Today I'm releasing the patterns for Lawrence's overcoat...

He has the Muscle FID body, and the coat was designed to fit over his sweater.

​ I originally made the back wrong, with the two lower back sections butting up to each other, not realizing they were supposed to overlap. So I had to pick the back apart and make a new section for the lower right side, then put the coat back together. Much better!

I haven't figured out yet how to do a proper lining, like a real coat, but I do know that the entire coat will hang better if the lining isn't attached, especially at the armholes...

The patterns are in the form of templates, meant to be traced onto the wrong side of the fabric., then cut out adding the seam allowances. The traced lines become the stitching lines. Anyways, it's just the pattern, without any instructions, so best attempted by someone with experience.

​The 'Just Patterns' tutorial with the patterns is available - HERE

Now for something a little different. I was inspired by an image I saw on Facebook, so I changed Kassia's wig, and gave her MacBeth's sword, and took her, and the two Arctic foxes, along to the Ruins Garden this past Monday morning, for some Fantasy photos...

Taking a look behind the scenes with Lawrence and Monica. 

I had wanted to photograph the two of them as a modern couple, and Monica could borrow some of Naomi's clothes.  But even though Lawrence could borrow some of Baron's clothes, I wanted him to have something more than just a sweater and scarf. I wanted him to have a nice long coat. One that would fit over a sweater. So I started work on the pattern, and tested it in cotton...

After some adjustments to the pattern (like, bigger armholes), I made his coat. I also knit him a sweater, sewed him a shirt, and some jeans, so he'd have a complete outfit...

I knit him a scarf, and then it was time for the two of them to go out into the world. I wanted some place interesting without too many people, so we went to the Courtyard Shops in Pickering Village. There was nothing to stand them on, so all the photos had to be taken with the dolls hand held.

Then I wanted to do a scene with them relaxing at home.  I took some nice photos of the two of them looking at Winston's album....

And I was ready to post them, until I realized the book was upside-down. So I had to reshoot. While I was at it, I decided I wasn't happy with the background, so I changed it.

Then I wanted to take them to the Ruins Garden, so I made them both some mittens.  I did bring along a tarp to put the doll's boxes down on and for me to get down on if I really needed to, but most of the photos were taken with the dolls hand held.

A photo taken close up...

I did put them down in the snow in the Greek Theatre for some full length shots. But unless the dolls are photographed down low, level with their eyes, and reasonably close, they will still look like 'dolls', or like tiny people in a giant's world....

So, I had to get right down in the snow to photograph them at a better angle...

Closer up was even better.

Ever since I made Saphira last year, I've been toying with the idea of her and Winston becoming parents. Which meant designing some baby dragons. 

​My sister has a collection of adorable baby dragon figurines, which I asked to borrow for inspiration.

So I set about trying to design one in cloth. Personally, I find the whole concept of design and testing very tedious. I just want things to work out right the first time. but nowadays that doesn't happen much anymore.  

I wanted 'cute' baby dragons, and not fierce-looking ones like their parents, so I started with Winston's head pattern and made some major alterations to it, shortening the muzzle, then scanning it in and shrinking it several sizes. I made a first test head using the fabric I had chosen for one of the babies. I don't usually like to 'waste' the good fabric, but I needed to know exactly how it would stuff. The first head wasn't quite right.  It looked like a lion, so I made some more adjustments to the pattern, and made a second head. It looked right as a base for soft sculpturing.

So the next thing was to design a body. I decided they were all going to have the same body, which could work for either a sitting or standing dragon. The body would be wired from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail so it would be posable. Which meant I'd need the neck to be almost straight, so the seams wouldn't pop when it was bent into other positions.

The test body reminded me of a velociraptor when it was stuffed, so I figured I was on the right track. After all, dragons and dinosaurs do look a bit alike. But the pattern still needed a bit of tweaking, and then I cut and sewed a body out of the good fabric.  I sewed the wrapped wire into the tip of the head, then stuffed it. I made teeny, tiny ears and back spines.... 

Then after stuffing the body, and needle-sculpting the head, I cut out some paper arms, legs, and wings, just to see how it might look....

Then with it's parents, and some 'dragon' eggs I'd purchased at Michael's...

I started adding Apoxie to build up the head features, then decided I'd better stop and catch up with the other ones, because if I worked on the first one to completion I doubt I'd want to start all over again for the second.....or third.  Better to work on all of them at the same time.

​I had originally planned to make three, but when I went through my fabrics, there were four combinations that spoke to me....so it would be four. So I cut out three more sets of pieces.

Meanwhile I finished the sculpting on baby number one, painted it, and started the beading....

He looked adorable, but I had to stop and catch up with the others. So I sewed and stuffed them, did the basic needle-sculpting, and sewed on their Apoxie horns....

Then it was time to sculpt their little faces. They always remind me of tiny cows at this point.

All sculpted, and ready to paint....

Even though I enjoy doing the beading, there is a LOT of it, so it's going to take me a while to finish all their bodies before I start work on designing their arms, legs, and wings. But now is as good a time as any, since there's nothing else pressing on my To-Do list at the moment.  In fact, with Baron and Naomi's wedding photos finally up to be posted next, I have almost an entire month of free time ahead of me. Perfect for making a bunch of baby dragons!

Before going home, there was still one place Lawrence wanted to go.  Baron had told him that his castle still existed in these modern times, but it was just a ruin in the middle of a sprawling park. So he wanted to go see it for himself.

They walked through the ruins of their castle in silence...

All the memories of the wonderful times they'd had here came flooding back...

"Let's go home..."

On a farm there was never a break from the daily chores. Whether in the heat of summer, or the cold of winter, animals needed to be fed and stalls cleaned out...

The geese would always come...

...to see of Efreet had brought anything nice to eat...

"Sorry, I don't have anything special today."

"Maybe tomorrow..."

I've decided to release the knitting pattern for my Lawrence's sweater...

It's the same pattern I developed for Baron's two sweaters....