Mood for Mods: Flattening seams

Today I'm opening a new tag dedicated to doll tutorials. Mood for Mods (as in "modifications") deals with ways of fixing or restyling factory doll outfits. Skirt too short or too tight? Shoes with floppy heels? No problem! Are you in the mood for mods? Let's see what can be done!

I have thought a lot about the idea for this series and I finally decided to go with it. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I like to have everything my way. I can't bear to dress dolls in outfits with glaring faults and I don't want to throw them away either. So far I successfully modified a few items and a couple are still in progress. Yesterday was my birthday so I want to celebrate it with a story about my doll gift, PD Spectra, and how I fixed her misshapen sleeves.

Introduction about my jewellery and beaded earrings pattern

Lately I'm often told that I've been neglecting my jewellery and it's hard to disagree with that. I love beading, both the process and the results and part of my intention when I created this blog was to share what I do and gain new knowledge - hence the name "multicrafteral". Looking back at all these doll posts, I understood it was about time to start mixing in some beading, but first I want to explain where I'm coming from in the world of jewellery making. If you're visiting from Pinterest, the earring pattern is at the end and you can skip to it. Big pictures ahead, open the full size :)

New dolls I brought home

Ever since I started the blog I decided for myself I'll update on every doll purchase. Not because I want to boast, but because I want to keep track of my progress - how often I get new stuff and how much time passes before I start working on it. So, after my latest trip, it was inevitable I bring home a few goodies. Let's see what I found.

My autumn trip around Europe

Strasbourg Cathedral viewed from Raven's Bridge

I finished the last post saying I'm going on vacation till the end of October, and now, between a full hard drive, a broken computer and an unexpected kitten wreaking havoc in my house, I realise it's been a month since I returned and I didn't even drop a word to say I'm alive and well. Time to fix that! This post is loaded with pretty autumn pictures, some of them are larger than usual and clickable ("open in new tab" for collages). I'll leave the crafts for another time, now let's look at travel photos!

G(l)oo hair mystery solved

Hi there! Notice that I added a new little tab up there ^ to explain how I feel about writing tutorials. I'm always eager to share knowledge but I'm rarely the right person for this, no matter the subject. Now that more projects of mine are coming to an end, the number of tutorial posts in my drafts is is getting dangerously high. I'm going on vacation tomorrow and I won't be back until November. Don't worry, your comments will publish themselves and I'll reply to everything when I come back. I played a lot with my dolls' hair and I felt that I can't cover everything in only one article. I'll try to tackle each topic separately in a logical order. Today we'll brush (heh!) on hair cleaning - I'm talking sticky, nasty, gooey gel hair.

My sole tutorial (with spider sandals for MH and a lot of pictures)

I promised a tutorial for my accidentally discovered method of making soles for doll shoes, and here it is! Three shoes made like this have been around for quite a while now; they have been put on and off many times, dropped and even stepped on lightly (I can be a real klutz >.<) and I'm happy to say they survived without noticeable warping or other damage. Now I can share the tutorial with confidence. There are over 40 photos next - click on if you can handle...

Two new dolls

I finished my spider shoes and while I sort through the bazillion photos for the sole tutorial, I'll share the newest dolls in my collection. Hubby returned from a business trip to France and brought me not one, but two dolls!

Update on current projects... and pinterest!

Hi there!
Summer is coming to an end, I finally have the energy to dust my old projects. Do you know what aestivation is? It's like hibernation in summer. Well, I feel like I'm waking up from something similar, because I hate hate hate summer! Time to get creative now!

Shoe project

Any guesses on what it will be?

I found my Monster High shoes on Pinterest with the following text: "Beautiful OOAK shoes for Monster High ! °0° Tuto on the Website"

This is flattering, but there's no tutorial yet! It's just the clasp!

So I made up my mind to change this as soon as possible. My long due pair of Barbie boots isn't moving at all. I had to think of a design that involves the least amount of leather to make some quick shoes for the sole tutorial. 

Massive Monster High update

Recently, I had the occasion to buy stuff from the USA and have a friend pick it up and mail it to me. Of course, dolls made the top of my list! The price difference is significant, especially if we're looking at used or deboxed dolls (we don't have a secondary market for brand name toys here). I decided that I had to have Cleos, especially the only fringeless Dead Tired version, which I find the most beautiful; more 'Lauras, because of the amazing hair and soft skin tone, and a Ghoulia with longer hair. I will not describe how much effort went into hunting down the seven MH I ended up buying, but I'm very proud of myself now that the package is here! 

Finally, stockings!

I like to fiddle with doll accessories. As much as I love to have all my dolls dressed in pretty clothes, I love their accessories more. It's not only that I love accessories in general (meaning for myself); when a doll has all kinds of shoes, jewellery, hair pins, arm warmers, leg warmers - you can tell it's special. It's no longer a toy, it's a carefully constructed art piece.

The post where I explain why I haven't been around

I realized my previous post was written over two weeks ago... no good!
So I'm dropping by to say I'm alive and well. We had the Orthodox Easter on the 5th and Easter of the Dead the next Sunday, and while I don't care for these holidays, they always come with a bunch of chores that take me way more time than I'm comfortable wasting. I didn't do anything worthy so I have nothing to write about. But just so you don't think you opened this page for nothing, here are some things I found recently that I'd like to share.

Hair day for Monster High

My MH dolls are in desperate need of repaints. I kept postponing this because their hair needs to be fixed before any paint job, and this means steaming hot water, which is so scary! My husband swore he'd help, but he's always busy, and last week when the weather got very hot in a couple of days, it dawned upon me that summer is coming for real and I better straighten that hair before it's too hot for such experiments.

As much as I hate hot things and urgent matters, it had to be done.

End of the chestnut story: DIY tutorial and beaded trees showoff

This past week I have been too busy to post, although I managed to do two blog-worthy things at once. I'm pleased to announce that my chestnut tree I wrote about a few posts ago is done! It is now time to talk about my beaded trees and how I make them.

Quest for doll fabric

I don't know what other people are making doll clothes from.

Someone, somewhere, is sewing doll clothes right now and I have no idea where they find that perfect fabric. Whatever they use, it's always so perfectly in scale. Me, I have a bag of fabric scraps and a box of lace trims and ribbon. Everywhere I go, I keep an eye out for stuff that could work for dolls but still my stash is missing many crucial items that other people seem to find with ease. Stuff like small prints and tiny lace. This is getting really frustrating, so I decided to do a serious check on all the fabric sources in my city before I head to ebay...

New life for an old shirt (project)

I have these pink shirts that stretched into shapeless rags. I have been taking them apart in my head for a while; I love the colour, the fabric, and the print, but couldn't think of a way to make it work in a doll garment. Now I know what I want to do with this:

Botanical beading: a spring race with Mother Nature

Right from the start: this post isn't doll-related. This week I've been working on an idea that popped in my head last spring, when I was very busy buying furniture and stuff for the house. This year I was set to do what I had planned.

What is this project, you may ask?
I like to make trees and bushes from seed beads. I've made like eight and they are pretty different from each other (I'll write a post about them). So this time I decided to introduce a new species. Can you guess what it is?

It's not weed. It's totally not weed.

First complete shoes (for Monster High)

At last! I made shoes, complete and functional, and there are two of them!

My quest for doll shoes began eight years ago, when mom bought my first Barbie. It was from a beach series and didn't have shoes, so I wanted very much to make them myself. These were my attempts:
 - court shoes from paper, with nail polish and silver thread (disintegrated)
 - velvet boots with no heel and no shape, assembled in 5 minutes (terrible)
 - boot from a fake leather belt, almost finished but couldn't get the second to match and I didn't like it anyway (in the garbage)
 - proper boot, first successful footwear, but I have yet to make the other one...
I will dedicate a detailed post to these, especially that last boot. Now let's see how my MH shoes came to life.

10 panel corset for Monster High

I finished this corset.

*takes deep breath* 
A ten panel corset, laced and lined, for Monster High.

Whoa.
These are some words I never thought I'd use in the same sentence - except maybe a sentence like "It's impossible to sew a lined corset for MH" ;)

It all started with a piece of lace trim

The current state of my dolls: Monster High

I wrote about my Barbies in the previous post. Monster High are the newest addition to my collection. I didn’t like them at all in the beginning, but became curious after seeing several repaints. I did a little research to decide which one to get and started to look for them in toy stores. After opening my first MH and playing with it, I grew to love them more and more. 

The current state of my dolls: Barbie & co.

Hi there!
Many of my craft projects are related to fashion dolls. I'd like to describe my dolls and my plans for them. Having my ideas laid out for the whole world should motivate me to organize my work, and hopefully I'll be able to look back and see some accomplishments.

My collection started with a single Barbie at my 17th birthday

Introduction

Let’s see what this blog is about! Please scroll to the section you are interested in.