Hi Everyone! This week we have two fun things to talk about - Personalizing your project and a fun giveaway to enter! Sounds fun, right?
To kick things off, let's do the giveaway! (giveaway ended on 12/2019)
This past summer I had the opportunity to visit London. It was an amazing trip filled with site seeing, shopping and spreading the word about Sew Powerful at the Birmingham Quilt Festival! While I was there I visited the Liberty London flagship store! It was breathtaking, to say the least!
While I was there, I visited Liberty Fabrics up on the top floor! Wow! So many amazing fabrics! It was hard to pick just a few to bring back home with me!
This week, I'm going to share my splurge purchase with one of you! The giveaway for this week is for two 1/3 yard cuts of Liberty cotton lawn, and one adorable London theme print.
How To Enter:
Comment below by answering this question - "What course topics or specific techniques would you like to see us present in 2020?"
The giveaway will close on Monday, November 18th. I'll announce the winner on Tuesday, November 19th and kick off the next giveaway! The winner will be chosen at random from the comments posted under this blog post. One entry per person.
Good luck!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ok, now onto the topic for part 2 - Personalizing your project!
There are several ways to really make your item special! Now it's time to refer to your project planner worksheet and look for ways to integrate the information you've collected.
I'm going to share a few ideas below, gathered from some online inspiration. Then I'm going to pull some instructional content from our video library for the specific techniques to add those elements to your projects.
1. Create a look to match their favorite character, from a book, movie, fairytale, or even a drawing!
The examples posted below are from the Janie and Jack website. They just launched a campaign of fashions inspired by iconic women featured in a new children's book!
In this concept, they're selling the matching children's clothing. For our purposes, I'm using this example to illustrate matching a character for the doll clothes item. The key elements are color, special attention to design elements (like the ruffle bell sleeve on the black dress), and of course the props and accessories. We'll go into the accessories in greater detail next week - stay tuned for that!
The pattern selection for many of these types of ideas is usually pretty basic. The personalization comes from fabric choices and colors!
2. Add embellishments that highlight their love of a specific animal!
In these examples, you can see how simple applique shapes and stitching add to the charm of these basic designs.
Does she love kitties? ThesePJss would be perfect! Animal print knit and a few fabric shapes, create a cute kitty-themed set!
Maybe it's a polar bear or any other cuddly furry animal... In this example, a half-circle sewn on top of the bottom of the shirt with a few added details (eyes ears, and nose) and you have a darling personalized top! Take it one step further and use a fuzzy fleece for the face and glittery fabrics for the nose!
3. How about a favorite color?
In the example below, you can see how they took a classic item, the denim jacket, and created a super girly style! Adding pink sleeves and hood are an easy way to create something special for someone who loves pink. What about rainbows (or hearts, stars, and flowers)? The painted element on the back of the jacket is a super cute "surprise" design element! You can achieve this look with fabric paint, hand made applique or a prepurchased iron on.
4. Add a saying or quote that is special to the recipient!
The "Let it Snow" Piccadilly PJs show this example with the use of a design we created on an electronic cutting machine. Once it's designed int he software, it is cut from a purchased roll of heat transfer vinyl. This is super easy to do once you have a machine and learn to use it.
You can also do this with premade purchased designs, but they might be harder to find in the proper scale.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- Read through the post and think of a way to add some personalization to your project! Share your progress with us in the facebook group - I'd love to see how things are progressing!
- Jump over the SWC Facebook Group here.
103 Comments
So many great comments already – My thoughts are basically reinforcing fellow learners ideas: hats, working with foam for armor, hats, and more; basics of sergers along with alternatives with a regular machine; alteration of patterns to fit the different types of 18 inch dolls; how to select fabrics that will hang correctly on dolls (I have a lot of trouble with this) – it could be done along with a sew along for a specific pattern; working with vinyl and leather to make shoes, purses, and other accessories; and I am sure there are many others above and I would support any and all other suggestions. Thank you!
Thank you for all the great SWC classes. I have learned a ton of information do much that I have started a binder to make notes from the lessons. Doing this for quick reference has helped instead of going back over videos unless I need to. I would like a lesson on making belts, jewelry and how to adapt a lining instead of facings in a doll scale .
Sewing with a serger. Pressing tips. Hats and Boots.
I would love some instruction on leather, and also what kinds of material to use for shoes. Accessories like others suggested would be great. I know you have said you don’t have a serger, but if someone could teach it who has it, beginner use of serger would be awesome. Also maybe on doll sized fun things and where you find all the darling little items you use in your photos!! Thanks for all you do, and to your husband and family too! I’m grateful for this site and happy to be a part of the family. Happy Thanksgiving! We are blessed!
You have covered so many wonderful classes all ready. I would like to see tips on using different feet to add more detail For example pintucks, couching etc. Embelishing outfits with ribbon, buttons etc/