The Headache of Sleeves
Even after fifty odd years of sewing, drafting a sleeve pattern is still a challenge. It starts, the night before, with trepidation. "Stop worrying," I tell myself as I toss around in...
Projects
The drop-down menu above can take you directly to each doll’s wardrobe page, where there are only posts for that specific doll. On this page, you can read about all the wardrobes in progress, in whichever order I happen to add something.
Another Small Step
Some days I need to remind myself that it’s okay to just keep plugging along - even if it's at a snail’s pace. I think we all do. Maddie’s dress is coming...
Maddie’s Cage Crinoline
During the hours and hours of hand sewing involved in narrow hemming bias cut dimity, I remembered that Maddie still needed a crinoline. Yes! A break from ruffle making was just what...
Maddie’s First Dress
In the beginning, there was a woman. Her favorite dress was sewn from a lovely piece of single bar dimity - pink stripes, light as air, and adorned with lace. She made...
Maddie’s Underthings Completed
"Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want." I heard this on a sports program last weekend and it resonated perfectly with regards to Maddie's slip. Because there...
Perfection, Thou Art a Heartless Mistress
As I neared the final few stitches attaching the skirt to the bodice of Maddie's slip, an awful truth dawned. Something was very wrong. The skirt didn't so much hang in beautiful...
Maddie’s Underthings Part III
Calculating the spacing between tucks, so that they’re perfectly even and so the hem appears to be one of the tucks, is a mathematical nightmare riddled with second guessing and the occasional...
The Peace of Quiet
“What on earth do you think about all that time?” My husband is nothing if not astonished by his typically impatient wife, painstakingly sewing row after row of tiny tucks, without the distraction...
Felicity is a Redhead!
I knew the minute I set eyes on this fiery little soul that her hair should be red. I was lucky enough to find her a perfectly sized wig with braids and...
Maddie’s Underthings Part II
There’s something very sneaky about a mother’s words - they ring in your ears forever, even if you plug them up with your fingers and drink a lot of wine to forget....