“Need teaches naked woman to sew” – is that not how the old saying goes?

Anyway, got a dollmeet coming up Saturday and want to bring Dina but as she is sooo tall in her hooves there is no way I will be fitting her into my little suitcase. Also, do not want to ruin the blushing more than necessary by squeezing her into it.

So, as too late to order a carrier from the far east and my local dealer is not answering her texts lol – I decided to make one myself. And took pictures in the process ^^

Had a the leftover table oilcloth that I used to make Unoa wellies last summer still standing around collecting dust so decided that would make a smashing doll carrier.

So, first things first:
Measured the doll to figure out how big I wanted the carrier and added a couple of cm to make room for padding and extra bubblewrap/pillows + a 2cm seam allowance, just in case something went wrong. I guess I could have just gone on a dollie site that sells them and gotten the measurements but hey, if I was going to make it myself I might as well do it the hard way.

So decided on 75x25x15 – Room enough for two if so needed and plenty of space for one + accessories.

Two sidepanels 75x15cm + 2cm seam allowance all the way round
Two top parts 85×12.5cm + 3cm seam allowance each short end, 2cm seam allowance to panel side, 2cm seam allowance to zip side
One bottom part 95x25cm + 3cm seam allowance each short end, 2cm seam allowance all way round
Did not do a pattern but drew directly onto the back of the fabric making sure everything was straight – Do not count on edges being straight from the roll!

Found some D rings for the shoulderstrap attachment and some adjuster thingys + webbing for internal fastening of the doll in my stash of stuff. Always good to keep odd bits an pieces around for impulse projects like this ^^

Wanted to give it that ‘professional’ finish of the edges by adding piping to the seams so that one do not look ‘into’ the stitching.
Found some wrapping hemp like cord from a Christmas present in my stash and there was a little over 4m which would be enough for the two side panels. Sweet!

Cut out strips that were 3cm wide

Added them together like a standard bias cut tape so the seam would not be on top of each other


Put the cord inside the strip and folded over and used the zip foot to get closer to the cord



4meters of finished piping – guess this can be bought ready made but this matches + nowhere is open on a Sunday night!

Update 21 March:
Do NOT make shoulder strap attachments out of table oil cloth fabric!
It will NOT hold the weight of the resin.
I used mine today and it was nearly falling apart at the extra seam I made.
Had it been regular strapping it would have been fine.

For the shoulder strap attachment I cut out a couple of strips that were double the width of my D rings.
Folded the sides to the middle of the back and stitched down.
Not happy about the length and not sure that they will actually be able to hold the resin weight but I ran out of fabric
They should have been longer and possibly have run all the way through the bottom of the bag and been stitched to the inside.
Well, at least they should have been longer and have had the standard cross stitching box at the end to distribute the weight.
Something to do better next time ^^

I actually did make some handles as well but they turned out to be too short… So looking in hindsight I should just have used them for the shoulder strap attachments – oh well.
Might look at this when I do the lining…

First thing to put together was the top with the zip.
I did not have a long enough zip so I used two shorter ones instead.

After attaching them I thought it looked a bit half finished so gave them a top stitch to keep the parts together and conceal the zips as they were not the best match in colour. If it had been a white zip it would have been fine to keep it visible. Would still give it a top stitch though for strength.

Next step was putting top and bottom together.
Inserted the shoulder attachment strips with the D rings, one to each end and centralised at the zip.
Secured the ends at the extra seam allowance.

And again on the outside with an extra stitching.

(Had my carrier handles been long enough I would have attached them to the sidepanels before sewing the whole bag together)

Final step was attaching the top/bottom ring to the sidepanels.
Found the middle of the top, bottom and sides of the panels and gave them a notch. Same with the top/bottom ring.

Then sandwiched the piping between the two layers and started pinning them together making sure that the two ends lay nicely over each other at the end of the circle.

Moulded the corners visually as I had not cut them out of the sidepanels to start with – too much calculating

I stitched the top/bottom ring, piping and sidepanels together using the zip foot again to get as close to the piping as possible.
After stitching it the first time I did it again a second time to get even closer and make it look “pro”.

There was just enough fabric for the bag panels + piping! These were the leftovers. (+ I also got two short carrier handles lol)

Finished!

Shoulder strap attachment

Piping

…Well, almost, I need to find a shoulder strap – will be stripping one of my old sportbags and add carrier handles at a later stage.
Actually think a harness not actually attached to the bag would work better as resin is quite heavy and table oilcloth is not the most durable of materials.
And need to insert the strappy thingys inside the bag – but will do that after I finish the lining project.

Dina trying it out ^^

Lining next, got the wadding and the pink sheet so should be able to finish that in time for Saturday ^^