Hi everyone,
I haven’t read all of the comments yet, but I will… so I hope what you are about to see will be something you wanted or hoped for. I made 2 changes for Lavender’s outfit… The first one was mentioned by 2 of you…(you know who you are) who would like to have seen Lavender’s blouse buttoned a little higher. Well, I WAS able to do that… there was room at the top of the blouse and then still allow for the lapels to peek through the neckline of the jumper… See if this is what you two meant… :o)
Here it is with the jumper on and those lapels peeking through.
…and HERE is the second thing that is new… a pair of denim shorts… I know we are heading into Fall, but some dolls wear shorts most of the time…
They have “real” front pockets so your doll can put her hands in… Lavender wanted to be cool, so she just used her thumbs.
NOW…about the title… where I mentioned sometimes seamstresses make mistakes. Yes, we do! Today I made a big one… I’ll show you the picture and see if you know what’s wrong. It’s pretty obvious…
See those little white stars going down the side of the shorts? That was where the seam was “supposed” to be. I didn’t catch this until I had put the waistband on and stitched it down and was trying the shorts on Lavender. The seam is supposed to be where those white stars are. I measured the finished shorts and the top curves out, unlike my pattern… I can only guess this is what happened:
I love this acid washed denim and I’ve been trying to be so careful and not waste any of it. So, my guess is, I found a little scrap of it and cut out those side pieces that go under the front pockets from it. I’m guessing I cut them out on the bias, not on the straight grain of the fabric and they stretched to the back when I was sewing the waistband on. They still fit her okay, but it would have been nice to have had the side seam go straight up to the waist. There was too much topstitching and serging the inside to take them apart, so they will have to stay the way they are…
Here they are with the blouse… you’d never notice the “crookedness” of the shorts unless you knew about it. Which you do now… That’s a big OOPS for me today.
Lavender still looks pretty cute in them, don’t you think?
I think I might have one more piece for this set up my sleeve…
Charlotte sent me some pictures, and I may use them tomorrow and work on my other idea…
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
You know, even though it didn’t bother me the way the blouse buttoned before–the collar fit into the neckline of the jumper so well, it looked like it could have just been a contrasting part of the jumper itself–I like it this was SO much better! It makes a huge difference, and is definitely more “young girl” appropriate. Good eye, to whoever suggested it!!
Well, you know I sew a lot, Jeanne, and have definitely had the occasional “oops” moment!! I see what you mean–I spotted the seam slanting to the back right away–but with the thickness of the denim in the first place plus all those stitching lines, I can see why you opted to just let it be. It would have just been too much to try to straighten that seam–too much ripping, too much resewing. And, as you say, covered by the bottom ruffle on the blouse, it doesn’t show at all.
Those shorts are just darling, though, and so cute with the blouse. This is becoming a very versatile outfit.
Jeanne, the shorts are darling, so perfect with the blouse, and the blouse fix is perfect now. I am sure Lavender feels a bit more comfortable that way.
I have decided that this is my last time making muscadine grape jam. Getting the seeds out took just too much trouble. I had bought a thing that you use to get them out, but I should have bought a more expensive one. I didn’t make the jam yet, as I was exhausted from picking seeds. I will boil it today while I slice up my Kieffer pears for the next batch of jam. Lawdy, I some times wonder if I have lost my mind. The trouble is that you just can’t buy jam like these.
Y’all have a great day!!
Jeanne, you could sell me a few of your “bloopers”, and I would be very happy to own them, but I’m afraid they would be few and far between! Oh my gosh, the mistakes on the things I make! 🤣
Well, the blouse looks adorable, of course, and I didn’t really make too much about it, with the lower closing, but this is really cute and works so well. It looks so crisp and fresh!
The shorts are cute, and yes, girls wear them late i to the fall, so they will work just fine! When you consider that when I was a little girl, we wore dresses and skirts that showed as much leg as shorts do, what’s the difference? I remember freezing to death on the playground in winter, with our cotton dresses and bare legs, even though we were wearing coats!
I too remember being so cold on the playground. Even though I had on my car coat with the wooden toggle buttons. I wore that coat skiing and wasn’t cold. It was those cotton dresses you mentioned and no coverings on the legs. We didn’t even have tights then. 🙂
When I was in elementary school we used to put slacks on under our dresses going to and from school and on the playground. But of course we couldn’t do that in junior high and high school. I had to walk a mile to school when I was in high school and when I got there it took forever for my legs to warm up.
yes, we do have oops moments. I know that is just part of the process, and some things pop up and it is difficult to go back and figure out exactly how it happens.
I agree, this is not really a terrible problem. The shorts fit beautifully
I love this outfit!
Charlotte, I am greatly looking forward to the photos you shared
The shorts and blouse are really nice, and to me make the Bobby Sox acceptable. I’d like to see a headband in the green fabric made just like the paisley one. This makes a really nice back to school outfit. Those shorts are so versatile. Love the shoes too!
Have a great day all!fugipoomom@yahoo.com
Okay, now I’m satisfied with the cute blouse for Lavender. Perfect for a school outfit. She looks adorable in it and with the shorts too. Here, the shorts would be much shorter and not flared though for kids. Maybe for the next pair. 🙂 Can’t wait to see what else for Lavender. All the pieces are so fun.
Here, I finally finished hemming that crazy outfit I’ve been working on. All it needs is a press and voila, it will be finished. Well, except for snaps which will not be applied. Not going to even try those. 🙂 Week 4 for the sew along has begun, and I’m just finishing Week 1.
I did manage to do some work on that wood pile after other person trailed off to do something else. I kept handing him things like old bent up metal pieces, saying, “Put it in the dump pile.” He said, “I think I need this for bla bla bla.” As I keep tripping over the pile of metal stakes that used to be used for concrete work, I can’t wait to hear why we need to keep those? After I had cleaned out the leaves and pulled ivy from along the fence behind the pile, I went back to the yard and closed the gate. There right in the middle of the lawn was a mud covered tarp. Other person nowhere in sight. It had been holding rocks/gravel that was to be returned to one of those search holes for that sewer pipe under the deck. Gee thanks for more work as I was beat after crawling around with the spiders and dirt. So, I washed off the tarp, folded it a little and left it on top of a couple of yard cans to dry off. I need it to cover my under deck plants as I work on scrubbing and cleaning the deck above before we start painting. After that, I was done for the day until I remembered that we hadn’t gotten in a walk. Convinced other person to get moving so we headed out for a walk. 🙂
I was concerned that the collar wouldn’t fit with the jumper neckline if you changed it, but it works just fine. Lavender is an especially pretty doll, and she looks so nice in those colors.
I remember walking ton school on cold days when we wore all the starched stiff crinoline petticoats — not real crinoline — nylon net? Our legs were scratched bright red. Must have been about 1955, so Jeanne would have missed that experience.
Dear Jeanne, I think the outfit is very cute. I did not notice anything wrong with it, so to the “untrained eye” it looked fine (smile). I am wondering what you will add to it.
Yes, I love it now. It is super cute. Buttoned up higher looks more little girl to me.
The shorts are cute as well. Here I’ve seen kids wear shorts as late and as early in the season as possible and denim is really seasonless. Looking forward to what you will add next.
I wasn’t too bothered by the lower neckline, but I do like it better now, I did think the waist looked a little wide, though I didn’t pick up why! I’m sure a non-sewer won’t notice and it does look fine with the blouse over it.
Joy after all that work I would have skipped the walk! wow but good on you to stick to your routine. Well done.
Marilyn, I remember the crinoline petticoats! I’m not sure whether it lasted for a while or we got the fashion later but I remember them in about 1958. My mother wouldn’t pay 30 shillings for one for me so I had to make my own! That was when I sewed through my finger with the sewing machine. There were two other types of the petticoats sold, paper nylon ones, (which ended up being banned in our school because they were too noisy!) and my friend had one made of foam, I thought it looked great, I bet it didn’t last long though. We, of course had school uniforms and our sky-blue dresses were only worn in the summer. Our winter skirts were still no better at keeping out the cold they were grey wool and worn with white cotton shirts and school ties with a navy cardigan and yes, no tights then!
Things aren’t much better today here but Kai hated the tartan kilt that was the girl’s uniform and since the boys were allowed to wear long trousers she asked if she could. I think she started a trend because a lot of the girls started to wear the boy’s uniform.
I have to go for an x-ray this afternoon. I am having problems with my left hip now. I was amazed, I saw the doctor on Wed and the hospital rang me on Thursday morning. I had a choice of two hospitals, Christchurch Public and Burwood and since the latter is only a short distance from me (and where I had my right hip replacement) I elected to go there then I had a choice of appointments as well!! Normally there would be a wait time of two to three weeks for appointments. They must have resolved their staff shortages.
Have a great day all. It is pretty cold here and a high of only 14C expected (about 58F) but the sun will be shining and what more can you ask in early spring.
I didn’t have problem with the blouse before but I really do like the change you made to it. Love the denim shorts. Lavender can always add leggings under the shorts and then she could wear them all winter. Can’t wait to see what is next.