Thursday, November 29, 2012

Red and white with ribbon

When I saw this apron pattern on http://www.thesewingacademy.com/, I knew it would make an excellent jumper for a Tiny. I still have a lot of ribbon print material after I made this shalwar kameez, so I used some and put together a coordinating red shirt from what used to be a shoe bag. This dress looks terrible without a a discernable waist, but that is nothing a generous sized bit of red ribbon can't fix.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Cultural Fusion

This is a variant on my idea of shalwar kameez lolita. As far as I can tell, no kameez is ever made as a wrap front, but the top was already there from an abandoned project, and I made use of it. The sleeves are built in, and there are ribbons that ties in the back. I used two layers of lace at the neckline to add a sense of richness.

The shalwar are basic sloper pants with pintucks and lace to add to the fluffy theme, and the dupatta is made from several lengths of insertion and edging lace whip stitched together.
 Here is a detail of the shalwar. I like the look of the lace peeking out from the pintucks.
 And a view of the bow in the back, a better look at the dupatta:

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Not So Spooky

I was in a low key swap for Halloween. There was a low maximum price for the finished products to be sent out, so I decided to make one quality piece instead of several cruddy ones.

My swap partner didn't want anything gory or frightening, so I made this skirt. There was just enough orange to make the pockets and waistband, and I think the overall effect is simple but cute.

My little bonus piece was a headband made from yet another clipped bangle, with a rosette stitched to a black bow. The tube top is not part of the swap, but to protect Linnea's modesty as I took these pictures.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Ten People, Ten Colors

This is the other outfit I made for my Dark Circus swap partner. Alas, she did not care for the dress.

For this outfit, she wanted a long dress topped with a corset. Once again, I used the spider print, and instead of bands of white fabric as she shown in a sketch, I used some lace I had on hand. For the top of the dress, I used a very simple pattern with built in sleeves. I then realized I miscalculated and made the sleeves too narrow for the arms, so I pieced in material to the shoulders. the vast majority of the dress is hand stitched, and the raw edges overcast with a buttonhole stitch.

The corset too is mostly hand sewn. instead of boning, as resin dolls don't squish, I used pintucks in contrasting fabric to simulate boning. For the lacing, I used thread bars.

The headdress is made from a bangle clipped to be a headband, and beads glued on.
Though she liked the corset, she thought the bodice should have been lined, and the edges machine finished rather than by hand, and that all the raw edges should be concealed.Using felled or French seams would have eaten up too much seam allowance, and lining on this scale would have been too bulky for my liking. She also didn't care for the handsewn portion of the trousers of the other outfit. I am a firm believer that some things are best hand stitched, where I have more control, than trusted to a sometimes mercurial machine.

The back of the bodice is also apparently uneven, which I find credible, and something I would easily miss, as details like that don't bug me.

As the title says, some people have different tastes.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Stonking Great Doll

One swap I recently finished had a Dark Circus theme. I was assigned to one partner with two dolls, one of which is a 70cm boy. My partner wanted clothes themed on The Night Circus, and had sketches of what she would like. For her boy, she wanted a suit, hat, and shirt. Black, and white are to be the main colors, with a splotch of red. The odd crazy print is welcome.

I made the hat reversible, and the hat along with the shirt are made from a spider web print fabric. Instead of a red necktie, I used a red print of no particular pattern for the lapels without a corresponding collar. for the suit, I took inspiration from The Victorian Tailor. This is also my first time making pants with a built in facing rather than a waistband.

Here is Linnea modeling the upper clothes.
The pants are the height of most of my girls, 45cm.