The last 2 Flip dolls I sold bought me an ugly new lamp. And I love it! It is really bright, the light is pure, and it’s dimmable. Working on so many teeny, tiny hand sewing projects made me hope that better lighting would help. And it really does. It is the same lighting used to treat SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and DH thinks it’ll give me a tan. It … Continue reading
Category Archives: Hand Sewing
Last weekend, Supergirl (SG), Dear Husband (DH) and I went to the beach. SG had 2 days off school for teacher meetings. Several years ago, when DH and I went to the beach in December, SG scoffed at our silliness. Who would want to go to the beach in the winter time?? She gets it now. We visited her Great Aunt, who lives in Nags Head, swam in the hotel … Continue reading
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For those of you who may not be familiar with the term, “cartridge pleating” is used to fit way too much fabric into a waistband. It creates a very full skirt. Here’s my Huret wearing her new skirt with her embroidered wool jacket. Pretty cute, huh? And here’s my Huret Book. It’s 3 1/2″ tall. Appropriately for a French doll, I bought it in Paris, in a stationer’s store in Montmartre. … Continue reading
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I think the coolest thing about piping is that it looks impressive and finishes a garment beautifully but it is really easy to do. I have chosen to make my Huret’s new skirt with a peaked waistband and corded piping cut on the bias. Since the skirt will be cartridge pleated, I must finish all sides of the waistband before it is sewn to the skirt. The first step is … Continue reading
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It’s taken 2 days of struggling with my computer to get it to upload pictures to my blog. I’m pooped, but happy that I got it working again. That computers can be working perfectly one day, then all fouled up the next makes my head explode. Since I’m practically finished with the flip girls, I need a new doll project to work on. Since the other projects I am working … Continue reading
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Dress 3 is done. I’m not sure about the ribbon belt, though. I’ll decide later. In this tutorial, I will show you one way to add a skirt to the basic dress and how to sew lace to lace. To make it, I started with the bodice and finished it like the basic pattern, except for the bottom edge, which I left unfinished. There are several different options to finish … Continue reading
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The second dress is done and even though it is silk dupioni, like dress one, it is completely different. My first step was to cut one more piece out of both the fabric and lining, the back pleat. I decided that it should be 1 5/8″ high and cut at a 60 degree angle. I used a plastic lid to draw the curve with my mechanical chalk pencil onto the … Continue reading
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I cut my linings for all three dresses from an off-white gauzy cotton I purchased many years ago in an Indian sari shop. It was inexpensive so I purchased several yards and may never run out. Since my fabrics and linings all tend to fray, I painted all the edges with my Gail Wilson Fray Preventer. Then I spread them out on waxed paper to dry. The first dress I … Continue reading
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It is time for the Triple Flip girls to get new dresses. I am going to show you how to use the basic small doll dress pattern from Beginning Hand Sewing for Dolls Part 6 to make three very different dresses. I reduced the size on my copier and just used the paper patterns to cut out the dresses. Since I used silk, I didn’t use tape to hold the patterns … Continue reading
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Merriam Webster defines provenance as: “the history of ownership of a valued object or work of art or literature.” As doll collectors, we rarely get to know anything about the provenance of a doll we purchase. We have all been told questionable stories of a doll’s history. How often has a dealer told you that a doll is from his or her “private collection”? But who owns the provenance of … Continue reading
