In Which I am a Silly Goose

Here is what's left after my marking and cutting out what I wanted for the dresses:

This is what the pieces look like:

The parts that make me horribly miffed with myself:

To summarize, I cut out two right fronts and only one back of a jacket I was planning. Sigh. Now I must think my way out of this predicament that still gets me a pretty bolero.

Playing with Patterns

What I really like about drafting doll patterns is how easy they are to fit in my field of vision. This makes pattern drafting so much easier.

For today, I will walk you through a couple of new things I drafted. First is where I got the basic shapes. Dolly Dolly magazine used to keep patterns sized for Volks MSDs in the backs of their issues. I picked up this one for the school uniforms, though I've made many alterations depending on what I want to make.

Here is a front piece I altered and used for two of my previous 1940s dresses:

As I want to make a wrap front with a collar and reverse, I added a sort of triangle to the front so it can close the way I want it to. I did the same with the facing. Let's compare:

For the companion dress I wanted to put in a gathered detail in the front, as well as a contrasting waistband and cap sleeves. I shortened the bottom of the bodice, altered the shoulders and made them separate pieces, and slashed and spread the rest. This is what it looks like.

Giving In To Temptation

There is a sewing contest afoot, and dolly sewers are welcome to compete! I hope to make an outfit along the "My Favorite Things" theme.

With me being a fan of many things Japanese and particularly school clothes, picking that was a no brainer. As this is supposed to be historical costuming, and I don't know what the era limit is, I'm erring on the side of caution. The Meiji era ended in 1912, and the website covers clothes up to the 1920s, so I'll be going with a Meiji schoolgirl look.

That said, the first idea that came to mind was an outfit along the lines of Elsa Schiaparelli. Alas, while I squeed inside over her outfits I dug up, nothing clicked until I decided to mix her with with an older, foreign style. This outfit, this embroidery, and this hat especially grab my fancy.

The books I'll refer to for this project is Kimono: Fashioning Culture by Liza Dalby, Schiap's autobiography A Shocking Life, and Impossible Conversations by the Met Museum.

Checking Brown

I chose the pattern and fabric for this over a year ago, maybe even two. Back when I was creating a series of outfits with modern cuts but with a geometric influence, I designed a vest with an asymmetric closing and matching skirt. 

Eventually I found that the vest was way too big, so I took it in on the back and sides with inverted pleats.
The skirt is a length of fabric pleated into place and held with a waistband.

I got the material from a pile of vintage fabric at a shop when I was on vacation, and I didn't want to cut too much into it. I didn't want to cut too much into it, so this simple desire is just right. 

The shirt is part of a purchased outfit and is here to preserve modesty.

Dusting off the Blog

Here I am. Between work and a human sized sewing contest, many things fell by the wayside, including this blog. The contest deadline is in ten days, and hopefully after that I will have a bit more brainpower to devote to this place. Now that most of the human contest is complete, I've had attention to devote to working on small things. I've even dug out some forgotten gems and manage to push away the associated shame for now.

There's also another online sewing contest going on that doll sewers are welcome to join, so I'll be dedicating some thought and time to that as well.