June 2016

• INTRODUCING Pattern 1017: California Girl Sun Hat for 18" Dolls;
• NEW TWEAK-THE-PATTERN: Pattern 1032 Maxi Dress and Top Empire Waist and Handkerchief Hem Variants for 18" Dolls; and
• GET READY FOR JULY 4th: Swimsuit Fabric Kits, Summer Picnic Pictorial and Painting Plastic Charcoal Grill Tutorial.

We love making hats for 18" dolls, combining geometric shapes with stitches and steam to turn flat fabric into three-dimensional brims and crowns.

Who needs to buy straw or felt hats when it's so easy to turn soft denim and twill — or lightly-interfaced cotton calico — into shapes as cute as our California Girl Sun Hat!

We are proud of our growing catalog of perfectly-fitted, perfectly-scaled hat patterns for 18" dolls, like our Classic Ball Cap, Trucker Hat, Bush Hat or "Boonie," Patrol Cap, and stylish Glengarry. Lee & Pearl™ patternmaker "Pearl" studied millinery — that's hat making — at the famous Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. For us, hat pattern design is both art and science!

The CALIFORNIA GIRL SUN HAT starts with a head-hugging six-gore crown. Make the crown out of two alternating colors, a single color, three colors — or even six colors. We'll show you how to adapt our stitching, pressing and topstitching directions to your choice.

Onto that crown base, we have fitted a lightly curved and flipped-back sun hat brim. Designing doll brims can be a challenge. Though the dolls are approximately 30% human scale, their heads are over 50% — as are their hat crowns. But a brim that matches such a crown can look cartoonishly large.

We love this kind of challenge — and we love the brim we designed for this hat, which we think hits the perfect scale compromise. It's drafted to be just wide enough to balance and flatter the doll's face, suggesting a wide-brimmed sun hat, without being overly wide-brimmed.

 

Spiral topstitching on the brim adds sturdiness to the curved shape, and is both easy and fun to create, with no ugly start-and-stop lines! And do you like the cheerful, retro-look, rick rack trim edging on our Chrissa's hat? We've included directions for adding such trims neatly and permanently into the brim before finishing it.

Finally, the CALIFORNIA GIRL SUN HAT is fully lined, so no seam edges will catch on your doll's hair. Back in those Fashion Institute classes, "Pearl" learned how to create an easy two-piece lining that is slightly smaller than the finished crown for a perfectly smooth interior.

The CALIFORNIA GIRL SUN HAT is rated EASY/INTERMEDIATE.

The construction of this hat is simple. The crown fits together in a series of nearly straight seams, and we'll walk you through topstitching the brim, attaching it to the crown, and inserting the lining, using mostly machine stitching, with limited hand basting and finishing recommended.

As usual, Lee & Pearl's photo-illustrated directions and computer-drafted, guaranteed-to-fit-together pattern pieces make each step as easy as possible.

But making a hat that holds its own shape is not quite the same as making a piece of clothing that gets its shape from the body inside. Though no step in this process is difficult, it is important that every step, particularly steps involving pressing curved shapes, be followed exactly.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO PATTERN 1017: CALIFORNIA GIRL SUN HAT FOR 18" DOLLS IN OUR ETSY STORE

We are thrilled at the response to our recent Pattern 1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress, Halter Top and Beaded Chokers for 18" Dolls. So many people have made the dress and top — and they've posted gorgeous pictures all over the Internet!

Here's one of our favorites, from Nina J. of SmallScaleStyles on Etsy. Her custom American Girl doll Genesis looks absolutely fabulous in this mint-and-gold chiffon version of the Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress. Diana Ross, eat your heart out!

And we can't resist sharing this darling image from Pat P. of Facebook group Doll Plaza, which demonstrates the flexible fit of the Desert Sunrise top and dress — perfect for a wide variety of dolls, and small green amphibians.

With a pattern this popular and versatile, we knew we had to put together a Tweak-the-Pattern package for it soon.

We love it when people take our patterns beyond the outfit on the cover — in fact, we often do that ourselves. And we love featuring those new ideas in our newsletters as part of our ongoing Tweak-the-Pattern feature.

We didn't have to wait long for the first great tweak idea. Before we even released the pattern, one of our testers, Rachel K. of NatureFairyTreasures on Etsy, shared with us her experiments with wrapping the halter ties around the arms and front instead of the neck, for a high-waisted effect.

Isn't that lovely? We immediately had to try this ourselves.

This elegant and feminine Empire-waist style is the perfect silhouette for a retro 1970s doll, an era when maxi dresses like our Desert Sunrise were all the rage. The criss-crossed straps are also great for fantasy-loving dolls. Doesn't our Molly look ready for some Mother of Dragons or elf maiden cosplay in her brown gauze dress with extra-wide bias binding straps?

But we didn't stop there! Shortly after we released the Desert Sunrise pattern, "Lee" asked "Pearl" if the original curved hem of the maxi dress and halter top could be altered into a trendy, high-low handkerchief hem as a second variation in the Tweak-the-Pattern package we were planning.

At first, Pearl said "no" as handkerchief hems are typically squared-off variants of full-circle skirts, and the skirts on this pattern are 3/4 circles instead. But Lee insisted, so Pearl gave it a try, and oh my goodness — how adorable!

This adaptation of the original pattern looks just as great on the halter top as on the maxi dress and requires no additional materials or special techniques. You won't even have to make a new pattern piece, as we'll show you how to place the original curved-hem top or dress pattern piece onto a folded rectangle of fabric to cut a squared-off handkerchief hem instead.

Keep the top or dress light and fluttery with a narrow 1/8" hem — or follow our directions to create an intentionally frayed edge for a boho-appropriate fringed look.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE EMPIRE WAIST AND HANDKERCHIEF HEM MAXI DRESS AND TOP VARIANTS TWEAK-THE-PATTERN PACKAGE

NOTE: You will need to separately purchase Lee & Pearl Pattern #1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress, Halter Top and Beaded Chokers for 18" Dolls to get the pattern pieces and basic dress and top directions for this tweak.

Our download management system may ask for your email address. If you're already on our mailing list, use the same address that you signed up with.

 

Independence Day is almost here. Get your dolls ready for summer picnics, BBQs and pool parties!

Though our Swimsuit Sample Sale is almost over — there's only one item left! — we are still offering all the SWIMSUIT FABRIC & TRIM KITS in our Etsy store at a 20% discount. Check out these coordinated collections of high-quality, spandex-blend swimwear fabrics, with generous lengths of fold over elastic included, before they're all gone: Sea Turtles In Paradise, Big Top Beach Party, Urban Sprite and Ice Princess Swim & Skate.

And please enjoy our 2015 July 4th Picnic Pictorial, which includes detailed information on the patterns and fabrics used, as well as tutorials and sources for the props and accessories.

Finally, check out our Painting Fire: Glowing Coals Plastic Painting YouTube Tutorial for a step-by-step look at how to turn an inexpensive plastic toy into an amazingly realistic doll-scale BBQ.

See you next month...