notes on Kaley

For those of you who are wondering, here are some construction specs on Kaley Kitty.

1) She was created using the Katy Kitty pattern. You can alter your own Katy pattern to make a similar doll.

2) Unlike the Katy, she is one solid color in her body, arms and legs (except for her underwear). To achieve that I merged the separate pattern pieces for her arms into one piece by cutting off the seam allowance where they come together and then taping the pieces together. Then I did the same for the pieces for her legs.

3) I didn't do this, because I thought of it too late, but you can also merge the front head and body pieces using the same method. (The back body and head pieces will still have a seam at the neck because the back body pieces are split for the tail.)

4) If you want built-in underwear like Kaley's, sew the corduroy and a cotton print together before cutting out the body/head fabric, and be sure to mark the line of the underwear on the front and back body pattern pieces so you can line it up correctly at the seam for the front and back pieces. I marked mine 2 5/8 inches from the bottom for the top of the underwear.

5) After the front and back body fabric pieces were cut out, I topstitched some lace across the top of the underwear on the front and back pieces.

6) I altered her tail to be a gentle S curve instead of straight. Since her legs are all one color it helps her tail stand apart from her legs.

7) Her hospital gown is made from Katy's coat pattern, only without the collar and back detail. Since it is woven material instead of felt, I added a seam allowance along the bottoms, outside edge, and the cuffs of the sleeves. Adding 1/2 inch will give you enough to do a narrow hem. I also took off about 3/4 inch of the angle of the skirt to make it less full on both the front and back pattern pieces.

8) I didn't add a seam allowance along the neck. I used 1/4 inch double bias tape to finish the neck after the pieces were sewn together, with ten inches or so extra on one end for tying a bow. That's the end that will be in front on the gown. Where the gown crosses over there's a layer underneath that I secured with one sew-on snap hidden inside. I sewed the sleeve hems by hand because they were too small to fit under the machine. After the gown was finished, I opened the seam under one arm just enough to insert the opposite bias binding tie and then resewed the seam.

9) Her socks were made from a cotton knit T-shirt I have in my stash. I traced a U shape that was about 1 3/4 inches wide and 3 1/2 inches long on the knit that was layered right sides together, using the existing hem of the T-shirt as the top of the socks. I used a regular straight stitch to sew the seam on the line, trimmed the allowance to about 1/8 inch and turned them. Simple.

10) Low tack white tape and gauze can be used to bandage any boo boos. We had some on hand from my husband's many hospital stays. Poor guy.

And that is how I altered the Katy pattern to make Kaley. I hope you can use these tips if you would like to bless a sick child with a huggable friend.