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Wednesday

Ante & Ziorina Go Shopping


The girls found these at Ikea, Springvale . . .  6 pieces (bookcase, settee, pillow, chair, table and rug) for just $14.99. I'm not over the moon about the combination of colours, but that can be easily fixed with some fabric and a little imagination.

Monday

Coco Has Arrived


Lovely, but they put one of her eyes in the wrong position. Compare the two . . . how silly is that??
All seams were smooth excepting one on the inside of her leg. I was really pleased with the colour of her wig as it turned out to be pale aqua and not lime green.


Love the shoes I ordered and I received a free head too, which was a nice surprise.

Friday

Finally A Shipping Notice

Yesterday I received my shipping notice from Luts, that my Coco is on her way, so it shouldn't be long now before I will have a new girl to dress. As she is an anime styled doll I think I will probably go with something like this.

I have always wanted to sew a Magical Girl's costume, however, the colours will depend on the wig. I ordered a KDW-99 (High Lime-Sienna Brown) in the Heat Resistant Fibre, but I'm not sure if it's really a lime colour, as it looks more like a pale aqua to me. With colours varying between computer screens, it's really hard to know what to expect.


If it's a pale aqua, I will be thrilled as it will certainly suit this design, which I intend trimming with gathered chiffon and bling. However, if it's lime I may go more trendy and use a metallic trim of some sort.

No use speculating now, I will just have to wait until the parcel arrives and I have the wig in my hot little hands! :)

Have a great weekend everyone.

Sunday

Tea with Teddy

Lia decided to relax and have tea with teddy after the meet yesterday and is using the lovely new tea set given to us by our friend Oni.


I'm using one of the new backdrops I recently purchased from Rai Hing.

Saturday

Today's Meet



The dragons quickly became friends.




Jill's fantastic couch.
I made this dress yesterday.





We had a terrific time catching up, chatting and sharing our dolls . . . it's really something rather special when your with like minded people!

Friday

OMG I've Lost My Eyes!

Hopelessly, frantically searching for my eyes that I purchased from Luts some time back and I can't find them anywhere. I know I put them aside in a safe place so I wouldn't loose them, but now I have forgotten where that safe place is. Have you ever done that? It's almost as frustrating as waiting for a new doll to arrive!

I had such great plans today to do a little customising. Some of my girls were sent to me with eyes that are bright, unnatural colours and I am not enjoying the dolls as much as I should be. I really wanted to get that done before playing with my pastels. SIGH! Oh well, what will be, will be.

Have a meet on tomorrow, must REMEMBER to take my camera so I can share lots of photos with you all.
Ciao X

Wednesday

The New Dress

Well it took me a little longer to finish the dress than I expected. Pattern drafting doesn't always progress as smoothly as I would like and sewing a dress with so many pattern pieces takes time, especially when one is very particular about everything being as near to perfect as humanly possible. (Or what's more commonly known around here as my being an old fusspot!)

I am quite pleased with the finished result and it appears Nadia is too!

Unfortunately my photo doesn't really show the colours quite as sharp and true as they should be. I think it partly my poor photography skills, mind you, it could also be because she is wearing pink undergarments and the plain white batiste I used is quite fine and almost transparent.

Sunday turned out to be a no work day, as my hubby and I decided to take some time for ourselves to enjoy the music of the Diamond Valley Big Band at the Kilsyth Club. The band transported us to an era when the music was played and sung by great artists like Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, Glen Miller, Count Basie, Natalie Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Ted Heath and Woody Herman. It was a lovely afternoon and perfectly finished by a delightful dinner in the Club's restaurant.

Thursday

Pretty in Pink

I thought it was about time my sweet Nadia had some new clothes, so I began with knee length bloomers, then a very full half slip petticoat and a bra top . . . so she's half dressed. :)


My fabric of choice was a soft cotton batiste and to finish all three pieces with a touch of femininity, I trimmed them with an ivory crocheted cotton lace. I shall finish her complete outfit over the weekend.

No sewing tomorrow, as I have grocery shopping to do otherwise there will be little to eat next week. I hope you all have a lovely weekend, I'll be back on Monday.

Wednesday

Off With the Pixxies

Not quite what you expected . . . 


. . . but she's a pixxie alright. 

Once again I got caught by the charms of a new Iplehouse BJD, her name is Twinky and she's on lay-by while being made. So I suppose I am half way to tightening the dolly purse strings, now if I could sell a few Etsy items I would feel much better about buying ANOTHER DOLL as hubby would say.

Personally I think, "what the heck", you can't take the money with you when you die, so I may as well get some enjoyment from it while I can! :)

Tuesday

Snow White

Well not Snow White exactly, but a snow white gown. Made from a lovely soft spotted voile, with Guipure (Venise) lace appliqué on the collar and front/side of the skirt. The hemline is beautifully finished with a Guipure lace edging over a row of broderie anglaise lace, which is designed to give the appearance of an underskirt. Irene is also wearing the petticoat shown in the previous post which adds extra fullness to the gown's skirt.

My lovely model is Iplehouse's KID Irene.
I am really pleased with the way this gown turned out and think I shall make a few more in different fabrics.


Saturday

Tutorial: Pretty Petticoat

This petti can be made for any doll, you just need to measure the doll's waist and the length you require it to be. My doll's waist was 14.5 cm and the length I required was 20 cm without the lace, so a cut one long strip 12 cm wide (half the length, plus 2 cm for seams)  x 116 cm long (the width of the batiste I had selected). Then cut 36 cm (approx. 2.5 times the waist measurement) off for the basque, leaving the remainder for the frill.


Beginning with the basque, I neatened the seam edge: First fold  5 mm over, press with an  iron and machine stitch, then placed the two neatened edges right sides together and run a seam half way. At the waist edge fold 5 mm over, press it then fold 10 mm over again, press it then machine stitch it to form a casing for the elastic.


Then I added the lace to the bottom frill, seamed the back as I did for the basque, but all the way from the bottom to top. To gather, run two rows of stitching (set on longest stitch and securing at the beginning of each row but leaving the end threads) about 5 mm apart. Pull the underside threads up until the gathered edge matches the basque.


Pin the two right sides together, easing the gather to fit the basque evenly, then run two rows of stitching around before neatening the raw edge with a small zig-zag stitch.


Turn your garment the right side out and it should look like this.


I added a further row of lace just above the seam between the basque and frill, over lapping the end and turning the edge under so no raw edges showed.


The final touch is to thread elastic through the waist casing, stitching the ends of the elastic securely so it doesn't pull through, then stitch a press stud (snap) on to close it at the back.

 
 
You may also find this a useful tutorial to make a tiered skirt.

Friday

The Girls in Fairyland

I finished sewing a couple of new dresses this week and asked Gina and Marie Ann to try them on for size. The cheeky little devils ran off with them to play with the fairies at the bottom of the garden.


The collars on these dresses are reversible and can be worn to match the top or the bottom dress fabric. They can also be worn without the collar as shown here.

Thursday

A Christmas Present

A little while ago my daughter said she would love to have Ashes, so I decided to purchase him for her. Today, much to my surprise, he arrived unannounced in the post.


I had to check that he was all okay.


He was sound asleep in his little bed.


Then he had a great big yawn!


Rolled over and went back to sleep.


I carefully wrapped him up in his blanket and popped him back in his box, where he will stay safely sleeping until Christmas.