Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts

Wednesday, 7 October 2020

Quarantine Tess (flea market rescue)

Hey guys! It may look like I've abandoned blogging, but actually I've been busier than when I posted every month. Today I have a picture-heavy project that took a year to complete, with long breaks and an apartment change a few months into it. I'm pretty much settled in right now and I hope to appear more alive online, not just posting but also reading and supporting my fellow bloggers. I am not making any promises for the future or excuses for my absence, instead let me show you today a doll that I'm very proud of!

Tuesday, 30 December 2014

Happy crafting!


Hello, long time no see! I'm happy to announce I wasn't run over by a train, mistakenly arrested, lost in the wilderness or eaten by runaway zoo tigers! Instead of lame excuses, here is a picture by hubby (concept and execution) and some useful (I hope) resources for all you doll artists :)

Sunday, 13 July 2014

Inspiration is contagious


This week, my second Ghoulia was finally able to climb on the shelf after spending almost a year in drawers and bags, often in pieces or in an otherwise very sorry state. She was one of three dolls I bought nude with the intention of customising. I regret that purchase for many reasons. The lack of outfits didn't lower the prices enough to make it a good deal. Second, any outfit, no matter how lame at first, is better than nothing. At the rate I sew new clothes, my dolls have to stay in their original ones for a very long time. Lastly, I discovered that I enjoy factory clothes (and shoes!) a lot more than I thought I would, even if they don't fit my taste. Poor Scaris Ghoulia with ruined hair was deserted on an empty shelf to remind me of my mistake until one day I was able to fix it and I went looking for a dress to fit her newfound gorgeousness. Luckily, the solution was right here in my reading list. I'll leave the hair story for another day, but I'd like to talk about a little relay race I had with Barbielea that led to the creation of this dress :)

Saturday, 26 April 2014

Mood for Mods: Snap it!

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!


The folder with today's photos has been gathering dust for a long time. It's among the first things I wanted to write about, but somehow it got overlooked. I kept thinking that Tanya would be very mad at me for sitting on my butt without being productive. Yesterday I dared to wear mascara again after her death; today I finished this. It's a post about fixing one of the most common problems with factory doll clothes - the hook-and-loop tape (velcro) closure. It's a useful and fairly easy modification. Below you'll see two ways to replace the tape with snaps.

Tuesday, 31 December 2013

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.

Friday, 31 May 2013

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.

Saturday, 20 April 2013

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...

Tuesday, 16 April 2013

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:

Tuesday, 2 April 2013

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