I have had Geniece for 3 months now, and within the first month I was fed-up with store-bought clothes that do not fit her properly. Children's sizes for the bottom, but none accommodate the difference between her hips and waist, because children do not have hourglass figures. XS woman's sizes for the top, tight over her small but well-rounded boobies, and still too big elsewhere, usually too long. The only way to make clothes fit well, was to make them myself. Some were more successful than others, but here are descriptions and pictures of my efforts so far. As always, the frustrating difference between what the mind can visualize and what the hands can make!
The first item is a set of fluffy winter pj's, made from Mongolian fleece, already mentioned in an earlier post. I worked entirely from imagination and a few basic measurements, so the pants are a bit tight between the legs, especially with her legs bent. The top fits better, it was deliberately made double-breasted, so that I could sew on press studs in the right places, after ensuring that it fitted comfortably.
- Winterpjs.jpg (63.68 KiB) Viewed 1503 times
Next I made an off-the-shoulder dress from stretch velvet. The fabric is available in some really rich colors, but with TPE's tendency to absorb colors, I went for a pale gold. The pattern provides instructions on how to make it for a particular body's measurements, although some adjustment may be necessary. Found at
https://www.fabricwholesaledirect.com/b ... -tutorials, if anyone wants to try it.
- Velvet1.jpg (74.41 KiB) Viewed 1503 times
- Relaxing in the late afternoon sun, highlighting the fabric texture.
- Velvet2.jpg (42.46 KiB) Viewed 1503 times
The babydoll was designed by looking at pictures of stuff available at online stores, and a few basic measurements. The white lace was bought, the sheer fabric for the lower part is from late mother-in-law's box of scraps. It is made from red fibers in one direction and blue in the perpendicular direction, so quite fun to watch the play of light on it, but the phone camera cannot do it justice. Fastens at the back, with 2 sets of press studs.
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Next I bought half a meter each of white and blue Lycra, to make a bikini. I decided to make a "dummy run" using stretch fabric from the offcuts box again, Lycra costs too much to make mistakes. The basic design for the bikini top can be found on Youtube,
https://youtu.be/809reMCNwCc. It is said that you can tie it in 17 different ways, I have tried 4. I changed the basic wineglass shape pattern into a Y shape, the wineglass shape is good for relatively flat-chested girls. Geniece is small overall but quite well-rounded, so an unshaped bikini top won't do. Everything is held together with slightly stretchy white string. I still have to pluck up the courage to repeat all of this with the Lycra. It will be somewhat different, because it is meant to be reversible, white against her skin for longer times, blue only for short times. Bikini bottom: some width measurements, at regular distances to the front and back, from a convenient reference point (use your imagination!). Basically two triangles as big or small as you like, held together by a narrow straight part, and corners of the front and back triangles tied together on her hips, with more white string. At my first attempt, the back triangle was way too small, after all, my girl is naughty, not slutty!
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- Bikinifrontnback.jpg (121.89 KiB) Viewed 1503 times
The next design was very little work: how to wrap a woman in one long, narrow piece of fabric. Another scrap box special, almost 4 meters of stretchy fabric, I don't know what it is called. Start with the middle of the piece behind her neck, down the front and through her crotch, tied in a knot behind her back to stop it from splitting, and around her waist to a knot or bow at the front. Another variation: Start behind her neck as before, cross over at the front, over her breasts and then around the sides to pass through her crotch from back to front, knotted at the front to stop the two strands from splitting, and ending in a knot or bow behind her back. More variations are possible, fun for the future.
- The top one asks: Wanna play?
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- Strapback.jpg (45.47 KiB) Viewed 1503 times
Next, a very colorful top, similar to the bikini top, but made from two triangles of non-stretch fabric from the scraps box, so needing some shaping, and not fitting as well as the stretchy fabric. I think the yellow and orange go well with blue denim.
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The latest design was made from a piece of pink silk, also from the scraps box. It had a tear on one side and a line defect the whole length of it, so I had to plan carefully, to at least make a set of short summer pj's out of it. I measured a denim short and added a bit all around, to get a basic pattern, that would fit her comfortably. Simple elastic to hold it snug around her waist, something the denim short cannot do. Only a 50 x 40 centimeter rectangle was left after making the shorts, so the top needed some imaginative planning. I cut a piece of paper to the size of the fabric, cut it diagonally into 2 triangles, and then fitted the paper triangles to cover the most necessary parts of her. One of the pictures shows the paper triangles hanging loosely over her, to test the principle. Fortunately it was possible to fit each triangle with its longest edge going over her shoulders, one from the back and one from the front. The upper tips are sewn to the edges of the adjoining triangle, the lower corners are fastened with my favorite, press studs, under her arms. This makes for an interesting asymmetric top that is easy to fit or remove over her head, no need to battle her arms through sleeves, and with enough opportunity for wandering hands to enter, without removing it
).
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- Summersilkfrontnback.jpg (115.21 KiB) Viewed 1503 times
I still have to figure out a way to make her a bra, because as said in an earlier post, good luck to anyone hoping to buy a 26C in any store.
Its a big plus when you have sewing skills. I use an old Singer machine to do basic alterations, but haven't tried to make anything from scratch. Thanks for the photos..... they give me some ideas.... 
✂
You are very skillful! 
