Doll clothing self-challenge: Clothing Storage (pg. 21)

[bewilderness]

Everyone's skirts and dresses look great!  And Salli, I'm positive your skirt idea will be epic!

[Salli]

Okay, I will edit this post in a bit with my skirt pix (feel free to share pix of anything you make for any challenge at any point, it doesn't have to be within the challenge we are currently running), but I am going to go ahead and start challenge 2!


Challenge 2: Stockings

Make or acquire at least one pair of stockings for a doll.


TIP: sewing knits, especially super-stretchy ones is a totally different animal from normal woven fabrics. Use either a seed stitch or a very slight zig zag stitch to keep the thread from breaking when the garment is being stretched over the body.
TIP: sew the top hem of your stockings along the edge of the uncut fabric, then trim the hem edge to really short; fold and sew the stocking pattern THEN cut out the leg shape. It will keep your fabric from getting eaten in your machine and give you more control when sewing. So summary: Hem, sew, cut out. Sounds weird, but trust me.

[Vertefae]

ohh thats' a great tip!

[kCherry]

TIP: sewing knits, especially super-stretchy ones is a totally different animal from normal clothes. Use either a seed stitch or a very slight zig zag stitch to keep the thread from breaking.
TIP: sew the top hem of your stockings along the edge of the uncut fabric, then trim the hem edge to really short; fold and sew the stocking pattern THEN cut out the leg shape. It will keep your fabric from getting eaten in your machine and give you more control when sewing. So summary: Hem, sew, cut out. Sounds weird, but trust me.

  Very good tip!! I was going to be employing the use of liquid stitch for this challenge and I imagined it was gonna get a little messy!

  I'm a tad late, but better late than never (otherwise I'd never show up for anything.... Evar.) Here's my skirt, ahem, I mean dress for the last challenge. I got it done Friday night but.... well, this has been a heckabusy weekend!

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  Yayy! Now she just needs her hooves painted and somewhere fancy to go! hee hee hee

[Salli]

Cherry, your dress is gorgeous and your dollie is so fascinating! What's her story?

[shockponie]

...It will keep your fabric from getting eaten in your machine and give you more control when sewing. So summary: Hem, sew, cut out. Sounds weird, but trust me.

  I wish I would've read this sooner! I spent a couple hours this morning trying to sew a skirt for the first challenge & every one of my attempts resulted in my fabric getting eaten & having to cut it out of my machine. I got so frustrated & gave up! Thanks for the tip, now I know where I went wrong!

[Salli]

Oops, sorry shockponie. Yah, I tell anyone who gets frustrated with doll clothes to forget everything they know about clothing construction. The very last seam you do should be the one that closes up the garment and I often start with sewing hems! Like on a skirt, do everything before you sew that back seam up. That is so backwards, but it makes me less crazy.

You can also buy a throat plate for your machine that only has a space for a single needle to go through and that would help, but I do a lot of zig zagging and stuff so it's not much of an option for me. There's also water-soluble stabilizer (the one I have it called 'Solvy') that you can use under your fabric, then just get it wet and it will disappear (I am too lazy for that ) You can use regular paper too, and just tear it off like perforated sheets but it kind of works best when doing longer stitches, which I don't usually use in dollie clothes. Hope this helps. Happy sewing!

Oh! I almost forgot. If your fabric really keeps getting sucked in your needle might be too dull or too thick for the fabric you are using. For knits make sure you are using a ball-point needle. Here's a good, simple article on choosing machine needles ( http://www.ehow.com/how_15071_choose-needle-machine.html ) some fabric store employees know how to help answer your questions (although some are either totally inexperienced or total idiots- a story for another time...).

[lemontwist]

I finished my skirt on Friday but my doll should get here tomorrow so I'll wait and post pics when she gets here And I think i'll order her some stockings instead of making them, not quite ready for that yet xD

[Private_Bubbles]

kCherry, That dress is awesome, it goes really well with her hair!

Hmm, I've never made stockings before so this will be interesting.

[Katgyrl]

I've discovered putting a layer of tissue paper on top of stretchy fabric works wonders! Totally makes sewing with knits doable. Then it just tears away afterwards, and since it's tissue paper it's slightly see through and doesn't dull your needle as much as regular paper. I used it just recently when I made a pony sized baby blanket.

Thanks for the tips on stockings, Salli, I was a little baffled on how to make some, but know I think I may be able to try it! Course Barbies dont' often wear stockings, but maybe I'll make some little socks for my daughter's baby doll.

[skyrocketneko]

I've never made stockings either. This should be fun! Maybe I should try on something small like the MH.

[Loona]

many thanks for the sewing tips, Salli (I've already searched for ball-point needles and I'll hopefully buy some tomorrow), and also for the tip about the tissue paper, Katgyrl!
I'll also join the line of those who never made stockings before, so the tips will be more than useful! I've already decided on the material I'm going to use (I'll make a pair of leggings to go with Tristen's previously shown dress), but I'm afraid I'm starting with the most difficult material possible (elastic tulle - I've heard from a dressmaker friend that regular tulle is a pain in the butt to work with, and I guess anything elastic is only worse), so I may just try to make another pair first, from a material that is easier to work with.

good news: mom's sewing machine is finally here with me! it was a little bittersweet to open the box, I'm sure the machine was last used when she was still here with us I wish she was here to show me some tricks, now I'll have to learn them myself.

[Salli]

I'm sure she will be with you in spirit, Loona

Ignore anyone who tells you that tulle is a pain or worse 'tulle can't be sewn with a machine'. I sew tulle all the time and it's always just fine. I don't know what people are doing to make it so horrible. I don't even change my needle, thread, tension or stitch length.  I think as long as you use the seed or slight zig zag and don't pull on the fabric much it should be fine.

[Mintymints]

Aww man, I completely forgot to take a picture of my skirt xD
I made my frankie a Tu-Tu...
It takes NO sewing guys! Just about an hour of patience and tying.
She's at my dad's house now so I can't take pics.. /fail

[Vertefae]

I LOVE your dress Cherry! Totally forgot to say that.

I made my stockings yesterday. Easiest thing ever using Salli's instructions up there.