How to Flute Without a Fluter

Fluting looks like fabric or lace that is wavy. It is a nice variation from tiny pleats and gathering and gives a different look than either. One advantage of fluting is that your lace will hang properly instead of standing out, and on tiny cuffs it looks completely controlled.

 For small dolls you will need about 2 ½ times the length of the area you need to cover and a fine tooth comb that is 4”-6” long.

 Flute the lace using a fine toothed comb. Weave the lace in and out of the teeth of the comb, keeping the finished edge of the lace even with the bottom teeth of the comb.

 To set the pleats add ¼ cup white vinegar to ¾ cup of water and put in a spray bottle. Spray both sides of the pleated lace, and then dry with a hair dryer. The combination of the vinegar and the heat will give you nearly permanent pleats.

Carefully remove the lace from the comb by pulling the lower edge free, then sliding the lace off the comb. Run a gathering stitch through each fold close to the edge.

If you are doing fluting down the front of a dress, then hem both ends of the lace, and then pin the lace down the center of the dress.

 Use an overcast stitch to catch every other pleat, and be certain to catch the gathering thread in each stitch.

Tug the lace back and forth into gentle folds down the front. Use your fingers to press it down. You may also lightly steam the folds. Or barely touch them with the tip of the iron so they don’t stick out.

Make another length of fluted lace for the collar and attach to the neck edge the same way. To keep the collar from sticking up, stitch in the valley of the folds about 1/8” from the neck edge.

Make another length of fluted lace for the cuffs. Cut this length in half, one for each cuff. I found a marker that was just the right size to stick in the sleeve to make the stitching easier. Stitch the fluting to the cuff edge the same way that you did for the collar, then stitch 1/8” from the cuff edge to hold the cuff in place.

Flutted ribbon or lace can also be used as trim along the edges of a jacket or the hem of a skirt. It also makes a nice trim on hats.

Silk Scarf Dresses

I know that many of you have lovely silk scarves tucked away. They are just too pretty to throw away, but most of us don’t wear them all that often. I am here today to show you what you can do with them. 

Silk Scarf #1

 

 Silk is such a wonderful fabric for dressing dolls, but I have not been able to find small prints, just solid colors. Then one day I was looking through a box and noticed some silk scarves and I thought, “Why not?” Scarves are thin, drape well, and have a wonderful rolled hem edge. 

This first scarf has a wonderful tiny coral print with a cream edge that will look great for a skirt. 

Silk Scarf #2

 

With thousands of scarves to look through on eBay, I began my search. I wanted vintage colors with a small floral print. With so many to choose from, I decided to try to keep my cost, including shipping, below $10, and I have been able to find several wonderful scarves. Another advantage of a scarf is that between the edge color, the middle color, and the print, it is like having three coordinating fabrics. Another plus is that the print on one side of a scarf is the exact reverse of the other side. So that when you cut a jacket front, one side is going to be the exact opposite of the other, and a back seam will have a perfect line of symmetry also. 

Silk Scarf #3

 

I like the second scarf because it has a vintage looking edge and I will have a choice of tiny rose flowers, or the tiny blue flowers in the center. Even though the other flowers are large, by cutting small pattern pieces it will just show a blend of flower colors. 

This third scarf is the one I chose to start with. The large flowers look like a watercolor painting with really soft edges. By cutting small pattern pieces out of them, they just look like splashes of coordinated colors.

  

Pleater

 

The skirt on this dress is 24” long, so I saved all that hemming time by using this scarf. I also used my pleater which makes pleated skirts a breeze. Making the pleater is in my last post.

This lovely 7” Bru Brevete doll was made by Fumi at http://www.mysticmolds.com/  Her outfit was made from the silk scarf pictured. This is my newest pattern and should fit dolls about 7” – 8” tall. Her outfit consists of a waist (corset), bloomers, full slip with back ruffles, dress, and hat. I used the dark salmon outside edge of the scarf for the skirt, sleeves, and outer hat. The hat lining and front inset of the dress was cut from the light pink center of the scarf, and her jacket from the floral print of the scarf. 

Silk Dress Back

 

Because the silk is so thin and that it ravels easily, you do need to use FrayCheck on the edges and line your dresses. I used muslin to line this dress, but you could use silk or batiste also. 

Have fun playing with all your silk scarves now.  

7” Bru Brevete

Mini Pleater – How To

I love all the tiny pleats that are on many of the vintage doll clothes, but it takes so long to make them that I decided to make a pleater to make it easier. THere are commercial ones available, but they are very expenxive. I thought some of you might like to make one too, so here is how I did it. I actually thought about making them for sale, but when I discovered it takes about three hours to make one, then I decided everyone could make their own! LOL

Here is how I made a 1/4″ pleater with a 5/16″ return. First I printed out one sheet of 1/8″ grid paper and one sheet of cardstock from this site. http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/plain/ I set the border to 0.25, and 8 lines per inch. Then I stacked the grid paper on top of two sheets of white cardstock and cut 42 – 3/8″ strips.

Then I sewed the strips to the cardstock graph paper, every 1/4″  stitching close to the edge. It is easy to see because you just line up the strips to the line on the graph paper.

When you have covered the cardstock with evenly spaced strips, then prepare the cloth cover. I chose a 100% cotton batiste for my cover. Cut a piece 8.5″ X 40″, then iron it to lightweight WonderUnder. When the fabric has cooled, peel off the backing paper and begin to pleat it into the grooves on your pleater. I used a small, thin plastic ruler, but you could use a credit card also. Work to keep the fabric pressed evenly across the louvers. Do half the pleater, then go back over each louver with your plastic piece and iron. Do the second half the same way. Tuck about a half-inch of the fabric to the back and iron in place. Then cover the back with a piece of fabric with WonderUnder on it. I stitched each end, then ironed it down.

Take your pleater back to the cutting board and using your rotary cutter, cut off about 1/4″ off each side. Voila! Now I can make pleats quickly and easily for all my doll clothes.

I also make a 1/8″ pleater using the same graph paper. I cut 1/4″ strips for this one.

Now I have two sizes of pleaters. It took a day, but it will be worth it. I hope you can make your pleaters easily too. If you have any questions, just ask.

Needlefelting

My Kay Petal DVDs and needles got here finally and I have watched them all. Kay has produced a wonderfel DVD set and is also wonderful about answering questions by email.

I have spent sooooo many hours on this head, but I have learned a whole lot about needle felting. I am pleased with the way she is turning out. I used Tibetan lambswool for her wig. For her crown of flowers I made a circle of white florists wire and cut out felt flowers and leaves to glue on.

I really want her to be pretty much in proportion, so I found a picture of a girl that is in the pose I want, then blew up the picture and figured out how long each piece needs to be. I have her basic skeleton made, now I need to make the hands and feet and put her together. Then I will start fleshing her out into a wonderful preteen.

Kool-Aid Dyeing

Oh My Goodness! I have been bitten by the needle felting bug, and as I usually do with new projects, I have gone completely overboard. I have wool all over the place! I can see now that I will have to sell some of it because I won’t be able to use it all up in two lifetimes. I even got some natural cotswold locks and washed them and they are now beautiful. You can see them in the back.

I ordered a DVD set from Kay Petal, but all my wool has gotten here first. I will have to play with it until my instructions and needles get here. I found a really great buy on some natural Merino Roving and have been looking at some interesting sites that talk about Kool-Aid dying. It looks easy enough, so I decided to try it.

First I tried the microwave. I mixed up my Kool-Aid in a glass dish with a lid, then I added my yard of roving and nuked it for a minute at a time until all the color had been absorbed. It is so surprising to see the water becomes almost clear.

Then  decided to try boiling several batches at once, so I got out my largest pan, put some canning rings in the bottom and started filling some pint jars with different flavors of Kool-Aid. After filling the pan with water to about an inch from the jar tops, I brought it to a simmer and let it simmer with the lid on for about 35 minutes until most of the color had been absorbed into the wool.

Then I took the roving out and rinsed them in warm water and hung them out to dry on a plastic clothes hanger. I was so afraid of felting it all that I didn’t move it around enough, so the dye isn’t even, but it will be wonderful for shading.

Quality Cloth Dolls

I have been making antique reproduction dolls for over 30 years. The other day I was surfing the net, as I do too often, and somehow I got off onto cloth doll making. I am amazed at the quality of cloth doll making today, and I have suddenly become interested in making cloth dolls. Many years ago, I made cloth dolls for children, but these dolls are a whole different caliber.

Take a look at dolls by

Kay Petal http://feltalive.com/

Maggie Iacono http://maggiemadedolls.com/

R. John Wright http://www.rjohnwright.com/

Lisa Lichtenfels http://www.lisalichtenfels.net/

Aren’t they perfectly wonderful? I surely think so. Right off, I could see that these artists know something about anatomy and physiology, which I have avoided. But I trekked off to my local half price book store and found some wonderful reference books which I have been studying. I can see that I should have taken this up years ago.

Authentic Costuming For Dolls

Today there are many wonderful sewing machines, beautiful fabrics and trims, and doll patterns available for the doll costumer. If you are sewing for a modern doll, your choices are limited only by your imagination.

1878 Premier Lingerie

If you are sewing for an antique doll, or an authentic reproduction doll, then your choices should be limited to materials and styles that reflect dolls from that time period. The more you study authentic period work, the more discerning you will become in your choices for authentic reproduction costuming. As you research and become more knowledgeable about a particular doll or time period, it is fun and challenging to search for just the right materials to give your doll the right look and feel. Whether you use new or recycle old fabrics, if you choose mostly natural fibers, then your fabrics and trims will age gracefully, the same as those on the antique dolls.

Beautiful hand sewing for antique dolls depends upon small even stitches and natural fibers. Before 1860 most garments were hand sewn, but with the invention and availability of the sewing machine, more garments became machine sewn with various combinations of handwork.  Doll clothes however were mostly hand sewn because of the scale. Seams on today’s commercial garments are surged, and home sewers sometimes zigzag the edges of the seams. Antique clothing was carefully made with every single seam finished in some way. Common ways to finish seams were to use a French seam, flat felled seam, or various stitches that overcast the edge of the seam and secured it to a lining.

1890 Waist and Drawers

Although there are many choices in modern fabrics, few of them have the feel and draping qualities of natural fibers such as silk, cotton, linen, and wool. Whether you are sewing for an antique doll, or a quality antique reproduction, you will want to choose natural fibers for authentic reproduction clothing. Occasionally you may need to compromise with trims. Many of the cotton laces are created on a bed of nylon net which is pulled away after the lace is created, making the cotton lace a small percent nylon. Rayon fabric was invented in 1855, but did not come into commercial production until 1891. Although rayon is a synthetic, it is produced from wood, so it has natural cellulose fibers that drape and age in a similar fashion to the natural fibers.

Memories

I have always loved dolls and all their tiny costumes and accessories. I grew up on the side of a mountain and made dolls out of acorns and hollyhock flowers, but of course, none of them survived. One day I found a really neat bottle and it made me think of a doll, so I took my rubber jack ball, cut out an opening and stuck it on the bottle. Then I used my brother’s model paints to paint my bottle doll. Somehow it survived over the years and my mother gave it back to me a couple years ago, so I keep it in my doll cabinet.

My grandmother would take me with her when she went to help out or visit her older friends. I was a quiet child and they would let me hold their large old bisque Kewpies, and German dolls from their childhood. Then my Grandmother showed me her Simon Halbig baby and promised him to me when I grew up. He is still my favorite doll.

One year I traded my new Christmas doll for a friend’s old Patsyette, and I still love the Effanbee dolls. Then Grandpa bought me my first Ginny doll and Grandma began to teach me to sew. We spent many wonderful hours making doll clothes. By the time I was 13 years old, I was making all my own clothes and had begun to sew for other people.

Then I grew up and didn’t have time for dolls as I had two live dolls to love and take care of. My sister-in-law introduced me to ceramics and that was a lot of fun, but my real joy came when I saw greenware for a china doll. I didn’t have any books or doll help in making her, but I remembered the old dolls that I had seen at my Grandmother’s friend’s homes.

Rumpelstiltskin - Rolf Ericson Award

This doll opened a whole new world for me. It led to finding out about Seeley’s and I began to get my friends together and we invited doll artists to come teach us how to make reproduction dolls. I made many dolls and began to teach porcelain doll making. I went on to enter my little Heubach Sisters into a Seeley’s competition and won their Millie award, then I created an original doll, Rumpelstiltskin and won their Rolf Ericson Award.

Heubach Sisters - Millie Award

 All these journeys have brought me to where I am today with my love of collecting and making dolls, and their costumes and accessories.

If you have a favorite doll memory, please share it here.