Blog Archives

Introducing Paige

2/28/2017

I went to Charie's yesterday to pick up my Paige and Izzy. They were both very cute. I'm always surprised just how pale the Iplehouse Normal resin is when it's brand new. But it doesn't stay that way for very long, as the resin mellows into a much more yellowish tone.

Paige has a rather 'pensive' look. Not exactly 'sad', but like she's thinking of, or remembering something. Charie did a great job. Paige is definitely going to be a blonde. I dressed her in the outfit I made for her back in January, and took her outside for her first photos....

Charie did a great job on Izzy as well. She looks adorable now. So much better than her factory face up. But I want to make her something special just for her, before I take any pictures of her.

KID Ah-ra

2/27/2017

With just one day left on Iplehouse's Discontinued Sale, I had to make my final decision on who to order. There were several dolls I was interested in, and had always thought I'd order 'some day', but it was now or never. All February I obsessed about who - if any - I should get, as I still had quite a few new dolls from their Christmas Event who haven't even been painted yet. So I decided on the bare minimum (other than none at all) and ordered KID Ah-ra.

I've always liked her as an Asian girl, and thought she would make a nice big sister for my Byuri...

But I'd have wanted her in Special Real Skin, so I looked at the pictures of the blank sculpt....

Which made me wonder why Byuri had to have a big sister. Why not a big brother? I have several KID girls, but just one boy, and Miles would probably like a friend. So I ordered an Ah-ra boy.
Think I'll call him Aaron.

Starting to Come Together

2/27/2017

The bodice and upper skirt layers of Miho's gown are sewn together...

I'm mostly happy with how it's coming along. The bodice pattern will still need some additional tweaking to make it fit even better.

The band at the waist ended up a bit too bulky-looking for my taste, but there's 18 layers of fabric in there, so I guess it couldn't be avoided. I'll need to figure out a way to embellish it to hide it....

I'm in the process of beading the edge of the overskirt..

The lace fabric for the underskirt layer won't have the nice scalloped, finished edge, as the upper lace layer, so I found some matching light green lace for that edge.

There isn't enough lace for the full length underskirt, which means fitting the lace to matching coloured tulle at the top. And that means I need a solid turquoise underskirt so the difference between the lace and tulle layer isn't too obvious. The waistband is already way too bulky, so I can't make an underskirt with the last skirt layers that goes up to her waist. It would look even bulkier. So I'm going to make the final three or four skirt layers fit onto their own band, which I will then hand stitch onto the bottom of the existing waistband, thus adding nothing to the fit of the bodice. I've pleated the innermost skirt onto the second waistband....

And finally, for those who consider me a 'sewing goddess', whose work is alway perfect, here's a little reality check. I make mistakes too. I totally forgot to make sure the two satin border ends on the bottom edge of the top tricot overskirt, were the same width before I did the top stitching on the front. Forgot to check they were the same. So they ended up different widths after I could no longer do anything about it. I just hope the embellishments on the back of the gown will hide it.

A Hefty Flower Haul

2/25/2017

A friend told me that John Bead's Outlet store is closing it's Bridal section, and everything is 90% off until the end of the month. Which means just a few days left to go. So we went yesterday. I was surprised just how much stock was still available, considering the sale has been on since the beginning of February. Well, I started off slow enough, but when we got to the bridal section, it was like winning the lottery! If the price on a huge package of ribbon roses said $9.99, that meant it would cost me 99 cents. If a package of roses said $1.00, it would cost me 10 cents! I was like a kid in a candy store, knowing that after this place closed, there would no longer be anywhere to get these kinds of flower embellishments. The store I used to get them at on Queen Street in Toronto, closed and moved to Hamilton a while back. So I stocked up.... and here's some of it.....

There were even a couple of ribbon rose grab bags stuffed full of dozens of bags of flowers, some with more than a hundred per package. The original price was $9.99. Which meant they cost a $1.00 now. Here's the contents from just two bags.....

There's more flowers here than I'd ever use in a lifetime, but it's great to have them just in case.

Miho's Gown

2/25/2017

I started work on the bodice for Miho's gown. I basted a layer of lace and nylon tricot onto each individual section of the bodice, then basted the sections together before machine sewing.

This gown does take that kind of meticulous attention to detail, since the doll is not very tall, so all her clothes have to look perfect in order to look convincingly in scale.

Then I started to question my fabric choices. Should I keep going with the light green bodice, or start over with lace over the mottled satin, and lace over the tricot skirts? So I did a rough pinning of the fabrics onto the doll to get an idea of both options....

Well, I didn't care for the bodice on the right at all - it blends right into her skin colour - and it showed me that I was going in the right direction after all. So I'm continuing with my original idea.

An FID Gown

2/23/2017

I finally decided what to make for my FID Miho.
I found this picture on Facebook, and Charie Wilson and I have challenged each
other to make a version of it - or something inspired by it - for one of our dolls.

What's especially interesting about this dress is the layers of fabric, and how there's a wide floral fabric border on the edge of the sheer overskirt. At first I thought the lace layer was on top of the sheer layer, but on closer scrutiny, it appears to be underneath. I think I've found the perfect fabrics....

The nylon tricot isn't nearly as bright a turquoise colour when it's just a single layer. The multi-coloured satin isn't 'floral' but I think it will still work. I just hope there's enough of the lace fabric. I don't think there will be enough for the full length of the underskirt, as there's no way to get more. That's what I get for always being so frugal and just buying a single metre of things I like, but haven't got a definite plan for. So I'll probably have to work out some kind of layering. Maybe with some matching tulle at the top, hidden under the overskirt.

Anyway, I have to make the bodice first. I traced the pattern pieces onto iron-on interfacing, and ironed them onto some pale green cotton. Next, I'm layering on the lace and then the tricot on top, and basting them into place, before finally trimming all the edges. Then I can baste the pieces together. I've also traced and cut out the bodice lining pieces, which are also ready to sew together

Almost Done

2/22/2017

Yesterday I spent all day working on my Wizard's beard, then trying to trim his hair to match.
It still needs some fine-tuning, but I'm leaving it for now.

He looks pretty good, but I'm thinking he looks a bit too 'biblical', like Moses parting the Red Sea.

I figured he needed a hat to make him look more like a Wizard, so I made one this morning....

That definitely looks better. Now he's a Wizard instead of a 'prophet'.

Working on a Beard

2/22/2017

Yesterday I finally tackled my Wizard's beard. I made a few lengths of wefting, so the lower
part of the beard would glue on faster. But it can only be towards the bottom of the beard, otherwise the stitching will show. Here he is with the rows of wefting glued into place,
and mohair glued onto his eyebrows. Everything will get trimmed once it's dry.

The rest if his beard had to be glued on with individual clumps of loose mohair. It's a slow, tedious process, since each layer has to dry before the next one can be added. But he's looking good....

Wizard Props

2/21/2017

I finished all my Wizard's props. I had already decided that he'd have a cord 'belt' as opposed to a leather one, and I made him a cloth bag for all his 'magic talisman', to hang from it. The bag has long fringes on the bottom, into which I tied even more 'magic' objects. I chose a nice letter opener sword, and it needed a scabbard, which I suspended from a leather strap tied around his waist.

Next, he needed a staff. Jan drilled a couple of small holes into the end of a thin wooden dowel so i could make a wire armature for the sculpted end. The decorative end that holds a small fancy marble, was sculpted of Apoxie. In the past I've always made the tops of the staff out of polymer clay, and that does make for better details, as it's easier to form into fine details, but I wanted the strength of Apoxie, so went with that this time.

All his props completed....

Patterns for Miho

2/20/2017

Like I'm not stressed out enough trying to work some magic on my Wizard's hair, I'm also trying to make a bodice pattern for Miho. I started way back in early January, then promptly dropped the ball when I got sick. When I tried to work with the patterns I'd designed back then, nothing would come together properly. I needed to start completely from scratch, so last night Jan helped me do a second duct tape form. I drew on the seam lines, and numbered all the sections....

I tucked in a Kleenex skirt, so she could maintain her modesty.
I think I seriously need to make her some panties.

After cutting apart the duct tape sections, I created the paper patterns, by tracing and
modifying some sections as I went along. Then I traced the patterns onto iron-on
interfacing, and ironed them onto red cotton to make the first test bodice....

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