All I Can Do -- Leslie Moore

Ok! So, yeah, it's definitely been a while since I've posted! But, like I said, inspiration comes and goes as it pleases. I will not be a frequent blogger on this, but whenever I get into the sewing groove, I'll try and post something.

Today's outfit is one I made in August 2011, so, about a year ago. I never got around to typing up a how-to though. So, I'll give it my best shot to relate how I made it.

The girl in the pictures is Leslie Moore, she was a member of a popular Christian pop group in the early 2000s called Jump5. This is what she wore in the music video for their song "All I Can Do".

The break-down is as follows: 2 tank tops, a pair of jeans, a pair of sneakers, and a cast wrap for her right hand.

TANK TOPS



Ok, there are two tank tops that overlap each other. The base one is cerulean blue and one sholdered. The sholder piece goes over the right sholder. I used the pattern "Trendy Tank Top" from Liberty Jane. This is one of their free downloadable patterns. I followed the pattern, but after cutting out the pieces, I cut off the left sholder pieces, and then hemmed a downward slope to the under arm. Another thing to notice is the slits at the bottom of the shirt, on both hips.

I cut mine a bit too far up from the hem line, as you can see from the top picture of Leslie, it seems like the bottom of the slits are very narrow and string-like.

Onto the the next layor!

This tank top is black with a purple accent,. I used another free download pattern from Liberty Jane, called the "Strappy Tank Top". I couldn't find it under their website, but then I remembered they had emailed it to me after I signed up (for free) for their newsletter. So, it's free to sign up, and they'll email you two free patterns. The Strappy Tank was one of them. The website is www.libertyjanepatterns.com.

Alrighty, so, I used the Strappy Tank pattern, but had to extend and widen the left sholder pieces to get the black sholder. I followed the rest of the pattern as is though. For the purple strap, I cut two 4 1/2 inch pieces of 1 inch purple trim casing and sewed the bottoms together. I then attached the strap according to the instructions given on the pattern.





I also cut one 4 1/2 inch piece of the same casing and sewed it longways (on the front) under the purple strap. I hemmed the top before sewing onto the tank, but after sewing on, I folded the bottom over the hem of the shirt and sewed.



PANTS, SHOES, HAND WRAP

For the pants, I used a dark blue denim and the pattern Simplicity 3936.

I had already had a pair of doll sneakers, so, use whatever you have at home!

For the hand wrap, I used a strip of black fabric and a strip of light purple lace trim. wrap the lace around the hand first, and then layor the black piece over it.

Well, there you have it folks! I hope this write up was easy enough to follow! Happy sewing!





Maid Marian/Nightwatchman

This is one of my favorite outfits of Marian in the entire Robin Hood series! I love how they gave the show's wardobe a modernized twist. It still had a medieval feel to it, but it didn't scream "Outdated 1st Century clothing".

Ok, so this outfit is made up of seven pieces. The base long-sleeved shirt, the reversible vest, the cape/skirt, the pants, the boots, the scarf, and the mask. First, I researched the costume, looking up and studying several pictures of the costume. I began with the pants. Now, I didn't use exact colors (hard to find sometimes) but it's still reasonably close.



Simplicity 3936



They were really straight forward to make, I just used the blue jeans pattern from Simplicity 3936. 

The skirt/cape was very simple as well. I just cut out a rectangular piece of fabric, deminsions appr. 9"x14". Hem on all sides. On the front of the skirt, I sewed two bar hook-and-eyes. The eyes get sewn on the top right edge (skirt is facing up) and the bar hooks get placed at the top left. The hooks don't get placed right on the edge however, they have to be a little inset in order for the skirt to close properly.

 Now, onto the long sleeved shirt. This was a challenge for me because of the draped hood. I have a pattern for a hoodie jacket, (McCall's M4896) but the hood is to close-fitting. So, I made my own pattern, inspired by another set of Simplicity patterns I have for human-scale cloaks and capes. Simplicity 9887. The pattern is almost a square. My deminsions were 8"(left side)x8"(top side)x8and1/2"(right side).

 With the left, right, and top sides measured out, the bottom side must be a little sloped, as shown (the bottom is the side that attaches to the sholders, that is why it is sloped). Other than down-sizing it, the pattern does not belong to me. All copyrights for this pattern goes to Simplicity. I just made it work for my purposes. I don't think I can give instructions on how to make the hood, since those belong to Simplicity. 

For the sleeves, I used the sweater sleeves from Outfit F from Simplicity 3936. (in the same set as the pants pattern =)) I think I used the entire sweater pattern, but I had to make modifications since I added the hood. Which was no small feat. =/ When I first connected the hood, there was no possible way the hoodie would slip over the dolls head, so I opened up the front of the shirt.



Now, both the front and the back are open, giving the dolls head enough room to fit through. The back closes with three regular hook/eye clasps, and the front laces closed. I made the scarf from the same material as the hoodie. The scarf deminsions are appr. 27"x4".

The vest was, without a doubt, the hardest piece to make. Because, my dear friends, it must be reversible, and I don't have a pattern for a reversible vest. So, I used the vest pattern from Simplicity 3936 for starters. I had to make modifications to the pattern because it needs to close in the front. I traced the basic shape of the pattern, cut it into three pieces, then redrew all the sides, making it longer and shaping it exactly how I wanted it. For the record, I followed the instructions for making the bodice of Dress D from Simplicity 2768 in order to make the sholder and arm skye seams look reversed.

 In order to make the vest reversible, I hemmed the sides inward, and then stitched them together with the brown thread. 

 One side of the vest is green, and the other side (same fabric) is a tanish color. I found some fancy buttons at JoAnn's, and sewed three per side. Now, the buttons are for looks, they don't function. (Because I don't know how to make functioning buttons like that.) So, I hid eyes under the buttons, the added the hooks to the opposite sides of the vest. Two hook/eyes per side.

For the boots, I was able to Google a free downloadable shoe (not boot) pattern and used it. I had to Google images of boot patterns to find the deminsions for the leg piece. I closed the back with a hook/eye.

Lastly, we come to the mask. It took me a long while to figure out how I would make the mask. I finally just measured the length of a pair of doll glasses and that was my scale size.

 The length of the mask is 10cm, and the maximum height (the highest point above the eyes) is 3cm. I made two cutouts from a stiff lining, colored them brown with marker, and hot glued them together, sandwiching the ends of two pieces of 11inch string at the corners of the eyes.



Maid Marian




The Nightwatchman



 I hope this was at least a little understandable. I have never given instructions like this before. If you have any further questions, please ask and I will try and answer the best I can. Thanks for reading and happy sewing!

What this blog is for, or, Much ado about doll clothes.

This is my very first attempt at "blogging". I've figured it's kinda like a very public diary. =P So, in this blog, "Cinema inspired doll clothes" I am going to talk about my favorite movie costumes, and take you through the journey of scaling them down to fit 18 inch dolls (like the American Girl Doll).

"Why doll sized?" you may wonder, "Why don't you make full scale costumes?" First point: Making full scale clothes is veerrryy time consuming, and expensive. I don't have the patience or money to spend on something that I could only wear on Halloween. But, when I watch a movie or tv show, a certain piece in the wardrobe will hit me with a sudden inspiration to try and replicate the outfit. Which brings me to my second point: Inspiration is fleeting. From experience, I just don't have what it takes to dedicate myself to that large of a project. Once the inspiration is gone, so is the will to finish the costume. =/ I make doll versions of the costumes and I find I can spend more time on little details (such as embroidery) and it won't take me a million years to do. Plus, if you have a machine, making doll clothes simply flies by! =D

So, feel free to follow me as I make these doll sized replicas of movie costumes, and definitly feel free to drop any tips or suggestions along the way! This is a journey for me. =) One that will hopefully make me a better seamstress.