…finally!! Only a couple of months later than intended but hey we finally got there.
I’ve uploaded 6 little dresses into the Etsy store and should have a few more to add over the following weeks. Today was super sunny so photos aren’t great – it’s hard to avoid the glare of their foreheads!!
After sending two Blythes off to new homes this week, I was eagerly looking forward to the arrival of my new doll. 
Cousin Olivia was the last Blythe I imagined I’d buy. She was new out when I bought my MWS and I thought she was just awful looking. I didn’t like her florid makeup – it looked to me as if she’d been hitting the sherry bottle a little hard.
A few weeks ago I was looking for a blonde girl - I spent ages going through flickr looking at different blondies and CO kept grabbing my attention. Something about her yellow hair and strong makeup actually makes her look very photogenic and I caved in and bought one.
She arrived on Friday and she is super cute. Wow she is pale though – her body looks rather pasty! She’s even paler than my MWS. I actually really like her little blushed cheeks and slightly bigger lipline. Her stock is kind of cute too.
I completely forgot to buy new camera batteries on Friday so had to make do with el cheapos from the local store – so only could snap a few pics before they ran out. I can’t wait to take this one home and get some outdoor photographs. While I was waiting for her to arrive I was trying to pick out a name for her – thinking something European to match her stock but I couldn’t pick one. Even when I took her out of the box no name…so I nicknamed her Custard because of her long yellow hair and Custard she has become. I don’t think I can name her anything else.
I have hardly any of my own sewing left – I plan to be doing quite a bit over the summer holidays though. I’m going to get some expert sewing advice from my mum so hopefully will come home with a few new patterns. In the meantime, Custard has been wearing a little pleated skirt I made -though I didn’t get the pleating process quite right. The top and jean jacket are from a Mary Kate and Ashley doll set that I bought from trademe. I gave the dolls to my boss’s daughter and kept the clothes. The sewing is atrocious – but they’ve given me a few ideas for outfits to make.
Today I’ve been cutting out a few dresses to sew. Eventually I’d like to open a little Etsy store with some clothing. We’ll see how it goes!
So….I tried to sew a pair of trousers yesterday, to include in my secret santa package. I used a pattern that I found online and It took me over an hour to sew the darn things, carefully pinking and topstitching the seams. And when I’d finished, they looked totally cute…too bad that they fit like a sack of potatoes!! I might put some elastic in the waist and keep them for one of my dolls – if there’s a 70s style tunic top over the top, it’ll cover up the ill fitting parts and no one will know! I’ll start again tonight with a pattern from one of my DCR books and hopefully they will fit better. The DCR ones have a waisband and straighter legs and I’m not quite sure how they go together – but I’m sure I’ll muddle through. I can’t believe how much basic sewing construction I’ve forgotten in the past 10 years.
On an upside, I finished this cute mushroom pattern dress. I nearly ordered this fabric from a Japanese seller on etsy, imagine my delight when I stumbled upon it, and several other mushroom themed Japanese fabrics in Spotlight on Saturday – even better, it was on special for $8 a metre. The overall scale of this particular piece is probably a bit large for the dress – but I kinda like it that way. It reminds me of a hand-me-down dress that I had to wear in my childhood – it just needs a white bib stitched on the bodice and it would be eerily similar.
I also bought a little piece of this Japanese owl fabric and a toning floral – it cost the earth – over $20 per metre, but it is so lovely. Now I just need to knuckle down and design something to use it in.
Here are a couple of the dresses that I have sewn lately. It took me a while to get the pattern modified to my standards – though I do so wish I had an overlocker to finish off the raw edges. Instead I am doing things the traditional way, using my grandmother’s trusty pinking shears. They are beautiful quality but not particularly left-handed friendly – I have big welts in my thumb after using them!
Though you can’t see it – the inside of each bodice is fully lined and hand hemmed to hide bulky seams. I must take a photo to show off! I love this poppy print. I originally bought it to sew dresses for bears, but the scale is just a tad too big for little bears – it’s perfect for Blythe though and I only wish I’d bought more of it. It looks so lovely on Posey my Rainy Day Parade Blythe – she has beautiful english rose skin – I wish mine was half as good!
Her belt is made from some gorgeous raspberry toned crushed velvet ribbon accented with a watch buckle. The buckle is a tad on the big side but the colour worked so well with the dress.
I bought Posey from another collector – and I think I’m her third or fourth owner! One of her previous owner’s sand-matted her face and gave her sleep eyes. I wasn’t sure at first if I liked the matte finish, but it does enhance her delicateness. I think she’s the sweet good girl to my sulky grumpy Milky Way Sugar.
I do like the structure of this empire style dress – though I haven’t quite yet got the pattern tweaked to my liking. This .jpg)
little dress is made from the pink version of the Hello Kitty crossbones fabric. I think I prefer the red and black version – it’s a bit edgier, but this is still pretty cute. For now, I am closing the dress with little domes (snaps). I’d prefer to either do zippers or buttons, but the tiny doll zippers end up costing a fortune by the time I get them shipped here and I need a lesson from my Mum in buttonholes! I should probably also put some rickrack over the bodice/skirt seam to make it look a little bit smarter.
Tonight I’m hoping to finish the faux suede jacket I’ve been working on…I got a little disheartened when it came to hand-sewing in the sleeves and I’m still not entirely sure of how to construct the rest of it – but one can only learn by trying (and unpicking and trying again!).
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