Fat Quarter Fashion with the Voyage Fabric Pack

I love quick projects--the instant gratification is, well, gratifying! And sewing for dolls fits that bill perfectly.

 

While there are peculiarities to sewing so small, once you get the hang of it, it's a great way to put scraps of fabric to good use. With my beads and wall-hanging taking up most of the Voyage fat quarter pack, I still had enough for a couple of coordinating outfits for the Dals.

To put these together, I started with the 90s Grunge pattern for Pullips by etsy seller Requiem Art. Dal is a smaller doll in the line, so I printed the patterns at 85% to get it to the right size. I also added a tank top pattern from a Japanese doll pattern mook (magazine-book combo) and a small backpack pattern courtesy of the blog Absolutely Small.

Now, the pattern (as the name suggests) was designed to emulate the grunge aesthetic, but in the Voyage colorway it takes on a fresh, airy look. It's a good example of the effect your fabric choice has over your finished product.

Another thing to keep in mind is if the fabric pattern has an obvious up side. The hot air balloons might look a little wonky if I had them heading down on the skirt. And when I planned the orientation of the flap on the backpack I needed to make sure the part that folded over and to the front had the balloons heading up--the fact that they're "upside down" on the back of the backpack didn't matter because that part is seldom seen!

The other benefit of working with a fabric pack like Voyage is that they different fabric patterns all automatically coordinate, so you can mix and match the fabrics (like I did in the babydoll dress). Instead of looking like random patchwork it looks totally planned.

Wishing you creative days!
Jennifer ~Scraps~ Vanderbeek

Up, Up, and Away!

Greetings, fabric lovers! Scraps, here, with another project from the Voyage fat quarter bundle, inspired by the darling little hot air balloons featured on one of the patterns in the pack!

As soon as I saw this set of patterns it immediately said it needed to be in a travel-themed nursery. Of course, you saw how I completely ignored that obvious use in my bracelet project, but you can't fight the status quo all the time, you know? So let's give the fabric what it wants.

I created a simple hot air balloon pattern (which you can download here) and then gathered the rest of my supplies:

• Voyage fat quarter bundle
• Light-weight Fusible Interfacing
• Brown Grosgrain Ribbon (~ 2 yards, but extra is good)
• Helmar Fabric Glue and a toothpick or skewer
• Hemp Yarn and a Crochet Hook
• Low-Loft Quilt Batting 
• Pen, Scissors, Straight Pins, and a Sewing Machine
• Fabric Beads
• Double-Fold Bias Tape 

I cut an 8"x12" piece from the blue & white star print for my background. Then I fused the interfacing to pieces of the two remaining prints before transferring the balloon wedge patterns to them and cutting them out. The interfacing helps stabilize the edges a bit to prevent fraying and, if you wanted to avoid applique work entirely, you could use a double-sided fusible interfacing to adhere the balloon shapes to the background fabric. 

You could grab some brown fabric (burlap would certainly work) for the basket, but I wanted to add a little more texture than that, so I grabbed a foam block and wove my little balloon basket over the pattern, securing the ends with straight pins. A little fabric glue slipped between the outside edge of each overlapping ribbon (the toothpick or skewer makes this easier to do without mess) will keep the woven basket together and then you can snip off the excess ribbon.

Arrange your balloon wedges and basket on the background fabric and stitch into place. I chose to do this applique-style with a small, narrow zigzag stitch (stitch length 1, zigzag width 3, on my machine) and found that if I let the feed dogs do the work of moving the fabric I ended up with far less puckering and shifting as I went along. My balloon ended up slightly skewed from center, but rather than fight with it, I just decided to see it as a balloon drifting in the air.

Just like with the basket, you could use some pre-made cording here and couch it or even glue it, but I chose to use some hemp yarn from my knitting stash and a crochet hook to make 3 chained lengths to strap the balloon "to" the basket (the lengths depend on your placement of the pieces). These I hand-stitched into place, leaving longish tails at each top corner of the baskets, braiding those ends together to make the swag that meets in the middle.

Next, layer the pieced top with the batting and a piece of backing fabric (I used a large scrap from my stash), leaving the ends open. Quilt as desired--I chose to run a line of stitches through the middle of each balloon segment, outline it all, and then add some subtle cloud "puffs" to the background. Then I machine-stitched a narrow band of double-fold bias tape all the way around the front of the work (trimming as necessary), and whip-stitched it in place on the back.

Final touches included adding some of my leftover fabric beads from last week's project as "sandbags" on the balloon, and two loops of bias tape added as hangers and sewn on the back with buttons to hide the stitches on the front.

I'm thrilled with the way this darling little wall hanging turned out! What have you been stitching up, lately?

Wishing you creative days,

Jennifer "Scraps" Vanderbeek

Dollies Dress-Up for Easter in Botanic Garden Ensembles

Greetings fabric lovers! To finish out my trio of projects from the Botanic Garden fabric project pack, I decided to outfit two of my dolls in cute little Easter outfits.

These dolls are Dal and Yeollume models from the Pullip line.

When you sew for dolls of any size, a good rule of thumb is to keep the pattern size about the size of the doll's hand--that way you'll keep the scale correct and it'll help the illusion along. If you hold your hand up to most of the patterns in your own clothes they'll probably follow the hand-size or smaller rule. There are exceptions, of course, and Poppy (my Yeolume Podo) is wearing overalls of the floral print, obviously over-scale, but not in a way that is distracting.

The sweet little sundress pattern is from Kerria Rosette (printed at 85% to scale it down for this "petite slimline" doll compared the original, which is more comparable to a standard fashion doll) while the overalls pattern is one I found a few years ago but, sadly, does not seem to be available online anymore. Any Blythe-sized overall pattern would do, though, for these dolls.

The wrap-around bib and pants leg for the overall set.

The bodice and skirt (I cut mine on the fold for an extra-full skirt) for the sundress.

 When working on small pieces like these doll clothes, always do whatever you can flat--like hems and darts--before you start to shape and assemble the garment to save yourself some frustration. Here I've folded over a very narrow hem on the outside edges (clipping the curves of the arm hole on the overall bib) and just finger-pressed and pinned them into place. Sometimes handsewing is easier for doll clothes, or even manually turning the wheel on your machine instead of using the presser foot.

Assembling the sundress is as simple as a running stitch along the top edge of the skirt to form the gathers and then easing it along the bodice. A seam up the back of the skirt and a few snaps and that's it! (Though I did opt to add some beading along the top edge for interest.)

After joining the overall legs together at the front seam, I gathered them to the bodice just the way I did the sundress skirt.

Then I gathered the hems of each pant leg separately, sewed the gathers in place, and folded the raw edge up at that seam line, attaching a length of ribbon for the leg band instead of using a tiny strip of fabric. Once each leg is hemmed, sew the inseams for each pant leg and about halfway up the rear seam--leaving enough open to easily dress the dolls.

The overalls are finished with a hook-and-loop tape closure at the back, ribbons for the shoulder straps, and a couple of pretty beads as buttons.

Happy Easter!

Wishing you creative days,

Jennifer "Scraps" Vanderbeek

A-Tisket, A-Tasket, a Reversible Fabric Basket!

Hello again! Scraps, here, with part two of our pretty little Easter decor project using the Botanic Garden fabric project pack!

They say don't put all your eggs in one basket, but this petite pretty is sized just right to fit last week's trio of stuffed eggs.

To get started you'll need:

• Botanic Garden project pack
• Medium-weight Interfacing
• Low-loft Quilt Batting
• Lace trim (optional)
• Chalk pencil, pins, scissors, needle & thread

And, of course, the pattern (click the link to download the pattern sheet from my Hightail page).

For each pattern piece you'll cut 2 out of fabric (one inside, one outside), 1 from your interfacing, and 1 from your quilt batting. The quilt batting will be cut to the finished size (not the cut size!) to avoid bulk in the seams. And speaking of quilt batting, I like to buy the ones intended for baby-sized quilts because they are just the right thickness for small projects like this and a manageable size to work with.

Once you have your pieces cut and the sewing lines transferred in place (very useful for the scalloped edge of the basket), we're going to make a couple of fabric sandwiches:

1. With the outside fabric base (circle) right side down, center your quilt batting and then top with your interfacing and pin securely inside the sewing area. Leave the inside fabric base alone for now.
2. Pair your inside and outside sides right sides together, then arrange the batting layer inside the sewing lines, and top with the interfacing. 
3. (Optional) If you're using lace trim along the scalloped edge, sandwich that in between your inside and outside sides, making sure the pretty/finished edge of the trim is pointing into the fabric sandwich and the selvage/straight edge is placed above the uppermost edges of the sewing line.

Sew your first seam along the scalloped top edge of the basket. I find it easier, on projects like this, to lower the feed dogs on my sewing machine, raise the presser foot, and essentially "free motion" stitch like you would with a curvy quilting pattern. If you've never tried this before with your machine, grab some scraps of fabric and give it a whirl to get used to being in total control of where the fabric goes while stitching--it's really fun!

Unpin one end of your side-sandwich and check to make sure everything looks more or less correct before undoing the rest of the pins and trimming the seam allowances. If you used a loose-weave trim (or, like I did, some hand-knit lace), you'll want to seal the cut edges of the trim with Fray Check or something similar to prevent unraveling. Also clip the inside curves to make turning the scallops easier, later.

Peel up the inside fabric from the sandwich and lay your sides out flat, right-sides up. Clip the bottom edges of the inside fabric and the outside/interfacing sandwich to just before the sewing line to make the next step easier.

Starting in the center of your sandwiched fabric side, pin the side to the sandwiched base, easing it around the curve of the base fabric, just the way we did on the eggs last week, leaving enough for seam allowance where the sides opposite of where you started. Do the same with the single layer of inside sides and base, creating a hollow drum of sorts. 

Sew the bases to the sides and trim the seam allowances along the sewn edges.

Sew up the center seam of the sides but leave a gap (preferably on the inside section) for turning. You'll probably have a bit more than the usual 1/2" seam allowance where the sides meet (blame geometry--I rounded up on the side lengths for ease of measurement, better to have too much than not enough when working with circumferences), so just trim your batting so that it doesn't interfere with the sewing.

Turn the basket right-side out, using a chopstick or similar to help push out all the pretty scallops along the top edge. Pressing and top-stitching of the scalloped edge are optional--I opted not to, but you might like the look of it.

Hand stitch the turning gap closed and then secure the inside (aka lining) to the rest of the basket by stitching in the ditch along the seams where the base meets the sides. The more successful you are at hiding your taking stitches, the more use you'll get out of the reversible nature of this basket!

Believe it or not, the basket and last week's eggs only used about half of each fat quarter in the Botanic Garden fabric project pack, which makes me very happy since I like to stretch my supplies as far as I can. This also means I'll have one more project coming up with them next week, just to squeak in more of this perfect-for-Easter fabric before the big day!

Wishing you creative days,

Jennifer "Scraps" Vanderbeek

Trio of Easter Eggs with Botanic Garden Project Pack

Greetings and Salutations! Scraps, here, with the first of three projects from the Botanic Garden project fabric pack. The floral pattern is especially perfect for this time of year with those cute bunnies scattered about.

To start, you'll need

• Botanic Garden project fabric pack
• Interfacing, medium-weight
• Stuffing
• Chalk pencil, scissors, pins, needle and thread
• Ribbons, beads, buttons or other trim

And the pattern of course! (Clicking that link will allow you to download the pdf pattern from my Hightail site.)

Cut out your pattern pieces: 2 egg bodies from each of the three fabrics, 1 base from each fabric, and 3 bases from interfacing. I have about a 1/2" seam allowance on these pattern pieces, but because of the curves I like to transfer the sewn lines as well as the cut lines onto the back of the fabric with chalk marker. 

Pair up your pieces however you want: I used different fabrics for the fronts and backs of each bodies, but you can keep yours uniform or mix them however you like.

Sew your egg body pairs, right sides together, from the center-top of the egg and along the left side, and press open. Tip: if you don't have a pressing ham, you can very carefully use the outside edge of your ironing board to shape the curve and iron against that.

Sew your interfacing to the back of your egg base along the sewn line. This keeps you from needing one more pin in the mix on the next step.

Clip along the bottom seam allowance of the egg bases, stopping before the sewn line. If you skip this step you'll have a devil of a time fitting a straight edge to a curve in the next step!

Ease your egg bodies along the curve of the egg base (right sides together), pinning as you go, and matching up the unsewn side of the egg bodies where they meet. This is  the most fiddly part of this project, but once you get the first one done you'll feel quite accomplished and fly through the other two!

Stitch the body to the base and then stitch the remaining side seam, leaving an opening in the middle of the side for turning and stuffing. Trip away any excess seam allowance once you're sure you don't have to rip anything out and resew (not that ever happens, right?).

Turn the eggs right side out, fill with your stuffing of choice, and hand sew the remaining gap, turning the seam allowance inside.

Now, these are cute as they are, but Easter eggs are all about the decorations. I whip-stitched pearl beaded along the seam edges and added ribbon flowers, buttons, and beaded bits to the fronts and backs to dress them up a bit. 

Next week I'll be back with a matching basket to put these eggs into!

Wishing you creative days,

Jennifer "Scraps" Vanderbeek

I Miss You

Hi everyone, Steph Ackerman here today.  Check out the wonderful fabrics I received.  Beautiful fabrics and beautifully packaged too!

I love to create cards and it was fun incorporating fabric into my card making.

I matched the fabric with cardstock, then purposely frayed the fabric before adhering it to the cardstock using adhesive.  Easy - no sewing required!

The right side of the cardstock was then embossed before I added die cut ovals.  The cute little gal was colored with Copic Markers and also die cut.  I added her to the card with foam adhesives for dimension.

 

Using fabric adds a fun new element to my card making.

 

Thanks for stopping by today.

 

Freddie Hat from The Magic Pattern Book

Hi Jenifer here with you today to share my project from The Magic Pattern Book.  I printed out several of the patterns to make but ended up making the Freddie hat for now.  The book has pictures and easy to follow directions.

 I used a fine wale embroidered corduroy that I have had in my stash for years.  I used heatnbond medium-weight fusible for the body of the hat.  For the brim of the hat I added 2 layers of StitchnSew extra firm to make sure the shape of the hat stays intact.

I love the way this hat turned out and I can't wait to make more from this book.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to make their own garments, with the pictures and easy to follow directions you can't go wrong.