WhiteDove01s wrote:Sorry for taking so long to reply, RL has been something of a bear. A bit more info... In the unspecified future roughtly 3+ years from now I hope to open an etsy store specializing in 1/6 scale stuff. I am designing all my own patterns for the clothes just to be sure I don't copyright infringe somehow. I used to sew all the time when I was younger for my cousin's dolls, but was limited to scraps from my relatives clothes and my own. Primarily non-stretch denim from re-hemming too-long jeans, some t-shirt fabric, and one wonderful time when I was given some silk from an old nightgown... but I'm going on a tangent there. Sewing tiny clothes, even on machine or with non-stretch fabrics isn't a trick for me. Well, one trick - I modified quilter's paper-piecing methods as a way to get tiny bits together on a machine without going mad(der).
Hey, life is life. It ALWAYS gets priority. Okay... (where is the thinking emoji?) That is excellent use of materials, by the way. So... 1/6 scale is going to be difficult, no matter what. It's tiny. There are a couple of books/magazines out there especially devoted to the technique of 1/6 scale, because it does require different technique -- do as much flat as you can, side seams are last, et cetera. (
http://www.amazon.com/Sewing-Dolls-Clot ... ll+Clothes -- this is a book for 1/12 scale, but it uses the same technique and teaches the how. All links will be Amazon links, but only because that gets you product information. Other than this book, most of these things are available at most fabric stores.)
WhiteDove01s wrote:This, however, is the first time I have sewn anything in spandex. I'm lucky 90% of it went well.
Also, spandex is a PITA. It's an advanced-level fabric, and it really responds best to a machine that was designed after it came into being (so post 1980). I love old machines and have rescued more than one treadle/Depression era electric, but their feed dogs are not up to stretch fabrics because for the most part, stretch fabrics didn't exist for their engineers or users (with a couple of exceptions, but early 20th century jersey is not ITY.) In your business plan, if you haven't already considered a modern, non-industrial machine, you should at least think about it. It doesn't have to be a top of the line Bernina -- I've got a pair of low-end Brothers whose praises I sing and who spend almost no time in the shop; one retails at $300 today and the other at $150. SE-400 and an Innovis 40, which is the same as a CS6000i, respectively, fwiw. They're great machines, sturdy and smart. I like the SE400 better because I'm lazy and nearsighted and I hate threading needles and cutting off the thread tails, so I like the SE400's advanced threading system and automatic thread cutter better. I have used the embroidery functions of the 400, and it does great work, but I'm primarily a garment sewist, not an embellisher. I've had that one 4 years, it's in the shop right now for the second time for cleaning and adjustment. I consider that an annual expectation, but not with my 400. (Just ensure you have a convenient Brother service provider in your area who does the work on-site, otherwise you're looking at 2 week turnarounds for tuneups. THAT is the only reason I won't replace mine with more Brother's -- I don't like my local service provider. But Babylock and Janome use the exact same guts and production lines that Brother uses, so they're all essentially the same machines.) Mine sew 80 or so human scale garments a year, plus 10-15 test garments and I don't know how much doll and craft, so they get a workout. But even an IKEA Sy (which is a $60 machine) or a big box fabric store loss leader machine will have modern feed dogs and multiple stitches, so you have options.
WhiteDove01s wrote:Here's my model, Candy, wearing the 'test' version of the first of four variants I've drafted on a basic panty pattern, and a ribbon for modesty.
....
As you can see, it fits great and looks like real underwear. But, as I said, I popped stitches in the waist getting it on her. If I can scrape time together today, I'll sew another test and try making the waist stitches bigger/longer. I'd try just redoing the hem on this one, but I don't think I can get the tiny waist around the machine's presser foot. XD
Those are lovely. And I think you're over-thinking them. (It's okay -- everyone does. Textiles are both incredibly complicated and simple, and knowing that line is why designers spend years learning.) Your design looks fine -- but they don't need nearly that much stitching. With any knit, the horizontal stitching will always be the weak point, so that stitching line has to be at least 3% larger than the largest measurement it must pass. (Most women's derrieres are larger then their waists, which is why almost all women's underwear has at least a little easing, if not gathering, at the waist. Same principle here.) That ease is the reason that garments have elastic at the waist. When not stretched, the jersey should be 5% larger than the largest transit point -- hip -- and the cut elastic should be exactly the waist measurement. You'll lose a little at the seam, which creates the negative ease, and you stretch the elastic as it gets sewn onto the jersey to take up that extra percentage.
Now, go look at these panties: (
http://www.uniqlo.com/us/product/women- ... s-shorts/~)
Note the things they don't have -- no stitching. No waist elastic. With good spandex, you just don't need it. Essentially, you undersize the garment and use the negative ease to keep them in place. (I wear those. I love them. They're the best workout and dancing knickers I've ever found.) You can transfer that to your current design now by just eliminating the waist hem entirely, reducing the width by a couple millimeters, and ensuring you're cutting clean on grain. The other advantage of eliminating the hemming is it reduces visible underwear lines with other clothing on top.
I don't know if you're aware, but if the fabric you're using is a synthetic (polyester or nylon), you can, and should, cut it with a hot knife / soldering iron on glass. Hot cut fabric will not ravel and the edges are perfect. It takes a little practice, and you have to stencil on your master pattern, but it goes very fast once you have a master pattern. And hot cut doesn't need hems. In production environment, the time you don't spend hemming is time you can do everything else.
Czanne wrote:I'd change out the top thread for elastic thread, then
WhiteDove01s wrote:They make elastic thread for machines? How does that work with the tension settings? See, this is the stuff where I get lost... It's been 20 years since I sewed for my cousin, and only the past couple years when I've gotten interested in having 1/6 dolls of my own. And machine sewing is kind of new, too.
Ah, yes, they do make elastic thread.
http://www.amazon.com/Notions-Marketing ... tic+thread It doesn't come in many colors, but that's not that big of a deal.
I had it backwards -- the elastic thread goes in the bobbin, not on top. (Here's a link for a how-to:
http://crafts.answers.com/sewing/sewing ... tic-thread )
(Continued, next post.)