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Here are some photos of finishing up the shorts and the completed result. In this last progress shot here you see I've sewn the button hole. My machine has a one-step button hole feature but I can't get it to work on denim. So instead I sewed 2 parallel zig zag stitches then actually hand-sewed the ends of the button hole. Then I use the technique where I pin an end and use a seam ripper to cut the hole in the fabric.
I worked from the inside of the garment out, so one of the last things I did is sew the leg holes once the whole thing had been assembled, and sewed the top strip to the rest (showed pinned in the first image).
I ended up just using velcro in place of the zipper below the front button. And then sewed strips of velcro to hold the left hip of the shorts together. That velcro area is a bit more noticeable than I had hoped, but oh well. I'm not sure what I could use instead - I'll have to think about it.
Then pictures of the completed shorts. I'll upload a few of my doll wearing the shorts in a bit.
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Here are the shorts on my doll. Overall the fit is pretty good. They're a bit loose in the butt when she's standing straight up, but I guess that's better than being too tight and not fitting. And the side velcro attachment is noticeable, but I guess that's the price to pay for being able to easily take them on and off. I'm pretty happy with the result - it gave me confidence that I can use the masking tape pattern making technique. This was a good first garment sewing project and I'm looking forward to the next one.
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Super cool result for a first project, hopefuly it gives you motivation to push for more!
Now that it's done, what would you do differently if you were to craft this short again?
From the many cosplayers youtube channels I watched (Kamui Cosplay for example), a nice tip I learnt is to only pattern half of the piece, and just flip them to create the symetrical side, should be a huge time saver.
Anyway, all the best for your future projects, will follow your thread closely
Mr Franz wrote: ↑Thu Aug 10, 2023 4:16 am
You have mad sewing skill, jr_geppetto!
Hey, every thought about making a pattern of your entire doll? Like a plush doll version of her?
Thank you, Mr. Franz! But no I hadn't thought of making a plush version - I'll leave that to the experts at Teddy Babes. I do plan to make a pattern of her torso so I can make some tops and dresses.
Stocking_Hunter wrote: ↑Thu Aug 10, 2023 9:11 am
First Project!
I want to see the next one! Those look awesome.
Thank you. Well maybe technically my second sewing project. Years ago maybe around 2005 or so I made a sport coat with long tails for a haunted house character - a monster circus ringmaster. But that was a very different project. I just took the pattern from an existing sport coat. And it didn't have to look good or finished since it was for a darkly lit haunted attraction. And I actually forgot how to sew between then and now.
Raviolin wrote: ↑Thu Aug 10, 2023 8:39 am
Super cool result for a first project, hopefuly it gives you motivation to push for more!
Now that it's done, what would you do differently if you were to craft this short again?
From the many cosplayers youtube channels I watched (Kamui Cosplay for example), a nice tip I learnt is to only pattern half of the piece, and just flip them to create the symetrical side, should be a huge time saver.
Anyway, all the best for your future projects, will follow your thread closely
Thank you for the symmetry tip - I'll have to try that. What would I do differently? Well I think the shorts came out ok, but I probably need to improve my speed / efficiency. And I probably did a lot of "reinventing the wheel." I don't really know standard sewing techniques and I don't know what I don't know. For example I see more experienced sewers buying these tissue paper pattern packets from stores and using them. I don't know how that works, and I specifically chose posterboard for my patterns because its tough and I can precision cut it with an x-acto knife. But I think I need to learn how other sewers do things.
I have a few new projects to post. The first one is a simple one - just painting some shoes for my doll. She's been on a lavender kick lately. When I got these shoes, she asked me to make them cute for her. I painted the bottoms with acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium for more adhesion. The paint has stayed on well. It was a bit tacky at first, but not too bad. I painted the metal eyelets for the laces with enamel.
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I like how they turned out, even though the colors don't exactly match. It's amazing how just a little paint can change the look so much!
The next project I finished recently is a custom belt. I copied it from the belt below that didn't fit. This photo shows the problem I had. My doll's wide hips curve into her small waist at such an extreme angle that she's not able to wear this belt. So I decided to make a custom belt for her with a curved cut instead of a straight cut to fit her.
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To make the new curved belt, I started out by resuing part of the pattern from my shorts. The top of the shorts have a loop panel and I just edited that to make the belt pattern. I had to lengthen it to create the belt overlap.
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I don't know how to work with materials like leather or vinyl, so I decided to use canvas instead. I cut out 4 copies of the pattern in canvas and sewed them together to get the proper thickness of the belt.
After the canvas layers were sewed together, I painted it with acrylic gesso. I applied the gesso with a palette knife so a lot of it would sink into the "valleys" or creveses of the canvas and fill it up. Then I let it dry. At this point, the edges were very rough because the ends of the canvas had frayed before they got painted. But that's no problem because I used sandpaper to sand them down. Then another layer of gesso, then sanding down again to make it smooth.
After I smoothed out the belt, I drilled holes for the metal eyelets or grommets. I bought a pack of metal eyelets that came with tools. You place the tools above and below the eyelets as guides and hammer them in. I also ordered a double prong belt buckle similar to the one used in the original belt. I used my smallest drill bit to pre-drill a bunch of small holes to sew a belt loop on that I made using the same canvas-gesso technique.
And here is the finished belt - it fits my doll great! It's a big improvement over the original. I think I could use these techniques for future accessories projects like custom chokers, corsets, or even shoes.
