Patty Young first grasped my attention when I discovered her Mezzanine collection of fabrics for Michael Miller Fabrics. I became obsessed with the Gothic Flower print (and I still am!). I have a very popular Buttercup Bag in my shop made from fabrics from this line.
Patty also has sewing patterns for little girls and their dollies! Now, I do not have a girl to sew for and I generally do not care for pastels, frills, lace and the like. This is why I love her patterns. Even though I don't have a real girl to sew for, I have an American Girl Doll (I have Molly). Many of my friends still have their dolls from when they were children also...and their daughters and nieces have them too!
A friend of mine asked me to make a Mini Kyoko for her niece and I jumped at it! We carefully chose four fabrics and some ribbon for a nice dress for the Felicity doll, who is red headed. Sewing the dress took me about 2 hours. The bulk of that time was dealing with the tiny bias tape and the tiny gathers in the skirt. I have big hands that do not get along with tiny things. I do recommend making your own bias tape, though, as it looks better and can be whatever fabric you like!
I am completely pleased with the way the dress turned out! I might make my Molly one. The only thing I would change is that the next one will be made with some of Patty's fabric!
Oh, and I got to meet Patty Young a few months ago at Intown Quilters here in Atlanta! I even sat in traffic, which is something I swore to myself I would never do since I retired from working downtown, so I could go meet her. She had a new line of knits coming out and gave a talk about how to sew with knits, which was very informative and helpful! The videos of what she presented are on her website.
Enjoy the photos!
Molly in the Mini Kyoko I made! (I guess she was tired of being in her Georgia Tech cheerleader outfit?!)
Patty & I
