Making doll clothes

I gave both of my granddaughters 18" Gotz dolls for Christmas and we are getting ready to make some doll clothes. The project has brought back all sorts of childhood memories. Just about every year my mom made doll clothes. We hardly ever got a doll without a complete wardrobe. I did the same for my daughter and now she and I are making doll clothes for her daughter. What a nice legacy!

I am also carrying on another tradition. I am not sure when I first learned to sew with the sewing machine, but I got a Saucy Walker doll when I was about 8. She was 23" tall and I learned to sew with her. I had to have been sewing for her by the time I was 9. I wouldn't have guessed I was that young, but I have the original patterns. I used one pattern piece so much, I wore it out and had to make another one to replace it. I can tell by the writing that I had to have been younger than 10 because my writing was terrible. My 5th grade, Sister Madeline, taught me to write decently. When we did penmanship, she came by my desk and looked long and hard to find a word, or even a letter that was written well. She gave me a lot of praise and a holy card. By then end of that year, I had a stack of holy cards and I could write beautifully. I wish I could tell her that people still compliment me on my writing.

So...I had to be younger than 10, maybe quite a bit younger because I used that pattern piece over and over. I can even remember many of the doll clothes I made. I made a very gaudy skirt out of polished cotton that I just loved. It was on a red background and had tin soldiers marching around it. I also made a more tasteful skirt of blue polished cotton. What I wouldn't give to see those doll clothes now? Unfortunately, I had to give away the doll and all her clothes when we moved to Virginia.

My daughter never liked to sew like that, but my granddaughter is 5 and she is really good with the sewing machine. She has already made 2 pieced pillows for her bed and they turned out very well. We'll start making skirts so she can sew the long side seams, then I'll see if she can sew the side seams on the pants. It is such a good feeling to pass this love of sewing on to another generation. In my mind's eye, I can see my granddaughter, my daughter, me, my mother, my grandmother, my great grandmother...a long line of women going back through history teaching this ancient craft one child at a time.

A little boy's village

Nine years ago, I made a quilt for my grandson when he was 2. It had a cute little village with roads for cars and fun things like an airport, post office, barber shop ect. He rode his Matchbox cars on it and then covered up with it for a nap. I made it from 2 yards of fabric. This Christmas I made one for my 3 year old grandson and had about 1 yard of fabric left over. I'm quilting on it now and it should be my first finished project of the year. I don't have any use for it presently, but it's part of my "Quilt from my Stash" project. If I put the fabric back, I'll never get around to it again and I want to be finished with it.

Unfortunately, I didn't quite have enough backing fabric, so I am puzzling over how to add to the backing. I'm vacillating between trying to match it with another similar fabric, or doing something totally different. I've been thinking about giving my grandchildren some fabric crayons and letting them color anything they want on the piece that I will add. The more I think about that idea, the better I like it. This would make the quilt really special and might even look like I did it on purpose!

Quilt from my stash year - 2008

Well, I've done it. I made a New Year's resolution that I pray I can keep. My stash situation is getting critical. People like me should never get all their material in one place. It was a lot better when I could go into various places, under beds, in the guest room, in the sewing room and look at my fabric. I pulled out one, maybe two storage boxes and got what I wanted without ever having to deal with to total. Alas, mine is all stored in the attic in one place while my new house is being built. I can't get away from the fact that I could make quilts for a refugee camp.

My creative self says: "But I have to have a palette of fabric in order for the creative juices to start. I've got to have choices! I don't know what I will feel like making in a week or a month. I love to go through my stash and let the fabric speak to me. It's part of the process."

My practical self rears its ugly head...the one that says, "You couldn't live long enough to use all this fabric! We need a reality check here!"

So here's this deal: I only quilt from my stash this year. (Actually, I am doing the same with my cross stitch and knitting, but that's another blog.) I finish up some of the things that I am working on and try to make a dent in what I have. Here are my rules:

1. Each project should have at least 75% stash fabric. It's best if I can get the backing out of the stash fabric also, but I can fudge here a little. Making pieced backings from stash is encouraged. (This actually might turn out to be fun!)

2. Quick to finish projects have priority. That includes projects already started. I have some wonderful projects started, but I sometimes don't want to take the time to figure out where I was when I quit. Instead of thinking of that aspect, I am going to convince myself that I am almost cheating because I already have a head start! (OK, it's semantics, but I'm all for whatever works.)

3. I have 3 big quilts that are close to being done: a whole-cloth quilt for my son, a double Irish chain, a quilt for my daughter in peach and blue and a pink and blue quilt that is actually for ME! One of those three quilts must be done in 2008!

4. If I get a specific request for something small and don't have anything that will do, I can buy just the supplies I need for that project, but I'm not allowed to put it on the back burner. I have to finish it before going on to anything else.

5. I've got to get some of my Christmas presents done before November 1! (Why? Because I always run out of time and that is why some things become UFOs. If I can get them done before November, they stand a real chance of getting done.)

6. I get one "Get out of Jail Free" card. I can blow it one time. That ought to provide for the time when the deal is just too good to pass up.

7. If I manage to do this all year, I can have a great big reward. I don't know what it will be yet, but surely something will come up that will provide some real incentive.