Now Playing: local radio's Saturday Night Disco show
Current Mood : Snitty, without real cause.
Well, any day after one like yesterday is bound to be a bit of a downer. But today was kinda difficult, too. Thank Everything I didn't buy The Dolls Dressmaker, but more on that later.
The book sale was...not good. If your library saved all its discards for sale, and then saved all the stuff that didn't sell for a couple years, then trotted it all back out at a ‘King of Rejects' sale, you'd about have what I went to this morning. Few books had library bindings, though. About all I found was a replacement Disney storybook for Dearest Son - he wore the back cover off his original. At least he was happy to have a new one, and he asked me to put his old, worn one away. I kinda think he likes the book more than the Jedi Starfighter I got him from the thrift Thursday.
On the way back, I hit a yard sale. Got a new ruler for the desk - it's accurate, I checked ! - and a pretty dragonfly print cotton blouse in my size. Seller drew my attention to a quarter-inch tear on the back of the right sleeve, but that was fixable. For 50c, I was not about to complain, and the blouse was sooooo soft, but it was a designer name, so I assumed more pricey blouses were made of nicer stuff.
Once home, I tried it on. Decent fit, I thought, as I tugged it down...and the entire right button placket tore, from hem to my belly button (well, where my navel was, thanks to all that surgery last year, I don't have one anymore). (sigh) It didn't so much tear as it just completely gave way. Um, designer doesn't equal better, softer fabric. Ultra-soft fabric, however, does equal darn near completely worn out, fragile fabric.
Ordinarily, I wouldn't bother telling you this, but it figures later in today's narrative. Cool, it's later. Grumpily, I decided I might as well get something out of that 50c, so I cut the Doll's Dressmaker A-line dress pieces for Princess Dorrie from the blouse's left front side. Bad idea. I should have just salvaged the buttons and cut the rest for rags. It was hyper-fragile, and very difficult to work with. Fray-Check rippled the edges. If the thread snagged, it tore holes in the material, and the seams pulled at the thin fabric even when there was no stress. But the material wasn't the only issue with this supposedly-simple trial. When I sewed the side seams, they didn't match. Even the pattern didn't match when you held the front and side pieces together. Not good.
Kept going anyway, but I never finished it. The armholes were much too tight, and it's maybe about a quarter-inch too wide in the front, so it doesn't lie flat, like it should. I tried to adjust the pattern, enlarge the arm holes. But that threw off the shoulder seam. Altering that changed the neckline, and it was still a quarter-inch too wide. (sigh) At this point, I'd be saving time just to draft the blasted thing m'self. So, tomorrow, I'm going out for cat food and paper towels. I may use the basic shape, but as far as I'm concerned, if I'm gonna use Doll's Dressmaker, I may as well draft from scratch. That's about what I'm doing anyway, and if it's mine, I can share it without copyright issues.
I couldn't understand the Amazon.com rave reviews for this book. So I went hunting for directions. Ah ! My mistake. What I'm supposed to do is cut the book's pattern from cheap fabric or muslin, pin-fit it to the doll, then use the muslin as a pattern. Oookay... doesn't this kinda get back to the ‘I'm making my own pattern' thing I screeched about earlier ? I also used basic ‘flat first' construction techniques - sew the shoulder seams, then hem the neckline and armholes, sew side seams, etc. In short, you sew everything you possibly can before you sew actual seams, it's easier. Nope. Shouldn'ta done that either. Nope, I'm to sew the shoulder seams, then the side seams - then hem the neckline and hand-sew the armhole hem. Yeah. No wonder the side seams didn't match.
It just seems like this book is determined to do everything the hard way. I shouldn't be surprised, nearly every doll modeling is a reproduction porcelain of a super-expensive antique doll. The rest are either playline from the 30s, one-of-a-kind dolls from kits, or Sasha dolls. All collectable, all expensive. The one plastic doll I saw was a rather generic baby in a super-blah outfit. I realize that my doll didn't exist in 1991, when the book first saw print. But don't tell me ‘this fits every doll ever made !' if I'm the one making the patterns from basic shapes. Shoot, by their way of thinking, I can make Elphie clothes from Simplicity patterns for girls in the 70s, I just have to cut the pieces and make all the changes m'self.
Anyway. I can't really blame Doll's Dressmaker when I did things my way. But I had no idea these weren't patterns, more like ‘serving suggestions'. And that TV dinner never looks as good as it does on the box it came in. Same here. That book shouldn't have the word ‘patterns' anywhere on it - instead, it should say ‘shape guidelines' or ‘silhouette starting points'. To me, a pattern is something you use, not something you use to make another pattern ! I'm not rising to the challenge very well, am I ? (smile)
So anyway, that was my day. Despite the paragraph above, I'm not sure if I'm gonna mess with Doll's Dressmaker again, or if I'll just measure for Doll Shop Deluxe instead. At least I know how that works ! Plus, I stand a good chance at having something to keep in less than four hours ! And I'm sorry, but a half-inch seam allowance on doll clothes is a major PITA, especially when the completed shoulder is less than a half-inch wide. If I'm gonna hafta make my own patterns, I'm using the usual quarter-inch. At least I can set DSD for that and not have to futz with a ruler. Or completely change how I sew.
Well...maybe I'll use some stuff, like sleeves or a bodice here or there. But here's some fun - and another reason I'm glad I didn't buy this book. Under the ‘how to fix problems' chapter, the author advises bulking up a doll with an underwear vest or stuffing if a bodice is too big. The rest of her ‘fix it' advice I've figured out myself, so it wasn't much help. I'm starting to think the whole book is that way.
Or maybe I'm too big a fan of the ‘quick and fun' methods I've learned to try ‘long, drawn-out, complicated and fussy' techniques. After all, I'm not making heirloom garments for priceless dolls. Looking over her other books, that seems to be her milieu. I just wanna make some stuff for a buncha vinyl dolls I got at yard sales. Long dresses with endless details - not my thing.
PS - don't forget to let me know if you want The Big Splash or the 70s Barbie catalog next in the images ! I'm also open to other suggestions, anytime !
