Cashmere Rag Doll

 

A little girl with a big personality should have a doll with personality too. That's what I think, anyway. In an effort to be a good aunt I have been trying to make a stuffed animal or doll for each new nephew and niece. The girls could not have been more enthusiastic about planning dolls for their new cousins, so we pulled out a felted cashmere sweater and the girls stuck it full of pins while I drew up a quick pattern.

You can check out the dolls and stuffies that inspired me here on Pinterest. I was especially thinking about Jess Brown rag dolls which are so loveably awkward and fashionable at the same time. They are like the doll versions of the Man Repeller. We went a little more traditionally girly and bright here, with different eyes and mouth and more clash. 

 
The cape is red broadcloth, the printed dress is vintage flour sack, the lace slip was a swimsuit coverup, and the shoes are felt.  My daughters have been carrying "Little Red" around to do everything. I asked what they liked about her, and they said she was squishy and nice to hug. So there you have it! A doll can't ask for a better endorsement than that!

Dot Applique Technique/ Work in Progress

You know how I was saying that failure was having a domino effect earlier this week? Actually I just told you about it this week, but it was kind of a 2 week situation. I pushed through and got a few things done, like them or not, and right in the middle of Thacia's birthday party I got an idea for this new baby quilt. The party was well in hand so I took time out to sketch before I lost it. 

Where is the strangest place you ever had to stop and draw? 

This is a strip-pieced idea with polka dots. The circles are 2" diameter, which would be pretty tough to piece, so I am using an applique method for nice neat dot. I have been waiting since I was about 9 to use this technique. I saw someone in a park doing a really 90's schoolhouse quilt with apples and plaid- you know the type! I asked her what she was doing, and this is it! Logged it away for just such a time several decades later. 

Use a compass to mark circles onto thick brown paper (hey, thanks Trader Joes!) Cut the paper circle templates out, and baste squares of fabric onto the paper with the raw edges pulled to the back as in top photo. Trim the excess fabric leaving 1/4" seam allowance. Hand stitch onto your squares as below. I used an invisible hemming technique, but something decorative like a blanket stitch or fern stitch could be very valid traditional options as well.  

Pull out the basting thread and clip a little hole in the center of the back of the square to pop the paper out. Presto! 

Obviously the technique wouldn't do for applique onto, say, unlined clothing, but this works great for pieced items. 

I am almost finished with all the dots, and ready to start piecing, but I have a few other projects I am working on in tandem I am excited about too. Can't wait to show you!

How To: Sew a Child's Cape

 We will try anything that makes these long days indoors fun, but we never need an excuse for more costumes! Any occasion will do. Capes make you jump higher, run faster, and spin more beautifully according to our in-house research.

I love seeing the girls zooming around in their capes because one of them is made with a play silk I was fond of as a kid. The stories we pretended with it beggar imagination, so it's great to know that its best years are ahead of it!

 
This cape project is super easy and fast, (20-30 minutes) and it's a good excuse to work on fine hemming tricky fabrics like I showed you in the last tutorial!

Supplies: 
fancy floating, silky, sparkly, or otherwise fun fabric 28.5"x 22.5" Poly organza is pictured here.
40" of 1" ribbon
safety pin
matching thread

Note: If these measurements seem random, it's because I was making do with what I had, but the measurements turned out to be a nice size for both my 2 and almost 4 year old. Feel free to improvise.

Directions:

1. Hem all 4 sides of the cape at 1/4".
2. Make a casing for the ribbon by folding one of the short sides down 1 1/2" and stitching.
3. Attach the end of the ribbon on the safety pin, and use the pin to push the ribbon through the casing. 
4. Even up the center of the cape to the center of the ribbon. Pin in the middle. 
5. Scrunch up the cape on the ribbon to 7 1/2" to each side of center, while the ribbon stays flat. 
6. Distribute the gathers approximately evenly and stitch down.  

Twirling Skirts– Second Edition

It is neither easy nor cheap to find truly "spinny" dresses -as previously defined- in washable fabrics, so here are some examples of the ones I made for the girls this summer.

I freely admit that I was not trying to photograph the dresses on this occasion. It was just a gorgeous night on Cape Cod and they happened to be dolled up. For the beach. Which is why it is great that these things are washable!

Thacia's pink dress is quite plain apart from being washable and petticoated. It is another Butterick B5845 option, and the design and fit are really nice, just beware the whole 28 seam thing. It has no trim whatever except for the bow in the back, which is a point of a little young angst. I am informed that it would be much better with a bow in the front too. It seems that children need one bow to look at and one to sit on. The fabric is a cotton twill bottom weight. I had to make the skirt less voluminous than called for because I couldn't gather that much twill into the waist, but I tried valiantly if I do say so myself.

Damaris' purple dress is made in an ikat stripe Guatemalan style fabric. It is almost a seersucker. The pattern is Simplicity 2265. The petals at the front and the way the stripes change direction around the lower edge were really great thoughts on the part of the pattern designer. That is what sold me on this dress! The rosette also turned out to be my favorite that I have tried thus far. However... 

this is a Project Runway pattern dress and it wasn't professional at all. For instance, on the back placket it calls for zigzagging over the raw edge to finish it. Really? They couldn't give you 1/4" to turn under for a nice clean edge? There were several things like that. The pattern was confusing because in the name of giving you lots of choices they never pinned down exactly how much fabric and trim you would need. The design was good, the fit and the finishing were bad, kind of like it was designed by first semester fashion students. Yep. I went there.
But all's well that ends well.
The bonus of this dress is that the little pocket catches crumbs for my messy eater before the hit the floor. I should sew a ruffle to the front of all of their dresses right?

Twirling Skirts- First Edition

The number one criterion for clothing amongst the under-three-foot crowd in this household is far and away

 “How spinny is it?” 

If you are the mother of girls you either totally feel me on this one, or you wish you could get your daughter near a dress. That might be just as well, because spinny dresses are like a drug, and I have two little raving addicts in my house. Please believe the expectations are high on what constitutes a spinny dress. Just because a dress is frilly, full, or even has a petticoat does not mean it is spinny enough, or so I am told. As nearly as I can figure the dress must both be full or more than full and have a petticoat. That combo just doesn't happen in a lot of dresses these days. It was time to dust off the sewing machine. One of my major projects this summer apart from kitchen renovations and going to the chiropractor all the time has been making custom twirling dresses. 

These are their special occasion dresses, and I chose to make them high-low. 

This dress is a pink and white gingham taffeta made from Butterick B5845 pattern which fully satisfies the spinny demands. The pattern has great proportions, and I only thing changed two things: First, how many seams were in the bodice (28!!!). The way it comes is basically both princess line and empire waisted. I know they did it for pattern flexibility, but to me it was awkward and too much work. The quick fix was to tape the upper and lower bodice pieces together eliminating the seam allowance to come up with a classic princess line in the bodice. I also didn’t use 3 layers on the skirt, but tacked the petticoat tulle straight onto the lining. I thought I had white lining fabric, and it turns out that I didn’t have enough. 

The buttercup yellow I did have serendipitously blushes and glows through the gingham in places so that the colors are not just pink, white, and the contrasting yellow underskirt, but a whole range of peaches, oranges, and off-whites in between. See it? I will consider contrasting lining on translucent fabrics more often in the future because the light around it is really special. 

Don't let her seriousness fool you, special occasion or no, dresses have to be playground ready, and I have to say I am thrilled with the functionality of the high-low skirt design for the jungle gym. 

You know that heart flipping moment when you see your girl trample her skirt on the stairs... or a ladder... or a climbing wall... and you think your next stop is the ER? Yeah. None of that. The short front doesn’t get in her way, and the long train satiates the inner princess. 

If you can’t have a silky rainbow-colored mullet dress when you are a toddler, when can you have one? I’m still stumped on that one, so I went for it. The fabric was at Joann’s, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it, and I have no regrets. That said, I did discover why no high-low patterns are offered for small toddlers: Their high and their low is something like 6” apart and barely noticeable. 

I solved that by making the difference more extreme and putting matching bloomers under it designed to show. The second problem was converting a pattern designed for a stiff fabric into a silky fabric. Special occasion dresses for little girls are designed for cottons and taffetas, never for charmeuse. Fluid fabrics don’t do voluminous gathers very well, so I worked out the bodice with as few seams as I could, then used a trick for stepping up the volume to get a very full skirt. 

The first tier is twice as wide as the bodice. The second tier is four times the width of the bodice, or twice the first tier. The bottom ruffle is eight times the width of the bodice, and twice the second tier. You can do this on any fabric with varying lengths for the tiers.
 It comes out really cute and eliminates a lot of the fullness at the hip for a cleaner line on adults too! I eliminated the petticoat layer because it didn’t need it. I Frankensteined Butterick 5845's skirt proportions with a variation on Simplicity 2265's bodice A. In all it comes off with a flamenco dancer vibe, and is as spinny as a little girl could ask for.

Time Saving Furniture Moves

Our sojourn in the apartment which shall hereafter be affectionately termed “the Hobbit Hole” is giving me new respect for the power actual physical space has over my habits and determination.  All the good intentions and energy I can muster may have kept me from being as deeply ploughed under a crushing burden of housework as I might have been, but buried is buried. There has been no time for kicking back, for sewing, or even for stopping! I believe that creativity is one of my main purposes in life, but my creativity has been subsumed by the necessity of keeping a house running. Obviously this setup needs rethinking. Although I haven’t solved all of the problems yet, I have addressed a few to begin with. Maybe you have some similar struggles to address in your home.

One problem was laundry piling up in the master bedroom. Our sleeping quarters were arranged to allow for maximum storage in our bedroom cum U-Store-It Unit. That’s how the bed came to separate the closet from the dresser, and the dresser from the laundry hamper. I have to admit that leaving little piles of clothes around is a bad habit of mine, but since it was even more difficult than usual to put things away, the space around the dresser behind the barricade of the bed became a tide pool of sorts, attracting a microcosm of our wardrobes. It broke even Daniel’s tidy habits of putting his clothes away! Having a dirty bedroom is the beginning of the end for my self-respect and motivation for the day. Solution: I rearranged the bedroom furniture so that all activities related to robing and disrobing were as close together and easy to access as possible. Forget Feng Shui, this is life and death! 

 
A similar hitch was coming up with the microwave consuming most of the counter top in the tiny galley kitchen. Every time I needed to load the dishwasher or roll out some dough there was an hour– no kidding, I timed it– of kitchen tetris before I could be productive in there. I was sorely tempted toward cooking the ship’s galley way, with canned goods and worm-eaten ships biscuit, or better yet, resorting to takeout! I may have succumbed to that last one. Banishing the microwave to an Elfa shelf unit away from the action has saved my sanity and our finances! I will probably always hate doing dishes, but now I don’t hate my life, so that’s progress. 

Finally, my sewing machine was stashed in a dark, unwelcoming spot. I brought it forward into the prime real estate under the living room window– a place where I feel happy– and sent the stroller to lurk in the gloom. I still haven’t had time to sew yet, but I have done other projects and If it doesn’t bear good fruit, I will try something else. 
  

 Most women feel like we have to balance our day to day responsibilities against our callings. It's all hard enough without fighting the furniture too! I hope this inspires you to evaluate a few simple structural changes that could free you up to be more... well, more of whatever you are!

Lace Coverup to Lace Tank

When 2 pool coverups jumped into my Goodwill basket the lady who checked me out asked me why I needed what was essentially 2 of the same garment, and I had no idea. This was several years ago. Lace hadn't made a big recurrence yet, but I just had a feeling. A feeling that turned out to be completely justified, but then I didn't have time to do anything with them because I was having babies. And now I am not having babies, so I get to sew every once in a while.

 

There really isn't much to say about it, this was the easiest project: Just chop and hem. Boom. A lace top to layer, a nice addition to the momiform!

Boys and Their Toys

toddler boy gift ideas

Boys are simultaneously easiest and hardest to shop for. They are happiest with a ball or a gizmo, but gosh darn-it if you don't want to give them something cute– at least when they are little. 

I am facing this conundrum often, what with an influx of little nephews this year, and some other small boys in my life to gift. All of a sudden I got inspired with this truck pillow and was feverishly sketching it way after I should have been in bed. 

I used matte fabric paint on vintage flour sacking for the design. If I do it again, I will leave at least on inch of margin all the way around the picture so that I don't lose so much of the drawing to stuffing. So far it is a hit with my daughter, who is loathe to let it leave!

As a quick reminder, there is still a little time left to enter the contest to win the tassel bracelet giveaway!

How To: Make a Paper Bag Style Canvas Tote

School is out, and summer begun! Thriving Family Magazine just ran an article on encouraging children's efforts at business, and it reminded me of one of my many stabs at entrepreneurship. Did you ever have a business as a kid? What did you do? 

Three hundred dollars (or whatever it was) might as well have been a mint the year Karen and I set out to earn our way to summer camp selling personalized canvas totes and hair bows to charitable souls at craft fairs. The session of camp wasn't all we had hoped for, but making money was fun. I just wish I had already made this pattern when we did it! 

I am sharing my pattern hoping that an enterprising kid out there makes some serious bank with it. This is a great tote because most of the stitching is on the inside, so it will probably look pretty neat even with a mistake or two. Also, it sits flat on its own bottom for easy display.   

Embroidery for Preschoolers

"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." –Pablo Picasso

Case in point: Consider Thacia's first stab at embroidery. Her sense of color is startlingly on-trend, the strokes are balanced in both color and rhythm. There is stability and gentle movement in the lines that keep the eye engaged. As she works she is focused yet relaxed: The French would say "sage." She enjoys the process. This is the gold standard for adult work, and absolutely effortless for a two year old. As far as she is concerned she is playing hide-and-seek as she pushes her giant needle through the muslin. She asks "Where did it go?" She flips the work "Oh there it is! I found it!"

So much contentment in muslin, embroidery hoop, needle, and yarn.      

Sew Crazy

It's been a wild time here at the l. lark residence. I am still sewing like a madwoman and my children are graciously waiting for me to emerge wild-eyed from the insanity that is making them new spring clothes. When I am trying something big I get rid of my safety net so I will follow through. In this case I let the flow of hand-me-downs stop, and so once the weather is consistently warm my eldest has nothing sensible to wear. This being Texas, that warm weather will be here, oh, next week or so.

Also, the baby has nothing to wear. She is growing so fast that the first jumper I made her is getting too small.

Also, I am crazy.

You'll understand my excitement though, when I explain that my specialization in the fashion design major at FIT was children's wear but my job was in activewear. Instead of making cutie-pie skirts I was sourcing wicking fabrics for yet another running top with a shelf bra. So really this is my very first line of girl's wear. It's a little more matchy than you would tend to make a collection, but that is so Thacia can pick any two to three articles herself and they will match. It also has less denim in it than any American line would, but I can get that at a dollar per garment at Goodwill.

The Pinks of Things

At 8 years of age I first read Color Me Beautiful by Carole Jackson. Immediately I pared my wardrobe down to the suggested skeleton wardrobe, all in what I wanted my palette to be at the time. That was particularly ridiculous given that it was written for the 1980's business woman. I was at a loss for power suits. And can you imagine me in a power suit, even now? There's a lot of voodoo out there, but I still believe in the principle, and am pretty great at assessing people's colors now.

Want to know my best secret? Hold the garment up to your face after a friend (or random person you collar) closes their eyes. When they open them to look at you, ask what the first thing they saw was. If it is anything but your eyes, don't buy it/keep it! The official Color Me Beautiful makeup line website has a pretty good season evaluator, as long as you understand warm vs. cool. Just remember to use your natural hair color, not your dyed color. I do feel that their pictorial examples lean very far to the blonde side for Summers, and very dark brunette for Winters though.

Twenty-one years of joyously yet rigidly following my colors later, I'm freaking out because while it is pretty easy to find the clear warm colors of Spring (like coral and aqua) for my eldest, my bitty baby Summer is relegated to boy clothes because they just don't make girl clothes in cool grays, blues, or even berry colors for Pete's sake! What to do? Obviously a fanatic like myself would not dare commit the outrage of dressing her in the overpowering shocking pinks of Winter, or the blanching shades of yellow and aquamarine of Spring so readily available. 

No. 

That's child abuse. 

I have put my foot down. 

I am making her clothes now, and she looks dazzling don't you think?  

Heirloom Sewing Cheats

There's irony in the fact that I developed a certain taste for children's clothing in college, but I am still paying for that education so I can't afford to indulge my whims for high end Italian knits and Dutch design. I do know how to sew it, but now that I actually have children I don't have much time to sew. 

So I cheated, and I'm not ashamed. I used a secondhand cotton tablecloth. No fancy computerized sewing machine, no hours of backbreaking labor or marking, no pricey embroidery software, just a stained tablecloth and the simplest of sewing patterns.

The foundation appeal is a simple, timeless design that lets the embroidery details speak for themselves. All the charm needs room to breathe! An addition of collar, petticoat, full puff sleeve, or sash would be too much. I made my own pattern, but I like this and this too.

It has an empire waist with embroidery, gathered and embroidered skirt with scalloped hem, long fitted sleeve puffed at the wrist and embroidered, and narrow back button closure with tiny vintage milk glass buttons.

I cheated.

Go therefore, and cheat likewise. You'll be mother of the year for providing your daughter with pretty dresses, wife of the year for doing it on a serious budget, and you'll still have time for the family with all the time you don't have to spend at the sewing machine to do it! 

Hey Girl, I Love Your Mess

You know that "Hey girl" Ryan Gosling meme that was going around? I know... that was so last month.

My favorite was the one where he said something like "Hey girl, don't stress about me stepping on that pin. It's my fault for walking barefoot in the dining room."

The thing is, I have that dream man! Our house is filled to capacity with works in progress, and we were having company over for Sunday dinner in 10 minutes or so. I stepped through the door and thought "What a revolting mess." He stepped through the door with a sigh of contentment and said "I love our life. Don't you love our life? I love being surrounded with the things we are working on."

Friends, Whether he was serious or sarcastic, he was rewarded.

Sometimes I look at needlework blogs and think everyone gets more done than I do. You might think the same of me, so I'd like to give a tour of the mess. Keep in mind these are the things that are out. There are more projects put away. Oi. 

At the top you'll find a baby sweater almost finished. I designed the pattern, mom knit it and gave it to me to finish, hopefully before the child is 30.

Mmm, lovely. Kitchen scraps waiting to be mixed with nitrogen and browns for another shot at composting. I want to make compost, not mulch, and it's a surprisingly ticklish business. I simply cannot accept that I wouldn't have the skills to grow my own food and thrive in a post-apocalyptic world...which is just another reason you love me, right?

Daniel's Christmas stocking. Now that the holiday rush is over I figure what's the rush? I will feel this way until approximately November 15th, 2012.

A pin. I need to print photos of the girls to put in it, but not until the. last. instant.

This one has been sitting around for a long while. My mom wove it so I could try some shibori felting. More likely than not I will end up with an unusable piece of fabric in the end, so I am petrified. Meanwhile, this useless fabric occupies valuable worktable real estate. Brilliant.

I found this wood shaving wreath in the dumpster. I like to imagine why perfectly good stuff ends up there. Was it a gift from a recent ex-boyfriend? Did she come back in lovelorn remorse only to find I already dumpster dove for it? I'm going to put a bow on it as a Valentine wreath. Hope my neighbor doesn't mind!

A bunny stuffed animal waiting to be sewn and photographed. When Damaris was two weeks old I had the urge to create. For some reason I made a corduroy bunny because I'd never patterned anything like that before. It turned out cute, and I am working on a tutorial with a downloadable pattern for you verrrry slowwwwwly.

Finally, I am also in the last stages of making a dress for the girl's baby dedication. We are dedicating them both this Sunday, and I will be sharing some thoughts here about heirloom sewing shortcuts and designing for children. 

I hope you find my disaster edifying. At the very least you can show this to your own husband to prove you are a normal crafter... above average even!