imakedollclothes

a red frock, which is fancy

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 01:39:54 GMT

The pattern was for a wedding dress, so obviously I did it in red so that it wasn't. It took ages with all the hemming and whatnot, and then tonight I had to alter it to actually fit the dolls. I'm glad I did and that I did not just give up. My BFF told me how to make it fit properly. Because I don't know enough about sewing.

Model is nameless, she is an older head that I shoved onto a Fashionista Nikki body. Maybe she is called... umm... Trisha? Idk!

Anyway, it was a lot of sewing and possibly the most complex thing that I have actually finished. So weird as it may look I am pleased with it.

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Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:40:54 GMT

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.

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Sat, 29 Dec 2012 00:22:45 GMT

I made some electric blue trousers for the dolls and then realised when I was done that basically nothing will go with them. Oops. I have two shoeboxes full of dollclothes now, one proper stuff and one stuff I made. Gratifiyingly the stuff in the box of me gets better as it gets more recent. A lot better, which is nice.

Been working with the Simplicity patterns and am getting good results now that I do the correct seam/hem allowance on them. Still don't entirely know what all the terms mean, but I'm getting there I think.

I wish I could make them a wee hoodie. They'd like that, if they had feelings.

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Sun, 23 Dec 2012 14:39:07 GMT

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

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Kimono Omg!

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 20:53:11 GMT

More of a proof of concept since it's made from a second-hand sheet rather than anything fancy. Collar and obi are made from ribbon that's otherwise a bit wide for dollclothes, so good that I found a use for it.

( pix )

I've wanted to make a kimono for me dolls since I started sewing (all of... a week or so ago?) but while there's a free pattern online I couldn't make head nor tail of it. This time I used this tutorial, which is quite easy to follow. This video gave me some guidance on tying the obi.

Problem: unless I sew and cut a bit cleverly the doll has to be tied into the outfit each time. I'll think on how to deal with that. But I am quite happy with the result overall.

There is quite a lot of sewing round edges, which is not the most exciting aspect of sewing. I think the pleasure of having made it makes up for that though.

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not a wedding dress

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 16:34:31 GMT

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.

( pix )

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.

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a trip outside/swappin styles

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 11:40:15 GMT

I got a Swappin' Styles Barbie sort of by accident and discovered that the heads also come off in the normal way. This plus a half-price sale at the local toy shop? Equals re-heading a couple of dolls I wasn't that keen on. Hurrah!

I got Sporty and Cutie because they had nice hair. Off came two 90s-Barbie heads that long ago became victims of haircuts, and with a bit of a struggle I now have basically two new dolls.

I checked skin-tone in the shop and the white ones all seem to be Generic Barbie Caucasian, and I had checked before leaving the house that Sassy wasn't too much lighter or darker than my older dolls.

I find it quite scary to swap heads on dolls in case I break them, but I am glad I did it.

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Bustle dress kind of

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 19:48:40 GMT

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

( pix anyway! )

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.

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Posh Dress

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:18:49 GMT

( crappy pix )

I was going to drape it over both shoulders but I think this looks better, also the drapery helps obscure the opening in the back required to get the doll into the dress. It is made from a Remnant. No pattern, I just kind of hoped. I think it turned out well, I am pleased with it. It is slightly see-thru so I suppose a lining would have helped but it's only Implied Doll Nudity, innit?

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MOAR LACE

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 02:04:04 GMT

Quite pleased with this one.

( pix )

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.

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frock

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 23:03:40 GMT

This one is not quite nice enough, I will try remaking it in the morning to get one nice enough to put lace on. I have lace! It was only 50p from the remnants in the haberdashery.

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Off With Her Head!

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:15:23 GMT

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?

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Fashionistas: Summer (Dolllllllssssss)

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 11:00:28 GMT

Summer arrived in the post, she is quite cute. She has these insane silver boots and some sort of pink (of course) sports dress. She came in a box about twice as big as what necessary, maybe Amazon were aiming to confuse me. Still it is a box and hopefully I will find some use for it.

Also acquired: snap fasteners and about a metre of white meshy fabric from the remnants box in the haberdashery.

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Frock

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 01:04:14 GMT

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

( pix )

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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Sewing Fail

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 21:27:48 GMT

Not a great evening for sewing as hems fell apart and nothing really went my way. The positive spin is that I am learning about fabric and which ones fray appallingly much. But there must be a way to work with them since people made clothes out of them in the first place, right? I shall internet and see what the wisdom of the masses suggests.

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She Shall Have Music (Gothy Skirt w/Bells)

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 15:06:15 GMT

( crap picture )

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.

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RESULT

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 03:05:56 GMT

http://fashionistabarbieuk.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/BarbieCorrieNielsen1.jpg

Finally my people get their own Barbie Ethnic Stereotype!

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Blouse (skirt not pictured)

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 02:18:09 GMT

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.

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Sat, 20 Oct 2012 20:29:23 GMT

Made a wee blouse thing but like my webcam is shit so it just looked like a white blur on that. Ho hum, should possibly invest in a decent camera. Or a cheap shitty one.

I used this pattern, then I sort of gathered in the sleeves a bit around the elbows and put a Pointless Frill on the front of the top. I might make a long black skirt to go with it, otherwise half-naked doll happens.

Hemming things is kind of dull, as is sewing on snaps.

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Coat (plus dress I suppose)

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 18:55:23 GMT

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

( pics )

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?

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First Post

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 18:17:56 GMT

I decided I should probably keep my dollstuffs away from my primary journal to prevent annoying people who have no interest in dolls and their wee clothes. Hence I am here.

The gist is that I'm learning to sew doll clothes for Barbies, and here I shall track my progress with the tricky beast of sew.

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