Mini Chemise Take Two…

I’ve made my second mock-up for the chemise for my Princess and the Pea diorama. I adjusted the pattern to see if I could get a less comical result. Fortunately, I’ve been boning up on dress-making skills, including designing clothing. When I pulled my old pattern out, I could see at once what I needed to do to fix it. Or so I thought.

My second mock-up, using my revised pattern, was sewn by machine. I also took the time to press the seams. Both changes improved my results, although I am still not there.

Fixing the pattern didn’t solve my problem, because it turns out the “excited” sleeves are partly a side effect of gathering the neckline. I will be trying pleats next. But I’m really glad I made this mock-up, because I learned so much. It turns out, you really need to make miniature clothing exactly the way you would full-scale clothing — except when you shouldn’t.

Clothing sewing steps that make all the difference and apply to miniatures:

• Pressing as you sew gives a much cleaner look and makes it easier to handle the garment. Also, press the seams open to reduce bulk at this tiny scale.
• Add seam allowances to your pattern! I’ve been treating my pattern as if it already included seam allowances, but they would have to be microscopic. I managed 1/8^th inch which was painfully fiddly. I’m going to switch to 1/4 inch seam allowances, which happens to be standard for piecing quilt blocks and therefore easy for me to do. I can trim off the extra fabric after the seam is sewn.
• Back stitch at the start and end of seams so they don’t pull apart when stressed.
• Consider all your sewing steps when decided the order of operations. I have yet to finish the sleeve cuffs or hems, but I need to start experimenting with how I might do that so I know when in the process it needs to happen.
• Pattern design for tiny people is the same as it is for big people. I was totally stumped when trying to draft the original pattern from a video until I put the pieces together on paper and realized the weird angle under the arm is pretty easy to identify if you draw a t-shaped garment and then just connect the underarm to the neckline.
• Make a mock-up before cutting into your good fabric! I have some second-hand handkerchiefs waiting to be made into a nightgown, but I am practicing with bits of old sheet while I get the pattern worked out.

What is different:

• You need to use tiny stitches. Not necessarily the tiniest, but something small to give a tight seam so that it gives a crisp line.
• Having “place line on fold” pattern pieces is entirely unnecessary. This method is used all the time for symmetrical pattern pieces and can make it much easier to handle both the pattern and the fabric when sewing for full-size humans. But it is just annoying when you are making minis. My next pattern will be made with pieces that get cut from a single layer of fabric.
• You can glue instead of sew.
• You don’t have to finish your interior seams, as the garment (in this case) will never be worn.

From my challenges, it might sound like this is an insane thing to be doing. I am however having so much fun. And it’s fast. I put this mock-up together in roughly half-an-hour. It would take much longer to make myself a chemise from scratch.

I’ve already started on the next version of this chemise. Look for an update next week.