The Winter Here's Cold

I recently finished a swap with the themes of lace and winter. My partner wanted a medieval inspired gothic dress, with the preferred colors of black, silver, dark purple, and dark blue. One of the sample dresses she showed had a built in hood.

My stash yielded a brocaded fabric with shot black and purple, along with a skirt I made for an outfit I've long since retired. The brocade went to the undergown, and the dark blue became the overgown and matching hood. To make things simple, and to fit with the medieval theme, I used geometric construction, which wastes little fabric and is visually appealing when its all marked out. Since partner stated that her doll is a princess, I expressed this in the richness of the trim and width of the skirts.

More Than a Little Bias

A while ago, I received some swap items, including a dress that didn't meet my standards. As the price limit for the swap was low and handmade items are labor intensive, I wasn't bothered. Even if I don't care for the items (which is uncommon,) I can have fun with the materials.


The dress quickly became acquainted with the seam ripper, and I laid out my sock pattern. Since this is plain weave and not knit, it's cut on the bias for stretchiness.

Here they are, modeled by the lovely Dalya:

Close up:

Theme and Variation

Here are a pair of alternate dresses made with the same patterns as these two, with different fabric and some light alterations. Instead of plaid, I took a fat quarter of Asian print fabric and some brown scraps.

Yu Wei is wearing the lapel dress, this time without a collar, and for a different solution to the front. The front bodice pieces are shorter than the ones in back. Last time I adjusted at the side seams, but this time I pieced in some brown cloth as a mock waistband.

Yu Lian wears the wrap front pattern, this time without a pocket, and the only contrast in the collar.

Bobby Suit

Not much to say here I'm afraid. It's a 40's style bobby suit adapted from a Bleuette pattern and made from a striped fat quarter. I think I like the concept of the suit more than the result. It's not bad, but not as exciting to look at as other things I've done.

 Silly picture with a better angle.

Cheery Holiday Photo

Please enjoy the end of year festivities.

Bustle Action

This is embarrassingly one of those outfits that took years to complete. My attention span was all over the place, and I lost a lot of interest after it was about 80% assembled.

The inspiration was from Kendra Van Cleave's take on a dress from Patterns of Fashion 1. The elaborately ruched skirt front was my main motivation to make the outfit, and I had an iridescent taffeta that would show off the gathering nicely. Another motivation for the outfit was to make a bustle top that I tried to make once before from an old Peterson's magazine, but I misread the pattern, and it turned out differently. Nice, but not what I initially wanted.

From time to time I would get motivated and attach a collar, set in sleeves, or a hook and eye, but for the most part it sat in my "to be completed" pile. A doll meet finally motivated me to finish, so I put in the snaps, and here we are.

Pictures ahoy!

Fully Knitted

Here is a pair of separates that I made at different times. The top is of an improvised pattern I made, using a mock cable stitch from Knitting on the Edge. The sweater was going to be part of a Silent Hill cosplay if Cheryl, but I still haven't gotten around to making the jumper.

The skirt is a mock pleated affair with the pattern taken from The Bleu Door. I rather like the yarn I used, and it has appeared in several projects.