Sewing American Girl Doll Clothes Is My New Mid-Life Crisis Hobby

One Facebook Story of my little niece holding her brand-new American Girl doll later, and my summer fate is sealed!

The art of sewing doll clothes is fairly new to me, but I always like to learn new things. And once upon a time I would also have told you that the sewing of tiny garments full of fussy, precise details did not appeal to me, but tbh I think that I, myself, am growing fussier as I age, because I kind of don't mind it now. So many precise 1/4" seams! So much tidy edge stitching! Such fussy cutting of novelty prints! I used to hurry through all my sewing to get to the finish as quickly as possible, more than ready to move on to the next exciting thing, but lately I've been pretty into the process, taking my time and focusing on the details and whiling away whole evenings puttering through a project while listening to endless audiobooks.

I just finished Endgame, which was a biography of Bobby Fisher, and now I'm ready for The Long Game, the last book in my hockey smut series!

There are several books of patterns for 18" dolls that I want to sew my way through, and first up is Doll Couture, a book that I actually own but never found the time to dive into when my own little American Girl doll enthusiasts were the right ages to have appreciated my work. Good thing I've got a new audience now!

This simple dress, a sleeveless bodice with a gathered skirt, is my first project:

Highly recommend owning an entire roll of tracing paper--it's so handy!

The instructions in this book are shockingly difficult to parse--they literally didn't tell me that the dress is supposed to come together like this--

--so at every stage I kept trying to sew the skirt into a circle, or stitch the bodice back closed, and once I thought I'd finally figured out what the step I was looking at said to do and ended up sewing the bodice shut at the bottom(?!?), but eventually my very own little Goodwill American Girl doll modeled a well-fitting dress for me:

I literally found her at Goodwill for eight dollars! I LOVE her! I think she's going to be my own personal version of the porch goose, and she's going to have SO many handmade outfits for all seasons and holidays. I need to fix her hair, though, so please send me all your best tips for untangling American Girl doll hair.

And then I sewed another!

I do really like all the tidy details involved, all the edge stitching and stitching down my seams and how nice everything looks when freshly ironed.

Oops, gotta trim that thread!

I experimented with a puffier skirt for the Halloween dress, and I find it much improved.

I really like how well-proportioned small-scale novelty prints look in an 18" doll's garment, and my plan is to use up as many of my novelty prints as possible sewing my niece a wardrobe of doll clothes for her birthday.

I've also been working hard to upgrade my photo set-up:

That's two softboxes plus a giant flexible vinyl panel from Menards that I clamp to my tabletop and sort of slither up the wall to make a seamless backdrop. Vinyl is such a bummer, but I love how it looks.

Now that I've finally cracked what the instructions wanted me to do, this dress is the simplest thing in the world to sew, and it turns out so cute every time. I even upgraded some bits, like fully lining the skirt and finishing the side seams, so mental note to make physical notes so I don't forget!

I considered appliqueing one of the gingerbreads from the skirt fabric onto the bodice, but I thought that it might look too baby-ish to the sophisticated eyes of its future six-year-old recipient. I kind of wish I'd done it anyway, though, because surely one can't have too many gingerbreads on one's outfit!

I had to make myself stop at two dresses for my niece's doll, though, because I have a lot of different patterns that I want to try. But it's surely not too late to sew just a couple of dresses for my own girls' childhood American Girl dolls, so carefully put away in the top of my closet (until I got them out to serve as extra fashion models for these photo shoots, ahem...). 

And of course my own little American Girl doll will need some outfits to wear when she's not helping me out with her fit checks of the garments I'm sewing!

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How to Embroider A Pair of Converse For David Bowie's Biggest Fan

I originally published this tutorial over at Crafting a Green World.

Yep, you can embroider your favorite pair of Converse to create totally custom shoes!

Y’all, this might be the coolest project I’ve ever taken on. This birthday present for my kid who’s David Bowie’s biggest fan and only ever wears black-on-black Converse on her feet may have destroyed all sensation in my right index fingertip (mental note: thimbles put the “fun” in functional fingers!), but it was worth it for how great these shoes turned out.

The process is long and tedious–and awful on your fingers if you don’t wear a thimble!–but it’s also very easy, absolutely suitable for a beginner sewist. Here’s how you can make your own custom pair of Converse!

Materials

To embroider Converse, you will need the following supplies:

• canvas shoes. The canvas material is the important part here, so any canvas shoe will do. I embroidered on a pair of monochrome black Converse high-tops, but I’m also kind of eyeing the grey ones for myself.
• self-adhesive water-soluble embroidery paper. This is often referred to as “stick n’ stitch” paper, because you can stick it down to a surface just like a sticker, and then embroider directly on top of it. When you’re finished, the paper rinses away with water. You can usually print on this paper with an inkjet printer, as well, which is so great for transferring more detailed designs. If you don’t have an inkjet printer but want to make a more elaborate design, you can use regular printer paper instead, but you will have to pick all the bits of paper out of your stitching afterwards, which is a pain.
• embroidery floss and needle. Two strands of embroidery floss is perfect here. Use the sharpest hand-sewing needle you can get, and don’t forget a thimble!

Step 1: Place the template onto the shoe.

This step would have been easier for me if I owned an inkjet printer. For the lightning bolt design, I cut the overall design out of the adhesive paper, then drew on the color blocking details in pen. I tried a few methods for getting the “Rebel Rebel” cross-stitch design onto the Converse, including trying to draw a grid onto the adhesive paper (so time-consuming!) and trying to use the perforations in the adhesive paper as my stitching template (my poor myopic eyes!), but ultimately I just stuck the printer paper with the design printed onto it directly onto the Converse. It doesn’t have to be perfect as long as it gets done!

Step 2: Embroider Converse according to the pattern.

I used a running stitch, backstitch, cross stitch, and satin stitch for this project, with the backstitch being the most useful for the lightning bolt, and the cross stitch the only stitch I used for the “Rebel Rebel.” For the lightning bolt, I outlined each part in the color I wanted it to be using a backstitch. I used a satin stitch to fill the narrow blue and black color blocks, and more back stitching to fill the red lightning bolt.

I would not recommend a satin stitch for the lightning bolt, because the thread has to cover too much area. It’ll sag over time and be very vulnerable to breakage.

Below, you can see how I cross-stitched the “Rebel Rebel” design directly onto the printer paper pattern. I didn’t end up needing the adhesive paper that I’d already placed there, but it doesn’t add bulk to stitch through and it rinses away easily, so I left it:

Step 3: Remove the pattern paper.

To remove the water-soluble adhesive paper, just rinse the canvas under the faucet for a few minutes and it will come away. To remove the printer paper template, first tear away as much as you can, then soak the canvas until the paper is thoroughly waterlogged. That makes it easier to pick away the remaining paper bits under your stitching using tweezers. It will be a LOT easier to do if your pattern isn’t entirely cross-stitch, ugh!

Optionally, you can cover the back of your embroidery with fusible interfacing designed for exactly that, but I decided to leave the back of my stitching as-is. I didn’t put any knots into the floss, instead hiding the ends well inside the layers of canvas and padding, so it shouldn’t be uncomfortable, and I don’t *think* friction will be an issue, either. But the kid comes home from college for the summer in just a couple of weeks, so if it looks like the embroidery floss is becoming worn on the inside, I can always place interfacing down before it becomes a problem. If it happens, I’ll let you know!

David Bowie’s biggest fan LOVES her new kicks, so much so that the beloved bookshelf quilt is now in second place in the category of Favorite Gifts Made By Mom. Meanwhile, I’m thinking that I might like to embroider a Starry Night scene, or a trilobyte, or maybe Stonehenge on my very own pair of Converse!

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How to Sew a Key Fob

I originally published this tutorial over at Crafting a Green World.

A key fob is a quick and easy stashbusting project that will come in super handy!

If you know someone who’s required to keep an ID and/or a key accessible at all times–a college student, say–then you know that it can actually be quite annoying. Nobody really wants to hang a lanyard around their neck every day of their lives, nor do they want to always be digging through their bag every time they have to swipe into a building or unlock their dorm room door or use their meal plan.

A key fob is a great solution for anyone who needs just a couple of things handy. It fits happily on one’s wrist when needed for ready access, and makes your stuff a LOT easier to find in a backpack or tote bag. And although you do have to purchase the hardware, the rest of it is simple to sew from scraps, making the key fob a great solution for the enthusiastically scrapbusting crafter, too!

Here’s how to make your own quick and easy and super handy key fob!

Materials

To sew a key fob, you will need:

• 4″x12″ piece of fabric. I like quilting cotton or similar for this. But if you used something heavy like denim, you might be able to get away with omitting the interfacing!
• 4″x12″ piece of interfacing. I really like Pellon 809 Decor-Bond for this project, although you could go a step up or down in weight and your key fob would still turn out nice. Because this is a stashbusting project, though, don’t despair if you don’t have any suitable interfacing! Dig through your fabric stash and look for anything on the stiffer side, like pre-washed Eco-fi felt or PUL, or even double up on thin interfacing.
• super glue. Use E6000, Gorilla Glue, or something similar. For some reason I have the WORST time keeping super glue nice in between uses, so I always try to buy the smallest package possible.
• 1″ key fob hardware. If you don’t want to spring for the special pliers, don’t think that you can just use your regular pliers–the grooves on conventional hardware pliers will scratch the snot out of your key fob hardware. Ask me how I know, ahem! If you do want to use regular pliers, pad both sides of the key fob hardware super well by putting a popsicle stick or scrap of denim fabric between the pliers and the hardware.

Step 1: Cut your fabric and interfacing to size.

As you can see in the image above, these key fobs are so quick and easy to sew that you might as well make multiples!

As for scraps, for this project I’m using a scrap that once belonged to a button-down shirt, a scrap that once belonged to a tablecloth, and a bit of stash.

Cut the fabric and the interfacing to 4″x12″.

Step 2: Iron the interfacing to the back of the fabric.

Hmm, I don’t know if my cuts are looking perfectly precise there. That plaid, especially, was a little more loosely-woven than I really wanted, but it was exactly the right colorway. Oh, well–the folding will fix it!

Step 3: Fold the fabric into quarters, lengthwise.

The easiest way to do this is to first fold the fabric in half, lengthwise, and iron well to crease it. Then fold each side in to meet the middle crease, and again iron to crease it.

The key fob is going to feel very thick at this point, and won’t want to hold all those creases, so clip it well.

Step 4: Edge-stitch around all sides.

Can y’all see the mistake that I made on all three of these key fobs?

ARGH!

I edge-stitched around all the raw edges of my key fob, but for some reason–forgetfulness? Distracted by an exciting part in my Fourth Wing audiobook?–I neglected to stitch down that fourth side, the folded side.

I’m so irritated at myself, but these key fobs are finished and gone to their college student recipients by now, and the good news is that there’s no way on earth that any of those teenagers are going to notice the absence of that one stitch line that they didn’t even know was supposed to be there. I fear that over time that fold will lose its crispness, though, especially at the middle where it will rub against the wearer’s wrist.

Ugh, this mistake will haunt me until the day I die.

Don’t be like me–edge-stitch ALL THE WAY AROUND your key fob! Depending on your machine, you may have to increase your needle size or stitch length to handle the bulk, but it should nevertheless be sewable for any home machine.

Step 5: Attach the key fob hardware.

The very first time I made key fobs, I excitedly put them in one of my kid's college care packages to give away to her friends, and over the proceeding semester, I was MORTIFIED to hear from them that one by one, their key fobs had fallen apart! College students are hard on their stuff, and the prongs simply could not hold the weight long-term.

Another failure to take to my grave!

I’ve seen a suggestion to use a seam ripper to poke little holes in the fabric that let the prongs dig in deeper, but just between us, I’ve had no more problems with my key fobs detaching after I started gluing the dang things.

So, fold the key fob fabric in half so that the short edges are together. I stitch them together because now I am the most paranoid key fob crafter, but tbh you probably don’t need to.

Run a thin line of super glue along the short edge. YOUR key fobs won’t be going anywhere!

Follow the directions on the key fob hardware to attach it. Usually, this will require you to set the fabric edges together inside the hardware, then use pliers (don’t forget to pad them if they’ve got grooves!) to clamp the hardware around the edges. Pay attention that the prongs are piercing the fabric, not just folding against it–I’ve found that tugging on the fabric as I clamp it helps with this–and that the hardware is lined up well with the fabric. With 1″ hardware and fabric folded down to 1″ wide, it should be a perfect fit!

Set the key fobs aside for the super glue to cure, then they’re ready to use.

Y’all, tell me honestly: in the above image, the missing edge-stitching is all you can see, isn’t it?!?

ARGH!!!

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I Took 1,719 Graduation Photos, Mostly of the Dog

Because how could I not, when she is genuinely THAT CUTE!

Also that miserable having to wear a preschool graduation cap and gown that we bought her off of Facebook Marketplace.

I think it's this one, so at $8 we probably didn't really get a great deal on it, but 1) this was my very first Facebook Marketplace purchase, and 2) I'm uncomfortable with haggling, so anything below list price feels like a good get. 

Fortunately(?), the kid's cap and gown come free with her tuition!

I did end up ironing that gown in my hotel room while watching the PWHL, after sending the husband and kid off to buy candy to sneak into the movie theater later that night. Project Hail Mary was even better on IMAX than it was on the regular screen!

I didn't get every photo on my shot list, but honestly, I got a LOT more than I thought I would! I got a lot of great photos showing off the cap and gown from behind--

--and some really good detail photos of her cap with its "2026" charm:

I couldn't quite figure out how to make her favorite picture book or stuffed animal work in photos, but I got some shots in anyway:

But all the photos of her and her best friend in their matching caps and gowns are priceless!

If you zoom in on Luna in any photo, though, you can see that she is absolutely OVER our nonsense, lol. She would never actively protest, but I'm cracking up at this close-up of her just staring resentfully into the middle distance:

Also, her jowls tucked behind the elastic band that I stitched onto that baby graduation cap!

I tried to take most of my photos in campus spots that were meaningful to the kid, but sometimes I veered off-road a bit. I'm pretty sure the only time the kid has so much as stepped into the campus chapel was during Admitted Student Day, when the campus female a cappella group serenaded us with Billie Eilish, but still. It's a lovely spot for some photos!

My favorite photo spot was the kid's favorite classroom on campus, although the photos that I took there aren't super sharp--why do classrooms seem to always have such bad lighting?!? But the science building on this campus, and the classrooms inside it, are on the old-school side in just the right way, with scientific charts on bulletin boards (my favorite is this one) and cases full of fossils and cabinets full of rocks and shelves full of the textbooks of generations past:

I forgot to even put a graduation prop in this photo--there were a thousand boxes of rocks, each one hand-labeled, and just between us I lost my head a little. If you ever want to look at my one thousand photos of hand-labeled rocks, let me know!

It would be so bad to steal from a school, but if that fish fossil ever turns up missing, they should probably send a SWAT team to my house...

And just like that, we're already doing things for the last time. Last time reading the posters of bad science jokes on the walls in the physics department:

Last time paying waaaay too much for admittedly delicious local hard cider:

I'm genuinely embarrassed to tell you this, but this bottle was over $30!

Last time bumming off the kid's meal plan points for chicken and fries:

All this, and she still always has so many meal plan points leftover on the last day of school that she buys out the undergrad grocery every year. We're always stocked with snacks every summer!

I'm really looking forward to all the family events and other graduation festivities that her school hosts, since this will be our first proper graduation from a genuine institution, and even more so now that I know I can relax and not worry about getting the perfect photo of the kid in her cap and gown.

Ooh, there's a family party the night before her graduation ceremony. DO YOU THINK THEY'LL HAVE KARAOKE?!?!?!?

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I Read Role Model, And I Think I'm Not The Only Member Of The "I Hate The NHL Commissioner" Club!

Role Model by Rachel Reid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I know I say this in every Game Changers book review, but my favorite thing about this book (and all the others!) is that the book's Big Bad is the toxic masculinity of the NHL.

It’s funny because it’s true!

That, ultimately, is what keeps me reading these queer hockey romances. I mean, yes, I love reading about hockey, and I appreciate that this series features proper hockey players with proper hockey storylines (if you want to know about the maaaaaany “hockey” romances I’ve read in which nobody ever so much as picks up a stick, I’m happy to share!). But I’m not really into romance, nor am I really into smut, so in many ways these books aren’t a natural fit.

But what they ARE is subversive, and that is a very natural fit!

In a very real way--the realest, since the TV show came out!--these books subvert the toxic masculinity fantasy that many of those in charge of hockey at every level cherish, and that they do their best to train up young hockey players to cherish, as well. It’s a violent sport, sure, but that doesn’t mean that we have to worship violence. But toxic masculinity worships violence, and to that end worships their idealized version of a violent man. He’s not soft. He’s not sensitive. He doesn’t emote. He doesn’t have or value depth. He doesn’t value women, or sexual or gender diversity. He does what he’s told by a bigger, stronger, or more powerful man. He thinks that by being big, strong, and powerful himself, he ought to get to do what he wants, too, without consequences from anyone not as big, strong, and powerful.

But in some also VERY real ways, hockey culture--at least fan culture--has moved beyond that, and it’s easy for hockey fans who don’t hold with this old-fashioned toxic masculinity to avoid seeing it. I personally had to have the Men’s USA Olympic Hockey Team pretty much throw their toxic masculinity in my own specific face before I finally gave up on the NHL (at least for this season! They can try again next season).

This is also what a lot of hockey romances do. Sure, there are male hockey players, and sure, they seem to be playing professionally, but in the world in which they live, there’s no dark undercurrent to give bad vibes to the romance.

But in Role Model? There are bad vibes. There’s a rapist. There are a lot of people, players and administration and fans, who cover up for or simply excuse the rapist. There are a lot of people who don’t believe the victims. There are bullies. There are assholes. The commissioner is THE Bad Guy. All Reid is missing is rapists on a junior hockey team, too, but hey--maybe she’ll do a YA series next!

Role Model is now an easy favorite side-by-side with Heated Rivalry. I like that Troy is kind of stupid--that’s realistic, too! I like that he’s a recovering bully who makes awkward apologies and often comes off like an asshole when he doesn’t mean to. I like that he tries hard, and it goes okay even though he’s stupid because he really is trying. I like that redeeming himself from being a bully involves standing up to his own bullies, because obviously bullied people bully people. I like the scene in which his coach tells Troy that once upon a time, he, too, complained about a bully within the league, and when Troy asks him what happened to that bully, the coach replies, “He’s in the Hall of Fame.”

The lesson in this book, and I think the lesson in the NHL this season, as well, is that our heroes aren’t necessarily good guys. We’d like them to be, and we act like they are, but we’re always one outcry, one cell phone video, one asshole joke from the Asshole in Chief away from being unpleasantly surprised.

I’m just gonna put this out there: the PWHL streams all their games free on YouTube in the USA, and the objectively best goalie in the world plays for the Boston Fleet.

P.S. View all my reviews

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This Is How I Keep My Wire-Bound Notebooks From Falling Apart

I originally published this tutorial over at Crafting a Green World.

Tired of the pages falling out of your wire-bound notebook? To fix it, you literally just need yarn. Or embroidery floss. Or twine.

Heck, even a shoelace would work!

Your spiral-bound notebooks are fine. The specific kind of notebook that I’m talking about here is the kind that uses what’s called twin loop wire binding. That’s the most common kind of DIY binding that handmade scrapbooks and journals use (see: my beloved Zutter Bind-It-All!), and if you don’t want to learn full-on bookbinding, it’s genuinely a really solid choice for a home-bound book.

This is what it looks like when the notebook starts falling apart. All those gaps between the wire loops, ugh!

… except for the part where the pages begin to slowly but steadily fall out of your cherished home-bound book, until one day you’re left with some bent wire and lots of loose-leaf paper. Twin loop wire-bound books are best suited for purposes that don’t involve a lot of wear and tear. A scrapbook, for instance, can be a great use for a wire-bound book, because once it’s complete, it’s generally handled infrequently, and gently. But those twin loops aren’t actually looped around each other, so the more use, the more handling, and the more carrying around and agitation and just plain life that a twin loop wire-bound book gets, the more the twin loops will work themselves apart, and the more the pages will start to work their way out of the binding.

It’s so frustrating!

Fortunately, the fix is SUPER easy. I can nearly guarantee you have something that will work for this fix, and that it will only take you a few minutes to complete. And then I can absolutely guarantee that your twin loop wire-bound notebook will never trouble you in this way again!

Materials

For this project, you will need:

• something you can thread between the loops. The material has to be thin enough to be threaded through the narrow side of the twin loop binding, but otherwise, anything works. This project works with yarn, ribbon, shoelaces, twine, strips of fabric, and embroidery floss. Heavy duty upholstery thread also works, although your typical polyester thread is too breakable.
• (optional) plastic tapestry needle. These generally have an eye wide enough to handle any of these materials. But you can do without it if you’re fairly dextrous.

Step 1: Tie a knot at one end of the binding.

Each end of the wire binding will end in a straight bit where the binding was cut to fit the notebook. Don’t tie your knot there, since it can slip off. Instead, tie a knot around the first loop. It doesn’t matter if it’s a wide loop or a narrow loop; either size will keep the knot in place.

Step 2: Wrap the yarn around every individual loop.

You can do this a couple of different ways, depending on whether or not you think you’ll ever want to disassemble this notebook.

If you know you’ll never want to take your notebook apart, tie a half-hitch around every loop you pass. It’s easy and looks tidy, and your binding will stay put forever!

However, the notebook I’m working on in these photos is my national parks passport stamp book. Sometimes I like to carry my whole book around, but sometimes I like to travel super lightly. For instance, did you know that there are something like THIRTEEN national park sites in New York City alone?!? If I’m flying carry-on only to NYC, then traveling via public transit and on foot across the length and breadth of Manhattan, I am NOT lugging that entire giant passport book every step I take. Instead, I open up the binding, remove the pages I need, and hop on my plane! So I don’t want to tie a knot I’d have to untie around every individual loop every time I want to unbind it.

So if you think you might want to unbind your book at some point, instead of a half-hitch, just loop your yarn twice around every individual wire loop. It looks maybe 2% less tidy and polished, but it keeps the binding just as secure, and when you want to unbind the book, you can snip the yarn near one of the knots, or untie the knot, and easily unthread the whole binding.

Your book is now perfect! This technique also keeps the notebook’s pages looking a lot nicer, because it’s hard on the pages to be constantly half-falling out of their binding. This is also an especially good fix for a child’s notebook, since kids tend to be a lot harder on their stuff and get a lot more frustrated when something breaks.

Not that I don’t get Big Feelings when it comes to my national parks passport stamp book, ahem. I only have 399 more stamps to go!

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