PJs and Snowsuit update

Last night I made Kaitlyn some sleeping pants out of bright green flannel with red, yellow, blue, and white flowers on it. As you can see from the picture the red flowers are much bigger then the rest. This was the only flannel I bought when the BX put all their fabric on clearance. Today I made a cap sleeved peasant top to go with the pants. Seeing how we will be spending the cooler months in Texas I thought long sleeves would be a bit much. When I originally bought the fabric I thought we might be moving to Montana in October (last month) so had planned on this having long sleeves. It's a bit plain so I'm thinking about sewing a little red bow on the top to give it a little something more then just plain, bright flannel PJs. The pants are the same Boutique Bottoms I make all the time and the shirt is the Portrait Peasant Top by CarlaC Dolly Designs. I'm actually about to use another CarlaC ebook to make a doll gown out of the same flannel I made Kaitlyn's PJs out of. Well here's the debate... I can make pants and a top just like Kaitlyn's or a gown. My plan all along was to make PJs, but now I'm leaning towards a long sleeve gown. This is the cover to the fun doll clothes ebook I'm going to use.

Here's the almost finished snowsuit for Kaitlyn's baby. I've decided not to make her the mittens. Yes, I know her hands will be cold, but I think she will survive. The way her thumbs stick out it can be a bit of a challenge getting her top on at times. Besides, I'm thinking all my hard work in making mittens will be for nothing because Kaitlyn's wouldn't keep them on her. So far she is doing well keeping the snowsuit on. I think the hat needs a chin strap; Heaven forbid it slide off, and it does every chance it has. If I think about it while Kaitlyn is sleeping I need to swipe her doll and put the fur on the hat and top.

Now my biggest challenge is sewing everything I can before our household goods are picked up in less then three weeks. Goodbye sewing machine. *sniff, sniff

Doll Snowsuit

My plan to shrink to bottom of the snowsuit didn't work. I'm not sure what I was thinking. I almost finished the height when I noticed my dropping of a stitch was causing the seam to wrap around the front. =( I pulled out the stitches again. However this time I was ready to do it right. One thing I wasn't expecting was for it to be so obvious I dropped the stitch on the side with the seam; it was angling a bit to much. How I fixed the problem was dropping two stitches equal distances apart on the same row. I did it three times (lost six stitches) and the top was small enough for the doll. Now I'm working on condensing the top. This morning I followed the directions enough to figure out the plan then went back and pulled out some stitches to shrink it down. I believe the top is supposed to have 98 chains and I'm currently using 62. Although I had to put it aside after my first try, it does seem to work up REALLY fast. I was surprised how quickly I had what looked like a chest piece. With the bottom of the snow suit you do the same stitch around and around and around. It seemed to take a while; well, compared to the top. Okay, I'm off to work out the sizing of the top.

Crochet Project

I've decided to do a bit of crocheting. Since seeing the Newborn Doll Snowsuit on You Can Make This I've wanted to make it. I finally broke down and bought the pattern yesterday.

When I started the snowsuit I had no idea how big the doll in the picture is. Kaitlyn's dolls are smaller, maybe 13-15". This doll must be HUGE because there is no way the sack bottom would fit Kaitlyn's dolls. She could lay them in the bottom and use the shoulder straps to carry them around. LOL. I'm only working on the bottom so far and it looks like I will easily be able to shrink it down for Kaitlyn's dolls. I'm a bit worried about getting the top the right size. I guess I will be doing a lot of ripping out to get the size just right.

For anyone who wants to try this pattern and you have one of the average size Little Mommy dolls (or one close to it), I did rows 1-3 then skipped to row 7. To make it fit the chest of the doll a little better I figure as I work up to the top of the sack I will drop the last stitch in a loop a few times. I've already dropped it from 48 to 47 and you couldn't even tell I skipped the stitch. Only time will tell if the top is so easy. I checked the craft store yesterday and they didn't have white eyelash yarn or whatever they call the fuzzy stuff so I'll have to come up with some other kind of lacy trim. Yes, I know it won't be as fun, but why should I spend $5 on something for a doll? I must admit before buying the pattern my main hangup was a snowsuit has no place in Guam even on a doll. Hehehe...