Alice's First Meetup!

Alice and I went to our first dolly meetup today. We stayed for about 2 hours and we met so many other dolls and dolly owners! We're still bummed about the loss of our beloved Bernard, but we're not giving up hope of finding him someday. Perhaps by some miracle the puppy did not eat him, and he's merely on an vacation somewhere.

In the meantime, Alice has an adorable new little friend, Mr. Benjamin. This bunny is a gift from a lovely girl we made friends with at the meetup. :)

I bought Alice a miniature donuts and coffee set... I think she likes it!

Missing Bear!

Alice's beloved teddy, Bernard the Bear has gone missing. :( We are very sad about it, and many tears have been shed but Bernard is nowhere to be found.

Alice and I made a missing poster for him, and although I've searched my apartment top to bottom perhaps when I'm asleep my other dolls will help Alice search?

Warm Winter Coat

Ooh, double post day! It's cold cold cold today, so I made Alice a new winter coat.

Brrr.... today's chilly weather (and all the talk of snow!) got me thinking about Alice's winter duds. She still has her blue furry coat from last winter, but i figured it was time for something new. Here is what we came up with...

I used pink baby corduroy for the outer shell and then I lined the inside of the coat with Liberty of London cotton in "Nina-Rose". The lining is not visible when the coat is buttoned up, but just know it's there makes me happy. I also sewed on a white minky fur collar and cuffs, to match Alice's white fur earmuffs. Isn't she a cutie?

I wonder, should I add buttons to the front of the coat? I have some 4mm plastic white buttons (but I'm afraid they might look cheap), and I also have some tiny round goldplated beads I use as buttons. Or I could do a small pink bow in the center of the white collar in front... hmmm, decisions, decisions...

New Dress for Alice

This is my first foray into using dark fabrics. This is dress is reminds me of My Fair Lady with Audrey Hepburn. The hat doesn't match at all because it belongs to another outfit, but I plan on making a black top hat especially for this dress. :)

Alice and I think the dress looks better with boots rather than with mary janes. The dress is Victorian-ish, so boots are definitely better because they look more sophisticated. The weather is starting to get cold though, so I don't know how much longer Alice can wear sleeveless dresses! Perhaps I need to make her a new winter coat?

Slight Emergency

I got some new puki sized shoes today, and as I was taking pictures I popped Alice's wig off to adjust it. To my horror, I discovered a deep scratch/gouge on the side of her face, in the area usually covered by her wig.
Que a mini freakout, because Alice is my most precious dolly. I have no idea how the gouge got there or when it happened, but now that I'm not in shock anymore it doesn't seem so bad. It's a unique part of her character, and it definitely makes her different from all her look-alike sisters (and brothers!) out there with the same face. I've made a little bandaid for her to wear under her wig...
So now she's feeling much better. Cuddles with her bear Bernard were also helpful. =)

Vintage Maid

I haven't played with Eli for a month or two, so today I took her out for some quality time. Poor little girl needed a breather! She's been spending her days in her box wearing the pink Marie Antoinette outfit (it suits her so well), so we played dressup and tried out different looks. She slimmer than my littlefee and yosd, so their clothes are a bit roomy on her, but I think it makes her look cute. We wound up with this vintage maid-looking ensemble, and I did my best to make it look like an old photo with the help of some Photoshop magic.

New Dolls, New clothes

I haven't written any updates for a while, due to being busy with life, but I think some new photos are in order. :) Two dolls have come and gone this past month- a Soom Glot and a Fairyland Pukifee Flora. Glot was cute, and had amazing hoofed legs, but the white skin really threw me off. The pukifee Flora was also very cute, but I have a pukifee Ante as well and I really prefer her over Flora.

Which brings me up to an introduction! Rosalie is my pukifee ante, and she is my little rose angel. This is the first photo I took of her, wearing a short term wig that I made myself so she wouldn't be a baldie. Her open eye faceplate had issues with the faceup when I got it, so it's being replaced. Thus, for now Rosie is one really really sleepy angel.
I tried on a littlefee wig on her, but of course it's way too big. I really like the white fluffiness though. :) I did some sewing for her as well- if you notice, the apron from the top photo doubles as a pajama top in the bottom photo! The pukifee size is really fun to sew for, because she's big enough to be able to get interesting details in the clothes, but small enough so that it doesn't take forever to finish an outfit.
Best of all, my pipos Ringo (named Momochi) can share clothing with Rosie. I had Momochi first, even though she was never introduced here), so I already had a few basic patterns to work with when Rosie arrived. Here is Momochi wearing the exact same thing as Rosie in the top photo. The kitty's legs are a little shorter so the bloomers are ankle length instead of knee-length, but I think she look really cute. So that's all for now. :)

Magdalene Gets her Own...

Maggie finally got a dress made just for her that fits properly. I used the fabric from a men's shirt my aunt let me have, and although there were some stains here and there, there was tons of prisitine fabric! So Maggie has a dress that is not only a designer fabric, it's also non-wrinkle! =) I never appreciated how nice that could be for doll clothing, but it really is great. No matter how long she stays in a certain position or how the dress is folded or creased, once you straighten her out there's never a wrinkle to be seen anywhere!

Trying something out....

I have a sinking sensation that my posts are being eaten, so this is a test post. Testing, testing...

Eli's Lacy Sleepwear

At night Eli sleeps in her box, but I like to put her away wearing something comfy. :) I'm not sure her daytime dresses are the best for sleeping in, so I made her a sleep set of ruffled panties and matching bralette top.

I used a white stretch ruffle I had, because I wanted the undies to be without any snaps or closures but I had to sew several lengths together to get the ruffle thick enough to work with the design I had in mind. I'm really proud of myself for figuring how to stitch the elastic bits together without hampering their ability to stretch. ;)

A bit late but... New Doll!!!

That's right, a new doll. :) Elaine Josephine is a Pipos Alice Jr. She's a fullset, so she came with wig/clothes/shoes, and I adore her wig. It's so soft and perfect for her, it totally makes her character for me.

In this photo she's wearing Evie's fullset outfit. It's a little big on her, but I like it. :) All the patterns I've made for the littlefee body work with the pipos body, so all the clothes I've already sewn fit Eli just fine... in some cases, better than they fit Evie!

and the winners are...

PR Gerry- Bozo (boy outfit)
renzi - Wendy (pink bows dress)
Half.Jak - Boots (blue bows dress)
Winternight - Soonji (coat)

Alice's Summer Lottery

Please click on all photos to see them in their actual size! For some reason, this blog makes my photos appear all fuzzy and blurry until you click on them. =P

I will be accepting lottery submissions until Thursday @ 9:00 pm (east coast time). Since I have made more than one prize so that there could be more than one winner, I would appreciate it if winners would pay their own shipping costs. Otherwise I could only have one winner, and one prize, and it would have to be limited to US residents only, and I didn't want to do that. ;) So winners pay their own shipping. (I will provide the shipping materials free of charge of course)

And here are the prizes...

Golden Court Dress

Now that Emily has settled in, of course I had to make her a princess dress of her own so she wouldn't feel left out when Alice wears her pink one. ^_^ I wasn't planning to make Emily a yellow dress, it was supposed to be blue or pale green, but somehow I picked up my yellow fabric instead and decided to try the yellow. I'm glad I did, because my gold thread embroidery looks pretty good, and overall the dress is a happy sunny little outfit. <3

Sisters

Yesterday I made Emily her first dress of her very own. I used some of the lovely trims and laces Anna-Lu sent me, and I think the finished product is very pretty indeed! I was so inspired I decided to try my hand at making my own silk roses... plus Alice needed a dress to match Emily's, so she wouldn't feel left out. Below is my first attempt at silk rosebud making... it's a lopsided little thing, but I think Alice appreciates the pains I took to make it for her dress. <3

Little Emily

I took this lovely photo this morning, and I feel inspired to make Emily something blue and gold. I think I am going to lightly paint some pretty design on a scrap of blue fabric with gold acrylic paints and see how it turns out, but I want to make her a beautiful little Rococo dress. :)

No photo today...

This will have to be a non-fashion related post because I need to vent. I belong to a doll forum and I enjoy my membership very much. However, today something happened which ticked me off immensely.

This forum has certain rules about things- how to quote things, rules about where one can advertise and where one cannot... and rules about banner size.

The rules are thus- a banner should be no more than 300x75 pixels, but a little wiggle room is allowed so long as the banner isn't huge.

My banner was 300x94 pixels. 94 pixels... that's a difference of a mere 19 pixels. And it was removed by the moderators not because it grievously flouted the banner size rules, but because one of my fellow forum members, some busybody with nothing better to do, reported my slightly larger than average banner.

Nevermind the fact that I immediately examined the size of about 20 other members' banners and found that almost half of them were bigger than 75 pixels tall. No... somebody had to report my little banner... my 19 pixels.

Such a serene face...

She's so pretty I cant stop looking at her. ^_^ I'm sewing some commissions for puki right now, but as soon as I'm done I want to make Magdalene a better fitting dress. This one is actually a little tight around the chest, and I think it fits much better on Evie.

Magdalene

The new girl has told me her name! Magdalene is a Volks Yo-SD Linn, re-released during Dolpa20. I bought her second-hand but in perfect condition, and I'm in love with how different she is from my other dolls (which are Korean, while Maggie is Japanese).

I made Maggie her first proper dress today. She came with a dress that her previous owner kindly included with her, but I had to make her something herself so she'd feel more at home with me. Maggie and my Littlefee Evie can share shoes and wigs easily. Clothing is a bit more difficult because Evie is significantly more slender than Maggie, but I will figure something out. ^_~

Bunny Girl

Alice finally has something with bunny ears. I made this dress and hood set yesterday, and I put wire in the ears so that they're posable. This may be one of my favorite things that I've made so far, the little ears are so much fun!

It's funny how the more I sew for a doll, the more I bond with it. Alice will probably always be my favorite, because I spend the most time with her making clothing and thinking up new designs. <3

New Doll!

A new arrival has joined my crew of girls. <3

Russian Doll

The trims and goodies Anna-Lu sent over gave me some good ideas. I haven't plucked up the courage to actually use any of them yet, but I like looking at them. =)

I made something new today, from a newly drafted pattern. I've never done little tucks like this on anything before, but I think I like how it looks. The bonnet was really fun to make too. ^_^ The fabric reminds me of the Russian matryoshka dolls my grandmother has, hence I'm calling this Alice's Russian Doll Outfit.

Present from Anna-Lu! <3

Alice and I received a present from Anna-Lu today. ^_^ We won her sewing materials giveaway drawing a couple days ago, and today our goodies got here. So many lace and ribbons and buttons and bows! Alice is already casting me sly glances, asking wordlessly when she'll be getting something new.

After my last final is over tomorrow Alice, then we'll talk! ^_~

Oh sad sad day. Nothing new to post today because I have LOST MY PATTERNS. T_T I keep all the patterns I've drafted in a little ziplock bag, and somehow that bag is not in my sewing box, nor is it anywhere on my kitchen table. I live in a studio apartment, so there aren't that many places to look and I'm not finding it. =(

Without my patterns, I cannot sew... *sob*

Another old project, completed way back in October. Still cute though, and Princess seems to enjoy it very much. Originally made for Alice, but I think it suits Princess better. =)

An Old Project....

I haven't really been paying much attention to my littlest one recently, so I decided to spend some quality time with her today. I tightened her elastic, cleaned her grimy little body with soap and water, and viola! She's as good as new! This photo is an older one of her wearing her vintage lace teddy, but it's one of my favorites. I was briefly trying out grey eyes on her, so this is one of the few photos she has where her eyes are grey. =P

New Jacket for Valentine

Pink and cream lace jacket. I found a nice baby corduroy fabric and it worked really well for this project. I had planned to make a princess-style coat, but it was too cute as a cropped jacket and I left it as it was.

Here are my two pink little girls, with their matching dresses. =) I haven't sewn anything new for a while, but I just bought the most perfect pink baby corduroy fabric that I'm dying to make into cute matching coats. <3

Alice Gets Some Attention ^_^

It's been a while since my poor little Alice got a new outfit, or even some pictures taken, so today I made her a little dress and cropped jacket set. =)
Of course she insisted her friend Bernard must also join in the fun...

Photogenic girl

A few weeks ago I made Evie a simple sun-dress with a tiered skirt. I discovered today that it looks really cute when layered with the organza pinafore and bow I made to go with the red polka dot dress. =)

~My Cute Little Hybrid~

About a week ago I finally purchases a Lati white SP Belle head, for the purpose of trying to do a lati/puki hybrid. I loved the look of the lati head, but I hated the lati body. I wasn't totally sure the head would fit on my puki body or match the resin, but my gamble worked. So for a little while, until I get little Princess her own puki body, Alice will be sharing.

The dress is a comission I just completed a few days ago for Spax13. =)

New Boots for Alice, also a New Friends

Over the winter holidays I commissioned a pink pair of ugg boots for Alice, made by the talented Miriam at Mimisstuff. The boots are exactly what Alice and I had in mind, but the best part is the tiny jointed bear that Miriam sent along with the boots. Bernard, as he has been christened, is a very detailed and wonderfully made mohair bear, and he looks just like his larger Steiff cousins. I don't know the make of Bernard himself, but the stiff mohair and his overall appearances looks a lot like the classic teddy bears that used to be filled with sawdust. <3 We are in love!

White dress for Evie

I made this dress a couple days ago but never posted pictures of it. I started with the idea of a simple longsleeved, empire waisted, full skirt dress in white silk. Then I added some vintage ecru lace at the hem and the collar, like so.The white and ecru looked really pretty together, but I wanted to add some color. I threaded a light blue 2mm silk ribbon through the lace at the hem, and adding some lace and ribbon to the sleeve cuffs, to make them a little more embelished. This was the result:

And last of all, no outfit could be complete without a head accessory of some sort. I thought of making a clip on bow, but somehow I didn't feel a big bow would suit the style of the dress. I decided to go for something a little daintier, and I made a headband. I covered it with the same lace and ribbon that was used on the dress and put one little lace and ribbon bow on each side.