those little portable ones.

 

Singer, Brother and Janome all have decent machines under $200. Not sure if they have self threaders at that price. An old (1960) Singer is what I use for my long seams, I wish it had a sleeve arm but when sewing for BJDs it isn't that critical.

 

@Rubytinker You might ask friends family and neighbors if they have a extra machine for cheap or free. You would be surprised how plentiful they are! My sister works at a thrift shop and brings me machine after machine to fix and a lot of them are really nice, they just need some oil. I would also suggest you go to a sewing machine store to see what is available and what they recommend so you can get a feel for it.

 

Great ideas. No luck with family members but checking out a sewing machine store sounds good. They may have some refurbished ones for sale. Thanks!

To everyone who mentioned Janome, thank you. I've seen 5hem on Amazon but had no experience with or info on them so didn't consider them. I'm going back now to see what they have. I have a lot of difficulty moving around so I buy just about everything on line.

 

I second the idea of getting a basic and older machine. If nothing else it will give you a lot more machine for your money compared to a new one. Any of the larger brands are good, really.
(Just stay away from the super cheap ones as many of the brands will have one or two models that are in fact not made by them, usually the cheapest machine in their line and those can be pretty horrible.
I used to know a mechanic who used to call those "one roll" machines, meaning that they often broke down before the first roll of thread was used up and nearly impossible to fix.)

You can thread any machine using one of those wire loop threaders used for threading hand sewing needles. Just poke the loop through the eye of the needle from the back, put the thread through the wire loop and use it to pull the thread through the eye.

 

Hello everyone! Progress report ahoy! Unfortunately, it was two steps forward and one step back.

I finished whip stitching the edges of all my body panels and gussets, and began getting them assembled. First, I finished sewing the wee little triangular gussets onto the front panels. And then, the next morning, began sewing the shoulder seams.

Remember friends - always pin or baste your seams when you're doing fussy work like this! I am so adamant about the value of basting, I even took a progress shot of it:

(Have you spotted the problem yet? I'll give you a hint: I'm an arrogant bastard who starts out with uneven seam allowances when I know I'm going to flat fell things; instead of trimming one side down after the seam is sewn like a normal person. Also, peep the front edges of the triangular gussets.)

Once I got the shoulder seams backstitched, I moved on to starting the whip stitching on the edges of the sleeve pieces. I got bored of that pretty quickly, and so this evening I sat down with the intention of felling down the shoulder seams.

And that, dear friends, is when I realized that I had, in fact, sewn the shoulder seams on backwards. That is, I had painted myself into a corner so that I had to either fell the edge down the OPPOSITE WAY FROM HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO GO, or I had to pick out eleventy billion three-thread long white stitches out of my white fabric, like some kind of lunatic.

After lying to myself for half an hour about how fine it would be if I just "finagled" felling the seam down backwards (laws of physics and gussets be damned), I poured a fresh pot of coffee and commenced the business of unpicking.

Fun Fact: Seam rippers don't really work when your stitches are only three threads long. If you make a mistake at that gauge, you have to solve it with embroidery scissors and Really Sharp Pins.

Y'all. It took me THREE. SOLID. HOURS. to unpick about four inches of stitching. I regretted every minute of it, and called my mother twice to curse her for teaching me to sew that damn small. (Though I really should have been cursing her great-grandmother, who was the Victorian lunatic who taught HER to sew that damn small.)

Then I took a deep breath, and started basting things back together the correct way around.

And thankfully, by the mercy of some benevolent god, that is when I Actually Looked at the front edges of the triangle gussets, and remembered that I had decided to WHIP STITCH THE DAMN THINGS ON SPECIFICALLY SO I WOULDN'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH FINAGLING THE FELLING OF THE SEAM EDGES.

 

A lot of wonderful projects happening in this round! Everyone is making great progress. I haven't started yet, but will try to get pictures tomorrow.

She is adorable! I love MYou dolls! In spite of my vow of no more dolls right now, I just couldn't resist.

What an interesting and classy lady! I'm looking forward to what you create for her.

That skirt is awesome! I love the print, and the way it drapes.

Really nice! Those leggings look amazing on her.

Those socks are adorable!

That sounds like a great idea! It will add a really special touch.

It looks really lovely so far! I love the fabric you're using. I sympathize with you, as I've got it too - in the hands.

 

taking a pause before gathering these pant legs into bloomer fashion because I like how they look right now...
pause by mare joy smith, on Flickr

 

I feel your pain!

Oh my goodness... adorable!

I've been a bit under the weather today so no sewing. I spent the day watching YouTube videos by ABBY COX. If you're interested in 19th century clothing construction you would love her channel.

 

@Rubytinker You and I are interested in the same time span! Anything pre-WWI, lol.

For 19th century basics, Agnes Walker's Needlework and Cutting Out is an invaluable resource. It's meant as a manual for school teachers to use with children, but it goes over basic techniques as well as basic garment construction. The garment construction stuff is mostly shirts, shifts, etc. Stuff that was traditionally made at home, instead of by a tailor or dressmaker. The techniques part was especially helpful to me, as a lot of the methodology is different from modern sewing, and it tends to show in the final product. (Incidentally, a lot of 19th century techniques are still used in couture fashion.)

The Workwoman's Guide by "A Lady" is similar to Needlework and Cutting Out, except that it's aimed at young women trying to learn garment sewing on their own, instead of at schoolteachers trying to instruct children. Information between the two has some overlap, but not completely. NaCO is more focused on teaching stitching itself (which, as noted above, is sometimes VERY different from modern home sewing techniques), whereas the Guide assumes you already know how to sew and just need to learn how garments are put together and patterns are drafted.

Another really good resource for 19th century is The Diamond Garment Cutter Correspondence School, which is a whole correspondence course for pattern drafting and cutting of women's fashions. This is where the fancy gowns and things come in.

Practical Tailoring by J.E. Liberty is later period (1933), but still very useful. It focuses on men's suits, with a heavy emphasis on helping the reader understand exactly how and why garment pieces fit together.

All of these books are long in the public domain, and PDFs are easy to come by. (Feel free to DM me if you need help hunting them down, though.)

For books that are still in copyright, Making Victorian Costumes For Men by Sil Devilly is indispensable.

And for earlier period stuff, I'll admit there's a big ol' 18th century-shaped gap in my knowledge. But Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion (there are four volumes total, I think. I only own the first and fourth one) is probably the thing I refer to most often for 16th and 17th centuries. Another REALLY indispensable little book is Cut My Cote by Dorothy K. Burnham. Burnham focuses on the fabric itself, and explains why and how garments were cut and pieced through the medieval and Renaissance periods in Europe. Secondhand copies are difficult and expensive to come by, but as far as I know it's actually still in print if you contact Royal Ontario Museum directly.


I'm making this post in the main thread because I think these resources might be useful to several people in here, but I don't want to get way off topic. Feel free to DM me if you want to talk more about the subject! (This goes for anyone, btw, not just @Rubytinker. I'm always happy to talk about nerd stuff like this, lol)

 

That is amazing!

Finally, here is my little fashion victim, MYou Tang Tang (no other name yet), and the fabric she's chosen. I'll start with a very simple dress, similar to the borrowed one she's wearing, but hopefully a better fit. The floral print is for the dress, and the off white fine cotton for a pair of bloomers. If I have the time, I may make more items.

 

Fantastic, thank you! I'm going to check out all these resources. That said, I've completed Eleanor's dress. And it's not any period, just my imagination. In fact it's not even a dress. I made it as a skirt and blouse because I wanted a wide skirt band that I could drape the lace center piece over, which is attached to the blouse. At first I was going to use a white belt but decided it needed a pop of color. So there we are.

I figure it counts as a basic because it's the only dress Eleanor owns of her own. I've crochet her a sweater and a cami, but everything else is for Tonner, Gene or Franklin mint dolls from the 90s.

I love the print fabric. It's pure springtime!

 

I’m definitely checking out those books. Thanks so much for sharing! I could do with some sewing lessons. I kind of make it up as I go along.

I finished another pair of socks, the sweater and one pair of leggings. Cutting pieces out in bulk and putting them in little piles with matching thread really helped me get something done this round.

Here are the sweater and both pairs of socks:


And the leggings (with her skirt standing in as tubetop):

 

Absolutely adorable!

 

@Rubytinker I love that dress/outfit! The pop of contrast with the belt is really good!

@Enitnerolf Oh, that little sweater is just darling!

 

Wheee! Everyone is moving forward so well. I got into where I thought I'd already organized my fabric...and it wasn't. I think I've found the likely fliptop boxes behind a bunch of book boxes. I figured out my height and wingspread measurements for my robes. Does that count? I had to hunt down a bunch of measurements of my yet-to-be-cast dolls. And I've found heads for them when they get there. That's a basic, isn't it?

 

I've found several of these on Internet Archive. They're excellent!

Now I need to figure out how to draft a pattern so, I went to my Kindle account first and found a gem! It looks very dated, but basics are basics and this little book explains them all with excellent pictures and diagrams. If you have Kindle Prime it's a free book.

If this picture of the book is not allowed please delete it.

Basic Pattern Making: Women's Wear (Imperial)
By: TT Duong

 

@PoeticSoul thank you! And to think her clothes are all made from fabric salvaged from socks and underwear

Today I found a seat on the subway so I thought I’d finally try some sewing on the go. That was the original plan after all. So I grabbed my sewing kit and got out
- pieces of fabric cut to size
- a few spare pins just in case
- tiny scissors
- sewing thread
.....did you guys spot the problem yet? For some reason there was no sewing needle in the kit. So yeah, no new socks today

 

Been there. Done that. My worst experience was a 1/6 scale Dr Who scarf that was over half done. Took it on a road trip to work on it...and it got left in a hotel somewhere. I had to start all over, with the con at which Wiishu was a guest of honor only a month away. That...was a nightmare.

 

And finished! For now, anyway.
I ended up using some random jeggings pattern I’d saved from somewhere, attempted to make leggings, and ended up with sweatpants.
The pants were quite the adventure. I lost multiple pieces (the big ones- not the pockets), accidentally made 2 left sides and did not figure that out until I had already sewn the pockets in.
The shirt was modified from one by Antique Lilac. It’s the one for Jid, but fits minifee loosely. It was a bit less eventful- I only accidentally sewed the hem onto the seam at the side of the torso. Gotta love sewing when tired, I guess. Hopefully the next round will go better.



@Rubytinker That dress looks perfect on her! I like how you did the lace on the bodice, with the overlap on the waistband and the buttons on top.

@Enitnerolf Your sweater looks really good. I’d wear it, if I could fit. I’ve done the same thing, except it was a yarn needle for plastic canvas on a trip. So technically possible to not use one, but I gave up after a few minutes and stole one off my mom who knits.

 

Beautiful! I love all the trim you've added, the lace and the blue ribbon. It makes a lovely contrast!

They're all so adorable! Love the sweater and tights! Gotta love sewing with socks!

Good job! Both pants and top are a nice fit on your girl. She looks very stylish!

 

Well Poop! This thread has moved on a whole page without my getting any notifications - no idea how that's happening.

Anyhow, I have a teensy bit of progres to report on my petticoats for my Victorian SD sized girls. I've cut out seven panelled petticoats, and marked the waist darts on the front panels. I would have cut more but my available lightweight white cotton was less than I rememebred. Must fix that as I always like to have it in my stash (and need to cut more petticoats).

Next steps:

- Sewing all the darts in the front panels
- Sewing the front panels to the back panels
- Gathering the back panels to fit the waistbands
- Adding ruffles of broderie anglaise around the hems
- Fastenings on the waistbands

Also to do:
- Order more white cotton
- (if time) cut and sew another three shaped petticoats, and 10 unshaped petticoats

Unshaped petticoats are basically a strip of fabric gathered to a waistband, hemmed, and given some rows of tucks near the hem (if I have the patience, possibly some lace edging)

Future continuation of project:
- Each girl needs a red flannel petticoat for warmth (and to rip up to make improvised warning flags when a landslide blocks the railway line...)

Teddy

 

Everyone's making such good progress and the projects that are finished looked great!

I haven't gotten very far. My printer died so I had to wait for the new one to get here before I could print out some of my patterns. But I did manage to get the pieces cut for Peanut's dress and cardigan. Originally it was supposed to be a hoodie, but for some reason I had the hardest time getting the pattern the right way... something that just shouldn't be difficult. Then when I was cutting the pieces for Melon's overalls, I realized I used the wrong pen and the ink had bled though to the good side... so those pieces were ruined and now I need to find a different fabric for her. Lol, it just wasn't my day. Thankfully that happened a week ago, so I'm going to give everything another try. At this rate if I finish one piece I'll be satisfied.

 

Oh no! What a setback. Glad to hear you're pushing forward with it regardless. Fingers crossed for a better day when you start the enxt attempt.

Teddy

 

This looks great! It fits perfectly.

 

A tad more progress - Having found three potentially suitable fabrics online, and ordered three metres of each (because I won't know if any of them will be the right stuff for this project until I can handle it, but I always have uses for plain white cotton of various weights and thicknesses), I discovered another three metres (all bar one cut-off corner) of suitable plain white cotton folded up in another fabric in my white-fabrics stash.

Anyhow, I've cut out six unshaped petticoats from the new find.

No sewing done yet, but I'm furhter ahead than I often get with these monthy projects, so that's a win right there.

Teddy

 

I'm still picking out fabrics. I'm so impressed with the industry packed into this thread.

 

She looks lovely! What an excellent example of a "basics" outfit!

@Teddy Would you mind sharing the shaped petticoat pattern? I've got an SD girl coming in who's definitely going to need some good petticoats, but I've really only got experience in making either unshaped petticoats or the late period kinds which go with bustle dresses. (Which are a bit too grown up for a 10 year old girl, I think!)

 

I don't actually have a pattern, I made it up from looking at several surviving Victorian petticoats, but it's really simple and is one of those that can be adjusted according to the amount of fabric you have. Childrens ones were very similar to the adult ones except they didn't need to allow extra length at the back for the bustle.

I've made it of three panels, each flaring down either side from waist to hem. Eight inches across the top and twelve inches across the bottom. I shaped the bottom edge with a shallow curve at either side to make the sides the same length as the middle of the panel.

The front panel has four darts at the waist edge (two either side of the centre front) and the back panels are gathered or pleated to fit the waistband. Earlier petticoats would be gathered or pleated on all panels instead of having the darts on the front panel.

Bear in ind I'm winging it with these measurements based on holding the fabric up to the doll and deciding "about that" and I have yet to sew one of them togetherso, the exact measurements might need adjusting, but I've made full sized petticoats in this way that have worked, so I'm reasonably confident.

Hope this helps

Teddy

 

I found this petty coat pattern on flickr I am trying to figure how to make one too.
1880s undergarments by Vicki Halliday, on Flickr

Here is a link to lobster tail pattern instructions too V346: How to Make a Victorian Bustle - Pattern and Instructions

 

Looks like it's more of a bustle built into a petticoat, than a petticoat to wear over a bustle. Was that what you were looking for?

EDITED TO ADD: Mind you, the pattern for the petticoat would be very similar to the bustle petticoat pattern, perhaps a little fuller in the back panels to have some gathers over the bustle to duisguise the bomning lines

Teddy

 

Yay I finally got some panties done.


They are super simple but I am just glad I got anything done this month. Just ignore the mess from a hundred other craft projects in the background.

I haven't decided on a design for the matching bra yet.

 

Very helpful! Thank you!

 

Wow! So much progress made all around! I can't possibly comment on everything individually, but you guys are awesome.
I mean, just look at this thread. The theme is basics and we got everything from centaur bloomers, via historical petticuats to modern casual wear and a lot inbetween. This, right here is why I love this hobby.

As for myself, I finally have some pictures for you.

First up, the petticoat I made in the beginning of this round.

This is just a soft, simple little thing. Just an extra layer for the dresses that don't really need any support or can't fit a lot of volume, but that will look wierd if the isn't at least something under there.

Then we have the cut pieces for a pink blouse and a blue underskirt. These will not be finished until my good sewing machine is back.


For my new project I will still use Daisy as my model and I've decided to make her a JSK out of this printed fabric. (The pink one underneath is the fabric the blouse is cut from and I included it so you can see how they go together.)


This is going to be bit of a challenge. I made the entire design around what the only sewing machine I have here now can do. The main weakness of this machine is the feeding. I doesn't have the "pinch" of my older macine. This means that you constantly have to take extra steps and make work arounds. I usually don't use a lot of pins, nor do I press between every seam, but with this machine you kind of have to. So everything takes about two or three times as long as it normally would and the end result is similar at best.
The one saving grace so far is that the fabric is really easy to work with. It's weave is dense, the print is very crisp and clear and it sheds almost no fibers, suggesting that the cotton fibres are farily long and of good quality. (Unlike the lace on the petticoat above that started to fuzz up almost right away, seriously, where do you even find good quality lace these days?)
I don't even want to think about what trying to do this in a "dificult" fabric would be like.
So, the progress so far is limited.
I have started on the bodice. This is all I got from hours of work yesterday and I had to stop because I was so frustrated I was shaking.


But I'm not defeated yet. It was a tactical retreat, nothing more.

 

This is a fabulous link. Thank you so much.

Your bodice is coming along beautifully. Such fine, tiny lace!

I think since I got Eleanor's dress done I might make her some undergarments also. She just needed a dress so badly I had to start with that.

 

I love how you've made use of the striped pattern for the bodice. It may be labour-intensive but it's a lovely result.

Teddy

 

The printed "lace" on the fabric is quite impressive. The lines are very crisp and the details are great, despite the tiny scale and the fact that it's black on grey it shows up very clearly.

Layers are fun! The dress you made is very cute.

Thanks. Since many lolita brands design their own fabrics to fit the design of their dresses it can be tricky to make doll scaled dresses that are not just all over florals or solids. I mean, those are common too, but the border print is an undeniable staple of the fashion. I find that playing around with directions and pattern matching like this is a pretty good way to fake the look, at least to some extent.
Designing the dress to fot the fabric gives similar results as designing the fabric to fit the dress.
At least that's the theory.

 

@Lillith that bodice looks so nice! It must be a lot of work to piece the fabric like that but it is totally worth it. Don't give up!

@laquaza those panties look cute! I've never tried making any because I'm so worried about finishing the leg holes without losing the stretch. Yours show me it is definitely possible to make them look nice and finished.

@Vindalootoo oh no! Though I have to admit I'm happy to hear I'm not the only one.

@Azure Agape that outfit looks so comfy! It may not be what you planned on making but they fit her really nice.

I took some pictures of all the pieces I made from the obitsu pattern books so far. I made two pairs of socks, one sweater, two pairs of leggings and a pair of tights this round, the purple sweater and tights are from a previous round. Both my pukifee and obitsu were present because I wanted to compare the fit.



As you can see the obitsu patterns are actually too big for obitsu. But they fit pukifee really well so I'm not complaining.

I still have some socks and leggings left to sew, and I copied the t-shirt pattern so I miiiiight make a t-shirt too.

 

You're powering through the garments in this round.

Teddy

 

Yeah I've never been this productive before. I think it's the combination of days off with nothing to do, as we're still in lockdown here. The shops re-opened but all the theme parks and museums are still closed. And I'm not desperate enough to go shopping, it's way too crowded in most stores.Then there's the pre made patterns, which save me a lot of time and headspace. I just have to pick something instead of making things up and figuring out how to make a pattern for it. I pre-cut all the pieces and packed them in bite sized portions. Again, this saves so much time lost on thinking about what to make and what fabric to use. I just pick up a pile of fabric with matching thread and sew (provided I don't forget to pack my needle). And getting the pukifee. She is somehow the perfect size for me to work and play with. She is nice and tiny so she is easy to transport, I can sew her clothes by hand without spending hours on them and she fits in my hand and that just looks so cute.

It's like the grand masterplan is all coming together, except it's all coincidence

 

Shhhhhhh! Don't tell anyomne and they'll never know

Teddy

 

So pretty! Worth the effort. Love it with the pink.

 

@Enitnerolf You are building up that dolls warderobe really fast! And I agree about sewing for really tiny dolls. It has it's challenges for sure, but the small size have some clear advantages as well.

@PoeticSoul & @Vindalootoo Thank you both. I have to admit I am a little bit in love with this fabric. It wasn't cheap, but the scale is perfect and the three different widths of the floral stripes makes it really easy to design around.

 

I do love it when the fabric itself helps you find the design.

 

Great work @Lillith I can imagine the frustration, but you have such a wonderful piece in the end.

 

Great job! They're an amazing fit!

Love the fabric, and the way you've made use of the pattern! The result is well worth all your effort!

Wow, you've accomplished so much! It all looks so cute on your tiny girl!

 

A bit of progress to report.

The first shpaed-panel petticoat has been sewn to test out how it works.

The three panels are all shaped like this and only the front panel has the darts:


The results ar OK, but could be better:



- The darts need to be longer and wider (the front panel needed gahtering between the datrts and side seams in order to not wrap around to the back at the waist - I should just have enlarged the darts at that point instead).

- The pre-gathered trim I, so it has sprung back and pulled tghe hem edge in slightly at the bottom of the petticoat used for the ruffle had a bit of "spring" to it's gathered edge, which I must have stretched out when attaching it to the hem (a good iron after I wash it to remove the orange pen marks for the darts might fix that... if I'm lucky). I only have enough pre-gahtered trim for one more petticoat, anyway, so I'll be more careful with it on the next attempt. Then I'll move on to usining ungathered broderie-anglaise trim for the remaining five petticoats I've cut out (which will take longer as I have to do the gathering, but is less likely to pull this trick on me).

I'll englarge the darts and get on with sewing the other six petticoats I have cut out on a production-line basis, now that I know the basic concept works.

After that (hopefully) I'll move onto the unshaped petticoats. I think I'l gather them all onto their waistbands, and hem them, then ficurte out what arrangements of tucks and lace (if any) to work aorund the bottom, depending on the limb length of the individual dolls.

Teddy