Elizabeth half doll pincushion Update!

Hello stitching friends! We are melting right now - 106 to 108 today. ooooh yes the AC is on!
I finished stitching the skirt of Elizabeth Half Doll Pincushion. Also I started the assembling for it.
I worked on this last evening and was surprised how much I was able to get done. Mostly I spent more time on reading and re-reading the instructions and sooo happy to say I didn't need to rush to Joann's for any additional supplies like I thought I would.  Very heavy with photos so grab a cup of your favorite beverage and here we go......

 Finished the 2 upper bands of the skirt.

 All done with cross stitching. 

 Now for the assembling. Made the 4" circle of cardboard and glued it to the felt. Then I just did some long stitches to keep the felt down rather than more cutting and gluing. Next was the making of the underskirt what I call the cylinder. OH BOY! I just was concerned to cut my green duponi silk and make errors. So I cut a trial piece of fabric to experiment. Worked for me!!! Really I just folded the trial fabric and pretended it was sewn and actually pinned it around the felt circle bottom to see if indeed there was enough fabric to fit around. YES there was. So then I felt confident to cut my silk. Done.

Folded in the silk to make a hem (but didn't stitch down left only folded). Whip stitched the silk to the felt bottom.

 A view of the inside.

 I measured my fabric making sure to follow the instructions and have a height of 7". Great!

 Here's where I made a change. I didn't stitch the seam on the side first. I pinned it closed and stitched it afterwards. This photo shows the gathering stitch all along the top of the cylinder.

After the top was gathered stitched I slip stitched the side seam closed.

And by the way I did have a nice overlap so there was plenty of fabric according to the instructions.

Had a set of chopsticks that so far is the correct height for the doll. I had a dowel stick for back up just in case. I was very surprised that the chop sticks are perfect! 

Just a test after gathering the green silk at the waist. Not stuffed yet! So far so good!

Photo of wrong side out!!!

The right sides are facing are each other.

Now for the attaching of the skirt to the lining. I used a  lt blue Duponi silk.

 Wrong side of silk pinned to the stitched linen for the lining of the skirt.

NOTE: I stitched 4 threads down from the design and NOT 2 as the instructions suggested. I knew when it came time to turn right side out & iron the seam would take up some of the linen. And I was right.
I hand sewed all around attaching the linen & silk. NO WAY was I going to sew this with my machine..... SO HAPPY I DIDN'T. I was able to keep control of the 2 fabrics and did not have a chance of stitching too close to the design.

 Full view of stitching 4 threads down to make the skirt.

Finished stitching by hand all around the design early this morning (Friday).

 This is the right side showing after turning inside out and pinned for ironing.

I took my time and carefully rolled the seam to show some edging of the linen, then pinned it down.

Getting ready to iron in between the pins to make sure everything was lined up correctly.

Left lots of fabric on the top will trim after I measure according to the instructions.

TA DA!!! All ironed and ready to continue the assembling. Hopefully over this weekend I can get it done.
Going to check to see of others who are stitching this SAL have any updates.

While writing this post my computer went blank. Now its behaving.....And Thanks to Beth I did back up all my files before finishing this post. While trying to get this laptop working I have been stitching on Ann Dale sampler again.
Thank you for your visit. With love and my appreciation - Annette