Thanks to the Valley Mover for more time…

Aug 192010
 

I have been taking the local commuter bus Valley Mover for 2+ months  now and have found an extra 2 hours a day to sew. This afternoon’s project was the 1″ scale version of my Gwendolyn’s dress. Gwen is 12″ tall and by Gwen Ross of Mystic Mold. I met Gwen Ross at the 1995 Anaheim Doll Show when I won 3rd place for costuming for Letha Marie another doll by her who is 46″ tall. Sadly Gwen Ross is no long with us but I am lucky to have 2 of her dolls. I will be recreating Letha’s gown in miniature soon as well.

When I have more done on the dress I will post photos! The lesson in all this is to take the bus to relax and craft each day! It does not matter where you live… check into your local bus!






 

46″ Letha Marie

12″ Gwendolyn

Sue Darby
~www.suestinycostumes.com

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What dolls do you sew for?

Aug 172010
 

I sew for just about any doll I can lay hands on but there are a few that I really love to sew for. Tiny Kitty and Kitty Collier are among my top two. Gene is another I love to sew for and will shortly have patterns for as well. I need to take photos and finish up her patterns. I adore Tiny Betsy and especially love the challenge of sewing in one inch scale. One doll I have not had the chance to sew for is the Urban Vita I got in January. I am looking forward to working on her patterns soon too!

So who do you love to sew for? Add your comments below!

Sue Darby
~www.suestinycostumes.com

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Sewing again…UFOs and tips

Aug 162010
 

I’m back in the groove of sewing once more… finally! I’m working on kid clothes and things for myself but after a couple more projects Ill be tackling the doll UFOs once more and adding patterns. I take the bus to work and have found that I now have 2 hours to fill and staring out the window is boring after a while especially when it’s foggy and you can’t even see across a divided highway! With my friend Lindsay as the driving force we made a list of all the projects and pieces of fabric, notions and trims I had… I’ve since found more but it was a start! Here’s my tip for the day or more likely tips:

  1. make a list of everything you have and when you bring home more add to the list… it does NOT have to be a fancy relational database or even a spreadsheet it can simply be a notebook with a list. Just keep it updated!
  2. clear plastic envelopes are MARVELOUS for holding patterns and stray pattern pieces and file and stand up better than Ziplocks in a tote or box for storage
  3. go through and finish UFOs before kids outgrow things that are cut out! Now dolls don’t grow but most of us have at least someone in our lives we sew for that grows, a fur pal, neighbor or family kid, volunteer work or ourselves. Finish UFOs before it’s too late!
  4. finishing UFOs clears space for MORE fabric and provides a sense of accomplishment in addition to saving money by actually using the fabric collection you have

Back to finishing up a UFO!

Sue Darby
~www.suestinycostumes.com

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The new site is live!

Aug 082010
 

For 2 years I have been working off and on to redesign and rework my main website. I have a new design, new navigation and a much smaller site. The Crash Course is on it’s own blog site that is just for Tutorials and life is good. From here on I can work on the new patterns that have been in progress for 4 or more years! For now though, enjoy the new look and some surprise new patterns that I didn’t previously have online for sale. In the coming weeks I will be posting about each pattern, new and old with a story of each one’s creation! All my dolls have a tale to tell as to how I found them or how they got their outfits and later their patterns. Even my books have a story behind them.

You will also notice a new menu item on the blog here… I added a resources page for Webrings. I will be reviewing the rings and many of the treasures each ring has as member sites! I’ll also be posting about books and other items available from other sites that I use or have on my wish list.

Enjoy the new look I certainly am!

Sue Darby
~www.suestinycostumes.com

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New Years Goals… notice not resolutions?

May 172008
 

Thursday, December 23, 2004


I plan on updating and posting to this site far more often especially on days when things are going right… on days when things go wrong I’ll probably post that to my Lessons Learned in Business blog. In fact I plan on having several blogs about projects, different dolls and things learned about them like Ken… I have an old Ken (duplicate of one I had as a child, a newer Ken (again a duplicate of the Depp Ken I had as a teen) and then there’s the Jude Deveraux Ken I just recently bought…there’s a lot of differences in the bodies… wouldn’t think it since hey it’s Ken and he’s not the big seller Barbie is! But hey I’ve got to learn about dolls by playing… errr working with them if I’m going to draft and dress them.

Anyway my current goals at the moment are to teach the 101 Mini Drafting class in early January. Teach 102 after the move (from an apt to hopefully a house at the end of January) in late February. Then start development and testing of my 103, 104 and 105 classes for March, April & May thus giving me time to develop part if not all of the 200, 201 and 202 classes for summer. Now with my brother getting married in June, my sister Graduating High School in June and my parent’s 30th wedding anniversary also in June the likelihood of my actually teaching in June is next to nill at this point so I’m looking at having the 200 series start in July.

Also on the drafting table for me is the various patterns for my column in Doll Magazine. The first one is out and was a Fantasy dress & cloak pattern in 1” scale. The next….well it has a theme of “romance” and I already mentioned one of the dolls I did a pattern for earlier so I won’t spoil the surprise yet. I have more patterns for a baby and another lady along with a child that I’ll be doing which will take me all the way to the summer issue. So it’s one of the more important things to get accomplished.

Just that short list is a lot to get done by June so as I finish I’ll update. Keep an eye out!

Sue Darby
~www.suestinycostumes.com

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