Doll dresses!

My niece is apparently quite into dolls, so I decided to get her one that I could dress for her.  I didn't want to spend the money on an American Girl doll for a three-year-old, but Target has the Our Generation dolls which are pretty similar in size, proportions, and looks.  So after texting pics back and forth with my brother, I bought one.  

I was making mother-daughter tops for my sister-in-law's birthday (just now realized that I never got a picture of this year's version before mailing them, darn it!), and my pattern has a doll size!  

So this is to match the two humans - and please excuse the non-matching shoes.  Those are the ones that came with the doll, and I haven't gotten or made any more yet.  Priorities, right?  Now I have since retrofitted this one by stitching the ribbons to elastic and stitching the elastic in place in the necklines.  That way at least the ribbons can't be pulled out.

This one matches my niece's new skirt.  I made it basically to play around with the gathering foot that I hadn't realized I had (bought it in a box of 32 sewing machine feet, then haven't really played with them).  The gathering foot makes some very soft ruffles.  Next time I'll see if I can use it with a double layer ruffle!  I did the same thing with the ribbons stitched to elastic....

And like every young girl these days, my niece loves Frozen.  I found this as a remnant at JAF - far too small to be a top for my niece, sadly - so I turned it into a dress for the doll.  For this, I had to take about six inches off the bottom edge, and I also took out six rows of shirring.  I added straps which are stitched down, because the shirred bodice is stretchy enough to allow for getting the dress off without any closure.  I think that'll be especially nice for my sister-in-law!

I really hope that my niece likes her doll (Christmas present) and all the clothes I'm working on!

Mother-daughter dressing....

So my sister-in-law's birthday is coming up again, and last year she wanted mother-daughter outfits.  Based on ideas she gave me (including patterns she liked), I had chosen the Frog Legs and Ponytails patterns Amelia shirt for her and Caroline dress for my niece.  Last year, I made the size M (a total guess, but it worked!) shirt for my sister-in-law and the 12-24 month dress for my then-18 month-old niece.  I had even bought another pair of fabrics at the time to make a second set for them, but I had wanted to wait on hearing how they fit, first.  And by the time I heard anything, I had other priorities, and summer was drawing to a close.  So instead, I pulled them out now!

These fabrics were from the "Keepsake Calicos" section at JAF.  I love the tonal blue butterflies print, and the yellow floral brightened it up nicely.  I made the M for my sister-in-law again but this time chose the 3T for my niece.  I figured that hopefully she can wear it next summer, too.  Once again, this is a well-drafted pattern, and there were no surprises.  

I hope that my sister-in-law likes the outfits!  And I'm very pleased to have them done in advance of her birthday!  I can see myself making her new mother-daughter outfits from this pattern as long as they are both willing to wear them.

Mother-daughter sewing....

My sister-in-law had a birthday this summer, and after totally striking out on ideas for her, I finally just flat-out asked what she wanted. :)  She sent me a few links of clothing patterns she was interested in, and from those, I went with the Frog Legs and Ponytails patterns Amelia Shirt for her and Caroline Dress for my niece.  She wanted to do some mother-daughter dressing, so with these, I chose to make them identical.  (In the future, I may switch the main fabric/trim to make them close but different.)  I consulted with my brother while in the fabric store, texting him pictures of different combinations, and we went with the purple and yellow sundrenched dragonflies (JAF).  

This is the Amelia Shirt for my sister-in-law, and IIRC, I went with a size M.  This was a total guess, as I didn't know her measurements.  Fortunately, she let me know that it was a pretty good guess. :)  

And the Caroline Dress for my niece.  She was about 18 months at the time, so I went with the 12-24 month size.  As you can see, the main difference in appearance between the two patterns is the length of the contrast band.

These are both basically pillowcase dresses/shirts, and there are plenty of versions out there, as well as free patterns/tutorials online.  However, I appreciated having the full range of sizes available to me, so that I didn't have to do much guessing or reinvent the wheel.  If I had been making this for myself or someone who lived in my house, I would probably not have purchased the patterns.  But for working long-distance, it was much better to go with patterns.  And that said, I thought that the patterns were well-drafted and thoroughly written, without being too detailed.  I like the professional pictures, as well.  And I appreciated that the designer gave cutting measurements instead of actual patterns for the squares and rectangles, since I prefer to use my rulers and rotary cutter.  For those who prefer actual patterns and scissors, this may not be a good pattern for you.

I'm just thrilled that my sister-in-law loved the results, and I have more fabrics to make another set.  This time, since we're starting to head into fall, I may go up a size for my niece's dress, so that hopefully she can still wear it next year.