Finished Snorlax (pokemon) dress!

Finished!

It'll get sent off to the birthday girl recipient tomorrow.  And I'll be able to focus on my own back-to-school sewing!  

It really was a fun project to work on.  The base is a simple dress made from dark blue denim weave cotton with just enough lycra to make it comfortable.  The cotton was heavy enough to help the body keep it's shape and not deflate.  The white is a lighter cotton/lycra blend.  The belly shape is formed by gathering the waist and pegging in the hem quite drastically.  I had to add a back pleat for walking ease since the pegging allowed for very little movement.

To form the face and tummy I simply cut out two of each piece, sewed the two pieces together, turned them inside out and topstitched them on.  So they're really just giant applique pieces.  It does make it all a bit heavy but it actually works with the dress to help it all hold it's shape.  The arm pockets are made the same way with the sides left open to make them into pockets.  I based the shape on my own hand so as to make them really work as pockets.  The face and claws are embroidered on just using the zig-zag stitch on my vintage Singer.  No fancy machines needed!  Well, except for the inside where I serged the raw edges.  Or came as close to serging as my serger will go.  I SO need to replace that piece of junk.  Fortunately all that is hidden inside and I doubt anyone will look too closely at just how bad those stitches are.  They'll hold, keep the fabric from unraveling, and stay out of sight and that's all they need to do.

Anyway, there it is, a wild snorlax ready for a new home!

Tiny sewing

Along with the Pokemon dress (which is still in the same state we last left it) I got hired to make a wardrobe for a collector's Lady Lovely Locks dolls.  It was a fun assignment to take as they were some of my favorite dolls as a child and the collector gifted me one as part of the payment.  I'm absurdly happy to have my own Maiden FairHair again after many years of being too "old" for those dolls.  Growing up is SO overrated.

First order of business was to make up a sloper for her and my standard method of pinfitting one on doesn't work as well when the pins are as long as the doll's arm.  So it took some trial and error.  I did discover that tracing paper makes excellent doll pattern material.  And that it's far easier to plop the pattern down on the fabric and trace around it with a mark-b-gone pen than try to pin and cut.  Some things are so different at this tiny scale.

The white dress that I deliberately left wadded in such a way that keeps anyone from really scrutinizing it was my first trial and error.  But it showed me I was on the right track in some areas.  The green dress was another trial, no error (except for the absurdly voluminous skirt) and I'll be keeping that one for my own girl's wardrobe.  The pink dress is one for the customer.  I plan on eightiesfying it a bit with a tiny tulle cape and perhaps by gathering up the overskirt tulle with some tiny flowers but I'll admit I rather prefer it as it is.  

And here's today's work.  The customer asked for three casual outfits and these are two of the dresses.  I'll make up little aprons tomorrow so the dolls can be properly dressed for princessy walks in the garden and whatever else little princesses do in their kingdom.  The coloring books and cartoons I remember show them being very friendly with woods animals and perhaps even cooking a bit.  

Before getting rescued from the problem of the week by a prince who spent most of his time as a dog.  

There's probably something deeply freudian there but I'd rather leave my childhood memories unblemished by underlying implications.  

Returning to this project, it's been interesting and challenging to work with fabric at this scale and to try and quickly make up various outfits using the sloper I created.  It's been a good exercise for drafting, matching fabric to pattern, and thinking about how different elements will work together.  Perhaps tomorrow I'll remember to photo document a bit of the process if it might help others who'd like to make their own doll wardrobes.  It is fun!

Pokemon Dress - the muslin takes shape

One client fell in love with this adorable snorlax dress made by Betty Felon

(This, for those who avoided the addiction, is a Snorlax:)

Isn't that just a happy, fun dress?

I was excited to get this assignment because it's just such a great dress that's great for showing off and a fun but not difficult challenge.

I made up the muslin today and am pleased with how it's looking so far.  The skirt is a basic pencil widened to allow for the gathering at top and then drastically pegged in by about 5" on each side to form that bubble.  To help with the imaging I gave it a face by quickly cutting a piece of paper the correct (more or less) shape and drawing the eyes and mouth on and adding the little ears.  On the actual dress the face and tummy will either be pieced or appliqued on (still trying to decide which technique would work best) with a cute embroidered face and little pocket arms.  It's been a fun project to watch come together.

Robe done!

One down!  And, wow, I need to retake that in daylight.  But, still, done is done!  I tried out some slightly new techniques and only had so much trouble with my serger which is a bit of a record for our relationship.  The Lady Lovely Locks doll came today so I'll start in on that bit of fun tomorrow morning.  

A little behind

So much stuff piling up!!

That's my excuse for not posting earlier... like for the past few weeks. Sigh.

I've just been busy. Really.

And I couldn't find the camera cord. See, valid excuses, all. If I keep on will you believe me?

Sigh, sigh, sigh.

Still, for all my procrastinating on posting, I have been sewing. A lot of stuff for the shop which you can see by clicking over to that or checking out the shop blog, cherrylime.blogspot.com. I won't bore you with it here. :) The one new creation I do want to share, though, is the chemise and robe set that I'm developing. Because I can't just get one design and stick with it. :) I got inspired by a box of discounted cotton lawn fabric from Fabric.com that was just the craziest prints. So very, very 70s, all of them. Naturally the one I bought the most of was the biggest WTH? one - dyed stripes of mocha cream and BRIGHT pink with gold paisley and flowers all over. Glittery gold. Seriously. I really loathed the stuff. So figured I should use it for my muslin for the first chemise and summer robe and somewhere between the bolt and the garment I really began to like the fabric. Go figure. I think it was just too much when it was in fabric form while in chemise form it somehow works. Funny how that works.

Here's the muslin of the chemise - it's a very simple design, basically a trapazoid with scoops out for the arms. I like it.





Right before my wedding mom got me a high-end little nighty with the same basic design but the fabric was so stiff it was uncomfortable and the straps didn't adjust which had the empire waist hitting about halfway down my little C cups. Not the look I was going for. She returned it and I left thinking that I could do that and so much better. So nearly two years later this is my stab at doing so. :)

To go with it, this is the very beginnings of a sleeveless robe. I still need to add the lace to the armcycs, add in-seam pockets, sew up the sides, topstitch, hem, iron ... there's a lot to do. So please don't be too critical of the picture as it is. There's still a lot to be done! But it should give you an idea of where I'm going with it. I really like the addition of the wrap ties and might convert my normal cotton robes to wraps as well. Still considering, but I like it for this garment.



So, there it is. A bit of what I've been keeping busy with. How 'bout you?

Robes in progress and Bath Tea Recipe

Yesterday I spent a nice afternoon working on two of three more robes that'll go up in my store soon. And since I went through an inexplicable blue period last November and STILL haven't sold off any of that stuff (what's with the blue hate, people?) I went with a round of pretty, feminine pink. 'Sides, it ties in well with Valentines day and I'm all about taking advantage of a materialistic, gift oriented holiday. And, yes, I'm a bit of an unromantic cynic. It's probably some level of a cosmic joke that DH and I first started dating on Valentine's Day - payback for my past criticisms of the day. I'll take it, I figure I won in the end. :) But on with the robes, these are the first mediums I've made and they went together without a problem. Thank goodness, I'm always a little worried that my math, mesurements, and all other precautions are all somehow off. It's happened before.

I went with a soft coral pink and white with one robe - very restful, I thought. The pink is from fabric.com (LOVE that place!) and the white is oooooold stash from Joann's finally getting used up. It has the faintest of patterns embossed on it which seems to give it some nice depth, not that you can see it from here.



This is my favorite. The body fabric is from a cute little quilting store near Austin that we stopped in on while visiting my grandparents over Thanksgiving. Sooo soft and smooth and great colors. The red velvet was a freebie from a friend getting rid of extra fabric and, while the backside isn't that great, the face is so very soft and, with the way the collar, tie, and cuffs are designed only the face side shows. Works!



I still have to press, hem, and topstitch them and clean up the threads but at least you can see what they look like! I'm proud of them.

And in honor of me actually getting those done, here's a bath tea recipe I recently concocted (thinking of adding a few of those to the shop) and am now completely in love with. It's good for aches, dry skin, clearing out sinuses, and generally feeling better about cold, cloudy days.

Winter Remedy Bath Tea

1 cup instant oatmeal
1 T ginger (dried best, powdered works, fresh adds a great zing but doesn't store so, if you use it, keep it separate and add right before putting in bath)
1 T basil
10 drops Lemon Eucalyptus essential oil (similar essential oil may be used, if you don't have any olive oil might work as a substitute. Worth trying.)

Mix together and store in airtight container. To use put ~ 1/4 cup of the mix in the center of a square of scrap fabric (unbleached, loose weave muslin is best) and tie it up securely. Throw in a newly drawn bath and enjoy! While you can just let it sit in the tub it's rather fun to "squish" it since the oatmeal gets wonderfully mushy inside the little bag.

And there was rejoicing

So I've been wondering for a while now what to do with Etsy. My sewing teaching job is ... well, taking off isn't the right word, but at least picking up some speed on the runway. Here's hoping this is a looooong runway or else the metaphor will turn gruesome. But anyway, with the teaching stuff keeping me moderately busy I've been seriously considering just how much time, money, and effort I want to sink into a tiny shop located in the online version of the mall of america. To continue that metaphor, I feel a bit like a kiosk stuck down a back hallway on a fairly dead wing of the mall. So for a while I've just been letting it sit. No new listings, no relistings to push things to the top, no chatting or advertising or anything else.

And, oddities of oddities, today I sold two robes. My first two robes. And I sold them. Two different people. Just a few minutes apart from each other. And (just to continue the oddities) one lives close to my hometown, the other is right near DH's hometown. Both also appear to be men buying for their wives which, IMHO, makes them very, very good husbands. :)

So this doesn't make it definitive that I'll keep up the shop but it does give me the money to sink just a bit more into stock and try out more sizes. Maybe take the time to investigate turning the basic pieces into a well written first sewing pattern. Hey, if nothing else, my sudden popularity has given me new energy for the store!

Visions of Grace - aka, my new tunic pattern

Introducing the Grace Tunic!






The last picture is my friend MT modeling. She's a size 10 with a great figure and the Grace Tunic fits her better than it does me. I think it's the fabric, because in a knit with less stretch the pattern fits me perfectly. I'll have to do some tweaking because I WANT one of these for myself! It's terrifically comfortable, perfect for Dallas fall days. Plus it's great as maternity or nursing wear without (hopefully) feeling like maternity. I'll be putting this up for sale on my etsy shop soon, for now I'm content just showing it off. :)

I'm also in the very first steps of thinking about possibly maybe if it's possible making and selling this and the brianna cardigan wrap as patterns. Maybe. It's probably too expensive and then there's copyright stuff [by which I mean GETTING a copyright, not infringing on someone else's - that's bad] ... but is it worth looking into? Maybe? Maybe not?

New Items for my Etsy Shop!

More pretties! I also made a new sewing friend while riding the elevator down to take pictures - carrying a dressform is apparently a giveaway that you know your way around fabric.







Cherry Lime Studios

I've been Treasured!

A huge thanks to reVision Designs for adding my coasters to her absolutely lovely Treasury!

Halloween Coasters!

Today I spent the morning embroidering these fun little coasters for my etsy shop.



They're orange thread on a dark gray felt and were a lot of fun to make, though now I wish I had a thimble. My needle-pushing finger is sore! Still, I enjoy the tactileness of hand embroidery and really enjoyed whipping these up. Since it's a little late to sell many more of these this October, I'll probably pack away the patterns and start working on some winter themes. Maybe snowflakes, an advent series, and some Christmas ones? Hm.

I nearly finished another robe but it's waiting until I get the last few threads clipped for it's photo shoot. Two other robes are just a few little details away from being ready as well so expect my inventory to increase this weekend!

Until then, more pictures of my halloween coasters -





And yes, I plan on taking better pictures tomorrow, after a trip to the store for AA batteries. This camera is such a glutton!

And, just in case: Click here to buy!

New Pattern (Squee!!)

So ecstatic! I had this image in my mind of what my basic robe pattern could be and so last night I skipped a game night at church, pulled out the pattern, some tracing paper, and some old black knit I had and went at it and look what came out!!




This may be the most flattering item in my closet. The v-neck is so fabulous, the gathering just does the most amazing things for my figure, and the length makes my hips and thighs smaller and legs longer. Seriously, I think there's some magic happening. Hopefully tonight and tomorrow I can get a couple more of these cut out and posted on my Etsy shop. If I can bear to part with them!

Opening Day!

Cherry Lime Studios opened for business today! And I'm heading down to the apartment green space to get some more pictures of coasters - they just don't photograph well indoors, even with our south-facing window's blinds open so I haven't listed them yet. Plus I've got another robe to put up, again, just need to get photographic evidence that it exists.

Unfortunately the part of my day that wasn't taken up by setting up shop didn't go very well. I had plans to make another couple sets of coasters and a robe. Well, one coaster came together well... the others kept having just about any trouble they could. I still have red ink all over my fingers. Blech.

So moved on to some little eye masks. Wow, those turned out terribly. Really terribly. Ok, cross those of the list of products.

On to robe. Those are easy, I can whip one up in my sleep.

Or maybe not.

First I serged one shoulder seam wrong - right side to wrong side. Grr. Seam rip, which, btw, is seriously annoying when it's a serged seam. Finish that, serge second shoulder seam, everything's going well, then -arg- the serger decides to do something and attempt to eat the fabric. Save fabric but must rethread serger. Three times. And no, I don't have air-threading. I have fingers. That's it.

Whimper.

So get serger working and finish shoulder seam. No problems. Move on to armcyc. Sew it up, everything looking fine ... OH NO! Sewed right sides to right sides. This is SO the last time I'm making a solid-color robe, from now all all right and wrong sides will be visible from 100 yards.

So now I've seamripped the serged armcyc and I'm putting this away for the evening. No more chances to mess up! Some days I just shouldn't bother!

Pictures

Robes and one set of coasters!

Need to finish photographing the others and make up another robe in anticipation of Cherry Lime Studios going live in a week - because there's no time like a recession and trouble on wall street for a new business venture. Sigh. Ok, enough sadness. Time for pretties. :)












And on another happy note, creative writing went very well today - my poem was last and when we finally got to it my prof, a published author a number of times over, read it, read it again (nerve wracking if you're on the hot seat, btw), then looked up and told me to send it for publication. As is. And the next five minutes were him and the TA gushing over it which, while a wonderful ego boost, didn't actually help that much since I'm so not sure I could repeat the act of creativity. And I certainly won't be supporting myself with it any time soon! But coming on the heels of a really frustrating encounter with the internship department it was really comforting and affirming to be told I am a competent human being, at least in one area of life. Of course it raises the question - how in the world do you go around submitting poetry? Oh well, will find out! Prof should know. :)

Setting up shop

I've been building inventory and a blog for my soon-to-be-opened shop. On top of classes and internship. Sigh. Anyway, a couple years ago we had a rash of friends suddenly get the matrimony bug and I had a lot of showers to go to with very little money to spend. What to do? Sew! I wanted to give little cotton robes that could go from sexy to cozy depending in accessories (or, for sexy, lack thereof) and so I went pattern shopping. And went again. And began looking through independents. For whatever reason I just couldn't find one that was quite right. They were either too big or too robe-like or too something else. It's just a robe and I've seen enough Pattern Runway to think that drafting is easy so, well, I drafted. And made up one. Gave to friend. Tweaked pattern and made again for another friend. Then a third tweak, a third gown, and by this time I was really happy with it.

Nice. And then I put it away.

Fast forwards to this summer. I knew I needed a part-time job that was highly flexible. Bonus points if it was on-campus as we only have one car. Started thinking about robe pattern. And Etsy. And how happy I am when sewing.

Hm.

Fortunately I had a fourth robe that had been cut out but not sewn for whatever reason. Time for an experiment. Pulled it out and timed myself.

Forty-five minutes. Not bad. And my serger's earning her keep. Figure I can only get faster ... and I love how the robe turned out. It's going to be hard parting with it! And I had fun. Hm, at this rate, if the product finds a market, I can bring in around $200 a month doing what I enjoy. And that's including time to tweak the pattern into a few other products, like a knit wrap, an oriental dinner jacket, maybe even a summer dress (though that'll have to wait a few seasons)....

It's at least worth trying, right? I mean, it beats working janitorial or at the cafe for minimum wage.

So I bought some trial fabric at Joann's and whipped up two more robes today. They're not finished quite yet - they need to be hemmed and ironed. But all the serging is done. What do you think?