Don't Be Afraid of Buttonholes

For years I was afraid of making buttonholes.  They made me nervous. A bad buttonhole can ruin a good coat.

 When you are making doll clothing you can deftly avoid them. You can use snaps with decorative buttons on things that open in the front. Faux is fine for dolls.

But if you master buttonholes, they can become easier than the substitutions. And real buttoning buttons are just charming on doll clothing. Practical with a retro charm.

Over the last year each time I've done a series of buttonholes I've discovered or made up a new trick. They are close to mistake proof. Now I love doing them.

And don't be daunted by the number of steps. they are all very quick and designed to eliminate mistakes.

First gather a few supplies: 

Pieces of tissue paper or stabilizer

A pen

A ruler, quilting ruler or a Simflex expanding gauge (pictured below)

Your buttons

Buttonhole thread

A bright contrasting thread

An Xacto knife and pad to cut on

Scrap fabric

A Simflex expanding gauge, if you don't have one of these a ruler will do just fine.

Step one, I use a machine long basting stitch to baste a piece of stabilizer (or tissue paper) to the garment along the edge where the buttonholes will go with bright contrasting thread. I go about 1/4 inch in from the edge as shown below. I am basting on the outside of the coat edge. 

Basting the paper to the coat edge accomplished several things.

1. You have stabilizer or tissue on the bottom side of your fabric. This helps a button hole foot glide more smoothly and not jam.

2. The line of basting can serve as a guide.

3. You can make measured marks on the paper to tell you where to start each buttonhole.

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The Simflex expanding gauge can be pulled to figure out how to best evenly distribute your buttonholes.  A ruler will also work. I then mark the paper where the top of each button will start.

However, full disclosure here, I have an automatic butttonhole foot. So once I determine the correct size, I can set it to make that exact size over and over. If you cannot repeat the size, you will also need to mark the paper for the when to stop, ie the bottom of each button hole. The nice part about the marks on the side of the paper is that you can easily see them whilke you are sewing with a great big buttonhole foot.

A buttonhole foot allows you to measure your button.

Attach your buttonhole foot and measure your buttonhole with the red marker on your foot. After you have an approximate idea of buttonhole size. Sew one on some scrap fabric. Yoiu will want to try this with your button to see if it fits. I use an Xacto knife and a mat to cut the slit in the hole. There is such a thing as a buttonhole cutter. However, it may be too big for some buttonholes.

If the buttonhole is too small or too big tweak your size.

Too small

Once you get the correct size, sew several before starting on the real garment. This helps make sure your machine is behaving consistently and you are confident.

Now you are ready for the real thing. 

Line the top of the buttonhole up with your first mark. Line the basting to be just underneath the right inside edge of the foot. 

If you have an automatic buttonholer it will stop and turn and you can just move onto the next buttonhole and repeat. if it is not automatic you will need to pay attention to your end mark.

When you are done:

Take out the basting

Tear off the paper or stabilizer

Cut the holes

Sew on your buttons.

Try it, it is probably quicker than reading this tutorial.

Playing with Babies

One of my goals for 2016 is to give Baby Egg a little more attention. And as luck would have it, my first few orders this year were for Eggs. One escaped photography, but the rest did not.

Although they are a lot more work, I've been focusing on fluffy haired Baby Eggs (those of you who have ever threaded hair in a crocheted wig cap know what I'm talking about). But the fluffy hair is just so...Eggy ...so cute and cuddly.

Here's a sneak peek at what will soon be listed. If you've been dreaming of Baby Egg, let me know and I can help you design your own.

Resizing Doll Dress Patterns

A number of you have contacted me asking for me if I had patterns for certain dolls. In addition, although I sized the pattern sets for Phoebe, AG doll, 16 inch Waldorf dolls and Sasha, each of those dolls' sizes vary.

In other words inevitably it is useful to know how to resize a pattern to fit your doll.

There are number of easy steps to resizing a pattern.

If the dolls is overall bigger or smaller, start with copying or printing the pattern at a larger or smaller percentage.

If the doll has the same proportions this step may get you there. You can start by taking a chest measurement of your doll and searching online for the chest measurement of the doll the pattern was created for. If your doll is 8" and the doll the pattern was created for is 12", then 8/12 or 75% is what you should print at.

If that gets you closer, but the pattern size still needs to be tweaked. Here are some next steps.

Dress is the right size but the neck if tight.

If it is more than the neck that is narrow, you may want to widen the dress without making it over all bigger, ie the armholes and shoulders and length stay the same. this can be done by splitting the pattern down the middle and separating the two sides by the amount you need to make it wider.

Once you've done this, take tracing paper and trace over to make a new pattern piece.

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Be sure to also add some onto each back piece. I usually add half of the front increase to each side of the back.

If the dress is torso is too short, especially in the armhole area, you can cut the pattern horizontally and divide and make a new pattern piece.

If a dress is the correct length but overall too wide, the pattern can be narrowed by cutting down the middle and pushing the two pieces together.

Be sure to also trim a bit off the center back edges too. If the neck is too narrow you may need to redraw the neck.

Although any one of these steps may get you straight to the a doll dress that perfectly fits your doll, it make take a combination of these steps. If you don't feel like using lots of fabric to sew the size trials, use paper towel.

Hope this helps! Happy sewing (and resizing)!

Doll Dressmaking Series: My Favorite Suppliers

I am frequently asked where I buy supplies for doll dressmaking. Although I buy from a wide range of places, I thought I'd share a few of my favorites. Some day I'll make a comprehensive list.

There are SOOO many great fabrics out there and so many great places to buy fabric.

I frequently shop at Hawthorne Threads, they have a great selection and ship almost immediately.

Fabricworm also has a great selection and often have sales.

For Liberty or other heirloom quality fabric and amazing customer service, Farmhouse Fabrics.

I also love Harts Fabrics. They have a nice selection of cotton knits.

For a discontinued fabric, which I somehow find myself needing frequently, Etsy and Quiltshops searches often find what I want.

For basics with a bit of a discount, Fabric.com

For trims:

I buy my trims by the roll which is why I love Create For Less. 

For those buying by the yard: Farmhouse Fabrics has a great selection. Also check their ribbon section.

For buttons, I like eBay. The button hunting on eBay is so fun, the variety is a bit overwhelming.

And for snaps, I suggest Create for Less, they have a huge variety and offer bulk discounts.

Handmade Toymakers: Skippity Hop Creatures

I’m not a big user of social media. I occasionally post on Facebook and check Twitter even less. But I love Instagram. Not only do I enjoy posting behind the scenes photos from Phoebe&Egg, but through Instagram I have met a lot of cool dollmakers from all over the world.

Following dollmakers can lead you to some other interesting makers. A few months ago I stumbled upon Skippity Hop Creatures. The owner Kim Sinclair-McNally designs the cutest tiny plush creatures.

Kim began designing the creatures that eventually became Skippity Hop Creatures in 2010 in her home outside of Edinburg, Scotland, when her youngest child started school.

Her creations, which include badgers, mice and pigs are small, 6 to 12 inches, but with plenty of sweet details, like little shoes, handbags, knit sweaters, scarves and pixie hats. Kim says she loves working at this scale, but a good lamp is essential because the days are short for many months of the year in Scotland.

The creatures are made from woolens and felt. Kim looks to use wool from recycled sweaters and she finds fabrics at a local recycle yard.

Kim said her creatures are more older children and adults and she designs more for display and decoration than play. However, Kim has designed for younger children in the past and is open to custom orders.

Her work can be found

Here,

 And

Here.

Phoebe tries ballet

First off, apologies, I know I have been a bit MIA for awhile. I was busy getting all of my Xmas orders out and well...kind of forgot about blogging.

But now I'm done and I'm back. Thank you for your patience and I hope all of you are enjoying the season.

Two of the dolls that went out this season had ballet outfits. The outfit includes a white cotton leotard with lace trim, ballet slippers with satin laces and a pouffy white tulle tutu. 

It was a fun outfit to design and make.

The set is now available in my Etsy shop.

Phoebe Tries Baseball

I recently had a custom request for a Phoebe for a little girl with brown hair and freckles who likes baseball and ballet.

When I asked the colors for the baseball clothing, her mother said Houston Astros. So I had two challenges—design a baseball uniform for Phoebe and make it Houston Astros.

This Phoebe is on her way to Texas. But here's how it turned out.

Doll Dressmaking Series: Pintucked Bodice

There are several fun (and simple) things you can do with the drop waist dress pattern. One is to embellish the front. Pintucks, small stitched down pleats, on the bodice, are one way to change the pattern up.

Since doll dresses, especially their bodices, are small, it is easier to sew the tucks in the fabric before cutting out the bodice.

Cut a rectangle of fabric slightly taller than your bodice and at least three inches wider.

Fold it in half vertically to mark the middle. You will want to keep your pintucks centered.

I use a ruled piece of paper to mark where the pintuck folds will be (I will provide this in the newsletter patterns). It's kind of a pintuck cheat. Place the ruled piece of paper on your fabric. Center it.

Cut small snips at the end of each line on your cheat sheet. This is for marking where to fold and iron. Fold and iron along each line making sure all of your folds are on the same side of your fabric.

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Snipping and folding

After pressing the folds, you will stitch each one with a contrasting thread a tiny bit in from the fold. I used the interior edge of my presser foot as my guide for keeping the pintucks straight and even. See arrow. 

Using your presser foot to keep the pintucks straight and even.

Repeat this for all six of the pleats, paying attention to making sure they are coming out all on the same side of the fabric.

When you are done, press the pleats so they are all facing out from the center and then staystitch across the top of the fabric so they stay pressed in the correct direction while you cut out your bodice. 

Now that your bodice fabric with tucks is made, you are ready to cut out the bodice. Since I use freezer paper, I ironed mine on and cut. Pins also will work. Make sure your pleats are centered underneath before cutting.

Next sew your dress together following the dropwaist instructions. I did this one without the ruffle sleeves and I machine hemmed it with contrasting thread to match the pintucks.

For this pattern, the drop waist pattern and all of the other patterns in the series, subscribe to the Phoebe and Egg newsletter. Sign up is below.

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Two New Dolls

I always find it hard to find the time to post this time of year with all of the holiday orders. I added two new dolls to Etsy shop last week. I'll give you a sneak peek here and a link to go take a look.

Both were inspired by custom requests. I have been so lucky, my customers have amazing requests, often inspiring me to try something new and often it ends up fabulous. so thank you!

All of these Phoebes and their clothing sets can be found here.

Book and Fabric Giveaway Winner...

Lynn P is the winner. Thank you everyone for participating. Lynn P, I will be emailing you for an address.

1.     Faye

2.     Susan

3.     Sara

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5.     Megan

6.     Doreen

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13. Lynn P

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