Lesson of the month for me…

Aug 222010
 

No matter what you do always write yourself a note to go with new patterns and cut out projects. You never know how long it will be until you get back to an item!

I am working on a beautiful square neck lame top and black pleated pants suit item for my Dollfie but for the life of me I can’t figure out what I was thinking when I designed and cut the project out! The top isn’t so bad and is almost done now but the pants have me completely puzzled so I’m hoping that once I have the top done and on her the rest will fall into place!

Here’s a good example of a simple New Pattern or Project Planning Page:

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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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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Newly aquired items for the week … so far

May 172008
 

Wednesday, July 28, 2004


Well I’ve gotten my dollfie… I adore her! I also decided to join in on Dana of Miniature Art ‘s online class for Madeline through Mini Doll U later in August.
It has also been determined that my Pattern Drafting for Ladies 101 class is not going to be repeated for the rest of the year. This is due to this fall and early winter where I’ll be very busy moving and with holiday work and have decided that I can only handle so much solo.
However the 102 Stylizations Class will be going on in late Sept!
The larger doll classes are ongoing and 102 Stylizations for Larger Dolls will start also in late Sept or early Oct!
I’ll have another class for a lady dwarf that is in the planning stages and looks like it will be going on sometime in October!
I’m hoping to hear back on the purchase of a Ginny soon and look forward to hopefully adding her to my collection. I also have a friend on another list who is looking to make space in her house and has some dolls to send me… I seem to be a doll magnet this month… Dollfies, Tika, porcelain mini dolls and some surprise dolls!
Keep an eye out for more info on new patterns as I am nearly done with a couple more designs for Tiny Betsy who is soooo easy to sew for while sewing for my children this summer! I am now behind on my incentive sewing for my daughter… I trade chores and good behavior for doll clothes… man does this work well! I owe her about 6 outfits now. I should also have patterns for Tika, Dollfie (gee she needs a name badly) and any other dolls that I don’t already have pages up for!

Sue Darby
~www.suestinycostumes.com

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