Paper Dolls

I loved Betsy McCall paper dolls as a kid. I remember cutting them out of magazine pages. Maybe I didn't see every issue of McCall's or I had to share them with sisters. But they seemed rare and precious. There is something about the task of carefully cutting out a doll. I remember being oh-so-careful when cutting the slits in the stand so Betsy would stand up securely. Cutting out her clothes. Making sure the tabs didn't get cut off, then folding them carefully over so they wouldn't show when the doll was dressed. Playing with them until they were tattered. And waiting eagerly for the next issue!

When I got older, I discovered Tim Tierney and Dover books. OMG. I no longer cut dolls out, I just paged through his books. I love the costumes and the glamor and the history. His American Family Dolls from different eras.

His books of Fashions from Decades are so much fun! Dresses by Schiaparelli, Dior, Adrian, Balmain, Chanel. A red carpet on paper!

Tim Tierney, King of Paper Dolls, died last week. He left a legacy of paper dolls for all ages. Collect the books. Cut them out, play with the dolls. Or not! Maybe, like me you just turn the pages and remember being a kid.

See the Paper Doll Books I have for sale at DellaJane. Have fun and cut carefully!

DIsney Princess!

Doesn't every little girl want to be a princess sometime in their life? We visit Disneyland and have breakfast with Cinderella. We dress up on Halloween as our favorite Disney Princess. My favorite is Mulan. (I know she isn't really a princess, but she is a Disney Princess, so there.) There are lots of patterns for princess costumes. And there are lots of patterns for Disney Princess costumes. Like these:

I've sewn a few princess costumes in my time! But not like this one! Do you have a four-legged princess? Put her into a princess costume! Don't wait for Halloween, just dress her up and make her fantasy come true! And if you don't want a dog princess, try a fireman or cowboy costume!

See these patterns and more at DellaJane.com

Team Feedsack?

Love 'em or hate 'em - feedsacks don't have many quilters in the middle! If you are Team Feedsack, you love them! You want to see them, to own them, to use them in your quilts. I love vintage fabric, and one subset of that love is feedsacks. I have my favorites, which reflect my likes in current commercial fabrics. I like color and I like bright. I like novelty prints. I prefer geometric to floral. That said, I'll share some of my favorites & maybe even some of my not-so-favorites!

What's not to love about this Hawaiian print! Think vacation, relaxing, sitting on the beach!

Or maybe a vacation cruise is more your style? Sailboats anyone? I was excited to see this feedsack on Page 81 of Susan Miller's Vintage Feed Sacks! And again in a different colorway on Page 91.

My geometric favorites are plaids. I LOVE LOVE LOVE 1950s plaids! This yellow and black plaid feedsack makes me want to make a yellow and black quilt. Or maybe I should work on the yellow and gray quilt already started?

Here is another interesting geometric. I'm not too wild about the color scheme of Avacado Green and Harvest Gold, but the design is funky!

I'm not into floral fabrics - this sunflower feedsack is an exception. Probably that grid behind the flowers makes it more appealing to me!

I have to show you some floral feedsacks because they are really popular with everyone but me. I don't hate them, I just don't love them!

You can find most of these feedsacks and other vintage fabrics on my website. Feel free to browse, even if you are Team I Hate Feedsacks! I'm hoping I can make a few people think differently about feedsacks!

Aprons - What's Not To Love?

What's not to love about apron patterns? I love vintage apron patterns - they make me think of my grandmother, who almost always wore an apron.

If you can't find a vintage pattern, there are many current retro patterns:

And newer apron patterns make me drool with the wide array of styles available! There are Mother and Daughter Aprons:

Gardening Aprons:

His and Her Aprons:

And oh, the lovely patterns for aprons for little girls!

All these and more can be seen on my website DellaJane Cloth & Patterns. Please visit! I find lots of uncut apron patterns - if you are making aprons, I'd love to hear from you and see a photo of your creation!

A Month of Feedsacks

I often notice that snippets of my life have themes. Several years ago, I found feathers on my daily walk almost every day for a month. Not before or after! Another time, it was bone china teacups. My sister's collection grew a bit! This month the recurring theme is feedsacks - those love 'em or hate 'em fabrics from the 1930s and '40s. Some quilters remember wearing clothing made from feedsacks, some collect them, others use them because they love the fabric designs. My Feedsack Month started when I visited the Homestead Monument in Beatrice, Nebraska. I bought a copy of Vintage Feed Sacks by Susan Miller in the gift shop. It's a wonderful reference book, filled with photos and descriptions. If you are a collector or a user of feed sack fabrics, I recommend this book, if just for the drool value!


The feedsacks I've found this month have ranged from 5" squares to complete bags in wonderful designs! The first was this sunflower feed sack. The flowers are overlaid on a gray grid. It is still in bag form and in excellent condition.

Feedsack #2 is a yellow and orange plaid overlaid with a brown vine. The stitches were taken out, but the holes are still quite obvious.
And the most wonderful find this month was this Hawaiian print: I LOVE the hula dancer!

If it is September......

Halloween is just around the corner and it's time for costumes! I love adore costume patterns! I sewed lots of costumes for my kids as they were growing up. And lots of patterns have passed through my collection. Here are a few favorites...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. My daughter's TMNT costumes weren't made from a pattern because there were no patterns. I combined a couple of patterns to get the look I wanted. One Halloween she was a TMNT; the next year, we added a long overcoat from the thrift store and she went trick-or-treating as a TMNT disguised as a man. One father, out with his son, didn't get her costume and made a snotty remark. His son, who DID get it, called Dad on it right away. "Dad, don't be so dumb. She's a Turtle disguised as a man. Duh." Making everyone but DD (Dumb Dad) happy. Butterick came out with a pattern for the Turtle costumes in 1990.

Clowns. I can't resist clown costume patterns. Even if I know I already own 3 copies, I have to buy every one I see. This 1965 Simplicity pattern for Happy the Clown, Bobo the Clown, Bubbles the Clown and Jingles the Clown is my favorite.

What Halloween is complete without a witch or two? I made this witch costume around 2000. Still love it! I may have a scrap or two of that black and silver fabric around somewhere!

Not only did I sew costumes for my girls, I also made matching costumes for their 18" dolls. I usually had to modify an existing doll pattern. This Pumpkin Costumes pattern for the entire family includes a costume for the 18" doll AND the family dog!

My last "favorite" costume pattern is another I made. Three girls, 3 M&M's. I still have at least one of these costumes in the Halloween tubs. Maybe someday, a grandchild will wear it.....

The last costume I sewed was for myself. I made two (if one is good, two is better!), one purple for "dress", one black for everyday. Simplicity 9887 is an easy pattern to make if you want to whip up a wizard's costume with a little pizzaz!

If it is September, Halloween is just around the corner. Time to find your favorite costume pattern and start sewing!

Ahhh.... the smell of line-dried laundry!

There are two kinds of people, those who LOVE the smell of line-dried clothes and those who HATE it. Put me on the "love that scent" side! I spent many hours doing the family laundry at my Grandmother's house. Yes, laundry was a chore, but it meant I got to go to Grandma's house and be ALONE! Not a minor thing when you come from a big family who lives in a small house!

On my recent trip to China, this house on the Grand Canal in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, was just one of hundreds I saw with clothes hung out to dry.

Back to laundry! Hanging clothes on a line requires clothespins. And clothespins require storage and easy access.

My favorite is the Clothespin Apron. This pattern, McCall Kaumagraph No. 777 is from the early 1900's. It is fabulous! The clothespin designs are stamped onto fabric, then embroidered.

Clothespin aprons are back in vogue as many people are finding the scent of line-dried laundry to be irresistible and thrifty. Here is a link to a free Clothespin Apron pattern.

Make an apron, hang your laundry outside, inhale deeply!