Small Sewing Day
- At March 29, 2014
- By Kelly
- In Sewing For The Kids
- 6
According to the calendar, we are currently having Spring Break here. Since the weather and calendar seem to be having a disagreement about what constitutes Spring, the last couple days have been blustery and cold. This means all my grand plans for work have been compressed into this small section of the evening after the kids have gone to bed. I was much more optimistic earlier in the week, making my usual to-do lists and such. Halfway through, though, reality set in. It is best to just go with the flow of things. Wednesday was sewing. And card games.
So, I helped Zoe with her sewing. She decided she was going to make some clothes for her brother’s doll. There is a story in that, so I shall detour a moment to tell you.
When Jack was about a year old, I decided I was going to make him a Waldorf doll. This took much longer than I expected. I mean, really, it looks easy enough – cut out the pieces, sew them together, jam in the stuffing, close up the holes. Oh, no. Those are the things they tell you when they are trying to sell you the pattern. And the special fabric. And the special stuffing. And the magic spool of thread that matches the special fabric.
First, you have to get the ball for the head just right. You might have to try that several times. At some point, you may lose all patience with this process and throw the head blob across the room, after which you decide that slightly lumpy shape it has acquired is exactly what you were looking for. And the hair! Oh, for the love of all things, THE HAIR. I will probably have nightmares for the next week now that I have brought memories of that back from the depths of my mind.
But, I got it done. And I gave it to Jack, with a vague mention of someday also making clothing for it. That was about 6 years ago. Maybe 7. Either way, Jack was happy to have it and until the last year or so, he had not raised any concerns over the fact that this doll had no clothing. He was happy because the doll had blue eyes and short brown hair, just like him.
Zoe’s dolls all have clothes. In fact, Zoe’s dolls have a lot of clothes. Being the very good big sister that she is, Zoe decided to make Jack’s doll some clothes. Remembering that the original doll pattern also included some clothes, I dug that out and Zoe found the pants pattern. She spent about two hours on this pair of pants. I helped her carefully iron the hem and press out the seam allowances. She sewed and seam ripped until they were done.
They looked good until she put them on. They don’t have enough of a rise to actually stay on the doll. Bummer.
While Zoe ate lunch, I cut a new pair with a longer rise and sewed them up. Quite the difference!
Zoe tried an American Girl doll shirt on this doll and it fit, so maybe someday we will use one of those patterns to make this guy a shirt. Probably not soon. Zoe has switched back to trying patterns from a new book that she has been helping me review. Of course, it is a book of patterns for clothes that fit the American Girl dolls, so maybe he will get a shirt from there.