#the teddy bear pattern thing is because my teddy bear pattern is easier to sew than the one I currently use for Bucky Bears

[tj-crochets]

What should I sew next: - a bucky bear (for the charity auction winners) - a winter soldier bear (probably for a charity auction winner, but using my teddy bear pattern instead of my Bucky Bear pattern so I can test it out) - a wooly mammoth - a pillow shaped like a log and/or tree stump  - another giant mushroom creature, to test the pattern modifications I need to make (just some minor adjustments to the mushroom cap) - quilt one of the finished quilt tops I’ve got sitting around - a capybara - something I haven’t thought of yet that I should make a pattern for? - start making pompoms for the moss rug (this will be a long term project, making a few pompoms at a time so I don’t hurt my wrists with repetitive strain issues)

[peace-coast-island]

Diary of a Junebug

Making emotional support teddy bears, because why not?

Never underestimate the power of having an emotional support companion by your side when you need a little lift. Life can get rough and sometimes we have a lot weighing on our minds, so why not turn to something that can provide you comfort to help you get through the day?

This crafting session turned out to be perfect timing for the visitors who dropped by the camp before heading home after meeting up to address some heavy issues. I wasn’t at that meeting, but I am aware of the situation, and so I really hope things turn out okay in the end. It’s never easy dealing with shit that really isn’t in anyone’s control - life can be cruel like that.

Daisy Jane and I came up with the idea of making teddy bears after seeing a bunch of videos of people making emotional support chickens. I don’t know, something about emotional support chickens just caught everyone’s attention, like the kind of thing we never thought we needed and now we’re intrigued. I enjoyed watching other people film their process on making it, which turned out to be therapeutic for them too, probably because they’re trying something new and different. Plus, you’re making a cute little friend and watching them slowly come to life - how is that not amazing?

It’s a knitting pattern, which was how we came across it, though I’m honestly still on the fence on actually making one for myself. First of all, I don’t have the right yarn for it - I mean, I could make it a scrappy project like a lot of people have done, but I don’t know if I have enough and whether or not it’ll look cohesive. Don’t wanna play yarn chicken while making a chicken - haha.

Also, and probably the biggest obstacle for me, is that I’ve never made anything like this before, so I really have no idea how it’s gonna turn out. The only experience I had with making a knit animal was a fish from a long time ago, and that just involves simple increases and decreases - two pieces knit the exact same way and then seaming them together. But a chicken’s gonna be more complex than that from what it looks like, and given my experience with crochet amigurimi, I’m gonna really struggle with my stitch counts.

(I’m still haunted by my wonky six tentacled octopus…)

Anyway, instead of an emotional support chicken, we’re sewing up emotional support teddy bears. We have kits from a while ago that I’ve been meaning to use for an event…only to completely forget about them. Finally did some long overdue cleaning and found them hidden under a pile of stuff that I really need to sort through - but that’s for another time.

The kits contain everything you need, as well as detailed instructions, so it’s beginner friendly. I’m kinda rusty when it comes to making plushies, which I usually use a sewing machine for anyway, and most of the group have little to no experience with sewing in general aside from basic mending skills.

The instructions are written to cater to novices and those who are more experienced, which is why there’s a lot of pages despite it being straightforward. A little annoying to flip through, I gotta admit, but I really appreciate the detail - it’s just the format that really bothers me. They really should’ve split it into three booklets for the three levels, beginner, intermediate, and advanced so it’s easier to read. Highlighting definitely helps, or else you’d end up reading the wrong set of instructions.

Joining us in this event is quite a group - Ambrosia, Latte, Aymn, Connie, Olive, Della, Hongxia, Sadiki, and Madeleine. As for why they’re all together, it’s because they’re concerned about Safiyya. The situation in the Lunar Rainforest cannot go on much longer - Safiyya can stall all she wants, but patience is running thin on both sides. While they have managed to avoid a full on conflict, that doesn’t change the fact that there are many longstanding problems that should’ve been dealt with swiftly and decisively in the first place.

While that is a pressing issue, that’s not what this meeting really is about. To put it simply, Safiyya is not meant to be a leader. That doesn’t make her less of a person - it’s just that most people aren’t suited for that kind of position. Like personality traits - some are more emotional while others are more rational, some can work under pressure while others will crack. Safiyya does have some qualities of a capable leader, but in the words of her friends and colleagues, some of her greatest strengths are also her greatest weaknesses.

Being a leader is tough, and it’s not something I’d personally strive for. Having the option to choose to become a leader is considered a luxury to some. For people like Safiyya, Della, Hongxia, and Madeleine, they didn’t choose to become leaders, they were pretty much handed that role because they have obligations to fulfill. Of course, they’ll do their utmost to do their job, but often at the expense of their own well being.

That’s why we’re all worried about Safiyya. It’s bad enough that the Lunar Rainforest affairs are a huge source of stress for her, and now her personal life seems to be falling apart too. Ambrosia and Olive suspected that something had come between Aymn and Safiyya as they have grown distant over the past year. Shutting those close to you out and shouldering the burden only for yourself is never a good sign. Aymn tried his best to reach out to her, but I think this is just one of those things where it’s not entirely anyone’s fault, just a bunch of complicated circumstances tangled up together to create a situation where everyone loses out.

Could things have been handled differently? Yes, I believe so - to some extent. There’s really no way of knowing, so I won’t go down that route. That’s not to say that they didn’t try - I think they handled things as best as they can. It could be worse, should be better - again, there’s no use going back and forth on the past. What matters now is the present and what we can do about it.

I think Madeleine, Della, and Hongxia understand Safiyya’s struggles with being in a position that they never really wanted or felt like they deserved. It’s bad enough dealing with a lot of pressure from all around, it’s even worse when you don’t have the option to step away. I mean, you can, but then everyone will hate you for letting everyone down because your existence is basically tied to your ability to fulfill a specific role, which I know is not a good thing.

People aren’t tools, weapons, or pawns, they’re just people. Sure, some end up with more burdens and responsibilities than others due to birthright or whatever, but it’s not right to define them as their purpose and nothing else. I can’t imagine what it’s like being told since you were born that you have to be x, y, and z, and if you fail, you’re a disappointment because so many people depend on you. Even if someone can handle the pressure, it shouldn’t be something you expect from someone all the time. No one is invincible, after all. We are all prone to fail or fall short of expectations.

Hongxia and Della didn’t have much of a choice because of their families despite the fact that they have proven that they’re not meant to be leaders. Both of them actually developed severe mental health issues from running themselves to the ground - psychosomatic paralysis and substance abuse, to name a few. Like, that’s fucking serious and absolutely not acceptable. A stressful life like that can and will kill you, which was why Della’s mother finally had enough and intervened.

Safiyya may be immortal, but she is not invincible. Hongxia was able to recognize the signs of chronic overwork because Meiying hammered it on to him when he showed the exact same signs. He said he never realized how terrifying it was for those around him to see someone running themselves to the ground until finally seeing it for himself with Safiyya. The others have seen it far too many times than they’d like to admit, but it’s the kind of thing that often gets swept under the rug for various reasons.

In other words, if Della and Hongxia hadn’t fought hard to break away from their leadership positions, they will eventually work themselves to death. Della said her mother recently confessed to her that over the past year she had premonitions of her dying, which is naturally a parent’s worst nightmare. Not just from overwork or illness, murder or assassination’s another thing to worry about, especially if you’re high up there in terms of influence and politics. With one foot already in a grave, unless there’s an intervention, it won’t be long before they fall.

Hongxia said it was similar with his mother, and Meiying, Aiwen, and his sister in law, all of them putting it bluntly that he was going to wind up dead in a few years if he kept trying to shoulder all the responsibility on himself. While his brother means well and appointed him as the Xuelin for a reason, it’s just not something he wants out of life, which is why he’s been in kind of a weird position in terms of his status within the pavilion. Now that Hongxia’s on medical leave for an indefinite amount of time, that will make the rift between him and the others much more wider.

He’s got a lot to deal with too when he has to go back home, but right now his physical and mental health takes priority. Leaving home was the right choice for him as he’s no longer in a stressful environment, though that doesn’t change the fact that there are still a lot of things that need to still be addressed. Now he’s even more determined to not succeed his brother, which is a whole ‘nother issue that makes his whole situation even more complicated.

Well, the best Hongxia and everyone else can do is take it one day at a time. I don’t think it’s a good idea for him to go back anytime soon. He said so himself that he’s afraid that the second he gets home, his headaches and paralysis will return, and he’s probably right. I can’t comment on Qiangshou’s politics, but surely, they can work something out? I’m sure Hongxia’s not the only one who feels out of place in the Senlin Pavilion, though he’s probably one of the very few who not only actively fights back, but also has supporters by his side who care about his wellbeing over status and obligation.

Madeleine and Della were lucky in the sense that they were freed from the shackles that bound them for most of their lives. Della had aspirations to become an Eagle Stellaron, only to become disillusioned when she realized that the organization as a whole was corrupt. To make matters worse, her own parents were complicit, and so she was in a difficult position. There was also that whole thing with her friend being murdered by a captain who apparently had a habit of silencing those who didn’t see eye to eye with the Stellarons. If she wasn’t already so distrustful of most of her colleagues, she could have become one of his victims too.

Basically, it was a toxic environment where the people around her were actively driving her to her grave. And she was far from the only one who was a victim - there were a lot more like her who were not as fortunate. At least because of her mother’s status, Della had some sort of immunity, as in, most of her tormenters knew exactly how far to push her around without angering their superior. Sadly, most of the other Stellarons weren’t so lucky to be born to such families, and a good number of them ended up quitting or wound up dead in a matter of years.

For Della, cutting ties with the Eagle Stellarons and having a hand in their downfall was the right choice. She knew what she was doing by throwing herself into the crossfire, that she was never liked by her colleagues anyway, so being branded as a traitor is nothing compared to what they put her through. Although things have quieted down, she still has to be on her guard. Nothing too serious has happened, but she’s had some close calls with former acquaintances who failed to get a rise out of her. That’s just something she’ll have to deal with for possibly the rest of her life. The way she sees it, that’s a small price to pay for her freedom.

Madeleine was essentially created as a pawn and yet she willingly let herself be used that way because of her strong sense of justice. While she has no regrets for many of her actions, she does resent her loss of freedom and autonomy over the past few centuries, which really took a toll on her. If Connie and Fontaine hadn’t intervened with fate and essentially pushed things along, she’d probably lose herself completely with all the deception she had to put up with.

Just because she was willing to get blood on her hands doesn’t mean she’s okay with it, but sometimes you have to take an impartial and somewhat cold stance in order to get shit done, even if it makes you an enemy to some. As much as she wishes she could be an idealist like Safiyya, to try to find a way to work things out so everyone wins and no one ever gets hurt, Madeleine knows that it’s just simply impossible. Not everyone is willing to make sacrifices for the greater good.

Sometimes you have to be the bad guy, the cynic, the traitor, or whatever. Sometimes you have to play dirty, burn a few bridges along the way, manipulate the general public so they see things in your favor. I’m not saying that I necessarily approve of that, but there are times when you have to do the hard thing if you want to see certain results.

Most of the time, it’s not personal, it’s just someone doing their job, so I think when personal feelings gets involved, that muddies everything up. That’s probably why Safiyya and Madeleine felt the need to isolate themselves to avoid dealing with complicated feelings. I get why they feel the need to distance themselves and shoulder their burdens alone, but that doesn’t mean they should, not if they keep sacrificing themselves for the greater good.

It’s understandable why Madeleine doesn’t want Safiyya to go down the same road she did. Like her, Safiyya was created for a purpose and ended up with a lot more burdens than she bargained before thanks to unseen circumstances such as her predecessor’s death. However, unlike Madeleine and Nahla - who came to her position in a similar way - Safiyya was completely unprepared, which probably explains her hesitancy and avoidance for any sort of conflict.

Between the three, Nahla has proven to be a capable leader after successfully regaining control of Dharma when it fell to the wayside. The events of Adrikha were somewhat similar to the first rebellion in the Lunar Rainforest, the obvious differences being that Nahla’s faction succeeded where Safiyya’s failed in their approach not only to restore order but also maintain peace. Another major difference is that Nahla was more ambitious and driven, not by power, but because of her sense of duty and obligation driven by the fact that no one but her can do the job that was rightfully hers.

While it might seem like the best option, having Safiyya step down will create even more problems. Aymn’s probably the best choice as her successor but he considers himself an ill fit for such a role for various reasons - one being that he’s a mortal human. Although he’s well respected among his peers, there’s many who still see him as an outsider since that’s what he is to those whose families lived in the Lunar Rainforest for generations. There’s also the complicated on and off relationship between them, which most of them had already suspected, though that’s an entirely different issue.

So, it’s a lot to deal with and no one has any answers. At least they’re getting it all out in the open, hoping that their personal experiences will shed some much needed insight.

Not surprisingly, making emotional support teddy bears was therapeutic for everyone. Since we had a lot of kits, we made extras as gifts. I made one for my sister, Hongxia made three for his niece and nephews, Sadiki for Amina, Connie for Pai, as well as the rest of the Epiphany and Harmonious Cafe crew.

While working on the teddy bears and pondering about Safiyya’s situation, I remember a conversation between Madeleine and Fontaine not too long ago. He was one of those friends who took her by the shoulders and told her flat out that he couldn’t bear to watch her drive herself to her grave. It wasn’t until she got involved with the discussions regarding Safiyya when she finally understood why Fontaine was so upset with her while she merely brushed off her near death experience like it was nothing.

How terrible it is for someone to look down on themselves so much, to see themselves as only a means to end that that they’re totally okay with sacrificing themselves over and over again like they’re disposable and insignificant. Fontaine had to watch someone close to him subject herself like that for centuries, which was why he finally snapped, so to say. Like, he literally grabbed Madeleine by the shoulders - not in an aggressive way, more like clinging to someone so they’d stay because you’re afraid of them leaving you - and made her promise to live a long, uncomplicated, and happy life.

Such a seemingly simple thing, yet at times it’s almost like asking for the impossible as there are no guarantees. She found it a bit naive, but nevertheless, she gave him her word. Maybe, she believes, if Aymn confronted her like that, being all open, and vulnerable, and honest, he’ll finally get through to her. It’ll be a difficult conversation, but a very necessary one.

For now, there’s really nothing they can do aside from trying to get through to Safiyya. Aymn feels bad for doing this behind her back, but I think he’s doing the right thing because he’s worried about her. Madeleine and Connie know from experience that having friends who are willing to intervene means that there is hope, that there is a way to work things out no matter how difficult it gets. It’s not easy, but sometimes you have to give someone a good shake before they end up self destructing and it’s too late to help them. I really hope they can get through to her.

Read on AO3

[pbandjesse]

Today was a pretty good day overall. I slept alright. I didn't get woken up a ton. I fell asleep easier. When I did wake up it was only a little after 7 and I wasn't sure if James had moved the car for street cleaning. So I texted them and laid down but didn't fall back asleep. Just rested my head.

Once James let me know that they had moved the car I would just lay in bed and scroll on my phone for a bit. But I would soon get up and get showered and dressed. I was annoyed that I love this outfit normally but I was just a bit uncomfortable today. My middle is getting rounder and that's fine but the elastic on these pants was slightly uncomfortable. Just a little bit.

Mainly I was focused on how much my feet hurt. The skin on the bottom of my feet felt like a bruise. I know couple days previous have been a lot of walking and standing and I guess it just really got to me.

I tried to not let it stop me. I was determined to get some studio stuff done. I would head downstairs and had the breakfast that James had left for me. I let Sweetp hang out outside. When I went out there I noticed that all the persimmons were gone! I am not sure if they were picked or fell but they weren't there anymore.

I had my breakfast and cleaned up and went to work in the studio. I was working on a few things. Putting things to the side and in a bag to work on at the market tomorrow. Putting all my printmaking stuff away, trying to make that cart a little neater. And then working on the teddy bear hospital patient.

This penguin needed some seam fixed, to be washed, to be restuffed, and a whole new beak. The original beak was just all torn up and worn down. So I chose a red orange fleece and tried to copy the side and pattern and I think I did a pretty good job! My plan is to sew the original beak into the stuffing so it's still a part of it.

I unstuffed the penguin before I went over all the seams and attached the new beak. I would then wash him in a bucket and put him outside to dry in the sun. Tomorrow I will brush him out and see if he needs more cleaning before he gets restuffed. I was really pleased with the work so far.

Once I was done that I spent a bit working on finishing some bears. I sewed their arms down and gave them faces and stuffed them. They will get sewn closed tomorrow.

I spent some time laying in bed. I cleaned up my nails. And I trimmed my bangs. But for a good while I was just resting. It was nice.

James let me know that I could come meet them at the museums at 130 and we could go get the tire fixed.

I would have a little lunch but would leave here around 1. Figuring I would get there early. But nope! Traffic was really bad. I had to sit at a light for three whole rotations before I could turn and it was just really terrible traffic downtown because of roadwork. But I got to the museum by 130. And it was fine.

I went into the museum. Used the bathroom. Watched James and Emma check in two young guys who were here for the museum. And then we were off.

I hate driving on the spare. It makes me so nervous so I'm just glad we didn't have to go to far.

We got to the dealership and we were hopeful that we wouldn't have to pay anything because we have the road hazards warranty. And once they let us know that it would be fixable we were told it would be covered and I am very pleased.

Didn't love waiting two hours but it wasnt so bad. I had brought my knitting squares to sew together. Which took barely 45 minutes. I ate a fig newton. I people watched. There were a dozen or so other people waiting. And it took a while but it wasn't so bad. And it was just nice sitting with James. They worked on their editing on their laptop. They also walked over to the Royal farms to get a coffee. We had some little laughs but everyone was being quiet so we were being respectful of that and just listening to the chatter from the sales floor.

The mechanics would text James that they wanted to see them. And apparently they were shocked by how large the "nail" was I drove over but was fixable and would take about another half hour. I didn't get a picture of it but it was basically a 4.5 inch pin for a trailer hitch. Absolutely wild. I'm glad it was fixable. And covered by the warranty.

We finished up there and we were going to go and pick up our pottery from amazing glaze but because the traffic was so bad still we just went home. I'll probably go grab the pottery tomorrow or Sunday. No real rush there.

I started falling apart in the car and James kept saying sorry for making me come with them but I was glad I went! I was just starting to not feel good, same thing that happens almost every day.

And we got home before the sun went down. James would make me spring rolls for dinner. And we lay in bed together. I was feeling a bit dizzy but it passed after eating so it was probably just that. And eventually I would take a bath. James heated up a kettle of water for me which made it a little nicer.

We have been laying in bed for a while now. Sweetp was here for a while and made my allergies go off but I took some medicine and that is starting to work. But I am just real tired now.

Tomorrow I have the farmers market. And it should be a nice day. I hope we have lots of people come out. It will be really nice to sit by the water.

I hope you all have a great day tomorrow. I hope you are feeling safe and taking care of yourself. I love you all. Goodnight!

[eringurumi]

Ewok Hood Pattern

Hello friends! I got a request for sharing this Ewok hood pattern, and heck, I can’t resist! It’s super easy, I’m always in favor of more Star Wars in the world, and I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Disney releases a stand alone Ewok movie. (The joke is... there are already two!!) As per usual, if you make one, tag me! I’d love to see a pic or reblog your post. <3

For yarn, I used Red Heart Super Saver in Carrot and Coffee, and some fuzzy brown yarn that was gifted to me. I think color combos are very flexible though, as most Ewoks wear sort of earth tones. Even looking at Wicket’s hood in particular, I was really going back and forth on making something more of a gold-ish tan or brown. I also used 10 mm knitting needles and a 6.5 mm crochet hook, but I don’t think those specifications are necessary, as I’ll explain below!

The hood part is super straight forward: I just knitted the only thing I can, a long rectangle! Because I was in an hurry, I used huge knitting needles and a seed stitch (knit the purls and purl the knits). I cast on 29 and always began my row K1, P1 etc, and just worked as many rows I needed to get my desired length. BUT, I think there are any number of ways you could produce the hood: crochet, knit with smaller needles or different stitch etc. Here’s the approximate dimensions you should end up with:

Here’s my final rectangle, folded over (the crease is at the bottom of this picture, but it will be the top of the hood). It’s about 11 inches wide by 32 inches long. You can definitely make it longer if you want it to drape lower in the front. After you’ve folded it in half, sew 6 inches from the crease down (this closes the hood at the back of the head) and on the opposite side sew 4 inches (or as many as you need) from the bottom up (this makes the closure at the front where your face goes). Then turn this piece inside out so the stitches are inside!

Sorry the pictures for the ears are so shitty - I actually went through several versions before I landed on holding the brown Super Saver yarn and the fuzzy yarn together - crocheting with fuzzy yarn is so hard! The second strand gave it a bit more structure and made it easier to deal with. Here’s a very generic amigurumi ear pattern - make two, fold in half, and sew them onto the hood where you would like your ears to be:

6 sc in a magic circle

inc 6x to make 12 stitches

(1 sc, inc) 6x to make 18 stitches

2 rows of 18 stitches

Here’s a quick view from the side/back. You can see how the fabric is sewn part way down the back, and then the sides drape down the front.

And that’s that! Happy costume making! Let me know if you have any questions, and let me see those cute but mighty teddy bears! Yub nub!

[covercustomhats]

How to do Puff Embroidery on a Hat and 4×4! Easy Puff Embroidery DIY Instructions

How do you do Puff Embroidery on a hat? Can you do Puff Embroidery on your 4×4 embroidery machine?

This back to school special video answers a viewer’s question on how to do Puff Embroidery. Puff embroidery is a trend especially on hats. However there are many other designs available which feature Puff Embroidery for many other things such as bags or shirts!

I embroidered the hat with a Puff Embroidered Letter created by JJ Digitizing.

The Puff Embroidered design I put on the hat can be found on the website: ** Will be updated **

Here is a link directly to the Puff Embroidered teddy bear with balloons: http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/Products.aspx?Catalog=Emblibrary&ProductID=A7051

I am an Amazon Affiliate! Here are some helpful links to the supplies I used in this tutorial.

Amazon carries a sweet pack of foam in a variety of colors! http://amzn.to/2urBGPA

Amazon has a great starter pack of thread that I love! http://amzn.to/2ut7e6x

Sign up for a FREE 60 day trial membership to Amazon Prime! You will get FREE 2day shipping and many many more perks!

http://amzn.to/2tKtkkU

The Chopping Mats that I use for my permanent patterns are found at Dollar Tree. HOWEVER… Guess WHAT?!?!?!

I have BIGGER mats available on my website for only ! Get yours here!

https://www.thebabysbooty.com/product-page/2-chopping-mats-large-12×15

The website for the swirly girly fonts is found at:

www.Stitchtopia.com

Be sure to use my referral code for an additional 10% off!!! (first time shoppers only) a5e57 is the code.

One of the things that would make embroidery easier is a good embroidery editing software program. I use Sew What Pro because it is affordable and simple to use! I offer many tutorials here on YouTube for it. Here is a link to their website where you can download a free limited trial!

SewWhat-Pro Embroidery Editor

Thank you very much for taking the time to watch our videos! These videos are made for YOU. If there is anything that you would like to see a review on (embroidery or sewing related) please put it in the comments below!

Because these videos are YOUR videos, take a moment to subscribe! This will help keep you up to date whenever we post new content.

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The post How to do Puff Embroidery on a Hat and 4×4! Easy Puff Embroidery DIY Instructions appeared first on Cover Your Head.

[tj-crochets]

Heya! Do you have any tips for pattern making? Specifically a long sweater for a doll?

Loads! It varies a bit between crochet and sewing patterns, but surprisingly not that much?  The easiest, most basic pattern making (aka like 90% of what I do) is breaking the thing you want to make down into basic shapes. For a sweater, the most basic shape would be rectangle for the front, rectangle for the back, and two (or four) rectangles for the arms.  There’s some refining you can do based on style of sweater, neckline, desired level of positive or negative ease, sleeve style, etc, but all that is more towards clothes designing than general pattern designing which is something I absolutely don’t know the right terms for.  So! To design a basic sweater, you’ll need a few things. Mostly, you’ll need a doll to size it to, fabric with some stretch in it (like fleece or minky or an old t-shirt or something) or yarn if you are crocheting, and some paper (either to make the sewing pattern or to write crochet notes on).  I’m going to put the rest below a read more because it will be long:

All these notes are specific to a very basic rectangle-based design, but you can easily make alterations to change up your pattern. The design will be two main rectangles for the front and back, sewed up the sides to the armpits to make a tube (either from crochet or fabric), sewed a bit from the top outside edges towards the neck (making an almost boatneck style neckline) and with either two piece sleeves (two rectangles sewed along long edges to make a tube per sleeve) or one piece sleeves (one rectangle sewed together along long edges to make a tube per sleeve) The absolute easiest way to design a pattern is to base your measurements off of a piece of clothing that already fits the doll. Barring that, I’d take flexible measuring tape and find measurements for how wide you want the sweater to be at the shoulders, and see if that measurement will also be wide enough that that measurement times two (the finished circumference of the sweater with the back and front sewn together) will be enough to fit over the doll at all points; you might have to make the rectangle shape more of a trapezoid to make it fit over the hips, or make the shoulder measurement of the rectangle a little longer and have what I think are called drop shoulders? Depending on the shape of the doll, it might be easier to design the sweater to be pulled up from the doll’s feet instead of pulled over the doll’s head. Either way, it might be wise to not finish up the shoulder seams until you can test how difficult it is to get it on the doll.  Also measure the length you want to sweater to be. Now that you have the size for your rectangles (or trapezoids, if you are going that route), you either need to crochet two panels from any stitches you want that are that size, or add a seam allowance (I usually use 1/4″) and cut out the fabric (including that seam allowance!). Once you are done with either method, I’d pin the shoulder seams at the corners to check the fit on the doll and have a start point to measure from to get the size of the arm rectangle. For crochet, you absolutely could crochet the sleeves in the round. For sewing, you pretty much measure the circumference of the widest part of the arm, add however much positive ease you want (to make the sleeve wider so it doesn’t fit like a second skin), use that by the length you measured earlier to make a rectangle, add a seam allowance, and sew up the long ends. Then sew the sleeves to the body of the sweater, sew up the side seams of the sweater, check the fit and mark where you want to stop sewing along the shoulders to make the neckline, and sew that.  Other notes: if you don’t have flexible measuring tape, you can use a piece of yarn or string to figure out the length you want and then measure the yarn or string with a ruler. Depending on the fabric you are using and the look you are going for, you’ll either need to sew a hem at every unsewn edge (and thus account for it when adding your seam allowances) or decide you don’t want to hem and don’t include a seam allowance on that edge because there will be no seam. When using minky for the one shirt pattern I made (for a teddy bear wearing a Star Trek red shirt) the sleeves and bottom of the shirt were hemmed but I left the neckline unhemmed to curl under a bit In my experience it’s easier to hem the sleeves before you sew them into tubes, but easier to hem the bottom body edge after it’s assembled, unless the sweater will be super tiny.  For crochet you don’t really need seam allowances but you will have to account for stretch; something all in dc will have more stretch than something in sc. If you’re making a tight, stiff fabric you’ll probably need to make it a bit bigger than you think you will to be able to actually put the sweater on the doll. I hope this helps! Pattern making seems to vary a lot between different pattern designers and some of my plushie pattern making skills don’t seem to transfer over into clothes pattern designing, so I’m hoping some other sewing and crocheting friends chime in to offer other strategies and tips.