Floral Silk Taffeta Gown for Gene

 I don't remember where I found this piece of floral silk taffeta but I had the perfect dress in mind for it.  You can see the inspiration pic at the end of the post.  The image was intentionally blurry so this is my interpretation of it.  This taffeta is heavier than tissue weight so that necessitated a gathered circle skirt. The skirt and bodice are fully lined in dark pink silk/cotton.  The bodice of the dress is fairly straightforward but the silk organza over bodice was another story.  I drafted the pattern with more ease in it to fit over the bodice.  It worked out perfectly lengthwise but I did have to let it out at the side seams.  To avoid too many seams, I sewed the tulle lining to the neck and the back openings first, and did the same with the sleeve hems.  Once those were turned, I treated the two layers as one piece when it came to the darts, setting in the sleeves, and the side seams.  I also used an 80 weight thread for this so the thread doesn't really show at all.  All the seams were then trimmed to 1/8 inch and finished with a zigzag stitch.  The dress closes with snaps in the back with a little pearl and thread loop closure at the top of the sheer layer.  The back opening is also decorated with black crystal pearls and I used the same pearls as "buttons" on the front.  The dress is finished with a black taffeta belt that snaps in the back although I think I'm going to take a look at Joann and see if I can find some black patent faux leather.  I think I would like the contrast.  I then made a matching necklace and earrings with the same pearls.  Dress and jewelry are available for $160 plus $6 boxed shipping in the US.  Email me at nwickman@chartermi.net if interested.  

Note:  I did use the dressing hands that come with Jamieshow dolls, but for regular Gene dolls, I would put a little plastic bag corners over the hands to prevent her thumbs from getting caught in the tulle lining, although it is possible to dress her if you're careful when putting the sleeves on.  

And finally, here is the picture from the 50's that inspired this gown.  

Blue Wool Repro Suit for Gene

SOLD  Thanks!  While I was waiting on some lining fabric to arrive from China, I needed a project to work on.  Since I bought a remnant of this gorgeous pale blue tropical weight wool from Farmhouse Fabrics, I decided to reproduce a suit from the 50s (pic at end).  The suit had a fur collar but I wanted to carry the "fur" further so I added a "fur" hat and muff.  The princess-seamed suit front has little slits with tiny bows.  Here's where the problem was.  I tried to turn a tiny tube of this fabric but it just wouldn't work.  So I searched through my 40-year-old stash of silk ribbon and was lucky enough to find an exact match,  Even luckier, I had matching buttons.  The skirt has a back walking slit and the jacket closes with snaps.  The "fur" is 3mm pile Minky Cuddle.  It's the perfect scale for dolls.   The hat works for both Gene and Jamieshow dolls.  The suit, had and muff are available for $160 plus $6 boxed shipping in the US.  Email me at nwickman@chartermi.net if interested.  

 

And finally, the inspiration pic. 

Plaid Silk Repro Gown for Gene

 

SOLD  Thanks!  This is a gown inspired by a vintage Simplicity pattern (pic at end).  I found the perfect fabric for it at SilksUnlimited--a beautiful silk tissue taffeta plaid with a subtle vine embroidery.  For the bodice I did start with the Bewitched pattern from Designs by Jude but I made some modifications to it--changed the neckline a bit, made it longer, took it in at the waist.  The dress is completely lined in silk/cotton and has a zipper closure in the back and matching stole.  It's finished with a big loopy bow just below the waist.  I debated on whether to line the front flounces but I didn't think they would drape right, so I decided to do a narrow machine hem instead.  This is a picture of the flounce pattern so you can see that that was a bit difficult to do around the tight curves. 

The other option would have been a narrow zigzag all along the edge but that would have been more noticeable.

 Dress and stole are available for $145 plus $6 for US shipping.  Email me at nwickman@chartermi.net if interested.  

And finally, the inspiration for this gown.  

Jade Green Gown Finished!

As I mentioned earlier, I'm not too into bridal so I picked a gorgeous jade green silk tissue taffeta to complete this gown.  The dress required 3/4 of a yard of fabric and it was a lot of work from start to finish.  I'll share a few pictures of the making of it before I get to the rest of the models.  

I constructed the lining first and, in the process, decided that the sleeves needed a bit more ease in the cap so I recut them.  

Lining is done and fit to my old yellow beat up Gene who now works as my fit model.  I like to use a lighter color lining material to hopefully prevent discoloring of the doll.  

The bodice is completed and the zipper is set in.  The lining has to be hand stitched to the dress around the zipper.  Because of the zipper and the way this constructed, I also had to hand stitch the bottom sleeve edges together.  Usually that's done before sewing the side seams but because of the back being stitched closed, I couldn't make it work. 

Now I have to sew the front and back flounces together and gather them into the upper skirt.  

The flounce is sewn to the gown and the lining is pinned in place ready to be hand stitched to the dress.  After hemming, I added a little rhinestone brooch at the neck.  Underneath the skirt is a two-tiered tulle petticoat to give it fullness.  Of course, there had to be an accessory so I went with a hat made from the same silk.  The hat is wired inside to shape to the head and is trimmed with silk ribbon, a rhinestone ornament and a feather.  Gown and hat are available for $230 plus $6 boxed shipping in the US.  Email me at nwickman@chartermi.net if interested.  Now onto the finished dress as modeled by Jamieshow Liz.  The back is really dramatic.  

And here it is being modeled by Gene.  

 

Pattern-Making Part 2--The Muslin

Time to try out the pattern and see where it needs adjusting.  I'm just using a piece of white cotton here.  The side back and back went together well.  The side front needed a little adjustment at the armhole.  Nothing major.  

But after I fit it to the doll, it was gaping at the armhole so I ripped it out almost to the dart to take in the side front.  

The new seam pinned.  I took the extra fullness only out of the side front piece and the corresponding pattern piece.   

Fits much better in the armhole area now.  I didn't change the dart points on the muslin but I did on the pattern.  The side seams are basted together for a fitting..  I decided that it needed to be nipped in at the waist a bit and at the top of the center front just a tad.  At this time I also decided I wanted to widen the neckline and drew it on with a heat erasable marker. 

I also decide to nip in the waist in the back just a bit.  Other than that, I'm happy with the way the back is fitting.  I cut a 3/8" seam for the back opening because I plan to put a zipper in this one.  Shout out to Tamara Casey of Fletcher Pattern Company.  She's the only one I know of who sells 12" zippers.  The standard 4 1/2" just isn't long enough.  

I've redrawn the new neckline and trimmed the pattern pieces where I nipped in the waist.  You can see the new dart drawn on the front piece.  

To try out the collar, I just trimmed away all of the seam allowances except for the neck edge.

  I stitched the collar to the right side of the bodice , clipped the seam and then top-stitched the seam allowance down to the inside.  

With the doll on the stand, I realize that I need to add more length as I plan on a petticoat under the dress.  So I added another 7/8",  which included a small rolled hem.  I only plan to line this as far down as the flounce.

With everything but the bust dart adjusted, I'm pretty satisfied with the fit now but I'm still wondering if I should lower the vee of the neckline a little more.  I didn't bother with the back flounce because I know it's going to be longer than the front, and you can see that it's going to be a very full, dramatic skirt.  My measurements are accurate so I'm not too concerned about the sleeves fitting either so I didn't set those in.  The bodice was my main focus.  

But when looking at the back and gauging that the flounce starts below her knees, I decide to lengthen the upper skirt pieces to create more of a sweep in the back.  Also, looking at the picture of the original dress, the length of the upper skirt and the length of the flounce appear to be about equal. 

 So I taped pieces of my paper to the bottoms and drew a new cutting line.  So that's about it.  Hours of work put in already and I haven't even cut out the actual dress.  I think this would be really pretty in silk tissue taffeta and it's going to take close to a yard.  But what color to use?  I have white but I'm not really big into bridal.  I'm thinking a jewel tone would give it drama.  What do you think?  

 

 

Pattern-Making for Dolls

 The subject of making doll patterns derived from human patterns came up recently in a Facebook group I belong to.  The first thing to realize is dolls are not proportioned like real humans.  I had a pattern I wanted to customize to Gene size so I took some pics along the way to show you my process.  It's not as straightforward as simply enlarging the pieces.  

This is the design I chose to work on where I also had pics of the pieces from the pattern envelope.  Not the easiest one in the world.  

I started by enlarging the pieces 200% on my printer to make them easier to measure.  The measurements I start with are across the back, and shoulder point to shoulder point.  Some people are smart enough to do this digitally but I use a proportional scale and enlarged all the pieces again to the back measurements I want.  This is important because human patterns are usually designed for a B cup---and Gene is definitely not a B cup.  So if you use her entire bust measurement as your guide, the back of the garment will be way too big for her.  So I fit the back first and make adjustments to accommodate the larger bust. 

The first thing I need to do is lengthen the waist line-in this case 5/8" based on center back and underarm measurements.  I slashed the pattern pieces at the waist and spread them.  The pieces are taped to examining table paper (thanks to Missy's Imaginings for that idea).  It's somewhat transparent which helps fit the pieces to each other.  If you carry the lines down from the bodice, you get pretty close to Gene's back waist measurement.  But you can see where I've made small adjustments.  Since this is a full skirt, I'm not worried about the hip measurement.  

This is where I run into my first issue.  The skirt pieces line up and match in the length but the bodice pieces don't line up at all,  So I had to redraw the armhole as well as take in the side seam based on Gene's back measurement from underarm to underarm.  

Her are the finished back and side back patterns with seam allowances added.  You will always need to lengthen the skirts for dolls as they have proportionately longer legs.  So I measured down from her waist to where I thought I wanted the flounce to start.  Normally you would slash and spread the skirt to the desired length but I want this skirt to be really full so I just continued the original lines.  

I followed the same procedure with the side front, making sure that the side seam matches the back.  The front is a lot trickier.  I had to lengthen the waistline more that 5/8" because of the larger bust.  Measure from the shoulder over the bust to the waist to get this measurement.  The extra length will be taken up with a bigger dart.  You can see from the picture that I needed to establish a new dart point.  The three measurements for this are bust point to bust point, shoulder to bust point, and bust point to waist.  Then I measure the side front seam from the waist up to determine how much I needed to take out in the dart.  You'll notice that I slashed and spread the front bodice.  This was done for two reasons.  One is to give me the extra width I needed across the front due to the bigger bust.  Measure from the underarm to underarm across the fullest part of the bust for this.  The other reason is that the shoulder seams didn't match.  I lengthened the skirt to match the side front as well.  Remember to constantly measure all the seams against the pieces they connect to.  

The finished front lengthened and with seam allowances added.  The original dress had a separate side flounce piece but I decided to do it in one piece.  Not shown:  I decided I wanted this part of the flounce wider so I slashed and spread it out more.   I also combined the back and side back flounces into one piece.  

I kept the original sleeve cap after measuring it against the armhole opening.  The sleeve cap should be slightly longer to be eased into the armhole.  Obviously the original sleeve had an elbow dart which I left out.  The measurement around the upper arm was good but sleeves have to be lengthened as well.  Measure around the doll's hand to make sure the sleeve will fit over it.  I add a little ease here to account for seams and lining.  

Collar pieces often don't fit and since I lowered the neckline a little, I knew this one would need adjusting.  Walk the collar piece around the neckline.  I made a mark where it meets the should seam.  You can see that I needed to extend it to fit around the back neck seam.  So this is what I spent my whole Friday afternoon doing.  But I still won't cut this out of silk fabric without making a muslin of it first.  It should be close but will undoubtedly need tweaking.  I'll take some photos of that process and let you know how in goes in the next post.