I know it’s been a while… I haven’t had a lot of time to do creative stuff lately, and I needed to be quiet for a while.

But I did finish my S&H 890’s slip/dress and I have a couple of things to share.

First, I promised a trick for finishing the neckline with all it’s tucks.

If I turned everything to the inside, it would leave a lot of bulk and the tucks might go wonky.

So I turned it to the outside (right side) of the dress.

Then I whip stitched the lace to the folded edge.

If you iron the lace down, the raw edges don’t show.

But, to be sure the raw edges didn’t show, I ran a running stitch about 1mm away from the edge, through the lace, just to make sure. This technique leaves a smooth, non-bulky finish on the inside edge and works really well for small dolls’ clothes.

In the past, I’ve talked about thread loops, but never really showed how to make them in detail. Please excuse my “rough” nails in some of the photos. I’ve been planting flowers and herbs and didn’t realize just how raggedy they were until I saw these close-ups.

Before making the loop, sew on your button. Then measure approximately how big the loop needs to be to go around the button. I NEVER get this right, but I’ll show you how to adjust it. Just make sure the loop is big enough, because you’ll be able to make it smaller, but you can’t make it grow if it’s too small.

I begin by knotting the thread and bringing it up at the bottom of the loop, then down at the top of the loop, and back up at the bottom of the loop. This makes a double thickness of thread on which to make your stitches.

Bring the needle, back to front through the loop and bring the thread over the needle. This is a buttonhole stitch. Pull the stitch through and slide the stitch down to the bottom of the loop.

Keep making the same stitch over and over again, all around the loop.

It’s easier to slide the stitches down next to the previous stitch if you hold the top of the loop.

After you get more than half-way around, you can hold the top of the loop, over your stitches, to slide your stitches.

Once I get about 3/4 of the way around, I check the loop again. And it’s too big.

So I just take the needle through to the back side to secure it and it pulls the extra threads down to the fabric and they don’t show.

Here’s the finished thread loop. Thread loops are easy to do, but they do take time.  I’ve never counted the number of stitches. I don’t want to know.

Pretty cute, huh?

I’ve cut out the pieces of her wool coat. I cut them a bit large so that I can fit it as I go. Now I just need to find the time to make it.