Doll clothes in the hoop

I recently shared some doll accessories I made and how it is a friend who is into making clothes for her dolls that started me on that path.

What I didn't mention - is that I learned to sew because I wanted to make doll clothes.  I was 7 and figured out how to use the machine by watching my mother.

Last night I was looking at free patterns available on the internet and wondering what things I could make fully or partially in the hoop.

Mitts and Touque

I found a cute little pattern for mitts and a touque from Many Small Friends.  I decided to digitize what parts I could in the hoop.

First up the mitts:

1: Stitches out the basic mitt pattern

2: Embroiders a snowflake

3: Add another layer of fleece and stitches out cutting line and the ribbing pieces.

Next up the toque:  5 pieces for the top 

Step1: stitches a fold line (on the very left) - the rest of the rectangle is just to keep the fleece in place

Stitches cutting line for the front piece 

Step 2: Stitches the snowflake on the front

Step 3: Fold over the fabric on the left on the fold line and stitches the cutting out lines:

• one top section on fold (at left), 
• 2 sets of top sections
• 1 hat band on fold

Step 4: Stitching lines 

• sews 2 sets of top sections together - will end up with 2 sections with 2 and a separate single section
• sews the hat band together.

My friend did the rest of the stitching.   The hat worked perfectly - but because I wasn't careful about how I put the fleece in the hoop for the mitts - the stretch was in the wrong direction - so they don't fit properly (don't stretch to fit over her thumb) - so I have to go back to the drawing board on that one.

Beret

This was stitched entirely in the hoop.   Not at all hard to digitize - just some circles for cutting lines - and another circle to stitch the two layers together.

Dress Bodice

I wanted to investigate making a doll bodice in the hoop - the possibilities for interesting edge finishes are endless.   I made a pattern for a full bodice that would result in a lined bodice in just a little bit of stitching.

I didn't take any pictures of the stitching out, but I did take a picture of the design on my computer screen.

This is a picture of the first fitting of the bodice.

Now to try some fancy edging...