We have a winner!

Participants in the giveaway...

1.    Vicki

2.    Julie

3.    Melissa

4.    Shauna

5.    Anne

6.    Vera

7.    Marissa

8.    Ada

9.    Barbara

10. Jessica

11. Sandra

12. Dawn

13. Sidney

14. Fishgirl

15. Cheryln

16. Emily

17. Valsym

18. Sara

Congratulations Sydney Reid!

Please contact me (phoebeandegg@gmail.com) with your shipping info.

If I do not hear from Sydney by the end of March, I will generate a new number.

Thank you everyone for participating and there will be other giveaways soon, I still have more fabric and yarn than will fit in my studio or rather more than I want to fit in the new studio. I am liking the new spare look!

Liberty of London will be Phoebe's Spring "Thing"

My mother introduced me to Liberty of London when I was little. After a trip to London, she made my sister and I matching Liberty of London smocked dresses and my father got a matching tie. 

When I first started Phoebe and Egg I wondered, was Liberty too fancy for doll dresses? 

You can guess how I answered that from my sweet stack of Liberty fabric below.

Last month while visiting family in London, we just happened to find ourselves near their shop. I was surprised by how many things they sold besides their fabric—housewares, clothing, Rowan Yarn, sewing notions.

I recently cut into my Liberty fabric and started sewing. I am smitten. It is divine and it's weight makes it wonderful for doll clothes.

So be on the look out for a Liberty collection for Phoebe this spring.

Doll Dressmaking: Recap and what's next

Due to many many snow days and then a school vacation, I have been a little slow to post my next few lessons in the doll dress-making series. Thank you for your patience. 

And now I'm off for a girls' weekend with my oldest daughter (aka Phoebe) in NYC. 

In the meantime, I will post a recap of the links to the lessons already covered, offer the patterns again (the request form is at the end of this post) and give you a hint of what's to come.

When I return and move into my new studio space, you can look forward to  puff sleeves and a dress with pleats. 

Also another coordinated post with Coloured Buttons, Trixi Symonds with some hand sewing projects for children.

But until then, here's a recap of doll dressmaking to date:

Patterns are currently available for Phoebe, American Girl doll and 16" Waldorf sized dolls through subscribing to my newsletter. I hope to eventually add a few more sizes, including Sasha dolls.

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Hello, World!

A birthday doll and some smocking

Last week, in between the 6 feet of snow that fell, a birthday doll managed to leave eastern Massachusetts and make it to her new home.  I also spent some of my snowbound time smocking. 

And along with a few snowstorms, we had an adorable 13 year old exchange student from Shanghai, who was fairly polite and good natured about the snow and cold, but must have been happy this is not her home.

A Six Year Old's Guide to Sewing Doll Clothes

Gemma is six and she has been hand sewing for a few years, but she recently received a Scrappy Phoebe kit and began sewing on the sewing machine too.  Gemma described her start in sewing,  "I have been sewing with a needle since I was four, mostly sewing around designs like ducks or apples on Mom's cotton fabric and then framing it."

"When I received the Learn to Sew kit I used the machine for the first time."

Opening the Learn to Sew kit

"I liked how fast the machine was BUT I was scared I would sew my fingers! Sometimes I let my brothers push the pedal, that was bad.

"Mom helped me with the curved arm and neck but I sewed all the straight parts, I even sewed on the trim .

"I also got lots of help from four of my sisters but I designed all the dresses, I loved that."

Scrappy Phoebe was renamed Emily and her wardrobe quickly grew.

One night before bed, Gemma decided Emily needed a nightgown. 

"I asked Mom for some soft fabric. I wanted to make a nightgown. Then I picked pink ric rac. Pink is my favorite! Then I wanted the skirt to be longer for a nightie. Mom said to use a ruler to make the sides of the pattern longer, but I just wanted to use my hand. It worked out!"

Scrappy Emily's nightgown

Now that Gemma has figured out the the basic dress pattern that comes with the kit is only the beginning, she has plans for some new additions to sew even more for Scrappy Emily.

"I want to make doll dresses that match my dresses and I want to make long sleeves on the dresses so my doll will not be cold."

Gemma and Scrappy Emily's new wardrobe.

Yes, It is a giveaway!!

Up until now, I haven't been the type of blog to do giveaways. But right now, I am.

I am having new wood floors and updated plaster walls put in my sewing room (technically the attic). After It is done, I promise some photos. I am so so excited...

But I've also been crazy busy. In addition to sewing orders at my dining room table (and shoveling snow), I have been clearing out the space of fabric, yarn, patterns, trims and just a lot of stuff. Some I do not want. Some has already found a new home. 

But some seems like it would be most appreciated by someone else who also makes doll clothing. Like this yummy fingering cotton yarn. I use a similar yarn (Rowan 4-ply) for the Phoebe and Egg sweaters.

Knit Picks Comfy Yarn Giveaway

Knit Picks Comfy Yarn Giveaway

Eight skeins, colors as shown. I'll even pay shipping within the US. Outside of the US, I'll ship but you will need to pay the shipping.

How can you win?

Just put a comment down below. It can be about anything. How you found this blog. What dolls you sew for. What you like on this blog. What you'd like to see more of. 

I will draw a winner in two weeks. But, there's always a but. I need at least ten comments before I draw. You do not need to put your name in the comment, but you will need to watch, so you can contact me if you do win.

Knit Picks Comfy Yarn Giveaway

A Seven and a Half Year Old's Guide to Sewing Doll Clothes

My Scrappy Phoebe kits are a learn-to-sew kit, that includes a mini Phoebe doll, a simple dress pattern, instructions, 8 fabrics and 8 trims.  

I was blown away when I received photos from two parents showing me what their daughters have made from the kit. The kit has already launched two budding clothing designers. One only six and the other is seven going on eight. 

They will each get their own blog post.

Scrappy Phoebe Sewing Kit available on etsy

Meet today’s young  seamstress and designer: Annika, who goes by Anni outside of the fashion and design world.

Anni is in second grade, but started real sewing waaaay back in first grade. But she really started designing dresses years before she was actually able to sew. When Anni was three or four she used to make “pin clothes” for her groovy girls.

Her mother Anne explained, “She would sit next to me while I was sewing, and pin fabric scraps onto her dolls to make outfits.  They were actually pretty cool, if a little prickly, and maybe not so safe for a pre-schooler.”

Annika's sewing machine is a Featherweight Singer and has been treasured for three generations of seamstresses in her family.

Annika’s first time on the sewing machine was this past fall when she joined her older sister sewing pillows at Joann’s for a local breast cancer fund raiser. 

 “Anni was desperate to sew, and was trying to do it herself, but with things always getting cut too small, or the wrong shapes.” This past Christmas, Annika received the Scrappy Phoebe kit.

Since she received the kit, she has not only made several of the dresses in the kit for her little Scrappy Phoebe, but she has also designed a coat and pajamas for her doll.

Annika’s older sister Kate helped her design the patterns for the pajamas and coat, by placing Scrappy Phoebe on a piece of paper and tracing her arms and neck . They then lay the dress pattern on top of the tracing to make the coat. The coat is a shorter version and the nightgown is a longer and wider version.

I was so impressed, this is often how patterns are designed, overlaying, tracing and tweaking, lengthening and shortening, widening and narrowing.

She then took what she learned and made a dress for mini-American Girl doll.

She decided to go big. She made a dress for her American Girl doll—a dress with puff sleeves, which can be tricky even for a more experienced adult doll dress maker.

Annika described how she made the puffy sleeve, “We had to make the sleeve curved and bigger at the top.  Then we sewed along the edge with long stitches, and sewed next to that the same way.  We backstitched only at the beginning and not at the end.  Then we took the long threads and pulled them to make it puffy.  We did the same thing for the other sleeve.  My mom lined up the sleeve and the dress with the Wonderclips.  It is really hard to sew the puffed part, because it is not flat.”

She now has sewn on a machine enough to have a few opinions about the experience.

•  She likes the pedal.
•  She likes flicking the presser foot up and down.
•  She does not like that the bobbin some times runs out (same).
• She’s okay with the machine coming unthreaded, because she knows how to thread the machine.
• And last but not least, “ I like that you also don’t poke yourself with the needle like you do in hand sewing.”   

What’s next for Annika and her dolls? According to Annika, a shawl out of see-through material with polka dots and pom-poms, a dress for every season, jeans, a felt skirt, a t-shirt and a sweater.

 Annika is off to a great start, not only as a seamstress, AND a dress, outwear and sleepwear designer.

Doll Dressmaking Series: Making a Ruffle with Perle Cotton

4 different ways to gather a ruffle. From Phoebeandegg.com/blog

Four Ways to Make Ruffled Trim: Part 1

Two things right off the bat. One, there are probably more than 4 ways to make ruffled trim, the kind like I have on the skirt above. And two, there is a reason I did not call the blog post "How to gather" fabric. Although most of these methods involve a form of gathering,  three of the four methods I would only use on decorative elements, because you cannot control the length and degree of the gathering on the finished product.

That's okay if you are making trim.

one inch strips

My ruffled trim is made from strips of cotton print, one inch wide and 45" long, cut with the rotary cutter, by merely slicing of the end of a fabric piece, one inch at a time.

I'll cover one way in each post. This post is all about the gathering foot. I think this is by far the easiest way to make this trim. You'll see why in the video.

The gathering foot shown below is the one from Bernina, #16. But most brands make one, Janome, Brother, Singer, etc..  They all look the same. Once and awhile it is called a shirring foot. They seem to cost between $20-$22. 

The gathering foot.

To use this foot, you will need to set your stitch length to the longest stitch. If you want less gathering, shorten the stitch a bit.

Place your fabric under the foot, do a stitch or two backwards to secure and then just zoom right ahead, gathering/ruffling as you go.

How to use a gathering foot to make ruffled trim

And in about a minute or two you have your trim! I love this foot!

Finished trim

A few thoughts about how long things take

In my business, there are a lot of tasks I do regularly. So you would think I could accurately assess how long they take. That is true sometimes. But for some tasks, I am consistently off. Some I imagine taking way longer and some taking way less, why is that? 

And how many of you other makers do this?

Tasks I always imagine taking longer than they really do;

• Sewing on snaps
• Sewing on a doll's face
• Cleaning my studio
• Sewing Shoes
• Posting on Instagram
• Finishing and blocking a doll sweater
• Returning an email
• Hemming
• Cutting stuff out
• Making trim and binding

Tasks I always imagine taking less time than they really do;

• Applying doll hair
• Smocking a dress
• Preparing a doll to ship
• Listing anything on Etsy
• Photographing for Etsy
• Knitting a doll sweater
• Photographing and editing photos for a tutorial
• Writing a blog post
• Photographing period
• Editing a photo in Photoshop

On some of the tasks in the second category, they consistently take much longer than I expect, and I continually think that the next time this will go quicker. But it doesn't. I am failing to see the pattern. 

One might guess that my ability to gauge time has to do with how much I like the task, but that is not it. I LOVE smocking, photographing, adding doll hair, writing and I like sewing shoes, emailing, etc... Even sewing on snaps.

When I look at the two lists, I see a definite pattern. The tasks that take longer than I imagine are tasks where there is more room for error and more room for being a perfectionist about every little detail. I tend to over-worry about details, get super fussy, redo what I imagine needs redoing and then redo again. Stop, stare, contemplate, obsess.

All of the things in the second list are conducive to these tendencies I have. 

The first list, not so much. In fact most of these tasks are such second nature to me that I glide through the tasks in a bit of a happy Zen like trance, even a bit sad when the task is over. Most likely because they are a bit like yoga or running, they calm me down. 

What I need to work on more than my ability to gauge time is to make this second group of tasks second nature, so they feel like the first group.