My New Project

I have fallen in love with sewing doll clothes.  I have come along way from saying never will I sew doll clothes, to it being one of my favorite items to sew.  After all, they are double loved when complete. Dolly loves them and the little girl getting them for her doll also love them.
So, with that said, here we go!   I could hardly wait to get to the smocked version of Genine's pattern Lucy.

I love the smocking plate, so will be doing that.  Do you notice the tiny print used for the dress? It is something you always want to be aware of when sewing doll clothes, large prints can just overwhelm a doll.

First, I need to get my insert pleated.  Oh boy, sometimes working with small pieces can be a challenge. So I pull threads on both sides of the insert piece to try to get the piece as straight as possible.

I only need 1 7/8 inch piece for the insert.  So again to get it as straight as possible I will cut along the thread marks with a rotary cutter .  You might wonder about my rotary cutter, yes, your right it is very, very old. I think I got it when they first hit the market.  it work's!!!

So now I have my strip, I will press it then on to the pleater.

For doll clothes, you will pleat using half space rows. I usually do not leave extra needles in the pleater but I wanted you to see the difference between full space and half spacing on your pleater.

Now, I am going to guide my piece through the needles. Something different again is, usually you would roll the fabric on a dowel to keep the extra out of the way.  With such a tiny piece I find it easier to just guide the fabric through slowly, with out messing with a dowel
So there I go-- I have started the smocked version of the Lucy.