1 shirt, lots of pictures.

This is a custom shirt, part of an outfit I am working on this week. I drafted the pattern with the little details my client asked for.

 It has a lined back yoke and working buttons.

The cuffs close with hand sewn snaps. The thread tails are always concealed when I put in snaps.

I can't get this picture to be horizontal. I have no idea why. The back has a pleat in it for ease and realism.

 

 I curved the hem line to make it a little bit feminine and avoid that boxy look.

View from the back. I love that little pleat.

The sleeves can be rolled up and held in place with little tabs. This is also a working button.

Same on the left sleeve.

Thanks for looking!

Fall is definitely here. Coat for my son, part 1.

I took a little break from doll sewing this week. The weather has turned cool, which means fairly cold early in morning when my second grader heads out on his bike to school. He's grown quite a lot since spring and he needed a warmer jacket to wear.  I've had a pair of really cozy brown brushed cord pants in my "to recycle" pile for a while. I bought them for husband at the end of 2009 and he promptly lost 40 lbs so they had very little wear. I loved the feel of the fabric so I put them in my pile to wait for the perfect project. I'd been wanting to make my son a rain coat like little brother's but it seemed silly to do that this late in the season. I'll make that for him later in size 8. Last weekend one of the moms from the playground left 2 bags of fabric for me on my doorstep. What a treat to come home to! She cleaned out her sewing cabinet and I was the lucky recipient. There is some great stuff in those bags and 3 pieces were destined to become part of this coat. This is part 1 of the coat.  The brown is what used to be the pair of pants, mens' size 40. The light brown cord is a scrap from my friend Karen at the playground. There was just barely enough of that. The plaid was purchased for the raincoat but used for this warmer coat instead.

I think Aunt Millie from Kit's stories would be pretty pleased with this jacket. The buttons are from a little container of extras my mom gave me a few years ago. The sleeves are pieced together, a lot.  I satin stitched over the edge of the applique. I really like how the grain comes together at a right angle. The sleeves are symmetrical, I made up for the length with the contrast fabric.

The back yoke is heavily pieced together. There are 7 scraps sewn together to make this piece. I even used the little change pocket and the piece behind that from the original pants. I used a satin stitch on two areas here as well.

Part 2 is a quilted wool vest that buttons into this jacket. I need to buy some 1/4" elastic so that will have to wait. Next I will finish the snaps for Colette's order and start a custom skate boarding outfit.  After that I won't be taking customs for a while.  My kids need pants and I need to put the finishing touches on the small stack of things for my etsy that will be up and running soon :)

For Colette, part 2

Colette sent me a couple of shirts to recycle into outfits. I'm only going to show this one because I think the other is a surprise for someone. I'm babysitting today and he's sleeping so I'll just post a couple of pictures.  This is a polo dress made from a stretchy knit with a crisp woven collar. I borrowed Dolldud's collar and placket pattern pieces from the free pattern at Liberty Jane, but I had to lengthen the collar pieces quite a bit to fit my dress bodice pattern. 

For Colette, part 1 of 2 plus some embroidery.

Colette asked me to make her a few things, and I've finished the first part. These are all upcycled T-shirts. Some from shirts that she mailed to me and some from my stash.  I love upcycling clothing, the comfort of knowing the fabrics aren't going to bleed onto the dolls limbs is very reassuring.  One of the shirts was a super stretchy rib knit, very difficult to work with. I did my best but the hem is a tiny bit flared on the mushroom brown shirts. I steamed the daylights out of it with my iron and it's as good as I can make it.  Colette has certain plans for some of these shirts, I chose threads to complement those.

All of the shirts at a glance.

The light blue, it's not this light in person..

The plain mushroom brown shirt.

Deep dark blue.

Coral pink V-neck.

Mushroom brown with yellow contrast stitching.

I bought a few embroidery designs from urbanthreads.com I'm very happy with these, they stitch out nicely and are quite unique. 
First is a little monster for my son's school shirt, sorry about the flash.

A shirt for my husband to wear to his Dungeons and Dragons game tonight.  He plays regularly with friends.

Thanks for looking!  Watch for part 2 of Colette's order later this week.

I should be making supper, but here's a few pictures...

...for your dining pleasure. 

I've been very busy sewing lately. Mostly on something for my son but I managed to squeeze in two embroidered shirts for Katie. She liked the original triceratops T  I made and asked if I could make her one in a dark blue. She also wanted a T-rex shirt for her daughter. Here they are! Sorry it took me an extra day Katie, the grass finally dried out and I had to mow between demands of kids.

This is the rain coat I've been working on for a few days. It's likely the most labor intensive garment I've ever made. There are 39 pieces of fabric in this. Yes, 39. plus hours of hand stitching. I still need to stitch the lining into one sleeve cuff and the bottom hem but my little guy was happy to pose for pictures. I was preparing myself for total rejection from him as I was making this. He's tough to please but thank goodness he loves it. He declared he would sleep in it and hang it in his closet the first time her tried it on.  It should keep him dry too, the blue outer is PUL which is a laminated knit fabric.  Tough to work with? Oh yes...very much so, but I love the results.  I'd love one for myself. I hope Oliver + S will make patterns for women's wear. That would be awesome.

Thanks for looking!  More doll stuff is coming, I just need to finish a Molly outfit I've been working on and I'll have lots of customs in the next week to show you.