Wearables Sewing Project: Unfinished Business [ Round 95 ]

Only two of the girls are getting this style of sleeves on their dresses(Nettle's purple dress is the other one because she's al bout the girly froof)

I was inspired by the memory of a description of a dress in Anne of Green Gables. I'm pretty sure (from somewhat distant memory, so don't hold me to the details) that it was described as having two puffs on each sleeve... although I have made them with more puffs in the past (like this other piece of Unfinished Business:


Teddy

 

@Teddy Aw, I love Anne of Green Gables. That's inspiration for sure!



For me, I finally took the plunge and worked on modifying my wig for Vanellope. It turned out okay. I took some progress pictures if anyone happens to be particularly interested, but honestly they're not that demonstrative... too many hairs and threads everywhere :P



The reality though is that this wig just had SO much hair, that in trying to size down, it became a lot of material and bulk to manage. I cut out a big triangle from the bottom upwards towards the center, and removed the fabric and the hair that came with it, then resewed the shape to kind of get the cap to fit her head. I then folded in the whole front edge and tacked it down backwards to try to not lose the hair edge. I think ideally material removal around that front edge would be the proper answer to this project as well, so that could be redone upon me finding some good glue to keep hairs in place. The fact that she has the big bangs meant the wig was a little visually forgiving on the hair bulking up around the hairline... it ends up mostly hidden. Anyway, all my sewing was pretty broad and just tacking everything down, so definitely could redo if I wanted.

The way the wig is designed is actually that hair from the head cap is pulled backwards, and more hair is wrapped around that to make the ponytail big. So maybe also, at some point, I'll try taking the ponytail hair off, and re-situating it upwards a bit. But for now I think I'm alright with it the way it is. I was able to go in and pull some of the head hairs tighter toward the end so her pulled back hair isn't quite as messy as it used to be. But she's supposed to be a kinda messy little lady, with 'candy' stuck in her hair, so maybe once I make those out of clay it'll look fine too.

Anyway, back on the shelf for now, she'll get a trim and new sweatshirt later.

 

Yay! Well done!

Teddy

 

Teddy the belted dress is delightfully perfect!
maxxxamillion, you managed some serious mods on that wig. Nice! I'm glad she's turning out as you'd hoped.

 

Thanks Kathel

Teddy

 

@PoeticSoul I don't think anyone has ever referred to my sewing adventures as having nerves of steel I appreciate that a lot. I recently read somewhere about the incredible amount of problem solving and pre-planning that goes into sewing and other more "domestic" project tasks, with the short summary of the article being that really, these kinds of skills should be much more highly regarded for the amount of (again) planning capability they require, as well as spacial reasoning, technical skill.. and it just really resonated with me.

As a related tangent: I have worked in car factories for a number of years in my career and have gotten weird side-eyes from people when I really haven't needed explanations for how pieces go together and why certain procedures are needed (you actually HEM a door on a car!) .. and one time I dared explain to a boss how completely the SAME a lot of the metal manipulation procedures are to the sewing procedures I do. It wasn't received particularly well -- seemed he didn't like his precious car building compared to something like sewing. But! His loss. Bringing in my understanding from this other arena in my life was really helpful for me going out and working with the design and production staff, soooooo.... hah!

Anyway, kind of just wanted to share because I really appreciate all of you all and your understanding of how challenging these kind of tasks can be... one of my favorite phrases in technical work and people-related work is, "No problem is unsolvable." At the end of the day, if I mess something up, worst case scenario I can probably purchase a new this-or-that. Is it ideal? Maybe not, but I try to lean toward the "go for it" mindset versus worrying what will happen. Multiple times working on that wig, I was like "this is totally over, I'm gonna have to buy a new one..." and then was able to correct my mistakes

 

Thanks @PoeticSoul

Wilful blindness then. As you said - his loss.

Teddy

 

Sorry for my low level of activity this round.

I have finished a basic bodice for Lilja's dress. Don't worry, the sloppy hemstitches will be hidden by embellishments later.
There are still chalk marks here and there, the gathering threads are still hanging in the back and there are no good petticoat for the thing. She will also need jewelry and a few other things to be ready for the ball, but at least the project is further along now than it was at the start of the month.

 

Oh @Lillith your dress is extraordinary!! The dark green layering at the bottom is such a unique and engaging detail! I'd wear this dress in a moment!

 

@Teddy Your ruffled gingham looks superb! I just love that design and the gingham gives it so much sweetness. Beautiful work!
@Lillith Wonderful! I love the color and the embroidery. Your fit and finish is outstanding! You have been staring at it too long to criticize haha. I see nothing wrong--just lovely.
@maxxxamillion Your doll's wig looks very pretty. Nice job! I love her outfit too!
@Helgi Thank you on my dress. I pulled the gathers to the back and added a bum roll to make the back poof. She has a hoop skirt and petticoat in addition to the bum roll now and that does the trick! I'll post new pics soon.

Well Amanda is looking like a southern belle now. I made lots of progress and am really excited to finish. We are on the home stretch. I had no idea of what I was in for. I ended up making a petticoat, bum roll and hoop skirt on top of the rest of the heavily embellished outfit with a hat and I still have to make sleeves and collars. To top it off I started some Victorian boots. I am obsessed haha

 

Lovelyness!

Teddy

Thank you!

Impressive productivity

Teddy

 

@PoeticSoul Oh, she'll have some competition. When I'm done, every single one of my dolls that size will have their own ballgowns/outfits.

@maxxxamillion Thanks! I plan to bring the dark green into the bodice by using the same organza for narrow shoulder puffs. I'm thinking a general leafy green theme for the decorations.

@tinyseams You may have a point there. It will probably look better when it has rested a while. I just hope I won't forget about it for another couple of years.

@Teddy Thanks, Teddy!

 

@Lillith The gown is so beautiful!! I know that you're not finished yet, but it makes such a dramatic statement, I love it.

@Teddy Your girls' gingham dresses are so sweet! Gingham always makes me think of springtime and sunny days, it's such a cheerful pattern.

@helgie That ice-blue blouse is looking lovely, the color couldn't be any more perfect for your Ayleen. I hope you'll share the final result with us soon!

@dailymare Those pants and matching collar ruff are adorable

@maxxxamillion Nice work altering that wig! Your version of Vanellope is going to be precious

@tinyseams I'm excited to see what you've been working on! It sounds amazing, you must be keeping very busy!!

So I definitely didn't manage to complete an entire 1840s suit this month, but I did finish the shirt and trousers! The shirt is not entirely accurate to the era (it's somewhat outdated for 1840s), but it should do the trick once the entire outfit is put together. The trousers could stand to be a touch longer, but hopefully will look okay once his boots arrive. Here's August in his outfit so far!

 

It's always been a summer fabric in my mind.

Oh my boys will be envious.

Well I spent a chunk of today moving the project on a bit more:


That's all the remaining dresses moved on to the stage where they can be tried on the dolls.

All of them are still unhemmed, lacking fastenings, and a few need the sleeve seams sewn. None of them have their belts, sashes, or Swiss waists, and most of them are lacking their ruffles and/or other trim, but they're recognizably dresses now.

The orange still needs the cuffs unpicking and replacing with looser ones (no idea how I made them too small, but I did), and I seem to have misplaced my plan for which dress gets which trim/ruffles etc. but I can hunt around for that while i continue the ongoing project to unearth and sort out my sewing room.

Teddy

 

@Gamine OMG! Your boy looks so handsome wearing that outfit! I love his high collar shirt and the pants are wonderful! I love that V shape in back. His haircut is so period, perfect for his outfit. He certainly deserves fine clothes.

@Teddy Applause! You are well on your way to finishing. Your dolls will look so adorable together wearing them. I am appreciating the tremendous amount of time you put in after the huge amount of time I spent working on my dress. Whew!

Well here is a couple pics of my dress. I still have to add the snaps in back and I am thinking of adding some embroidery to the skirt to blend in the ricrack. I was not sure of adding it but now it's there so it's staying. HA! I still need to finish the hoop skirt but here is what I have on this last day of February.

Amanda 18th century dress 3 by Linda, on Flickr
Amanda 18th century dress 2 by Linda, on Flickr

 

Are those fall front? I've always wanted a good pattern for those.

 

Oh, I wish I could help, but these trousers are a fly-front style! (Also, my patterns are self-drafted one-offs and are not polished enough for public consumption ) However, if/when I tackle an earlier era of fashion, I'll gladly share a fall-front trouser pattern with you if I manage to create a satisfactory one

 

(applause!}

Teddy

 

Aw, that's so sweet of you!

 

It surprised me how much I managed. lf I could keep it up the rest of the time I'd get so much more done!

And, as usual, it has been so nice to follow along with everybody else's projects too. It does my nosey little soul good to see what other people are creating.

Teddy

 

Wooooowwwww! All of y'all's work is so amazing!!
I think most people have covered all the wonderful compliments I could give - so I just want everyone to know how thankful I am for another round of being inspired to work on things by everyone
(I do have to get one compliment in though, @Gamine your guy is so handsome, and certainly does himself a great justice by being so well-dressed!)

As for me, my Vanellope's sweater will remain unfinished business. I was engaged by the challenge of the wig, but got kind of bored with the sweater redo (a classic case of "I know how to do this technically so it's not really novel to me"... ) and ended up spending my last whole weekend worth of hobby time this month dressing and undressing other dolls

No matter~
For now my "unfinished business" will remain unfinished business but I'll get there eventually. I am very excited about the Vanellope character in total, so obviously will keep working on her in the background.

Onwards and forwards!

 

You all did so well while I'm staring at my box of unfinished things and lack the enthusiasm to even open it.

I am hoping the next round will spur me on to making a few things for my special guys.

 

Thank you for your nice comments and I am done with this dress now (YAY!) so one more pic to show the embroidery I added
amanda new dress by Linda, on Flickr

On drop front pants, I think maybe I have figured out how to sew them after a few tries. What a puzzle they are and I hope I can still remember how to do it again!

 

The embroidery makes far more of a difference than I would have thought before seeing it.

Teddy

 

@tinyseams That turned out beyond awesome! The embroidery really is the perfect final touch. Any chanse of getting a close up view?

@Teddy I have a fall front pattern for a full-figured msd-sized boy. If that is of any use and I can figure out a good way to go about it I'd be happy to share.

 

Thanks, but most of my boys who want them are SD size. And I can adapt fly front patterns easily enough to falls front (I've done it for full sized knee-britches to wear with my 18th century frock coats, so can scale down to doll scale).

Getting around to it, now that's and entirely different kettle of fish.

@iamkathybrown was looking for a pattern but I don't know what size they were after....?

Teddy

 

@Teddy I was hoping for SD.

 

Oh, bad luck.

Teddy

 

Thank you @Lillith You can click on the pic above and it will take you to flickr and then you can click on the download pic (arrow down) and select view all sizes. Then you can see a full size pic if you click on the original size.

@Teddy Thanks! There was no turning back I was not about to rip out all that ricrack lol The black ruffle is hard to photograph there's a lot more texture than you can see in the pics. I was about ready to toss it at one point. haha

@iamkathybrown I have a drop front pants pattern in MSD size that fits my Dollshe David. You could probably upsize it to SD by enlarging by 133% The length of the pants I posted is 10.25 inches from waist to hem. Your SD would be 133% times 10.25 equals 13.63 inches. The main fit point is the waist, the pants are full enough so your doll will be able to sit easily.
drop front pants pattern MSD 300 dpi 2 by Linda, on Flickr
drop front pants pattern MSD 300 dpi 1 by Linda, on Flickr

 

Wow, thanks so much!

 

Well I sure dropped the ball on this month's thread, both in following along with the thread and getting any amount of progress made whatsoever on my dress project. Loads of great work from the rest of you this time, though, and my project will get done when it gets done--- it's already waited years, another few weeks or months won't hurt it.

 

That's the spirit!


Teddy

 

@tinyseams Flickr requires you to accept some not so nice cockies to be able to view the pictures, though. I prefer to stay away from places like that.

 

I use a blocker and deny cookies but you may have a point. What did you want to see close up? The bodice or the skirt? I can post a pic here

 

I have one set to block trackers and a few other nasties, but it can only block ones it knows about, so I still tread with caution.
It's the embroidery around the rick rack on the skirt I'm especcially interested in. It ties in really well! I absolutely love little details like that, it makes the whole look so cohesive and 'well worked' for lack of a better term (my english fails me).

 

Wow!... a lot has happened since I was last here. You all finished off so many awesome projects.

Beautiful work, as usual @PoeticSoul! Those kimonos are gorgeous! You always find such cute prints. SugarPlum looks adorable in them.

@helgie, that soft blue colour is lovely on Ayleen. How annoying that you're so short of the fabric, but I'm sure it will turn out beautiful.

@dailymare, such a cute outfit!

Wow, @Teddy! You've made amazing progress with those gingham dresses! Love, love all the lovely colours!

@maxxxamillion, amazing job you've done on that wig. It looks so cute on your Vanellope..

Lilya's gown is stunning @Lillith! I love the very full skirt, and the embroidery is gorgeous.

@Gamine, your boys shirt and trousers perfection! Very stylish! You've accomplished a lot.

What an awesome dress @tinyseams. It suits your lovely girl so well. The trim and embroidery are the perfect finishing touches.

I didn't manage to completely finish anything, not yet. But that's ok, as I'll keep working on it. I got distracted reorganizing my too chaotic sewing space, and didn't get back to sewing.

 

Thanks @Aeilia

Teddy

 

Thank you @Aeilia and @Lillith Here is a closeup of the embroidered ricrack
close up of Amanda's dress by Linda, on Flickr

 

@tinyseams Oooooh wow, so nice! What a sweet detail to add!

 

@maxxxamillion Thank you! I was ready to quit before I did the embroidery but it definitely needed something to blend the ricrack. I am trying to use up my endless stash of vintage ricrack haha. You and I have a lot in common. I see you get bored once you figure something out and I worked in the auto industry as a engineer too back in the day.

 

@tinyseams Thank you for the close up! That is absolutely beautiful.

 

Stunning details @tinyseams

 

@tinyseams Oh cool, that's so awesome! I'm fully convinced that my general inspiration when learning how machines work has led to a lot of my creative joy... It's so fun to know how anything is built... from clothing to cars Thanks so much for sharing that you worked in the auto industry too. While a challenging industry in many regards, it's fun to be able to look back and understand the processes that go into building such complicated and cool things Somehow I get the sense that a lot of engineers end up with these very physical/3D hobbies in the end, which makes a lot of sense

 

omg, you all are doing such amazing work! I feel so lazy LOL RL work has me deep in a project, I hope to join all of you again soon

 

Being busy in real life does not mean you're lazy!

Teddy

 

@Kimmera As long as you're here in the thread you're part of the projects!!!
All in due time

 

Yes the 3D aspect is why I design clothes and figure how to construct them. I love thinking how a flat pattern becomes 3D and vice versa.I love to fix sewing machines too. My Dad and Grandfather were engineers also. They knew a great deal more about machinery than I do but I was steeped in it from childhood. I am grateful for the experience of knowing them and their passion.

@SteamWitch Thank you! I got in over my head on that one. lol

 

My best costuming student is an engineer, so that makes sense (although I still shudder when he brings Maths into his sewing and costuming - that's just Not Right).

Teddy

 

Omg @Teddy I have laughed audibly to myself both times this has come up so far, and for that, I really appreciate you mentioning this student hahahah. You can feel free let him know, if you feel so inclined, that someone on your forum greatly appreciates the ability to have a knowing chuckle on the other end of the internet due to his sewing math

@tinyseams Yesss!!! When I first started sewing as a kid, I stubbornly REFUSED to use patterns for a few years because I wanted to "figure out" how it worked before I relied on what other people created. Designing the patterns is so satisfying. I'm so glad you can relate!

 

Next time I speak to my best friend (his wife) I'll pass that on.

Teddy