OVERDYING

So I decided I wanted to make some summer cotton dresses for myself. I had found a great fabric on Fabric.com that was navy blue with teal polka dots. Very cool looking. Of course it was sold out. I decided to try looking for it at my local fabric store but had no luck. However I did find navy with white polka dots. A light bulb went off! I will overdye this teal. I ended up buying Rit fabric dye in Teal.



Here is a before pic of the fabric. I've had some luck with Rit dye in the past but most of the time it fades with multiple washings. The website has a Color Formula Guide which I thought was very handy if you wanted to mix to get a specific color. I have used some better dyes in the past at work but it's not something I want to try at home. I don't really have the set up for that. I would like to try Dylon dye, I've heard the results are really vivid.



So I decided to do the washing machine dyeing technique. Stove would have been better but that makes me nervous with a three year old running around. I followed the instructions exactly. Before I started I did pre-wash my fabric in hot water. Then I took it out of the machine, got the dye all ready in the machine like the backage says too, and slowly added my wet fabric back into the machine.



I was very happy with the results. I figure if it should fade I can always just re-dye it. The only difference between the fabric I saw and the fabric I dyed was that the fabric I saw had larger polka dots. I think I will be doing more of this.



Here is the finished dress. It turned out so well and fits great. So great I'm working on four others that are variations of the pattern.

It's not very noticeable in the pic, but I used a teal colored thread for all the top-stitching. It's a nice subtle detail. This dress also has pockets!. It looks cute with a skinny gold belt too.



I really like the open slit in the sleeves. It's just one of the variations of the pattern. Decided the sleeve needed a little button too.



I used Simplicity pattern 2922. I bought this two years ago to make the sleeves version. My measurements are between a 10 and 12 based on the pattern info. So I cut out a 10 for the bodice and started cutting a 10 for the skirt and finished cutting on the 12 line.



This is what I mean when I said I started cutting a 10 but ended the cut on the 12 line. I think most people do this. It prevents having to alter after the garment is complete. I actually didn't start doing this till about 2 years ago.

YARN HAIRED GIRL

Ok, so I finally finished this up. It took me way to long to do so. I've been distracted with birthday stuff, summer sewing and painting the first floor of our house, which is still in progress.

Anyway she's done and I love her. It's hard to see in the pic but sshe does have an ice cream cone in her hand. I will definitely be doing more yarn hair. She sitting on a small wooden base that is hidden under her dress. Head measures 8 wide and is about 13" tall while sitting.

YES, I HAVE A POLE UP MY BUM

I finished up the body of my girl last night. I wanted to get it done sooner but I got distracted and decided to repaint our kitchen island. Anyway, she's not completely done, I need to make her base and an ice cream cone for her to hold. I think she's going to be sitting too.

I NOW ♥ ♥LOVE♥ ♥ YARN HAIR

For the longest time now I've wanted to try yarn hair. I never did because I never really knew where to begin and didn't really try very hard to figure it out. Until I found a doll hair tutorial by bybido. The tutorial even mentions the book Kinder Dolls: A Waldorf Doll-Making Handbook, which I looked up. I did things a little differently but followed the main instructions.

Because this was my first attempt at yarn hair I bought the 5oz super junky Jiffy Thick & Quick yarn by Lion Brand. That way it would go a lot faster. I think I used about half the skein.

I didn't really know where I was going with my plush when I started so I just made a head and added ears. I wasn't really sure what the face was going to look like.  I decided to add  pins in place for the eyes, nose and mouth, so I knew where they were generally going to be. I also played around with laying the yarn on the head to get an idea of the front hair line.



I decided to go with a side part. I'm partial to the side part. Maybe because I see it every day when I look in the mirror.



Here are some more pics of me adding the hair. This is a view from the back at the crown of the head. I'd sew on 4 strands of yarn at a time. Just like the tutorial suggests.



Here's a front view of the head.



This is after all the hair had been added. I should have taken a photo before I had pulled the hair back in ponytails.



Back view.



Now was the fun part of styling the hair and adding the face. I knew when I began that I wanted the hair up. After pulling the hair into two ponytails I separated each of those into three sections and made three braids. Then I just pulled those up and sewed them into place.



Back view showing braids.

Now to decide what I want to do for the body.

HAPPY SNOW DAY

So we were snowed in for two days here in KC. We actually had a blizzard and ended up with 12". Which to some in other parts of the country this isn't a big deal, but for KC and the midwest it was a lot.

Everybody was home and driving each other crazy. To keep busy I made one of my birds. I had forgotten how much I like my birds. I had thought one would be cute in my daughters new "bird" themed room but I didn't think I'd ever get around to making one. So I guess I should thank the snow.

The birds head is about 7 1/2" wide and the whole thing stands 24" tall,



I'm really bad about photographing work in progress but I did manage to get one pick taken at the beginning when I was cutting out my fabric. Many times I'll make a paper template for pieces, so if I should ever want to make more in the future I can. However there have been times were I just start cutting and sewing and don't make a template. The templates I make out of paper I keep in a large envelope with the name of the piece on the outside. Some have notes inside these envelopes as reminders of how I put things together. It's just how I stay organized.