Adventures In Sewing

 For those of us who call ourselves "Crafty", it can be a humbling experience to embark on a new craft and find it very hard to finish. I mean- come on--- we're CRAFTY!!  For me, there are several crafts that I think, in my mind, I should be able to do easily- sewing was one of them. I took "home economics" a long time ago. I remember sewing some pillows and an ill-fitted apron, but the adult Crafty Girl thought...oh- this couldn't be too hard.

One of the aspects that attracted me to making over the dolls was the cute little dresses they wear. I thought how hard could it be for me to sew a couple of dresses. Well, I realize it is a skill like any other that needs to be studied, practiced and repeated over and over to get it right. Above you see my first attempt at sewing a very small doll dress.

Blythe dolls fit "Skipper doll" size clothing and I found a pattern on Ebay and anxiously waited for it to come in the mail. I opened it up and it looked like a foreign language. Words like bodice and with the grain made no sense to me- so I put the pattern down for another day. Finally I had several hours to sew- and figured I could make a couple of dresses. I started with the easiest pattern- a whopping 4 steps- how hard could that be? I figured I'd be done with it in under an hour and moving on to a more difficult pattern.  HA!

FOUR hours later I was finally trying to put the dress on my little doll. Yes- 4 steps, 4 hours! Cutting the pattern was no problem. I found it a real challenge to actually sew on such a small scale. Folding over 1/8 inch of fabric and then trying to sew a straight line that was no longer than an inch was virtually impossible.

I ended up hand sewing the most challenging parts of this dress, around the arms and neck line. I later learned that there is a wax that doesn't leave residue on the fabric, that I could use to hold the hem I would need to sew on.  I still wonder how I could sew such a short distance. 

This has been a humbling experience for me. I admit- I haven't even looked at my machine since my four hour adventure. I do hope to get a lesson or two from someone crafty in the sewing world. I really do want to learn how to sew. Right now- I'm just thankful the dress is wearable-- even if the most interesting side of the dress is the back!