Random Projects and Makka Pakka

Today I made the bloomers for the doll dress I made a few days ago. I know what took so long. Using the pants pattern it was really easy. I'm glad I made them.

I know I bought this fabric for two different projects, but I'm going to use some of it to test Nanette's new pattern. I thought it could be fun colors to mix and match. I have yet to decided exactly which two will be used for the top. Now ask me why I didn't wash it until today? I have no idea. I went to cut out the fabric and noticed my slacking made me put the project off yet again.

You may not be able to see this picture well. If you are really curious you can click on the picture to make it larger. Today's activities consisted of trying out my two different button hole options and sewing on a button. I'm impressed how well it sewed the button on. Now do I dare try it on my coat? It needs two buttons sewn back on. My machine has auto tension. The manual says if you are going to use the satin stitch to adjust the tension. Well I played with it, but found it to pucker less if you leave the tension alone.

And finally for my family members who were wondering what or who Makka Pakka is... Well, take a look for yourself.

He's from the a British children's TV show call In The Night Garden (ITNG). He says his famous lines along with his theme song. All the ITNG characters have their own song. We also have Upsy Daisy and Igglepiggle, but we haven't given them to her yet. She will get those for her birthday. We gave her this one last night after we picked him up.

Doll Dress

I made Kaitlyn's doll a dress today and I'm not happy with it. I finished it a few minutes ago. I used the same pattern I've been using for all the tops. I decided where I wanted the ruffles to begin and started cutting the bottom of the dress off in 1.5" strips. I sewed on a ruffle, then a 1.5" strip, then ruffle #2, then a 1.5" strip, then ruffle #3. I now wished I wouldn't have gone with the size of ruffles the dress/top calls for. I think they are a bit long. I also don't like how wide the top is without the ruffles. Anyway, it's so wide and a bit on the short side that I'm thinking about making some of the pants without the ruffles and adding elastic to make bloomers.

I took this picture right before taking Kaitlyn up to bed. She is such a stinker. She won't smile for the camera. I know what you're thinking, "she's smiling here". If you try to tickle her or go to tickle her she will smile for you and hold it long enough for you to take a picture. That's the only way I can get her to smile for the camera.

Our house is cold!!! Brrr... I really did just shiver. What stinks is our heat has been on all day yet the house has stayed a bit drafty. On weather.com it says it's 31 here, feels like 24 and will be down to 26 tonight. Brrr.... We really need it to warm up. Start praying now that it will be in the 40s (at least) when we fly out of here. If it's below 20 there is no way for us to fly the dogs out. We have to get the vet to sign a form allowing them to fly below 45 degrees. Mind you all of that is talking about the ground temp. They don't want your pet sitting on the tarmac freezing awaiting to be loaded. Poor Kensey, he gets cold easy. I wish they would allow him to wear a sweater, but they won't.

Today's Accomplishments

I've been kicking tail today and just had to share a couple photos. Alright now that I take the picture it doesn't seem so much like kicking tail. Here they are anyway...
The flash is killing the colors of this pillowcase dress and pants. Today I finished the dress and made the pants. In the past I put elastic between the main fabric and the cuff of the pants. as of right now I'm leaving these like they are. **edit** I forgot to add these are Boutique Bottoms by Sew Sensible.

This doll outfit is the same as the one I made yesterday other then I shorten the pants 1" so it won't cover the dolls feet.

My other accomplishment was sewing up some pants of mine. *insert blushing* Last week I was dressing for church when I decided to iron my pants (thank God). While straightening my pants I noticed there was a hole in the rear. For heaven's sake if I hadn't ironed the pants I would have worn them that way. I'm so glad I took a moment to look less frumpy. Well today I restored my black dress pants to their former glory with an extra seam as back up. =)

Doll Carrier/Moses Basket

After finding the little Mose's basket style doll carrier on etsy.com last night I decided to search for a tutorial to make one. I searched high and low. I just knew someone had to of made a free tutorial explaining how I could easily make Kaitlyn's doll a bed. I can't tell you how long I looked before I finally turned to the most frustrating kind of patterns known to man... paper, store bought patterns. I get so lost trying to use those. I finally found it. Maybe the woman who made the ones on etsy.com came up with her own pattern, but it looked just like the carrier Vogue has a pattern for. For a whopping $9.99 I can have my own pattern or for under $15 I can have someone make one for me. Hmmm...

EDIT: Many people pull up this post searching for Moses basket patterns for dolls. I don't want you to walk away empty handed. A commenter left a link to a pattern. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks like it would work. Feel free to pop on over to the doll Moses basket tutorial.

I've almost finished the gown for Kaitlyn's doll. I would have the elastic in the neck by now (only the bottom ruffle remaining), but I realized the neckline I was pinning down still needed to be zig-zagged. =( I took the pins out and laid it aside. I think dinner is calling me.

EDIT: The doll clothing pattern I used is from You Can Make This by CarlaC. It's her Sew Boutique 4 Dolly! V3 pattern. All, but two of the photos on the pattern's page in the "I Made This" section are mine. Even the green gown I mentioned below is on there.

On a completely different note Neal has run off to the coast. He really tried to play it off. He told me it was only 1.5 hours away, but they were going to give themselves 2.5-3 hours to get there. I'm no fool. We have driven there before. It took us 2 hours to arrive. On top of him going 2 hours away with the guys he works with they wanted to arrive early enough to have dinner. Maybe I should explain. One of the guys does some kind of martial arts. He is in a tournament or fight or whatever you call it, tonight. Everyone was going to watch him. Neal didn't think it was appropriate for Kaitlyn to go so of course that means we are left behind. Of course I didn't care to go see a fight. I find myself sitting her adding up the cost of his adventure: 10 pounds to get in, maybe $30 for gas to get there and back, plus about 10 pounds for dinner. You know I think his job change is going to do us in. He goes out to eat more with those in his office since changing jobs. He always tries to downplay it, but I'm starting to wondering if I need to remind him he has a wife and child. Now that I think about it, it makes since why our food budget was blown this month. It cost more to eat off the economy. We had blamed it on Thanksgiving.

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...