Bodysuits, The Hiding Sewing Machine and Cat Noir

I attempted to make a pattern and sew a bodysuit again, in a smaller scale, but alas, I made the sleeves and the pant legs very narrow! Add to the fact that I chose a not so good fabric that doesn't stretch. (I chose it because it's shiny, unlike the black t-shirt fabric that I have.) What a waste! I cut off the sleeves and the legs and gave the suit a try on Lottie.

Seems like the collar has too much fabric. That won't happen if the fabric is thin but stretchy.

Mental notes... Mental notes...

I would have been faster if I used my sewing machine, lol. I decided to check it out from storage.

Here it is under a Christmas themed microwave oven cover. I had to tuck the sides of the cover with binder clips.

Tada!!! I have to re-learn how to sew on this thing. That's going to be my goal in 2019, lol.

May these pictures of Cat Noir and Antibug from Miraculous inspire me to make the bodysuit/s that I need.

Speaking of Cat Noir, I found one from an online seller, and I should get it later this week. He's missing one hand, his tail and weapon, but I don't mind. I asked the seller if Cat Noir's bodysuit fits an Ever After High boy doll, but the boy doll she had is Daring Charming with the sculpted shoes (Ew!), so she couldn't get Daring's feet through the pant holes. But she managed to try Cat Noir's bodysuit on Monster High's Clawd Wolf and it was quite a good fit. Still, I'd like to dress up my Hunter Huntsman doll with a bodysuit for a custom project, and I know that EAH boy dolls are quite bulkier than MH boy dolls, so I think I just have to make that suit on my own soon.

Sewing and Bridges

I started sewing again, which I haven't done so in a long while. I wanted to make a body suit for my Hunter Huntsman but it seems I have forgotten to make patterns, lol. I traced around his body on black fabric that has been folded so that there are two layers underneath him, then when I was already sewing the two layers of fabric together, I was thinking about how I'm gonna get the doll to fit in the suit. Then I realized that there should be two pieces of fabric for his back instead of one, because the velcro strips will be added in later. So I just stopped sewing all together, lol. I need to start over and cut pieces of fabric again. Sorry, no pictures. It's just a sewing project gone wrong, which happens a lot. Nothing wrong with it, haha. That's how we learn and improve anyway.

I was thinking about miniature bridges a while back, but it was only yesterday that I looked up samples. On Amazon, I found these two that look easy to make:

Bridge #1:

 Bridge #2:

Cardboard, popsicle sticks, wooden dowels, toothpicks, glue and some brown and black paint... 

And then I found this miniature river, which would be perfect under those bridges:

Cardboard, small stones, perhaps blue play dough for the water and something to stick in between those stones to look like grass or moss... maybe fake moss or green paper strips..

Gosh I want to make Lottie stand on the bridge, overlooking the river and greenery around her. That would be a fun diorama to make. Soon!!!

Getting Rid of All My Doll Boxes

As the title of this post says, I am getting rid of all my doll boxes. It's been a long time since I've saved them all, but I haven't done any recycling or crafting at all that would make me use these boxes, so I've decided to add them to my growing pile of paper that I can sell at the junk shop. I'm surprised that I no longer feel anything for all these cardboard. I can finally let them all go.

[APRIL 14th:

OMG I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED 

MY VIDEO ON YOUTUBE! SORRY!]

/In the end I saved the Spirit Riding Free box and another acrylic packaging, for making doll eyeglasses. LMAO what am I doing?!

On a different note. I've started hand sewing again! I made three pants for Lottie so far in two days. Why I haven't used my sewing machine, that's another topic, lol.

Aaaaaand before the Easter season ends, I have to get those tiny plastic eggs that I saw at Expressions. They'd make good balloons for Lottie!

Lottie's World: Picnic

I was feeling motivated last night so I cut my chat time last night with my doll collecting friend, lol, and told her I'd be sewing Lottie some pants... which turned into overalls.

My, my, I somewhat dislike sewing doll pants because I have a tough time cutting the denim in the right shape. I don't use a pattern, that's why. I just rely on measuring as I go. My third attempt was the successful one, as the first and second cuts of fabric I made were too small for Lottie's waist.

Along the process of sewing, I thought of turning the pants into overalls. The heart outline on the flap of the overalls was just a last minute addition, and I thought that it gives the outfit a nice touch.

I used my artificial grass again because I think it's so cool, then I thought of doing a picnic diorama. The blue mat is actually cleaning cloth for my glasses so it's a bit dirty, sorry. The heart shaped case of sweets, which I just realised goes so well with the stitched heart on Lottie's overalls, is an accessory from my La Dee Da doll.

The plate, fork, cake slice and drink are probably Barbie accessories, I'm not sure. The green figure mugging the camera is a micro figure of Om Nom from Cut The Rope. The pink keyboard is an eraser! So cute! It matches with this pink carrying case with the checkered design in the background.

The watch is pretty cute and so tiny; I think it is actually a Licca-chan watch. Licca's pink hair band fits Lottie's head just right. I got Lottie's yellow shirt from the toy seller at Vivo Citi, and the black shoes are from another seller.

I think I want Lottie to wear this outfit for a while. I really like how it looks, and I still have to wash her white long socks because it looks filthy now. I also forgot to mend the red skirt I made for her back then so she can't wear it yet.

I haven't done anything else to my other dolls, lol, but I will get to them later. I have two more second hand dolls coming in soon, so I'll become even busier with more things to do. Sigh. But I will try my best to make time for Lottie and doll photography because it makes the hobby more fun, and it distracts me from looking up dolls that I want to buy, hahahaha!

A Lot of Work in Progress

I've been working on a number of broken Monster High dolls. This could take a while. A long while...

Lagoona Blue and her new arms

I'm still thinking of another way to attach the new hands and forearms without the wire taking over the doll's whole arms haha.

And about the Hannah Montana inspired dress, I haven't worked on it since I started. I checked the cloth and I found small insects. Ew. I dusted it off and placed it in a clear plastic bag afterwards. I'm not sure if I want to continue working on it because it looks dirty now. I might start on a new one and just use glue for the sequins to make the process faster.

I'm not up for a Halloween post because I'm working on stuff. And Zombie Alice is not with me so I don't feel like celebrating now.

Work In Progress: Hannah Montana Inspired Dress

I couldn't continue working on the Furisodeshon outfit because I need motivation, and I'm still thinking of how to construct the top of the dress, so I pushed it aside and started working on another project that I've been meaning to do.

So I made it pretty obvious in the title of this entry that I'm working on a Hannah Montana inspired dress. I've always wanted to make a dress from Hannah Montana The Movie, specially the cowgirl outfit Miley Stewart is wearing in the second half of this video:

But I figured it would take me a while to make attach different fabrics together for the outfit. So I thought of doing another dress from the same movie:

Look at that sparkly fish scale dress! Amazing concert outfit! I thought I could do something like that.

So I wrapped my Hannah Montana Liv doll hybrid with plastic, then drew a simple sleeveless dress on the plastic using a black marker.

Then I carefully removed the plastic then cut along the outline of the dress. Then I transferred my patterns on an old greeting card. I had no idea how to make adjustments to the darts on the chest pattern so I just winged it, hoping it will work out.

I used sequins to adorn a piece of fabric. I didn't use the exact colours. In fact, I also used blue sequins. Because I have two kinds of green sequins, the dominant colour of the dress is becoming green, but the green is like sea foam green and fits the fish scale design of this dress.

I could have used a darker fabric and a black thread, but I have loads of this cheap white fabric, so white fabric it is.

I'll only do the sequin thing on the front of the dress. Then the back will just be plain fabric, a la budget Barbie clothes, haha.

Anyway using sequins is a good and bad thing. Sequins are really shiny and nice to look at, but it takes so much time to sew them on the fabric one at a time. I think I worked on this patch for more than three hours! Also, the colour of the sequins fade when the sequins are touched often. I tried using clear nail polish to seal a sample sequin and I think the nail polish has melted the paint away. Then I remembered I have a varnish/sealant, so I used that by brushing a small amount on the sequins with a nail polish brush, and it somehow worked restoring the colours, but I don't know how else to repair the faded sequins. Oh well.

The back of this patch is so messy because of all the knots and stitches I made, but I plan to add a lining to the dress anyway, so it's not so bad.

I can't wait to finish this dress and give my doll Hannah the outfit she deserves. I'd be able to complete her once I finish the dress. I still plan the dress to become removable, just in case something happens that would require me to undress her.

Lottie's New Red Skirt

I made some sort of bubble skirt for Lottie.

I just used the red fabric I bought for making the Furisodeshon outfit that I'm still working on.

I was watching the movie Pixels when I was sewing the skirt (I still am), so I grabbed my Pixels arcade cabinet tumbler for the photo.

Lottie is a bit big for the arcade cabinet, but she loves it and doesn't care much about the scale. Maybe I need to make her a chair so that she can play Donkey Kong comfortably.

Her white socks are getting dirty, haha. She is not wearing her shoes because they come off easily at times and I don't want to lose them, hence the dirty socks.

Lottie will need more clothes so I'll make her some soon.

Work In Progress: Furisodeshon Doll Costume

I'm done with Rhian's skirt.

Fabric can really make or break an outfit. The red fabric is sheer and has a net quality to it. It's not fun to sew so I didn't work on the pleats I really wanted for the skirt anymore. Her hem is turning into bacon, curling like crazy so I was wondering if I should iron it, with care of course because I don't want to burn the fabric.

I decided to not add a long white strip to her skirt, as seen on the actual costume here. Maybe I should just paint it with white acrylic paint. Hmm.

I also made a simple petticoat with white tulle, but the tulle I have is not the soft kind. It still works, I guess, because the tulle gives volume to the skirt.

I'm thinking twice about Rhian modelling this dress. She looks too serious for the outfit. I still would like to continue making the top of the outfit. If I decide to switch models, I might choose Midge or Kira because their face seems happier. 

Planning To Sew

I'm trying to make a doll costume but I do not have the motivation to sew yet. Anyway, I just cut some fabric and taped everything down with masking tape onto a doll body to see how it would look like. Here's Rhian:

Hahaha, poor girl. I'm so sorry, my dear Curvy Barbie!!

Before this, I made a rough sketch so I can figure out the different parts of the outfit:

I really want to recreate this:

It's Kyary Pamyu Pamyu in her Furisodeshon music video. She's so cute here, and I love the song! Check it out!

I love this song because the lyrics are simple, but it makes me think about life. It's basically about someone celebrating their twentieth birthday (hatachi in English means 20 years old) and contemplating about it. Are they still a child? Or an adult? Is it happy being an adult? Is it sad? Is it something to be grateful? Stuff like that. I'm way past this age though, but I still think about adulthood like it's so foreign at times. Like, am I really ageing? Hahaha. This song is actually my favourite from Kyary, so I want a doll that is wearing her costume in the video. But I'm not a master of sewing. I just do what I can do with what knowledge I have from my grade school sewing classes, lol. 

Those red fabric pieces I cut up are not going to waste (I hope, hah!). They are measured circular cutouts with seam allowance that I can already start working on, except the ribbon on her head. That's just scrap fabric. Of course I can make a better bow than that, lol.

I'm still thinking about how I'm going to construct the top, if I want to dive into quilting, which is a daunting task but seems to be very fulfilling in the end. I also have the option to just glue down triangle cutouts onto white fabric with fabric glue, but I feel that I would be taking the easy road when I can do better. So quilting it shall be, I guess.

I'm not in a hurry to finish this. I mean, it took me a while to make Hit Girl.

This video will definitely help me out. I made this request to someone I follow on YouTube and they granted it! They made a Furisodation dress out of coloured paper!

I think it's cute, plus the doll they used is a Jianidi doll, which I have been ogling at the toy store for months already but couldn't bring myself to buy.

Good luck to myself! Hahahaha!

Going Out Of Town

I'll be out of town soon and I'll be bringing a couple of dolls with me for the trip. I got my new sewing machine to work recently, and to test it, I made a swimsuit set from scratch without making patterns.

Trichelle enjoying her granny panties.

I find this hilarious because her floater is actually from a baby toy, but it works very well as a beach prop.

Ready to get wet!

I don't know if I'll be making more clothing before the trip. Probably not because I don't have the time. But this is fun, seeing an old knit shirt I bought at a thrift store years ago for P10 transform into doll clothing.

Jem: A Work In Progress

I finally made a dress for Jem last night but I think I have to adjust it some more.

Aww it looks like a trench coat or a robe. I made the neckline like that because I was thinking of a kimono when I was sewing the dress.

I didn't give enough room for the sleeves because I figured that I will just display her on the shelf so she can just stand up with her arms on her sides. Besides her modified hands are biking hands so even if I bent her arms, it wouldn't look like she's holding a mic, but a bike handle instead, as seen on this post.

I cheated by making a tube top out of a piece of fabric I wrapped on her chest and secured it with masking tape, which is hidden under all that fabric.

I will have to shorten the hemline so that it would show off her thighs, and change the way the hemline looks because it's supposed to go downwards the opposite way, as seen on her original dress:

Photo from Mego Museum

I tied a sheer blue grey ribbon around her waist as her belt because that's all I have.

Her shoes are still not done. Those are just Ken clone shoes and I'll have to paint them in magenta.

Jem came in her original tights so that's cool because I don't find it easy making doll pants and other types of bottoms with leg holes.

I love her hair. I made her light pink hair pop out more by painting them with pink hair mascara which I demo'd here. Her hair doesn't feel stiff even with the hair mascara. That's because I carefully applied the mascara on her hair and didn't put a lot to colour it. Then when the mascara dried, I brushed her hair with a dog brush, which is a must have for your doll arsenal.

I will make a microphone for her to hold later, after the dress has been adjusted.

Jem Doll Burrito

I haven't found time to finish the dress for my Hasbro Jem doll, so I thought that if I posted my progress report here, I'd feel motivated to continue working on the dress.

Look a pink doll burrito! With pins all over it!

I thought I could make a simple dress for Jem that looks like this:

This is the Integrity Toys Jem doll, by the way.

Also...

Jem didn't come with her hands when I thrifted her, so I cut off some fake Betty Teen biking doll's hands and inserted it through her arms. The fit of the pegs I carved was not good so I wrapped masking tape around them to make the pegs thicker, et voila, her new hands are now secure. But they are forever in the biking position, haha. Hasbro Jem was designed to hold a microphone though, so maybe this might work. I added a bracelet on her left wrist, by the way. I don't know if I want to paint her new hands to match the rest of her body, or paint them a different colour to make them look like gloves. Hmm..

For the shoes, since Hasbro Jem is such a big girl, she can fit into bootleg Ken loafers. I plan to paint those purple (magenta?) with glitter to match her new outfit.

I want to add that I like Hasbro Jem's moulded collarbone. Doll makers tend to forget that humans have a clavicle because their focus tends to be the area placed much lower than the clavicle, which is kinda sad.

Violet The Incredibles doll costume FAIL

I was browsing online for dolls and found a The Incredibles Violet doll. I thought of making an outfit that looks like Violet's red suit, so I spent hours last night making one by hand. It didn't work out the way I planned it so I'm not finishing it anymore.

Looking shabby right there, eh?

I used Winx Club Flora as my model because her waist is extremely slim compared to her hips, and I thought she would make a good base. I used t-shirt fabric, so the fabric doesn't stretch and fit her body very well. And I made a mistake with the crotch area because it's supposed to look like a triangle, but because of how poor the fabric is, it got stretched into a rectangular shape, haha.

I don't know what to do with Flora anymore. I'm not liking her original outfit on her, and her Daiso kimono is not a match to her personality. Maybe I'll make her a better Violet suit with stretch fabric and be done with it. I just don't know... She's a pretty doll, and has grown on me ever since my niece got hers from me, so I really want to dress her up and stuff.

DIY Doll Sweater Using Old Socks

I thought of making a doll sweater using an old sock. I used to collect coloured socks. I think I've had 50 pairs at one point in my life (I don't really count them so that's just an estimate). So whenever I have to purge worn out ones, I feel kinda sad. I guess, making a doll sweater using my old socks can help me remember my favourite pairs, haha.

Here is the sweater on my Freak du Chic Honey Swamp. The fabric snagged near the neck because it's quite snugged, but meh, I'm not gonna bother anymore.

Quick Sew: Dawn's dress

I made this dress today. Hand sewn, of course.

It's not the best, but I didn't even think of making a sketch beforehand. I just wanted to sew what I could finish so I could clothe Dawn. It looks unfinished, but OK, maybe next time I can make a better dress.