January 31, 2019
We hope that everyone is safe and warm inside during this horrible cold snap — preferably in a safe, warm sewing room full of pretty fabrics and lots and lots of Lee & Pearl™ patterns (like the Pattern 1008 Classic Ball Cap that our custom boy doll is wearing).
This newsletter is all about sewing inspirations!
We'll show you a whole bunch of lovely dresses that our friends have made with our new FREE pattern for mailing list subscribers — and also some absolutely gorgeous ballet costumes made with our Ballet Performance suite of patterns.
Then we'll show you a sneak peek of what's on the Lee & Pearl work table right now, which we know will be BIG NEWS for lovers of the 16 inch A Girl for All Time® and 14 1/2 inch Wellie Wisher® and similar dolls!
Look Who's Making: Pattern 1038 — The Gift Bow Front Dress for 18 Inch, 16 Inch and 14 1/2 Inch Dolls, our current FREE GIFT to Lee & Pearl™ mailing list subscribers.
Look Who's Making: 1072 Corps de Ballet and 1073 Prima Ballerina Ballet Performance Patterns for 18 Inch Dolls — and a SNEAK PEEK from the Lee & Pearl workroom!
It's been almost two months since we released our latest FREE pattern for mailing list subscribers — Pattern 1038: The Gift Bow Front Dress for 18 Inch, 16 Inch and 14 1/2 Inch Dolls — and we're delighted at all the beautiful versions that our mailing list members have created.
The bow front dress was designed for maximum flexibility. You can make it in all three doll sizes. You can make it from a wide variety of woven fabrics. You can make it from a single fat quarter — or you can make it with contrasting or coordinating yoke and sleeves.
Our friends have certainly taken advantage of all that flexibility!
Karen L. made this vibrant cotton version out of small- and large-scale daisy prints. Large prints don't always work on dolls, but with the simple cut of the skirt and the smaller print balancing everything out, this combo is a real winner!
Here's another red-headed doll looking stylish in a pair of coordinating teal blue fabrics. Mary H. made this dress, and we think it looks fantastic!
Here's American Girl Nanea in an adorable fox print dress. The fox print is another larger-scale fabric, balanced with a coordinating earthy brown calico on top. Nice work, Jozel W!
Diana R.S. made a bold design choice for her American Girl doll's dress. We love that added band of striped yoke fabric embellishing the bottom of her skirt!
We love the multi-fabric versions, but sometimes a simple, single-fabric choice best shows off the beautiful bow and pleats that make this dress design so special.
For example, Amy S. used a subtle purple-on-purple print for her doll's beautiful dress.
And Sewbig made this super-sweet pink batiste version for her doll, perfectly accessorized with a dainty pearl choker.
Moving on to the individually-designed smaller sizes that are included in this FREE pattern package — here's the 16 inch A Girl for All Time Matilda, looking soulful in a country calico-and-green broadcloth dress, made by Lesley T.
And here's 16 inch A Girl for All Time Lydia, in a gold satin and royal blue holiday print dress that perfectly sets off her beautiful blue eyes. Great choices, Rachel K!
Finally, here's dainty 14 1/2 inch Wellie Wisher Willa — looking like a snow angel in this white-on-white calico dress, made by Pat P.
Gorgeous!
Some of our friends gave the pattern's flexibility a real workout, making dresses for dolls other than the usual American Girl, A Girl for All Time and Wellie Wisher dolls.
Here's Helen M.W.'s My Life As® doll, wearing a holiday print dress with sparkly gold lamé bow and sleeves.
And here's Karen T's Australian Girl® Matilda looking appropriately summery in a raspberry pink and yellow dress — perfect with her red curls and bright green eyes.
Wow, that's a pretty dress on a pretty doll!
Penny T., one of our pattern testers, promised to try the 16 inch version of the pattern on her vintage Sasha doll.
Here it is — in red velvet and matching red satin. We think that the soft, loose pleats formed by these hard-to-press fabrics give the dress a more tubular, 60s look — which matches the vintage style of the Sasha doll perfectly. Thanks, Penny T!
Jaci G. took her experimentation one big step further — she created this perfectly-fitted dress for her tall, slender Kidz N' Cats® doll by PRINTING THE 16 INCH VERSION OF THE PATTERN AT 115%.
That's right — she created an entirely new size for this pattern, and shared her work with us so we could share it with you. Thank you, Jaci. Awesome job!
Finally, here's a 14 inch Hearts 4 Hearts® Lauryce wearing a 14 1/2 inch pattern size dress made by Linda L. The dress is a near perfect fit, though the H4H dolls are quite a bit thinner than Wellie Wisher dolls, because the tunic style of the dress hangs comfortably from the shoulders on dolls with different waist and hip measurements.
If you are not already a member of our mailing list and would like to receive Pattern 1038: The Gift Bow Front Dress as our FREE GIFT to you, CLICK HERE to sign up.
If you are a mailing list member, but haven't received the download information for this pattern yet, send us an email at info@leeandpearl.com and we'll make sure that you get it.
As we head out of winter Nutcracker season and into spring recital season, we want to share some of the gorgeous images our friends have sent us of ballet costumes made using Lee & Pearl Pattern 1072: Corps de Ballet and Lee & Pearl Pattern 1073: Prima Ballerina — also available as our mix-and-match Ballet Performance Bundle for 18 Inch Dolls.
Here's a real treat...
Julie H. of Sew Dolled Up 81 was asked by the Richmond (VA) Ballet to create doll-scale replicas of the costumes from their production of Cinderella. These costumes will be raffled off, with the American Girl GOTY, Blaire Wilson, as part of the prize.
All we can say is — WOW. Thank you so much for sharing, Julie. These are gorgeous!
Julie sent us a picture of the actual Cinderella bodice from the production (above). You can see what a great job she did with the doll-scale replica. You can also see why our Ballet Performance Bundle patterns are some of our most iconic, just-like-the-real-thing designs.
We worked hard to get the seaming, the construction, the inset panel — and of course those glorious Romantic and Classical tutus — exactly right. With these two patterns, containing two bodice styles and mix-and-match tutus, complete with basque and panty pieces and directions for making your own doll tights out of knee-high socks, you have all the basics you need to create almost any ballet costume you can imagine!
We'll even show you how to create faux lacing on a "peasant" bodice, like the Cinderella rag dress costume bodice (above)!
But wait, there's more — an entire Nutcracker Suite of delectable Snowflake, Flower and Sugar Plum Fairy costumes, made by Karen W. of KLW Designs using our Pattern 1073: Prima Ballerina for 18 Inch Dolls.
Karen made these beautiful outfits for a holiday benefit at the ballet studio where her daughter and granddaughter take classes. We're not surprised to hear that every one of these amazing costumes is already SOLD.
Amazing work, Karen. Thank you for sharing!
CLICK HERE TO SEE PATTERN 1072: CORPS DE BALLET FOR 18 INCH DOLLS IN OUR ETSY STORE
CLICK HERE TO SEE PATTERN 1073: PRIMA BALLERINA FOR 18 INCH DOLLS IN OUR ETSY STORE
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE COMBINED BALLET PERFORMANCE BUNDLE FOR 18 INCH DOLLS IN OUR ETSY STORE
Finally, here's that promised sneak peek at our workroom table...
If you liked the ballet costumes above, then you're going to LOVE this news. Our pattern maker Pearl has been hard at work re-designing the ballet performance bundle patterns for 16 inch A Girl for All Time and 14 1/2 inch Wellie Wisher dolls.
Here is the first completed piece, the Corps de Ballet scoop-neck bodice for 16 inch dolls. Isn't that a fabulous fit?
And here's some more great news for fans of our most iconic patterns. We're not just working on the ballet patterns — we're also working on 16 inch and 14 1/2 inch versions of our Pattern 3001: A Late Medieval Lady's Wardrobe shift, gown and mantle.
We know that these styles will be SO gorgeous on the A Girl for All Time dolls in particular, and we know that lots of our friends have been eagerly waiting for these styles.
We're so excited to finally be working on these patterns! Stay tuned, because these are going to be BIG releases...
See you next week!
— back to the Newsletter Archive —
