Hi everyone, Foster  here, and today I’m reporting from the sewing room!

Yep, that’s right, we have been in here a lot lately. That’s because Mom’s on another roll: making more doll clothes for Belle!Well actually, they’re for her future “doll clothes business”. Belle is just the model. And I’m excited to share that we’ve even made our first sale!A friend of Mom’s commissioned a yellow dress for her granddaughter’s doll, and this is what she came up with. Here is a close up of the waistband, and below you can see the hair band.We were pretty happy with the way it turned out. So Mom got the idea to make a whole bunch of doll clothes, just in case she gets any orders for more. Or in case she ever starts “Debra Kay’s Online Doll Clothes Emporium”! (Click here to read more about Mom’s online entrepreneurial dreams.)  Needless to say, while she is doing all this sewing, I have to think of things to do to keep myself occupied. In this picture I was pretending to be a bear at youth camp, going through the garbage cans.In her last doll clothes post, Mom mentioned that she had now bought an actual pattern. Prior to that, she had kind of been making up the clothes as she went along, with the help of one free pattern she got from Pinterest. She has discovered that it is easier with a pattern. I don’t admit to having anything to do with the above photo, but Mom says she’s not so sure.Fortunately, paper does dry. And I might take this opportunity to remind you that if you’re a pet, and your human mom has a blog, she won’t get too mad about stuff like that because she knows it will make good “blog material” anyway.Okay now for the new clothes. Since I’m not allowed outside, I couldn’t take Belle and get pictures with cool backgrounds like Mom did in “Belle’s Fashions”.  But at least I can show you what they looked like in the sewing room. This is her “Fourth of July” outfit, (which by the way, is coming up). If Belle were going to  a Fourth of July picnic this is what she would wear.Mom stayed up really late one night working on this one. She had used her pattern, but didn’t want to mess with the elastic in the sleeves. So she decided to gather the bottom of the sleeve and make a cuff instead. Only she didn’t like it. So she took it apart and added a contrasting strip to the sleeves and put in the elastic. She liked it much better that way.Here is  the finished product. Notice the tiny iron we have now. The big one went out on us so Mom went to the store and got this travel iron. She said it will work perfect for when she makes doll clothes, and we can’t forget baby clothes for Baby Meredith!Another friend gave her a bunch of lace fabric (I think it used to be curtains) and so she’s using it to achieve a real old-fashioned look.This photo is called “pleated skirt fail”. It may look okay here, but after measuring the fabric against the pleated skirt Belle had on when we first got her, and measuring the pleats to match, the skirt was still too small to fit around the doll’s waist. Mom says she was never very good at math. However, “blog material.”Mom does always say you should never give up, so she tried again. This time we thought it turned out pretty well.

The other thing about Mom is that it seems every time she sees a new idea she has to try it herself. So she decided to try a reversible wrap-skirt. She hasn’t figured out how to fasten it so the snaps or velcro won’t show, but eventually she will.

This one would be cute with a red blouse under it, or a red cardigan over, for Christmas. Below you can see the best way to do it if you want a two-color bodice or sleeve. Sew the two fabrics together first and then cut out the pieces.

Mom was pretty happy when she figured out how to make this headband with elastic at the back.This is the first one she made from her new pattern.In case you were wondering, we are still working on organizing the sewing room.

Have I mentioned what a mess Mom makes when she sews?

I probably should jump up there and start cleaning for her…