Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 13

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 13

I am now moving on to recovering the last parts of the Marionette which are the Hands

Hemmed Hand Pieces

I cut and hemmed a couple of pieces of White material

Covering Hand

I joined the material by sewing along the edge towards the tip of the Hand. However I only had a rough guess at how much material I needed.

Trimming Hand

I trimmed off the hem refolded the material and then hemmed it again.

Hand Done

The Hand is finished and all I have to do is cover the other one and that is the Doll part complete apart from the clothing.

Fastening the Cross

Taking some string I wound around the two sticks in order to fasten them together.

Joining the Cross

I then joined the end of the string from the Cross to the string from the Doll.

STOP

I am not carrying on with this part as I have been given some valuable advice from Helen (Laura’s mum*). I therefore have to do some rethinking.

* Laura and Helen of Alyssa Rose Boutique

https://www.facebook.com/Alyssa.Rose.designs

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 12

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 12

This is going to be an extremely difficult blog to write. The reason for this is I have lost my mobile phone. This means I unfortunately do not have many of the photographs that I took.

I will try my best to get it in some sort of logical order. One of the reasons I take so many photographs is that I often have more than one project on the go so it helps me remember what I did.

Material Hemmed for Arms

Although I had already covered the Arms mummy style I thought the effect was too untidy. Therefore I cut and hemmed some material and sewed over the Arms.

Waist Front

 

This is going to be tricky. It concerns making the Waist. If you remember I said do not completely fill the Marionette with stuffing. This is because I needed room to manoeuvre where the stuffing was going to be.

Carefully begin to separate the stuffing inside the Marionette by squeezing and pushing in the middle of the Body. Gently move the stuffing inside towards the Top and Bottom of the torso.

Waist Side

 

There is now less stuffing in the centre of the Body. I took some thread and began to sew about a fingers width either side of the Body. This brought the Front and Back Pieces closer together. I did this several times to make sure it would hold.

Waist Back

After doing the pinching of the material I then needed to help make the Body into a more hourglass figure. This was accomplished by folding over the newly sewn pinched area towards the back.

I then sewed the folded area in place. I had to do this several times to prevent the stuffing making the Body spring back into its previous shape.

Hemmed Rectangle and Circles

Now the Waist is finished I am moving on to the Chest. I have cut out and hemmed a Rectangle and pair of Circles.

Pin Between Circles

Here I lost a lot of pictures. I marked the middle of the Rectangle with a pin. Then I sewed the Circles either Side of the pin. I then part sewed around the Circles clockwise on the right and anticlockwise on the left.

Bra Stuffed

This left me a gap at the Bottom in which to fill the Circles with stuffing. I then finished sewing the rest of the Circles so the stuffing wouldn’t come out.

Rather than just sew it straight to the Body (which would have been much easier) I decided I was going to make it into a Bra so it could be detached depending on what the outfit was.

Thanks Laura for the idea of how to do this and for supplying me with the Hook and Eyes.

Bra Front

Here once again the loss of photographs makes this awkward to explain. The 1^st thing I did was fold the corners of the Rectangle a third of the way across and underneath. This gave the end of the Rectangle three sides and made it less bulky and more Bra-shaped.

I then took two more Rectangles and repeated this on one end of both of them. This would be the part that would be sewn to the stuffed Rectangle. The other ends I folded into a point.

Bra Back

I now sewed all three pieces together. The next step was to sew on the Hook and Eye. I sewed them on the points. The Bra could now be fastened.

However until I had sewn them on and saw how they fitted together I couldn’t properly judge the length of the Rectangles needed. Once placed on the Body and fastened I could see that the Bra was quite loose.

In order to decrease the length without having to cut anything off and resew I came up with a simple but effective trick. On both sides I made a simple fold and tacked across. I then tried the Bra on the Body again.

I felt that it was still too loose so I again added a fold on each side. Now it not only fitted properly but gave the back an attractive pattern.

N.B.
Bra Front Construction Idea by Laura Whaley
https://www.facebook.com/Alyssa.Rose.designs

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 11

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 11

I am finally moving on to the Front of the Marionette.

Checking Width

I have now found my mislaid material and having selected a piece I checked the width.

Hem Front Piece

I then hemmed the Front piece on three sides.

Neck Sewn Shoulder Pinned

After hemming I centred the material and sewed at the Neck of the Marionette. I then pinned one of the Shoulders ready for sewing.

Sewn Across Shoulders

 

I sewed across both of the Shoulders. This would stop the material shifting when I move on to the Sides

Checking Width Stuffed

I pinned the Sides and stuffed the Marionette. That way I could check if I need to attach Side Pieces. I naturally took the stuffing out again before sewing.

Pinned at Waist

After I had sewn the Sides I re-stuffed the Body. As I had run out of stuffing I decided rather than take it out again I would pin the Marionette at the waist. That way the stuffing would not fall out.

Marionette Almost Stuffed

I have now got some more stuffing and therefore can continue. I carry on stuffing the Marionette until it is ALMOST FULL! Under no circumstances fill it completely as this will hinder a future point. Oh and yes I do realise that this photograph looks somewhat indelicate J

Marionette Completely Stuffed

After ALMOST filling the Marionette I then pull the rest of the Front Piece material and sew underneath. That completes this section.

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 10

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 10

This blog is quite a short one. It continues covering the rough material that the Marionette is made from.

Back Piece Sewn Together

I had misplaced the majority of the material I was using to cover the rough section. Therefore in order to continue I hemmed and sewed together two smaller pieces.

Pinned at Neck

I pinned the new section of material to the back of the Marionette’s Neck. I wanted to check that the material would reach across the whole of the Back.

Sewn at Neck

When I was satisfied I had enough material I removed the pin and sewed it in place at the Neck.

Sewn at Sides

I then sewed the Sides of the material to the Marionette part way. In the above photograph you can see that I haven’t as yet hemmed the Bottom section.

Trimmed and Hemmed

I trimmed and hemmed the Bottom of the Back and finished sewing along the sides. I then sewed the two pieces together at the Bottom. That is now the rough Arms, Legs, Neck and Back of the Marionette covered with the smooth material.

NB

I have no idea why some of the text is a different size. It isn't like that on the original.

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 9

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 9

In this blog I am going to concentrate on securing the Rough Body parts with extra material.

Pin Material

 

I have decided to start with the Arms. I take a strip of the White material and pin it underneath the Hand. I then tack it in place.

Sew Sides of Hand

After tacking underneath the Hand I do likewise on the opposite side. I have now unfurled the material along the Arm so it doesn’t get in the way. I proceed to sew both edges of the material on the Hand together

Hand in Pouch

The Hand should now be in encased in a rough Pouch.

Sew Pouch

The next thing to do is to fold the edges of the Pouch in such a way that I can sew them together and follow the contours of the Hand.

Wrap Arm

I then carefully start to wrap the rest of the material around the Arm. It reminds me of an Egyptian Mummy.

Sew Contours

After wrapping the Arm I sewed in any pieces of the material that were flapping loosely. I then sewed tightly at the Wrist and Elbow to help give the Arm more shape.

Once I was satisfied with the definition of the Arm I began to work on the other Arm following the same process.

Pin Material to Foot

Now the Arms were finished I began work on the Legs. However having an idea overnight I was going to try and cover them in a different way.

The first thing I did was get some strips of White material only this time I made sure they were wider than what I used for the Arms. I pinned the material to the Top of the Foot NOT THE BOTTOM.

I then made a few tacking stitches to hold it in place. I then went and did the same underneath.

Wrap Material over Foot

Instead of making a pouch like I had for the Hand this time I folded the material across the Top of the Foot.

Wrap Other Side

After I tacked the first wrap in position I repeated the fold on the other side and also tacked that.

Sew Along Leg

Next I folded and pulled the Foot material together and proceeded to sew up as far as I could. When the material became too far apart for me to sew together I fixed and cut thread.

I re-threaded my needle and began to sew the material from the point I had stopped. However this time I sewed the material directly on the Leg. I then repeated the process on the other side of the Leg. As you can see in the photograph the Back of the Leg is now completely covered.

Top Layer of Leg

I took another White strip of material and gave it a rough hem on both sides the length almost to the Top of the Thigh. I then attached this to the Top of the Foot. I folded and sewed alongside the Ankle on both sides.

I put a pin in the centre of the Leg to stop the material moving whilst I positioned and sewed the Top layer of material.

Sew Both Sides of Leg

I sewed one side of the material to the Inner Leg making sure that I wasn’t pulling material away from the Outer Leg. I sewed nearly to the Top of the Thigh then stopped. I repeated this on the Outer side of the Leg.

Sew Top of Thigh

At the Top of the Thigh I had excess material. At the Back I trimmed and hemmed the material at the Top. On the Front I trimmed a little material then folded on both sides.

Cricket Pads

When I was satisfied I tacked the folds of material in place. I did not however tack it to the Body material. It was left loose and formed a pocket. It reminded me of Cricket Pads.

Both Legs Contoured

The only thing left to do to the Leg was to add the contours. This was done exactly the same as with the Arms. I then repeated and finished the other Leg.

This second method seems to give a much smoother finish. If I have enough material I may recover the Arms. However for now I will have to leave them. I need to go on to covering the Body.