Ballet, anyone?

A new doll gets one of my older creations, but ballet leotards are fairly timeless! Meet Pepper-Mint, a resin American BJD from Berdine Creedy. She's about 10.5" tall, and luckily can share clothes with Tonner's 10" Ann Estelle and friends dolls. The leotard, tutu and tights were all made for my Sophie, but they fit Pepper-Mint*, too! (*She'll be renamed after I enhance her face a little bit; nothing major, just a little something.)

American Girl spring outfit

Wow, I totally missed the month of March! Well, I was sick, so I hope that is good enough of an excuse. ;-) I did manage to make a couple of outfits for a friend's Bitty Baby and my daughter's American Girl. I have a picture of what I made for my daughter from Simplicity pattern 2458. My daughter dressed her, and she didn't quite manage to pull the sleeves down to 3/4 length, and I forgot to fix that before taking the picture. I'll probably make another t-shirt for her in a lighter color; the dark blue matches the dots in the dress, but doesn't bring them out as I hoped they would.

3 of a kind

The month is almost over already, and I've been busy with various projects. One project I finished earlier this month was two more dresses that coordinate with one I made a little while ago (center), a gracefaerie pattern called Simply Summer. The first I made fits a mature MSD BJD, modeled by SoulKid Yewon, who I call Amy, center front; I made the next one to fit an immature MSD BJD, and it fits my vinyl Goodreau BJD Secret (who I call Ruby, right). The 3rd dress I made turned out to fit Tonner's Jane - a 14" child doll (left). The fabric I used for the skirt was a bit thin, so I cut the original length of the skirt in half to layer it a bit. It ended up being too short for the MSD girls, so Jane was the lucky girl!

I made on other gracefaerie pattern this month, #30 Play Day. The only problem is, it doesn't look so good on the mature dolls! Ooops! I find myself in need of an "immature" model about 16" tall. My handful of devoted followers will have to wait until I can acquire a model to see this creation, or wait for me to find somebody with a model I can borrow (or loan the dress to). :)

Once upon a time...

I actually tried to sew for Barbie! I haven't for many years because I prefer to work with larger models. While cleaning out my sewing area to make room for a new worktable, I found a dress I made years ago. It had Velcro on it (shudder!), so I removed that, replaced it with snaps, and put it on a doll. Barbie Basics Model No. 11 on a Fashionista body models it today.

Let me know what you think: should I stick with the larger models or give Barbie another try?

Just finished, a new dress for my MSD girls! This one should fit all the mature dolls, and with Amy (Soul Kid Yewon) being the most "mature," got to try it on first. I used a gracefaerie pattern, #37 Simply Summer. I added ribbon trim around the empire waistline, and some lace at the hem. Wig from Monique Gold and shoes by Goodreau.

Look for a similar dress with the fabrics flip-flopped soon!

Happy New Year! I'd been busy over the last month and a half making gifts for my daughter and a good friend of the family. Of course, the gifts are doll clothes! The outfits are for American Girl and Our Generation dolls. For my daughter's "Just Like You" doll, I made a peasant blouse and tiered skirt from Simplicity pattern 3936. It was the first time I made these styles, so I used fabrics I had on hand, which happen to be my daughter's favorite colors. For my friend, I made a simple dress with puffed sleeves and non-gathered skirt. The girl the outfit is for loves bird, so I found some fabric that has little birds on it. I added a grosgrain ribbon at the waist. My model is holding a matching bag; I will be making another with red grosgrain ribbon to match the dress, but since I have to take pictures with the time presents itself, the prototype is shown. ;-) The dress is made from a combination of McCall's patterns, numbers 3900 and 9618, and the bag is from Simplicity 3936.

A new skirt

Last night, I whipped up a pleated skirt to fit Tonner's 16" fashion dolls. I'd seen another doll seamstress offer these for sale, but she stopped offering them before I ever got around to purchasing one. Luckily, a friend bought several, and shared a description of their construction. I found some woven plaid fabric in my stash, and came up with the following "school girl" style pleated skirt. In this prototype, I left the hem as a fringe; next time I'll sew a proper hem. My model wears a sweater I made from a sock, and the boots are by Kingstate. The pictures were taken during a brief sunbreak today, so they are slightly less than perfect.