Pattern Review: Keepers Dolly Duds 1930s Playsuit

I am delighted that Keepers Dolly Duds has been adding new patterns lately.

I haven't gotten the new 1950s Circle Swirl Dress yet.

I did get the delightful 1930s Playsuit.

It is different from the playsuit AG made for Kit, which is a good thing if you want Kit to have a diverse collection.

I am a sucker for sailor collars. Also Peter Pan collars.

I have some younger cousins who have Kit and Ruthie, so I was excited to make this pattern for them.

I made the first one in purple and blue.

I know this is a rotten picture, but you can at least see the playsuit clearly.

I altered the pattern slightly to not use elastic at the sleeves.

I don't have any one hand and the thing is that elastic goes bad eventually.

Next I made this playsuit in red, white and blue. This one is my favorite of the two.

I hope that my cousins enjoy these!

I am going to make a blue and white playsuit, gather the shorts at the bottom, and call it a Victorian swimsuit for Samantha. It will be for another cousin, who has Samantha.

I think it will be close enough to Samantha's Bathing Costume for play purposes. I can make an over skirt as well.

This pattern is slightly similar to the 1960s Gym Suit made by Wren Feathers, with a different collar and sleeves, if you are looking for a free alternative.

Here is a link to my blog post when I made that pattern.

Here is a link to the original Wren Feathers pattern.

Two Pattern Reviews!

I made two doll clothes patterns in a hurry last night.

Requiem Art Designs released a free pattern for doll sized face masks. You can find the pattern here.

Knowing that my library has an American Girl doll that can be checked out, I thought it would be nice to make her a face mask, and we could put pictures on social media of the doll modelling socially responsible behavior during the pandemic.

BUT if we were going to put the doll on social media, I should hurry up with a project from my back burner list, and make her a T-shirt with the library logo on it.

Luckily, I had all the items that I needed to make this happen, including a T-shirt with the library logo on it that I could cut up.

I used the Liberty Jane Baseball T-shirt pattern for the T-shirt. This pattern is on Pixie Faire.

Knowing that this doll is a chubby Pleasant Company doll and that the Liberty Jane patterns are tight, I added space in the front and back of the T-shirt.  Good thing that I did, it fits her perfectly, although the sleeves are a little tight.

As soon as I finished sewing, my neighbor texted me with the news that my library is closing, possibly until the end of May.

Today is the last day that we are open. It's stressful.

My co-workers are delighted with the doll's new wardrobe.  We have been taking lots of pictures to post on social media, and it's giving everyone a much-needed smile.

We have decided to name the doll Wilhelmina, as the school mascot is named Willie Warhawk.

I think she is a Girl of Today #14, also known as Just Like You #14, whatever you call the modern line of AG dolls.

A note on the mask pattern: I used bias tape to hold the mask on the doll's head, as I had it on hand, but it makes the sides of the mask stand out from her face a little bit. I think very thin elastic would be better.

Wilhelmina also practices social distancing from the library's stuffed tiger, Arthur:

This may be the last blog post I write for a while, as I do not have Internet at home.
Stay safe, everyone!

More Sundresses! Ahoy!

I loved the red, white and blue dress on the cover photo of the Sofie Clareese Perfectly Pleasant Sundress.

It was nautical and perky and cute.

I decided to make one just like the cover photo, and one in reverse, with red as the main color.

So, here they are:

This is Hearts for Hearts Tipi.

This is Hearts for Hearts Mosi.

My versions, to me, somehow look less nautical and more like cheerleading costumes.

Maybe that's just me?

But you could actually make a cheerleading costume from this pattern, I think. Just shorten the skirt.

There is this very colorful flower print that I have been drooling over for a while.
Finally, since I had a project, I bought half a yard and made this:

This is Hearts for Hearts Rahel.

This is my favorite of the sundresses so far. It's so colorful and summery.

This pattern is really versatile! You should try it out!

Pattern Review: Sofie Clareese Perfectly Pleasant Sundress

Last week, I wrote about the Sofie Clareese Perfectly Pleasant Sundress.

Well, I had an unexpected three day weekend, so I bought the pattern and made five dresses from it.

The pattern is in two sizes: 18 inch and 14 inch.

I bought the 14 inch one, because I have many more 18 inch patterns.

This is a great pattern. It is easy to make and it is so versatile.

This is the first dress I made! I am tired of looking at Emerson's meet, especially the very shiny skirt.

I wanted to make a pink dress to match her boots, but I added a green bodice to tone down the pinkness.

Result: cuteness!

Next I made a purple dress.

I feel like I could have gotten a better picture. As my friend pointed out, the configuration of the skirt looks almost like pants. I can assure you that this is entirely sue to awkward picture taking, but I didn't have time to redo it.

I would like to point out that this pattern fits both Wellie Wishers and Hearts for Hearts dolls perfectly.

The doll in this picture is Hearts for Hearts doll Nahji.

The Heart for Hearts dolls look so much skinnier, it's great that the pattern can fit both dolls.

I love this pattern!

I am going to write another blog post to share the next three dresses I made. Stay tuned!

Patterns and Ethics

So I was looking for the Sofie Clareese Perfectly Pleasant Sundress on Pixie Faire, and not finding it.



I did find a surprisingly similar dress, that to my eye was almost the same, but in my opinion was not quite as cute.

That was the BuzzinBea Marguerite dress.



To me, it looks like a cross between Sofie Clareese's Perfectly Pleasant Sundress and  its Sweetheart Bow Front Dress.



Then I noticed that BuzzinBea also has a pattern called the Wildflower Dress.



This dress bears a great similarity to the Lee and Pearl Ola Brasil pattern.


Both the Sofie Clareese patterns and the Lee and Pearl patterns pre-date the BuzzinBea patterns.
The Ola Barsil pattern was generously offered for free by Lee and Pearl for a year to its subscribers.

Both the Sofie Clareese patterns and the lee and Pearl patterns are sold on etsy.

I think it's highly questionable that BuzzinBea is offering patterns that are so similar to those offered by competitors on etsy.

I also think it's highly questionable that Pixie Faire agreed to list these patterns.
Sofie Clareese used to list on Pixie Faire, so Pixie Faire would be aware of these similairities.

I will not be buying any BuzzingBea patterns, and I will seriously consider a ban on Pixie Faire as well.

Sofie Clareese patterns on etsy

Last year, Sofie Clareese Fashion had one of the most popular patterns of the year.

The Pleasant Day Sundress makes a dress that looks just like Blaire's meet dress, and naturally it was very popular.


It looks cute with all kinds of fabric choices.

I keep drooling over this pattern, and lately I could not find it on Pixie Faire.
That really bugged me!

The Sofie Clareese patterns can now all be found on etsy.

I don't blame Sofie Clareese at all, as I understand that Pixie Faire takes a large amount of the pattern price for pattern makers to list there. I think it's as much as 40% of the price.

I hope that Sofie Clareese is doing well on etsy, and I am happy to know where t find her patterns.

I still want the Pleasant Day Sundress pattern, but for 18 inch and 14 inch dolls!

(I would love it if she packaged both pattern sizes together and knocked a dollar or two off the price.)

Check her etsy shop out! She has many other cute patterns for sale!

Pattern Review: Keepers Dolly Duds Spring Dirndl

The daughter of one of my friends portrayed Young Anna in the play Frozen.

I was inspired to make a doll sized version of her stage costume, which differs from the one in the movie.

I used the Spring Dirndl pattern by Keepers Dolly Duds.

I first put it on Marie Grace because she looks most like my friend's daughter.

I then put it on Astrid, who is Just Like You 61, because Astrid has red hair like Anna.

Last, I put it on Kirsten, because Kirsten is Swedish Girl and she doesn't have a dirndl of her own at my house yet.

I felt like Kirsten wore it best. This is probably at least partially because it fit Kirsten best. It was a bit wide on Astrid and Marie Grace.

Also, I always feel that Marie Grace has a neck that is slightly shorter than the other dolls, and she doesn't look as well with a collar that stands up.

I was surprised to see that this outfit is all one piece. I expected the blouse, skirt and vest to be separate pieces, and they were not.

This has its benefits. I am going to give it as a gift, and the pieces won't get lost. Also, the skirt won't fall down and expose the doll's midruff.

I could have altered the pattern to make separate pieces and decided not to.

I will admit that I wasn't 100% certain that the green fabrics worked together, but I was using what I had on hand that most closely matched her outfit.
Ultimately, I think it works.
I also think that with dirndls you can be a bit more creative in color combos than with some other clothes.

The pattern was slightly more challenging than I expected.
This might be because I was feeling tired and unwell. I was actually sick in bed the next day.

I would definitely make this pattern again, and I am sure that it will go more easily next time.