Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Custom pajama pants and completed brown cardigan.

A very good client of mine asked me to recreate her favorite pajama pants in doll size.  She shipped her well worn garment to me and I remade them to fit her doll. Almost every detail is exactly like the people sized pajamas, drawstring and all.  I started out using Molly's pajama pants pattern but whoa, those are really dated.  Super huge and billowy, is that a word?  Not very flattering.  I won't show the picture of those ones until after you see the good ones.  I made the Molly pattern pants last night, but after sleeping on it I decided they were all wrong for this purpose. 
The original pants had a drawstring, not elastic waist.  They had to be just right, so I came up with these. I made proper buttonholes to draw the tie through. It's the same tie from the originals.
 
The view from the back.
The drawstring and the faux fly stitching, just like the originals. How cute is this fabric?  The only thing that isn't like the originals is the button is missing. It's a wooden heart, but it's too big for doll pants and I can't find a suitable replacement.  Overall, I'm really tickled with these pants.  I'll be making some in different fabrics for the store in the fall.
For comparison, here are the Molly pants and my pants side by side.  I made my own pattern for the drawstring pants.

The brown cardigan now has buttons and is ready to be shipped. Sonali is wearing the blue shirt from the new pretty & plaid AG outfit, some pants I made and the shoes from the new true style outfit. This cardigan is going to the same client the pajama pants are for.
The lighting was a bit better today. These pictures show the chocolate brown color much better.

The buttons are fully functional, and there is room for a fitted long sleeve shirt underneath. It's been really hot here this week. It felt criminal dressing Sonali in this for pictures today.

Monday, July 26, 2010

A sun dress and a cardigan, of course.

One of the lovely board members on AGFMB was kind enough to share her sun dress pattern and direct a sew along. Thanks so much Marilyn! 



I had just barely enough orange left over from the birthday dress for my son's friend to make this. It was nip and tuck. I had to change the bottom band a bit, but it worked out exactly.


The print on the brown fabric is maybe a touch large for doll scale but it seems not too bad. I changed a few things about the pattern along the way. The back fastens with snaps instead of velcro, and it has fixed shoulder straps instead of a halter.


It wouldn't be much of an entry today without sharing this new cardigan.  It's the fourth of 5 colors of merino wool I bought earlier. Chocolate brown, though it looks a bit washed out in the pictures. It's still wet from blocking, and it needs buttons. I'll post a modeled completed pictured of it tomorrow before it ships out to it's owner.


Bonus sneak peek....

It's another cardigan, but this one is a raglan sleeve design.  The wool is sock weight by Kaffe Fassett.

Monday, July 12, 2010

A couple of quick cardigans.

I knit one of these last week and another over the weekend at the cottage.  I posted a picture of the beginning of the first one last week. These ones only take 2-3 days to finish in my spare time. They are knit with a self patterning fair isle yarn, leftovers from a sweater my mom knit for my son. It's DK weight (double knitting, which is a bit thinner than worsted) on #4 needles so it works up a lot faster than sock yarn on #2 needles.
The top one is for the store and the bottom one is for my little guy's doll. Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Custom doggie gear and Dynamite knits.

My mom (and her little dog) have gone home, and we miss them lots!  During their visit, my mom brought out Casey's cooling jacket. It's like a wet blanket that dogs wear to keep cool. The fabric holds water and breathes well, it's amazing how quickly this wet jacket cools off a panting dog. Casey's little jacket needed some modifications in order to fit him properly and be useful. I took off the clip at the front and put on polyacetal snaps in just the right spots for a perfect fit. Then I made a dart across the back, tapering off at the sides. I shortened and put snaps on the belly strap too. Voila! A perfect fit. 
Now, Casey isn't just an ordinary little dog. He's a Master Agility Dog of Canada. He got his title at a trial the weekend before he came to see us.  My mom chose this embroidery design so I put it on his cooling jacket, with his name for the perfect touch. How cute is this? I don't have a picture of him modeling it, but he has a super hero with an official cape look going on.

We've had beautiful weather lately, so I haven't been able to get any sewing done.  We filled our little pool on Monday morning and ever since then my boys have been glued to it. Do these two look reliable?

Not so much, right?  They are still very young so I must be present when they are playing in the water.  Thus, no sewing for me.  I can knit outside though, so I've got a few things to show you.  I made this sweater last week and finished it yesterday, the buttons will go on tomorrow.  I think it will go in the store in the fall with the dark green and chocolate brown cardigans to come.

My mom knit a sweater for my youngest out of some neat self patterning yarn. She gave me the leftovers to see what I can do with it. It's DK weight so it knits up a lot faster than the sock yarn I usually use. This raglan cardigan will be for my little guy's doll so they can match, if he wants.  I may be able to squeeze a second cardigan out of the yarn for the store. If that doesn't work I can make a hat and mittens.
I went to the yarn store last week too, and I found a lonely skein of very pretty sock yarn. It was all by itself there, no mate in sight to make a pair of socks. I did the civilized thing and bought it to make a doll sweater. I'm going to make a raglan cardi out of this, but I'll need to plan out the pattern first.  It will be a simple design so the colors can be the feature.  This sweater will be the inspiration of a complete outfit.