AG II

I powered through the backpack/doll carrier/wardrobe thing for Grace, and her American Girl Doll, this weekend. By the time it was done my jaw was throbbing from clenching it. I was very stressed about the whole thing. Here is a conversation I had with Grace on Saturday:

Me: Grace, I'm working on the zipper right now.
Grace: Why is that a big deal?
Me: Because I've never done one before. Because it's new and kind of scary. And because I'm doing it for you!!!
Grace: Oh..... Thanks, Mom.

(Someone who sews way more than I do once told me that zippers were impossible and that they just don't even try them anymore. So I've been afraid of them. It wasn't so bad. Now I might be able to tackle the cushion covers I've been planning for our couch, put off because they'll have zippers.)

Here's a bunch of photos of the finished project. There are some things I don't like about it, and they are all things I changed about the pattern. Let that be a lesson to me!

I lined the whole backpack with double-sided Pellon and give myself about a quarter inch for sewing. It wasn't enough allowance and as a result, all the angles are not very defined. It doesn't want to stand freely as I anticipated. I would definitely leave at least 3/4 inch allowance around each piece where there would not be the fusible material And when it's in a continuous piece, like all the way around on that zipper piece, I would give a quarter inch or so w/out the Pellon to turn the corner. Oh, well. It was also my first attempt at using a fusible material like that.

One thing I do like is the extra hinged panel I made to tuck inside. The $58 doll bags at the American Girl store had an extra panel and I really liked the idea, so I made one up.

Grace loves the materials I picked and kept saying, "I love the material - how did you know to pick what I liked? It's all my favorite colors!" Ummm, because I'm your mom and I pay attention to what you like?

We couldn't find any doll-sized hangars locally so Grace has to wait until they come in the mail to use the little ribbon hangers in the bag. We did find some that will hang tops, dresses and pants or skirts. I'm so happy this project is finished!!!

(As noted previously, I purchased the original pattern from Dolly Outfitters and used the modifications [mostly] found on Plum Project.)