Once Upon a Time: Belle

We recently discovered Once Upon a Time on Netflix. 

Oh.my.word. I'm hooked!

I love how the fairy tale world is blended with the real world

And the costumes. ;) 

And of course, since there is a Happily Ever After ball coming up, I knew I had to recreate Belle's blue dress (I love her yellow one too, but I can't wear yellow to save my life). So naturally, I went to Pinterest to find all the reference material that I needed. You can check out my board dedicated to the project here. 

And guess what. I had the patterns that I needed in my collection. I already had all the material in my stash. You'll never guess what it is was: a sheet. :P 

Yes, I've finished the entire dress already. But I want to get more official pictures before posting it.  

And I love how it turned out! I can't wait to show it to you, but for now, you'll just have to enjoy the teasers. :P 

Until next time!

SG

WWII Doll Dress

Sometimes you walk through the fabric store, and a bolt or a swatch jumps out at you and begs you to take it home. Unfortunately, this is how I end up with so much fabric. :P But such was the case in this cheerful vintage print that I found in the remnant section. It's dainty print was perfect for a 1940's style doll dress. Alack alas, it sat in my stash for way too long before I actually used it for its intended purposes. But once I had a moment and a random, sudden burst of 'need to make a doll dress,' it was cut out and sewn together in no time. 

I give you the finished product:

I have a rather soft spot for frocks of this style. My first 'real' doll was Molly McEntire. To give you an idea of how old I am, I will tell you that this was before Pleasant Company was bought by Matel and renamed 'American Girl.'I think it was my love of the Pleasant Company dolls that piqued my interest in historical fashion. I always wished that I could dress like my dolls. Now look where it's taken me! I'm still playing dress up. :P 

Until next time!

SG

Cape Making

Another commissioned costume! 

A friend of mine asked if I could make him a dark green hooded cape. Sounds easy enough, right? 

Try finding more than 6 yards of heavier fabric for a sane price. :P I was stumped. I already had the pattern, just no fabric to make it. :sigh: But I had these big, funky curtains that my grandma gave me that were left in her house by the previous owners. The weight was nice, it had a really nice pattern, soft texture, but the color... I can't even put that color to words. They are the strangest shade of tan/yellow/red/chartreuse that I ever did see. Good luck trying to picture it. 

But I could dye it. 

I never played with dye before. 

Why do I always save the new techniques for commissions? :shrugs:

So I bought a package of dark green dye. The package said that it was color tested on white cotton fabric... we'll see how this project is going to turn out. My fabric was the world's strangest color and a chenille blend. The package also said that I would work with a front loading machine and then proceeded to cover up said directions with a big sticker for a top loader. I didn't really want to test it out in Mom's washing machine anyway, so I headed to the tub in the guest bathroom hoping that it wouldn't stain the shower. 

I filled the tub following top loading machine directions sans washing machine, stuffed the cape into the tub (yes, I made it before I dyed it. Eek! Talk about commitment!), sloshed it around (and got green hands in the process), and left the cape to soak for 30 minutes. While waiting for the cape to dye (not die), I did a sudoku and made ice cream. All the while I twiddled my thumbs hoping that it would take the color. The timer went off, and I pulled my green creation out of the tub. I rather felt like a made scientist creating some sort of monster in a comic book... It certainly looked green. I dubbed it 'Hulk.' After letting it dry for 18 hours, here's how everything turned out: 

 

I'm pleasantly surprised and pleased with it. Hopefully it's green enough. Otherwise we'll have to return to the evil lair to add more radiation to it. :P 

And now for some dramatic before and after pictures! 

I think I need a cape for myself.

Until next time!

SG

PS- If you're wondering about the state of the tub- it's fine. It weathered my experiment like a champ. You can't even tell that it was filled with murky green water.

Making Doll Dresses

I've started making doll dresses again. I've missed making the miniature fashions for 18" dolls, and it feels good to be sewing them once again. What made me stop? I'm not entirely sure... I was selling them at a shop in downtown, but they changed their policies and stopped doing consignment. Maybe I got burned out. Maybe discouraged. My collections was finally starting to sell when the owner decided to stop selling them. 

But, as the country song puts it, I'm back in the saddle again. My doll dress hiatus is at an end, and I've hit the road running, so to speak. My scrap fabric collection is hitting critical mass, and it's time to ease the pressure. ;) 

Simplicity patterns recently came out with an adorable pattern for 1860's styles for 18" dolls. You can find the pattern here. As soon as I got home with the pattern, I cut it out and whipped out a dress. Maybe that's where I got the doll dress bug bite. 

 Next, I used the adorable pink butterfly fabric that I found while organizing my fabric stash. 

Then I used my trusty Regency dress pattern. I love how quickly it whips up. And the dresses never falter being cute. ;)  Once I finished the dress, I felt that it needed a little something extra. So I used part of the apron in the aforementioned Civil War pattern. No need to mind historical accuracy in this dress anyway. :P 

So, we'll see how many more I make before losing inspiration. Thankfully, Pinterest is always there to help in case of burn out. ;) 

Until next time!

SG