Current Mood : Happily Crafted
Today went much like yesterday - I'm still wafting my way through One Pretty Thing's past posts, and it hit me. Why not search for ‘Barbie', instead of the more generic ‘dolls' ? Heck, Barbie is so ubiquitous in our culture, most folks don't use the word ‘doll' after her name.
That got me some new results. I clicked on an apron, oven mitt, and chef's hat tutorial and found a pattern on the same site for a Barbie-size Snuggie ! You know, the blanket with sleeves. It looked simple enough, and there were both ‘easy' and ‘harder' options. Interesting... Here's the link -> http://sharonsews.blogspot.com/2009/12/sew-snuggie-type-blanket-for-fashion.html .
Only thing I didn't like is how the thick fleece refused to drape around the doll's neck. Fleece is a rather thick material for Barbie clothes...but what about flannel ? While its loose weave is harder to sew, scale-wise, it's closer to fleece for Barbie than human-size fleece is. Printed the pattern...then printed it again, because it kind of looked big. Nope, it just looks big. Nine inches across, twelve inches tall. Grabbed the leftover flannel from Elphie's pink starred pajamas and got it cut out, cheap-serged, and Fray-checked. Pretty simple. I've discovered that good, sharp embroidery scissors are great for cutting out small stuff like armholes on doll clothes, so now mine are nearly always in use, not just with Brody anymore.
Since I didn't like the side seams, I went for the ‘harder' option, and it was indeed harder than I expected. I ended up hand-sewing the sleeves to the blanket part, then slowly going over them with the sewing machine. Very, very slowly, since even with my smallest presser foot, there wasn't a lot of clearance in the sleeve. But it worked out, and I liked how it looked. I liked the flannel a lot better. Posted it on In The Pink, because I'm a total applause hound, and wrote the pattern creator a ‘thank you' note in her comments, enclosing a link for her to see my version. I know I love it when someone writes me, saying that they used my idea and enjoyed it, so I always return the favor when I can.
I estimate that, start to finish, it took about an hour, and would probably take less if I'd gone with the seamed version. Of course, I have to estimate, since Beloved Hubby came home in the middle of things, and I ended up going with him to his job site, to keep him company. I took it all with me, but ended up never going near it. It was nice to spend some time with him, and we even went out for my favorite fried chicken afterwards. Finished it up when we got home, and had some fun with photos. With just a bit of length added, the Snuggie fits Ken, too. I still think I need to work on those sleeves a bit, but I enjoyed this pattern. If you use fleece, ya don't even have to hem stuff - fleece won't ravel - so you could work this pattern without a machine, by hand, if you liked.
We had company over - Uncle and BIL - after dinner, which was nice. Uncle is considering an out-of-state move, so whatever time we get to have with him is a bonus. I kinda loafed around while the guys talked, really. But I like doing that !
