I'm back! Graduated college and moved far far away, with only two suitcases and a backpack to call my own. The Journey Girl you see on the left is now my only doll. I chose a Journey Girl because they're a bit slimmer than American Girls (can use more layers in their clothing) and the plastic in their torso means that they can wear lower necklines--and she still has a squishy waist you can stick pins in! Her mouth kind of freaks me out though. The lips are cute, but too detailed compared to the rest of the face. |
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This is a (wedding?) dress for Moxie Teenz Arizona. It's basically four rectangles of fabric--silver body, silver ruffle on the bottom, lace overdress, and a silver binding to hem the lace. The silver is some sort of shiny polyester lining fabric--I think it's the scraps left over from a cloak lining. (The binding really should have been on the bias--maybe it all should have been on the bias, but I didn't have much silver fabric to work with.) The dress stays on due to a piece of elastic at the top--unfortunately, the gathering there creates an unattractive stiff pouf, so I'll need to replace the elastic with darts or some-such. I don't know what the ribbon scarf's doing. It's not attached to the dress or anything. Maybe Arizona was cold. After the dress is finished, I figure I'll measure all the parts and make it into a proper pattern to post up here. Below: the fixed ~1780's skirt and half-finished blouse. This skirt was supposed to be the lower half of a dress vaguely based on #22 (~1780's) in The Doll Book by Estelle Ansley Worrell. The skirt is made of a pale grayish cotton, with lace from who-knows-where as a ruffle on the hem and an embroidery thread drawstring. What I didn't account for was that the drawstring makes the waist much bulkier, so it's difficult to make a fitted blouse that will go over the waist and stay there. I should have made a waistband instead, and maybe darted the skirt so that there would be less fabric around the waist. I've made the blouse, except for the waistline hem, but it seems to be incompatible with the skirt. Perhaps I'll piece together a better skirt--I do have a bit of this fabric left. Alternatively, I could remove the drawstring, add some darts, and sew on a waistband to this skirt. The last time I tried a skirt with a waistband, I didn't account for fabric bulk, and it ended up more as an apron. Finally got around to trying out the Dolly Bureau patterns. This is a dress sized for Momoko (who is a very similar size to Pullip). This dress came out a bit different from what I was expecting. You can see the "official" version here, on the blog of the author of Dolly Bureau, Megann Zabel. That dress is far shorter--it only reaches halfway between Momoko's hips and knees. The strange thing is... I didn't lengthen the pattern when making this dress. (And that much difference in length can't be due to accidental variations in seam allowance.) I followed the instructions exactly. It looks like the pattern was made after the original dress... and then not tested sufficiently! There's no mention of the pattern differing from the photos in the book or the blog. I think the shorter dress looks better. Eun-jae is so long and thin already, and the longer dress only emphasizes that. I'll make a note on my book to cut an inch or so off the hem if I make it again. When Eun-jae must become a rich noble woman in 1800's France, she obviously needs a proper wardrobe. This is actually based off of a wedding dress, but Eun-jae is not the sort to be interested in weddings, so I'm going to call it a "special occasion" outfit. In brown and with fewer ruffles and less embroidery, it looks less like a wedding dress to my eyes. This is a dress (or rather, a blouse and skirt) that I'm not likely to sew any time soon. It's got princess seams, a yoke, ruffly things, cuffs... I need to level up a few times before attempting this. The skirt looks okay though. Not that Eun-jae needs any more skirts. This dress would be a good opportunity to get a more... traditional wig for Eun-jae. What kind of time-traveling secret agent walks around with short purple hair all the time? Hello again! It's been a few weeks. Sorry--I've been without access to fabric, fabric scissors, or doll. Still am. But here's some sketches to help tide you over for a week or two. Eun-jae needs more clothes than a couple of kimono and some underwear. She needs a more versatile outfit for wandering unnoticed, as she is wont. Enter the College Student Disguise. The jacket will help ward off breezes in the evening on the Quad, or at night when she's running across dormitory rooftops in a desperate hunt for ... something. It's inspired by an image in Dolly Bureau, although apparently that pattern has a hood. I doubt the hood will fit a Pullip's head! I'm considering whether to remove the hood, leave it, or resize it. I'll have to check the pattern to see how easily it modifies. The t-shirt should be easy. (The Kingdom Hearts key symbol works to make her masterful disguise even more convincing.) As for the jeans, I'll use this guide if I don't find anything better. The trouble may be finding sufficiently thin denim. I bought Dolly Bureau a couple days ago--it'll arrive on the 7th, and in a week or so I'll be able to start making clothes again. |
Bly MerisaProgrammer, writer, artist. Archives
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