Exasperation!

This life as a designer can really be exasperating. You think you have your design done, you've made it dozens of times and it all goes together with a minium of fuss. You've drawn the illustration and have written the instructions. It IS the very best you can do.

And just before you're ready to take it to the printer -- you see one little mistake! Then you think, "Maybe there are more." And on and on and on.

In my patterns -- Clementine, Amelia Earheart and Cyndi Lopper -- I show my clients a neat little elastic trick. This comes in very handy when handling elastic piecs that are 1" - 2". Hope this will help someone out:

Miss Bee’s Elastic Trick
This is one of my favorite sewing tricks. It is an easy way to handle any elastic installation, not just in doll making.

* For this application, take your 12 inches of 1/8” elastic and thread it into a yarn needle.

* On the other end, approximately ½ inch from the end, make a mark with a pencil or Sharpie marker. From that mark,

* Measure however long a piece of elastic you need. Place another mark.

* Take the needle and slide it into the sleeve casing, and gently tug it until the black mark – closest to the end of the elastic – is almost even with the sleeve edge. Tack it down, running the stitch into and through the sleeve and elastic.