Organizing

I get bitten every so often to organize ALL THE THINGS. Not a bad thing to do.

This is what I just installed next to my sewing machine: two cork boards and one of those ... file ... thingies. One cork board, as you can see, is holding all my important doll patterns. I have no idea why I have two sleeve patterns and two bodice patterns, but I do. That pant pattern is folded like it is to do double duty as a legging pattern.

What am I going to use the other board for? No idea. I'll tell you if I figure it out.

I ~think?~ I might use the metal file ... doohickey for pattern storage. I have a drawer, but the fit is getting tight if you're picking up what I'm putting down. I don't even own that many patterns! But it'll be nice to stash my patterns that I don't use quite as often. (I mean, I love my homemade doll qipao pattern, but how often does that come up?)

By the way, over there on the left edge? The light in my sewing space sucks big time. That's one of those Aero Gardens. It grows bunny food for me AND doubles as a sewing light. When you use them for double duty, they are a total steal.

Playground

I took these at a local playground back in January. Hope you dig them:

Doll Collection Organization

Someone was asking a while back when I was posting it on my personal LJ about how, exactly, I have my doll clothes organized, so I figured I'd put this out here for everyone to see.

I am totally aware that this is overly OCD of me, but here it is.

I've got these bins, one for each American Girl:

I used to have smaller bins, and everything fit, but I found that it wrinkled less if I gave it some room to breathe.

Anyway, each doll gets 12 outfits, one for each month. You can see each bin is labeled:

(Hey, it's my handwriting!)

Anyway, this is Kirsten's, since it's all filled out. When it comes time to dress the doll, all you do is look to see what month it is and what outfit she should be wearing. None of these are hard and fast rules -- October can also be Halloween costumes, for example -- but it's one way of sorting out who gets what. I don't even know if this is the best way to do it, but here it is.

Cloth!

Just for fun, an old picture of my cloth storage.

On the plus side, I don't have to buy cloth very often any more.

National Craft Month

Did you know it was National Craft Month? I had no idea!

Of course, it's sponsored by JoAnns, so far as I can tell, so it's likely a commercial holiday, but I'm not sure I care. It's awesome.

Anyone else Pinterest obsessed? You can check out a National Craft Month pinboard here:

CLICKY CLICKY

... yeah, it's sponsored by JoAnns too. Don't hate, they're where I get all my cloth anyway.

Anyway, crafts are pretty much all I use Pinterest for, so this is awesome!

Yarn Along Week 7

We're going to finish! We're going to finish! Are you excited!? You should be!

We're not knitting or crocheting today, we're joining pieces. If you don't know how that works, here's some help:

How to join knitting

How to join crochet

It's the same process for both. If you get stuck, just hand sew it with yarn like you'd hand sew with cloth. It's a similar idea.

Anyway. Grab that first big piece we made. The 7 by 5.5 one? Turn it long ways. Now, join one of the 5.5 by 4 inch tall pieces to one part of the top edge, and the other 5.5 by 4 inch tall pieces to the other. MAKE SURE THE BUTTON HOLES FACE INWARD. You're also going to want them on the right side of the doll's body, so keep that in mind.

A diagram, because I know all of that was confusing:

Now. Take both of the 3.5 by 5 inch pieces, and center them on each seam you just made. Sew them in.

You can probably recognize the basic shape that we've got now. We're making a sweater! But you knew that, right? Fold your sweater along the shoulder seams so that the bottom edges touch, right sides together. Start at one sleeve and sew down to the bottom edge (you know, like you were making a shirt), then do the other side. Turn it.

Ta da! Your own doll sweater! Aren't you proud? If you were wondering, and you weren't, all the measurements came from my old 1995 Kirsten sweater. So this pattern will TOTALLY fit a PM doll.

Of course, now that you know what you're doing, you can vary it with stripes, cables, different stitches, pockets, buttons, whatever you can think of. You can even alter my numbers to make it fit better. Or, you can make it really long and make a sweater dress like all the cool kids wear now adays.

Send me the finished project so I can put it in the gallery!

Price Whine

I'm sure everyone else has said this, or at least thought it, but I'll write about it anyway. I was browsing the new release stuff, and while none of it was awful, none of it caught my eye. Well, fine, that means I get to spend less money. Then, this caught my eye:

Oh, hey, neat outfit, right? But then I started looking at the pricing.

This alone is $30, and you could make that. Yes you could.

To get the look in the first picture, you've got to spend $68 total. Uh uh. Maybe if it were human clothes, but I'm not spending $70 on doll clothes! Especially since in the accessory pack, you probably only care about the coat. (That water bottle holder is awful. I know no human who would wear that, and I'm sure the water bottle would slide out in real life.)

In conclusion, I hope no one buys this, and AG rethinks their prices.

Yarn Along Week 6

Ah! Last piece! After we get this done, we'll start putting it together. It will look like something and everything!

Today, you're making a flat piece that measures five and a half inches tall by four inches wide.

But.

On the right side of the piece, you need to put button holes. Space them evenly. I'll leave how many up to you. These are dolls, so make them small.

If you're not sure how to do button holes, here's some links:

How to knit button holes

How to crochet button holes

They're really not that hard, you'll do fine.

Oh, button holes ... is this a hint!?

As we go along, tweet or mail me your progress so I can post it. Or, link me to a photo in the comments.

February Site Of The Month!

This month's site of the month? Give it up for!

Cateskates!

She's getting featured because I really love that she's got hair tutorials on her site. They're very detailed. I never would have thought of it! Hey, Cate, this is for you:

Of course, you should all go check out her blog. There's plenty of pictures and videos to keep you entertained.

(Hey, Lucy, if you'd like to put that award on your blog, go ahead!)

Yarn Along Week 5

All right! Week five! Good on you for hanging in there!

Don't feel behind if you haven't kept up, just keep working! You can do it!

Today's piece is a piece that lays flat and measures three and a half inches tall and five inches wide.

But hey, didn't we make a piece that already looks like that? Hmm. Is that a hint?!

As we go along, tweet or mail me your progress so I can post it. Or, link me to a photo in the comments.