HI everyone,
I’m sorry, I still can’t communicate with you in the comments… maybe it might get fixed today… I can only type my posts and that’s it for now…
Never in my life have I had such a hard time getting something to work… I’m talking about a silly little floral hat for the Ruby Red Fashion Friend dolls. I have made this hat twice using felt and one other time using fabric… no problems that I remember at all on any of them. The hat was made from a baby’s hat pattern that I reduced on my computer. All of the pieces fit together and I just can’t figure out why I can’t get the knot in the front tied.
I could NOT find the pattern envelope with the instructions anywhere in my sewing room… only the pattern pieces that I had put in a zip lock baggie. I looked back at pictures of the hat on Freida who wore the first fabric hat using this pattern and thought I could figure it out… This was that hat… as I showed you yesterday.
I tried and tried to get the ties to tie into a knot on the front and could not…
SO… today I went to Joann Fabrics, looked up the pattern, pulled the instructions out of the envelope and studied it for a few seconds…
“Wait… this is exactly the way I have been doing it… WHY isn’t it working?” So I took a couple pictures of the instructions just to see if I was missing something…
Even without the instructions I put it together JUST LIKE the directions said….UNTIL…I get to that last picture where it says take the 2 end pieces and tie them in a knot… It’s talking about THESE end pieces… that make the knot…
So I tried again… tying that knot…
Nope… so I tried again…
Nope, so I cut different ties… THREE different times… and sizes…
I tried making the ties 5 different times and stitching them on only to have to rip them out each time.
I FINALLY gave up and did what Georgina and Linda suggested…just stitched a tie with curved ends and tied a knot it in and stitched it on the hat between the split… (By the way, normally when someone comments in a different language, as Georgina did in French, I add the translation to it… so I tried and I couldn’t believe it… it went through when I translated it!)
So I finished topstitching the hat and decided to take some pictures of Freida in it…
Wait… WHAT? It looks too wide….
The bow IS too wide now… this is where the bow is supposed to come to…just past her face and hair…
Mine looks like Bunny Ears on steroids… good grief! Well, it looks like I’ll be back to square one making the tie smaller… maybe that won’t be too hard of a fix…
In the meantime I’ll show you the rest of the pictures that I “won’t be able to use” but you can pretend the hat is fine… for now…
I DID get something else done, though… I made Freida a sweet little stretchy bracelet picking up the colors in the hat. It just slips onto her wrist.
I am determined to get this right, and when I do it will be listed on Ebay… (for $200) Just kidding, but I have spent I KNOW at least 6 hours just on this goofy little tie… how insane is that?
Wait until tomorrow to see the next episode in “Will Jeanne Get the Knot Tied?”
Thanks everyone… for listing to my ramblings…
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh, dear…Still having trouble? I hope you can get this figured out.
The first thing I noticed, though, is that the newer hat seems quite a bit bigger than your earlier one. Was this done as a design feature, or did it just “happen”? I’m wondering if that might have had anything to do with the tie issues? Probably not, but just in case…..
Thanks to whoever reminded us of Google translate. So convenient and easy!! Welcome to Georgina!!
Well, now I am having trouble with this translating from French to English! On my desktop, I did the right click thing, and found the translate to English, but when I clicked onto that, it said that it was not able to translate the blog! Was I supposed to highlight what I wanted translated, or what? Then I got on my IPad, but an iPad has no mouse, so I couldn’t even get that far! I am sure there is a way to translate because I do have google, but I am stumped on how to do it! So Jeanne, I feel your pain!
I too noticed that the second hat is way bigger than the first hat you showed. What happens if this hat goes on a doll with shorter hair? It would not look right at all! Maybe take the hat in a bit in the back? I know you will get that figured out, Jeanne!
Definitely agree with you and Charlotte, that the latest hat is much bigger. Maybe Jeanne reduced a copy and has it somewhere, but used the larger size inadvertently?
Not sure why Google translate isn’t working for you. As I mentioned yesterday, you just put your curser on the words you want to translate, right click on it and the box will come up with translate to English. Maybe the curser was on the outside of the writing area to the blog came up? Has to be on the actual words in French. Otherwise, I’m stumped.
Oh my, what a fiasco with the hat. I’m sure you will get it right in the end. I guess this can be called the Knot Fandango episode. 🙂 Right now it kind of reminds me of a propeller sitting there. Love the little bracelet. I’ll have to send you a pic of the one I made. I think Hanna is still wearing it. 🙂
Well, the former hedge is mostly cut up and disposed of in recycling cans around here. Only a few more pieces to go. Looks so much better, but now there is the old tipped over retaining wall to deal with. But, that will be after we dispose of the ivy. Another project. Going back into the 90’s today, so I won’t be out there working for sure. And our refrigerator is fast filling up with zucchini. Ha ha. So, guess I had better get going on the Zucchini/Jack casserole. 🙂
The hat definitely is larger. I’m wondering if you have another pattern you reduced further. As for the knot, well I’d have to see it in person but you’ve tied so many knots and bows that I can’t imagine what is happening there. I once had a friend who was making a western shirt for her son who was in his high school production of “Oklahoma”. She could not get the sleeve vent at all so she brought it to me. She had pressed all the folds and after I looked at it I laid it on the table and moved it around a little bit and the folds folded themselves. Problem is she was overthinking so much that she was becoming frustrated and missing the concept. I didn’t do anything other than give her another set of eyes.
Had a great day at Splashway yesterday. A few years ago I took them all to Typhoon Texas waterpark. It’s in Katy, bigger and more expensive. I wasn’t fond of it. Splashway is in a rural area west of us, it’s smaller and less expensive and I enjoy it more. Things were simpler when we went to Typhoon though. Azure hadn’t been born yet so the four of them just did everything together. This time we had a little person who was not yet tall or old enough to go with his parents and siblings. Early in the day Dionne and I took Azure to the kiddie area but he would not go down the slides without her. Dionne had as much fun as he did because the slides are big enough for parents or older siblings to accompany the little ones. Skyy and Jaiden took turns with him for awhile and then went and did some of the bigger slides on their own. Dionne and Sean wanted to do some of the slides together and the four of them at least wanted to do one of the family slides. Enter Nanna and the fact that she no longer does the slides, etc., mostly because climbing all the steps is a non-starter these days. Azure was not terribly enamored with the kiddie area, he preferred the gentle wave pool and the lazy river so that’s what we did but it was harder on my back because I had to hang on to someone much shorter than me and trying to get him onto the tube for the lazy river was a chore. Skyy and Jaiden had no trouble doing it because they got on the tube and pulled him on top of them. Another non-starter for me. But I did have a good time. We finally figured at the end of the day that the only person who hadn’t had a turn at Azure pleasing was his dad. We will certainly remedy that next time since we still have at least another year of him not being big enough to go with the rest of the family. But I’m hoping by next year he will be willing to do the kiddie slides by himself and I’ll just spend the day with him there and the rest can have fun however they like.
Woke up to thunder and a good rainstorm this morning, but thankfully no wind.
Splashway, sounds like a great attraction. No water parks anywhere around here. You’re such a great grand to watch Azure, while the rest went on the slides etc. Sounds like a win win for everyone. 🙂
Jeanne, I’m wondering if the fabric for the knot is too thick, but you always make such beautiful items, this is probably not the reason for the problem, but it’s the only idea I have about why the knot is not knotting properly. I am sure you will work it out!
I think this hat is way too big all over. It sort of looks like a fireman’s helmet.