imakedollclothes

I've been all whelmed with studying and procrastinating studying, but I did get some sewing done last night. Made a wee dress from a McCall's pattern. I shall try sewing today I think, for some relaxing times.

I seem to have about a dozen Fashionista now, oops, many of whom do not have their original heads on. They are so totally a bit thinner overall than older Barbies. Might just be whatever they're made of for all I know, but I have noticed that clothes fitted to a Bellybutton go onto a Fashionista that bit more easily.

I am being watched now by Pantone Pink Barbie, obtained as an Xmas Gift from my BFF. She is so amazingly pink.

Gonna sew again today, I think. Hope I haven't forgotten it all.

So I got an old sheet in a charity shop for £2.50, which means lots of white dresses in the dolls' future. It's good, I was running out of white fabric.

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What I meant to do was gather the top layer way higher, but I messed up by sewing the two layers together at the back out of stupid and so I couldn't do that. Still it was an interesting experiment in gathering things upwards I suppose.

Our model for today is a freak of nature, being a Swappin' Styles head on an older less poseable body. Yes, there was decapitation earlier today.

I really need to get something better than my webcam for taking pics :(

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First attempt at a bustle, I don't think it went too badly all things considered. Padded it out a bit with cotton wool hidden inside it. Used this pattern for the bodice and Google/YouTube to learn about bustles. Yeah, I took this even though it is more than I am really capable of, in some weird belief that pushing myself a bit would help me learn.

Quite pleased with this one.

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Materials: old t-shirt and some lace from the remnants box at the haberdashery.

I think it turned out quite well for my first go at that shape. No pattern, I just measured fabric round the doll and hoped. I suppose it's a nightdress, based on the fabric and the overall look.

I successfully swapped dollheads! I had these fears based on childhood that I'd break the attachment thingies trying, but I persevered anyway and Summer has now been swapped with one I've decided to call Savannah (yeah, most of them have no names, I'm working on that). My reasoning was that Summer is a bit too Smiley-All-American and Savannah has a bit more mystery to her expression by which I mean any at all. She has really long straight hair to her waist, which is impressive because it means she's avoided all my attempts at hair styling. I can't remember when I got her, it was a few years ago.

I just really like the Fashionista bodies because of how they can at all move. Now I have a magical hybrid doll that maybe nobody else has, how nifty is that?

Fairly pleased with this one, a couple of feckups aside.

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Inspired by this dress and using this tutorial for the army bit at the top. Fabric from an old dress that hasn't fitted me for years.

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Skirt is just a tube with elastic at the waist, which is a bit bulkier than I'd like but whatever. Black "velvety stuff" and the green lace are from an old skirt, then I put bells on the end of the green bits. I got the wee bells from an old pair of earrings. Pretty much the only good thing about going allergic to earrings is that I have all these old cheap ones I can take apart for embellishments for wee clothes.

When the skirt was for humans it had the green stuff on at the hemline, but I think it being over the black looks better. Plus bells.

I had to pull the blouse off-the-shoulder a bit because with the long black skirt she looked a bit too much like she'd knock on your door to ask if you'd like to meet Jesus. Anyway, you can see the frill on her top, which is the important thing because I added that to the pattern using my amazing skills.

(My stitches should be smaller, really. I suppose I need to slow myself down and become neater. But the fun!)


Anywho, the internet is showing me that the doll dictates the clothes, in that people make all kinds of ugly stuff for Barbie that they'd never put on an Ellowyne or the like. I suppose it's that the clothes a doll comes with determines who will buy it in the first place, which is why there don't seem to be many rock chick Barbie or whatever.

Pls to ignore that the coat and the dress don't really go together, it was that or BARBIE NUDITY.

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I used this pattern mostly, but a bit different because I didn't really know what I was doing. It seems to be a bit like making a dress except the front is open rather than the back. Fabric is from an old dress that didn't fit me anymore.

The dress is made from awesome black-with-glitter-and-shiny-squares (technical name) which is a bit of a bitch to get a needle though but it's really pretty so probably worth the struggle.


What I learned:

- Coats should probably be lined with something, since you can see inside them when they're open.

- Sleeves don't need to be as huge as I feared, but they need to be wider than the doll's hand at least.

- Pretty much everything needs to be hemmed.


Not Sure About:

- What colour of thread to use for multicoloured things?