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The Li’l Sally Doll Dress Pattern

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Please….no more requests to publish my knit doll dress pattern…because it’s done! Finally!


This doll dress pattern comes complete with photo by photo instructions and three pattern sizes fitting a variety of dolls including 10″ and 15″ Waldorf-style dolls (like our Apple Tree House Doll Li’l Sally below):


The sizes also fit American Girl and Bitty Baby/Twins. Here is our Pottery Barn baby Abby modeling the 15″ size:


Li’l Sally has a LOT of Li’l Sally Dresses:


We have so much fun matching Boo up with her dolls (you can use my Sienna Dress Pattern to make a knit girl’s dress to coordinate):


And if you happen to have a 2.5 pound Yorkie like we do…..well, things get out of control sometimes!

 

Nesting Doll Belt (with Download)

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After making my latitude/longitude belt last week, Boo needed a belt of her own. I dye some cotton webbing and made a little nesting doll repeat to make this cute D-ring belt for her. This is an extension of my 30-minute belt tutorial and I’ve added a download of the mini nesting dolls if you would like to make one of your own!

Note: The result of this project will only be as good as the quality of transfer paper you use. The Dharma Trading Super Soft Transfer paper is the only brand I use…..it leaves no plastic look or feel and the pigment actually becomes part of the fabric. I just checked and they have it back in stock too!
I started with cotton webbing/belting and used iDye to change the color…instead of putting it in the washing machine I just used a bucket making sure all the dye was completely dissolved before I added my belting. I like to leave the belt to “bob” and soak in the solution because I think it adds some marbling/distressed texture but if you don’t like this effect just make sure to stir often and keep the belt submerged in the dye solution.


The color ended up slightly darker than I expected…..

….so I gave it a quick dip in a diluted bleach/water solution:


Like my other belt tutorial I printed off the images onto transfer paper and cut them into strips:


I ironed them on according the directions….one after the other….


until my belt was full of cute little nesting dolls:


Add your D-rings as in the original tutorial and you are finished! Another simple gift idea!

Nesting Doll Repeat

Copyright © 2010 by Ashley Hackshaw/Lil Blue Boo. All rights reserved. This nesting doll repeat and individual nesting doll images are for personal and home use only. Please email me at ashley (at) lilblueboo (dot) com for more information. Thank you for respecting my copyright! View copyright information here:
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Sewing Machines, Fabric and Christmas

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Last Saturday I took my sister Perry (visiting for LPGA Q-School) on a trip to L.A. to go fabric shopping. Our first stop? Alberoni Sewing Machine for a new industrial Juki machine. Roy Alberoni was there to greet us bright and early…..his father started the business in 1929! I love businesses with that much history. Alberoni is like a candy store for the serious seamstress….a machine for practically everything you can think of. They even make custom feet attachments for any type of binding or hem etc. Their machines make True Religion jeans, life jackets, Kevlar vests for the military….you name it, they make it.

Then I met Able. Able has been a sewing machine technician for 30 years. He’s soft spoken and serious….and is an expert on these machines. I think I asked him a total of 4,000 questions. I learned more from him in 10 minutes than I’ve picked up in years of sewing! For example, I mentioned that my other serger blades had been dulling more quickly recently…..immediately he knew that I had just been over-tightening them.

Speaking of machines….how long do you think it takes to thread this sewing machine? 33 needles, 33 spools of thread. It takes Able about 3 hours. And if a thread breaks….they have to start all over again. I don’t think I have that kind of patience! Can you guess what this machine makes? See the bottom of the post for the answer.

After Alberoni, Perry and I headed to the Fashion district in L.A. and came home with lots of fun stuff:


I’ve already made a small dent in my new finds:



My sister spent the rest of her stay making a nursery painting for a friend of hers using all my supplies. I had total deja vu with this painting…..I swear it looks EXACTLY like I painted it…handwriting and everything. (Compare to some of mine here)


A new “made to order” dress added to the shop this week! I thought it looked like a holiday dress so I added a silk screened Christmas tree to it:


Then I had some requests for a matching doll dress….which I can never pass up. Each dress comes with a small bag of scraps so you can make hair accessories if you like:


I am so in love with Boo’s Apple Tree House doll….I think I’m in the queue for another custom 10″ doll and I can’t wait!


Boo and I finally got our matching LBB shoes in the mail! I think they turned out so cute! Mine are all wet in the photo because I was chasing Diesel around the yard early this morning as he attacked the gardener Zacarias.

Working on lots of new patterns and Lisa starts this next week finally so hopefully I’ll be publishing some new patterns soon! I’ve got one coming up really soon but it isn’t being published by me so you’ll have to wait and be surprised!

Have a wonderful weekend! I’ve got a contest on my Facebook page right now to name a new style of top I just finished…I’m liking the name “The Weekender” but I can be persuaded to change it if a better name comes up!



Answer to the machine question: It makes those rows and rows of gathering on ruched tops!

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