Sew Inspired, LLC - Sleepless Crafter

I make doll tights and for the 1/4” elastic casing for the waist, it’s very difficult to get the seam exactly straight and look good all around, on both inside and out. When I first started making these tights, I tried to get it exactly how the original doll tights were from the manufacturer, which was overcasting the edge and sewing the elastic directly to the fabric rather than using a casing. So I ended up with something like this:

I made a Country Fair reproduction for Barbie and matching outfit for Ken. Listed on eBay.

I am very excited to introduce this handmade swimsuit. It’s like the vintage black and white striped swimsuit, only pink and black. It’s made with stretch knit fabric and can fit pretty much any Barbie size, but it fits a little tight with the 1980’s Barbies. Listed on eBay now.

My son loves my Booful Baby Beans from my childhood, so I decided to give him his own. You can see my restore on my childhood doll on another post . I bought one on ebay for a good deal, but he needed cleaned up a lot. The pictures in the auction didn’t show all the damage that was on this poor guy because the pictures were blurry. The auction description said that he needed wiped off or cleaned, but didn’t mention the holes in the face and rear end. Here are the photos I took when I received him (click on the image to enlarge it): Here are some photos that show how I took off the head so that I can deep clean it and replace the crushed walnut beans with plastic beans: I soaked the body in the sink full of water and laundry detergent for three days, changing the water periodically. I added new hair, which tends to stick straight up (just like my son’s hair). The body really brightened up when I washed it. I scrubbed the head and bottom with magic eraser. It was so filthy. It looks so...

Using Daniel Bingham’s Empire Sundress pattern, I made this shoe dress for my daughter’s 6th birthday. She LOVES shoes. I made the shoe belt to also be a bracelet for my daughter, and matching ear rings. I also made the Barbie’s necklace and bracelet to match. The party’s not until the 15th, so I am anxious to give it to her! She already suspects that she’s getting this Barbie Basics doll because she peaked when I bought some for my other two girls for their birthdays, but she will be so surprised when she sees the ensemble.

My mom has ALS, so she can’t do very much. She’s in a wheel chair and can’t move her arms. Her birthday is coming up and I wanted to make her something special. Last year I made a quilt for her. A few months ago I helped her go through her storage room. She gave me a bunch of fabric, and one piece in particular, she told me that she had wanted to make a dress out of it. So remembering this, I decided to make her a shirt out of this fabric.

My girls and I all have aprons that we use while we clean the house. I wanted to make an apron for my son, so I found this cute pattern online for making a child’s garden apron. I altered it a little by adding another pocket, and I embroidered his name on it. He loves tractors, so I was thrilled when I found this tractor embroidery alphabet .