Other Stuff, but mostly SPOONFLOWER!!!!!

Alco had a sale on Patriotic Fat Quarters, so I decided to make 4th of July outfits for the Grandgirls' dolls.

The shortie tops are lined, with a self ruffle. I'm pleased and the girls were delighted. All of the pattern pieces fit on a single fat quarter (including the top lining), which worked out perfectly, with very few scraps left over.

And I finished the handspun hat, which goes with the handspun fingerless mittens. They go in the Christmas pile.

But the best thing is that my Spoonflower fat quarter with the original design color/cut/sew 18" doll outfit arrived this morning! I could not be more pleased- the design printed perfectly on the fabric, which is a nice quality quilting cotton. The pieces came out exactly the size I needed them to be, so I know that the skirt, vest and bag will fit the dolls the way I want them to. It is so cool to see my own design on fabric- I can't wait to design more.

And best of all, the markers don't bleed on the fabric much, which means that the girls can color their outfits without too much trouble. The thinner lines on the left are Sharpie pens, which did bleed just a tinch. The wider lines on the right are highlighter markers and there is almost no bleed with them. In either case, the nice fat, dark outlines should keep the colors separate pretty well. I was going to redesign the coloring graphics since I'm more familiar with a vector program now, but you know what? There's nothing wrong with these geometric shapes. They'll be easy and fun to color.

I need to add a few notations to the design instructions (to color the pieces before cutting, and that 1/4" seam allowances have already been added to the pieces, and to color on a protected surface since the markers can bleed through the fabric to whatever is below), but I think it's mostly ready to go. I doubt if anyone will actually want one of these, but I'll make it for sale on Spoonflower just in case (my designer name there is GrammaK). Just so you'll know, in addition to the fat quarter, you'll also need lining fabric for the vest and purse, a bit of velcro (or a snap or a button), and 12" of ribbon for the purse handle.

Speaking of Spoonflower- my apron design is almost done, and I am pretty happy with it. Every time I work in Inkscape, I learn more about the program. The learning curve is steep but I'm plugging away.

P.S. FYI: I don't make any money from sales through Spoonflower if anyone orders a fat quarter, though as a designer, I get a 10% credit toward future purchases.

P.S.S. I made the revisions, and the design is listed- here is the link  Should you be tempted to order a fat quarter, be sure to click *centered* for the design orientation