Hi everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! I got lots of things started and some things done. One biggie was getting my business receipts in order for the year, so we can get our taxes done. Another thing I’ve wanted to do for months was move a cabinet in my sewing room. It was just a small one, but I needed it moved up… and out of the way…
The other “biggie” thing I did was…
…something for Kate…
…something to go with her new yellow and blue dress…
…something a few of you mentioned…
Yep… I learned how to make lace gloves for the American Girl dolls! I have to admit, I was intimidated at first, because I didn’t see ANY on Etsy that were the way I wanted to make them. I saw lots of “to the elbow” evening gloves, but nothing short like I was thinking of. This is the way I see it, if you’re going to make gloves for something like Easter dresses, they need to be white and they need to be dainty and they need to be lacy! Don’t you agree?
So I pulled the trigger on Ann Van Doren’s glove pattern on Etsy…
Here is a link to the pattern if you want to try them yourself…
Ann Van Doren Designs Glove Pattern
The directions are pretty easy to follow, but they are a bit tedious… I have tried to get faster, but so far, it takes me about 45 minutes from start to finish to make a pair…
The directions come with several different lengths of gloves you can make… short, evening gloves, and a few other sizes… the templates look like this.
You have to sew on the paper, so I ran off several copies of the shorter size that goes to the wrist or a bit higher. Then you have to stitch the decorative hand design (just on the front side) through the Paper, the lace and some kind of stabalizer. I had some water-soluble stabilizer that worked very well…
Then you have to put the back fabric of the glove on the back of the stabilizer and stitch all around the glove using a VERY SMALL stitch length and the smallest presser foot you have, (I used my Featherweight machine and it was a DREAM!!!) you have to stitch slow going around those tiny fingers and in between the fingers…
Here are a few pictures of the process…
This is what the backside looks like…
It’s easier to see where to clip the corners and around the fingers if you LEAVE the paper on the gloves… like this…
When they are cut out, you’ll have to peel the paper off the gloves… it’s almost like they are perforated and it’s not too hard to get the paper off…
Then they’ll look like this…
…with the stabilizer inside the glove… the right sides should be facing each other inside…
Then you soak them in water to dissolve the stabilizer…
Then let them dry between 2 paper towels…
I tried some other fabrics, like this ribbed… BONK! It was too wavy to use…
I tried this stretchy pink fabric, but it looked like dishwashing gloves… it was a NO NO too!
I tried the stretch lace that I have used for my fingerless gloves… but it wasn’t wide enough and I think the design is too big…
So I will show you what DID work…
This sweet little glove was made using a stretchy dotted tulle…
I added the ruffled elastic on the wrist and then a sheer white bow…
Here’s one I did with a sheer pink bow…
I had another piece of white stretchy fabric and tried this one… for a glove that is slightly more filled in…
So here are a few pictures of Kate with the pair I have picked out for her new dress set…
She likes them… and she also likes what I picked up for the winner…
So I practiced and practiced and have 3 pair made up now…besides Kate’s.
See, I really did have a good weekend… Now I just need to get faster at making these gloves…
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
I am impressed, Jeanne!! Someone gave you an idea, and you followed thru–quite successfully, I might add! Those gloves turned out beautifully!
I have to confess I like the pink ones. Reminds me of the pink gloves I got when I was in high school (early 60s) to go with my pink hat! I still have them both, actually, although the veil on the hat bit the dust years ago. I don’t remember what dress I wore to go with them, though!
Oh, Charlotte, that sounds so sweet. I would love to see a photo of you and your pink hat and gloves!
Thank you, Sissy. I’d have to look–I’m not sure there Is a picture of me in them! I loved the hat, though; it was like the back portion of a bonnet (but no brim), and just sat on the back of the head; mine was made up of a series of long “petals” that cupped and molded over the head nicely..
To answer your question, I had a Ginger doll in the 1950s. Her shoes, purses, etc. all said Ginny but my friends and I knew them as Ginger dolls with Miss Ginger being her older sister. In truth I was not aware until the past couple years that there was a later version called Ginny. I now have one and call her Ginny and the one like I had as a child is Ginger. The article was about the Ginger dolls many earlier than I realized. As for the magazine. I subscribe to “Dolls” magazine and get both the hard copy and the ability to access the digital version so the best of both worlds. You can subscribe online.
Ginny and Ginger were made by two different companies (to further clarify); Ginny was from Vogue Dolls, and Ginger was from Cosmopolitan Doll and Toy Company.
Hi Charlotte, did the Gingers look similar to the Little Miss Revlon? My sister had Gingers, or at least she called them that.
Oh my, how perfectly sweet those lace gloves look, but what a trial and error you had to go through to get there! I don’t think I would last very long making them, and will leave that to those with more patience and sewing know-how! Actually, theserwould be good for your Etsy shop! Who wouldn’t love a pair….or two?
They look just so special with the lace collar! Kate will NOT like giving this up, for sure! Since she’s new, she doesn’t know what is in store for her, but for the moment, she looks adorable; and I might add that those M&M’s go perfectly with the colors of the flowers on her dress! If you need a name for this, how about Springtime Sweetness?
So the mystery of why there are no gloves for American Girl dolls on Etsy is solved! Congratulations on having the patience and knowledge to sew the gloves perfectly. They certainly finish the ensemble. I’m one of those who remember when little girls looked like Kate when they went to church on Easter Sunday. Gone are the days? Thanks for sharing this great tutorial.
Susette, I definitely remember dressing like Kate for Easter when I was growing up but for the past few years too many came to church on Easter looking like they had mucked out the barn. We now go to a church in Katy where many of the members are Nigerian. I can tell you that their children will be all dolled up for Easter and I can’t wait to see them. Their children are always dressed nicely for church on a regular Sunday but for Christmas they were beautifully attired so I imagine Easter will be great. Seeing everyone dressed for Easter and spring makes me happy. We have one family in our church that came a week ago dressed alike. The fabric was all the same but Dad and young son had on shirts made out of the fabric while mom had a lovely sheath dress and their little girl had the fabric in the bodice of her dress with a tulle skirt in a coordinating color. I really wish i had taken a picture.
Ooh, that sounds lovely!!
I like Linda’s name for Kate’s outfit, and I like “Kate” — it’s almost Kit, but not. I didn’t really like the first collar until you added the bow and embroidery. Now I really like both collars, and the gloves are completely wonderful. You’ll have to buy more of that fabric., lots of it. You ought to make a riding outfit with gloves for one of the historical girls. A riding hat would be a new challenge.
Jeanne, putting gloves in your ETSY shop would be a great sale! They are tedious to make but the more you make the faster it would go, knowing you. The outfit is really lovely! I plan to try that dress pattern on a Meadow doll when I have time.
Well, would you look at that. You wish for something and magically, it appears. I love the gloves. If you notice a pair missing, I would look to Kate as a suspect because she looks like they belong to her. What a wonderful outfit, and thanks for sharing the steps to making it look so easy. We all know how much time and effort it took to get to this point.
Our girls both loved dressing up at Easter. You know, Easter hats and those short gloves and a little purse. It was always fun for them when they arrived at grandma’s house for an egg hunt as well. Do they still sell Easter hats and gloves? Probably not. But soon, hopefully, we can shop at Jeanne’s Boutique for Easter necessities for our dolls. 🙂
We had rain again last night. Hopefully, the daffodils outside are still upright. Hope so. The ones inside are still brightening the kitchen.
All of the gloves look beautiful, even the ones that look like oven mitts.
I found a box of pretty treasures of my mother. I discovered three or four pair of lovely lace gloves. They all fit my delicate hands. One pair is Red
and I have even an old photo of me and mom together and she is wearing those gloves.
Well done, dear Jeanne
Oh, how wonderful to have those treasures from your mom. And the old photo too. I’d love to see it. 🙂
I don’t guess you would consider making these gloves for smaller dolls like the RRFFs or LDs. Okay I’m pushing my luck. This is a lovely outfit and the gloves are over the moon but my 18″ girls have more clothes than they can ever wear because for years they were the only dolls I sewed for. But some of the others are in serious need and I know would love to have an outfit like this – including gloves.
I’ve been working on an Easter ensemble for my LD Amelia Dawn. I made this outfit a couple years ago for my LD Greer Adele (she and Amelia are besties and wanted similar outfits for Easter). Greer Adele’s has a turquoise coat and Amelia’s is a lovely lavender (Charlotte, you would love it). The coat went together perfectly, but the dress is a pain in the neck and I had forgotten that. It is a pretty pattern but came from a shop in Russia that I can no longer access so I am unable to go to the source with questions. The pictures show everything matching up swimmingly but in reality I’m having to figure out why it doesn’t. The skirt has two box pleats in front but when you pin it to the bodice with the edges of the bodice matching the edges of the skirt, the center of the pleats does not match up to the center of the bodice. If you adjust it so it does, it leaves the one side of the bodice not even with the side of the skirt if you fold over the 1/4″ as shown. My solution is to forget the foldover and serge the edge which will be hidden in the end anyway. Thankfully I’ve got a lot of experience under my belt so I’m okay with doing some adjustments because the dress is really not complicated in structure. But it has been a trying couple days and I’m hanged if I can figure out why unless there’s something off with the pattern pieces. I have no way to find that out so I’ll just make comments of my adjustments on the pattern for the future. Sigh….
Oh, I hope you share the coats/dresses when they are done. I love coats. And I too would love to see groves made for the Ruby Reds. After seeing Jeanne’s photos, not so sure that I could sew so small or even see to sew so small. I had best leave it to the expert at Jeanne’s Boutique, to make them.
I was actually very surprised you hadn’t bought Ann’s glove pattern before now, Jeanne. They look so much better than the mitt ones. There are at least two sellers on Etsy who make them and that’s how I found mine in the first place. I love gloves and have ones my grandmother wore as well as a few pairs of crocheted ones I purchased from a now defunct catalog many years ago. My mom still has her pairs she wore in the 50’s and 60’s. Wish everyday gloves were still in style. I wear them to church for Easter and Mother’s Day.
Kate looks perfect for Easter. That outfit would be equally suited to a Mother’s Day garden party luncheon.
How nice your mom has kept her gloves and your grands as well. I have quite a few that I’ve picked up at garage/estate sales over the years. Not so sentimental though. And I didn’t think about a Mother’s Day garden party. Wouldn’t that be a cute scene to photo?
Somehow, there is no extra email area for me to write so I’m using this space.
Jeanne, the gloves are adorable. It’s a new endeavor for you besides the shoes and hats.
I remember as a child wearing gloves all the time to church. Can’t even recall when the hats and gloves all disappeared eventually.
The last doll I dressed was my version of Kaya, #57, with a beautiful long-haired black wig and I was able to get Kaya’s tan outfit and moccasins to dress her in.