Dolly Sewing: Crop Top, Plaid Shirt, and Harness

The new girl does tend to wear a lot of dresses, both due to her personal style and my own wish to put her in them. However, she also needs some more laid back elements to her wardrobe both for alternatives and due to story elements. One such item is her plaid shirt, which according to her story she "borrows" from her father. Initially I looked to purchase a shirt, but I couldn't quite find the right one. Most had silver threads or strange designs, which wouldn't do. So I decided to craft my own instead. This was a bit intimidating as I wanted it to be fairly accurate to real plaid shirts (with the various overlaid fabric pieces, cuffs, and working buttons. This is the finished product, which I'm particularly happy with!

The plaid shirt here is shown over the other two items I'v recently made: a white crop top and an elastic harness. I love how harnesses look and feel (I own a few myself!), and I thought it would work well for my girl's style. It's hard to show this without having it on the doll, but this gives you the gist. Once she arrives I will take some photos of her in it as well.

A Fox of My Very Own

But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world....
~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

I recently watched  The Little Prince movie, and I immediately fell in love. I have never read The Little Prince before, but this movie pulled me into its world and convinced me that I need to. It reminded me a great deal of Coraline, and even a bit of Paranorman in some ways although it was created by a different studio. The animation was very well done, the plot and action suited the story, and the music was beautiful. 

The story follows along with The Little Girl who lives in a boring, grey, predictable world. She is struggling with growing up and the pressures her mother places on her future. She meets the Aviator by chance, as the older gentleman accidentally shoots the propeller of his plane into her house. The two connect, and he shares the story of The Little Prince with her. Of course adventures ensue, with a mix of real world and fantasy that come together in a wonderful fashion. If you have a chance to watch it, I absolutely recommend it.

While watching the movie, I was charmed by the fox toy that The Little Girl finds in The Aviator's house. He was very cute, and I have a weakness for fox plushies (as evident by my growing collection of Nick Wilde plush...), so I thought I would try and make my own.  He is a little different than the fox from the film as I couldn't find the exact fabric, and I wanted to tweak a few things. I will also probably switch out the current buttons for something slightly different in the future, but overall I'm really pleased with how he turned out.

I drew up the pattern myself, taking into account that he was mostly a tube with legs and a tail. If I make another one in the future, I will shorten his torso more as I do think it turned out a bit too long. I would also adjust his tail attachment as it currently does not allow him to sit very well. I would also probably add weight to his bottom/legs for this purpose as well. For his back I chose to do nine stars rather than a full coverage pattern as nine is my favorite number and it was simpler to sew a set amount. Overall I think his ears were the hardest part, and I would certainly tweak that part of the pattern in the future.

Some photos for size reference, he's actually quite big! He also does jingle like the fox in the film as I added a small pocket of bells to his head. So when you tilt him this way or that, there's a soft tinkling sound.

Rock Bonnets!

Poor Emmanuel is pretty much my guinea pig for everything at this point, but thankfully he's pretty amenable to it. :)  My friend Sara Richard is a fantastic artist, and she often posts sketches of things she's working on. In particular she had been doing a lot of fashion designs lately, and I think these sprung out of that.  She created something she calls the "rock bonnet," which is pretty much what it sounds like.  A bonnet, but done up rock'n'roll style with spikes and chains and all sorts of goodness.  I loved the designs (1,2) and decided to try and bring one into reality.  Sewing in miniature for pattern testing always seems easier (and cheaper!) to me, so Emmanuel became my victim volunteer.

You can sort of see him trying to yank the thing off here... ;)

Sewing time!

Started some work on Emmanuel's fairy kei/decora-ish outfit. He's a teddy!

Updates

Emmanuel's new eyes will arrive today, which is exciting. He'll finally have the blue (well and purple) eyes he needs.  It's amazing how something as seemingly insignificant as that can really change a doll.  His wig looks like it won't be here until the weekend or next week which is kind of unfortunate, but at least it has shipped.

I went out last night and picked up some more fabrics and accessories for an outfit I'm working on for him.  It's not really his style...at all, but Emmanuel is a versatile boy.  :)  Character-wise, he is pretty ignorant of fashion.  He can recognize when something looks good on someone else, but tends to associate that more with the individual than the clothes (i.e. outfits look good because the person is attractive).  He tends to dress in blues and greys and other muted colors, but as long as it's clean, he's happy.  He likes to blend in, more or less.  However, he's also a very chill individual, and he's happy to let people dress him up now and then. So while the fairy kei outfit I'm working on wouldn't be his first choice, I figured he could pull it off anyway. :)

But of course once I got back home, I realized that all the scissors in the house had mysteriously disappeared...meaning the sewing will have to wait until tonight or this weekend.  Oh well, at least it's all there and ready for me!

Long posting lag is looooong.

I would like to say that I have a good excuse for not posting, but it's mostly just due to being too exhausted from work.  I love the new job I'm in, but it completely kicks my ass.  I've barely even done anything with Uri at all since I started it, aside from sewing a few things here and there.  But we're getting closer to the anime convention and it's time for me to get my butt back into gear!

So far I have at least one costume done, another mostly together, and a third in the planning stages.  As for Uri, I have probably one done, and two in planning.  If all goes well I'll be putting together another this evening.  So no pictures of his thus far, but I do have one of mine.  Here's a crappy shot of my Kaylee Frye costume from Firefly.

Yay for nighttime pictures after finishing sewing.  I dyed the jumpsuit myself, made the patches by hand, and found the shirt as a happy coincidence at a thrift store.  Uri should be going as Jayne with me, but I have to get his costume done.

I also recently found some beautiful vintage dresses at a thrift store, and I think I'm going to use one for another costume with Uri.  It's long and flowing and white, so I think I'm going to go as a bride of Dracula, or perhaps his victim.  I'll need bite marks for me, and perhaps fangs.  And Uri will have to be nicely dressed up.  Perhaps without his wig (Nosferatu ftw).  But that is still in the planning stages. So there is more to come!

And since it's almost October, it's just about time for the Haunted Vessel posts.  This year I'd like to open up the floor to anyone who has had a paranormal experience with their dolls, or really any toys (or objects if you like).  Feel free to submit your story to me via comment, or if it's particularly long I can give you an e-mail.  I am also happy to accept stories and post them anonymously, so your name doesn't need to be on it.

Ghost has his new face up!  I am actually really fond of it, even more so without a wig on.  I just don't have the right wig for him yet, and I seem to prefer no wig for that reason.  

Also a pre faceup picture, right after I finished his new kimono top.  Holy patterns Batman!

Nowell my little dancer.

Working on a little dance costume for Nowell with bits and pieces of leftovers from my own costume.  I made him a pair of wide-leg dancing pants last night, and today it's the "hip scarf."

And the finished product!

Mori Uri

Spent last night working on a new mori outfit for Uri.  The bloomers are the same from the previous outfit, the top I made from an old linen shirt I had bought years ago at Goodwill.  I *love* Uri in this style even more than I thought I would.  I can't wait to get some pictures of the two of us together.

A couple of detail shots taken with this cool old trunk my roommate has:

And my little "helper." :)  Bear assumes that any time I'm sitting on the floor I'm free game, so he kept crawling into my lap and knocking my camera out of focus.  So I had to take some pictures of him too.

 

Sewing!

Sometimes I get this sudden urge to sew.  Right now.  I always joke that it's a good thing I don't drink, because my addictive personality would probably be the death of me.  Given how much I've been sewing over the last couple of days...I would be dead from alcohol poisoning comparatively. ;)

I don't have any pictures just yet, but the dress is slowly winding its way to completion.  I decided I wanted to make something big and beautiful for Uri, as his second birthday (with me) is coming up.  Seeing as he is an October baby too, I decided on a Halloween-themed dress.  So far it's actually going even better than I thought it would.  I'm hand sewing it partially because I don't have my sewing machine set up at my new place, and partially because I like hand sewing.  That is until I started hemming the voluminous skirt...

My plan is to hopefully have it done this week, and take Uri out for some photo shoots.  I'd love to take some pictures in my favorite nearby cemetery weather-permitting.  I may also be heading out to Salem, Ma in the next couple of days, so if I'm quick about it I could even take some shots of him there.

More Connor spam!

I've decided to give into my fangirl tendencies and just name him Connor Murphy MacManus. ;) So here's some new pictures of Connor this evening, after I finished the pants he's wearing. Ignore all the junk...everywhere lol.