My Doll Haven

Everyone Needs Playtime

In our hectic, modern lives, many of us focus so heavily on work and family commitments that we never seem to have time for pure fun. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we stopped playing.

When we carve out some leisure time, we’re more likely to zone out in front of the TV or computer than engage in fun, rejuvenating play like we did as children. But play is not just essential for kids; it can be an important source of relaxation and stimulation for adults as well.

There doesn’t need to be any point to the activity beyond having fun and enjoying yourself. By giving yourself permission to play with the joyful abandon of childhood, you can reap oodles of health benefits throughout life.

Tuesday

Snow White

Well not Snow White exactly, but a snow white gown. Made from a lovely soft spotted voile, with Guipure (Venise) lace appliqué on the collar and front/side of the skirt. The hemline is beautifully finished with a Guipure lace edging over a row of broderie anglaise lace, which is designed to give the appearance of an underskirt. Irene is also wearing the petticoat shown in the previous post which adds extra fullness to the gown's skirt.

My lovely model is Iplehouse's KID Irene.

I am really pleased with the way this gown turned out and think I shall make a few more in different fabrics.

Saturday

Tutorial: Pretty Petticoat

This petti can be made for any doll, you just need to measure the doll's waist and the length you require it to be. My doll's waist was 14.5 cm and the length I required was 20 cm without the lace, so a cut one long strip 12 cm wide (half the length, plus 2 cm for seams) x 116 cm long (the width of the batiste I had selected). Then cut 36 cm (approx. 2.5 times the waist measurement) off for the basque, leaving the remainder for the frill.

Beginning with the basque, I neatened the seam edge: First fold 5 mm over, press with an iron and machine stitch, then placed the two neatened edges right sides together and run a seam half way. At the waist edge fold 5 mm over, press it then fold 10 mm over again, press it then machine stitch it to form a casing for the elastic.

Then I added the lace to the bottom frill, seamed the back as I did for the basque, but all the way from the bottom to top. To gather, run two rows of stitching (set on longest stitch and securing at the beginning of each row but leaving the end threads) about 5 mm apart. Pull the underside threads up until the gathered edge matches the basque.

Pin the two right sides together, easing the gather to fit the basque evenly, then run two rows of stitching around before neatening the raw edge with a small zig-zag stitch.

Turn your garment the right side out and it should look like this.

I added a further row of lace just above the seam between the basque and frill, over lapping the end and turning the edge under so no raw edges showed.

The final touch is to thread elastic through the waist casing, stitching the ends of the elastic securely so it doesn't pull through, then stitch a press stud (snap) on to close it at the back.

You may also find this a useful tutorial to make a tiered skirt.

Friday

The Girls in Fairyland

I finished sewing a couple of new dresses this week and asked Gina and Marie Ann to try them on for size. The cheeky little devils ran off with them to play with the fairies at the bottom of the garden.

The collars on these dresses are reversible and can be worn to match the top or the bottom dress fabric. They can also be worn without the collar as shown here.