Sewing is all about Frame of Mind.
Why do I say that?
Because for me it is.
I have a love-hate relationship with sewing. It’s improved a great deal since I got a reliable & fairly-low maintenance sewing machine a few years back. Anyway-as I was saying it’s all about the state of mind I’m in when I sew. Or set out to sew.

When I’m sewing for myself I can barely be bothered to sew on snaps or hooks & eyes. Most shirts are simply pinned up the back because I can’t stand the repetitious hand sewing. I design bunches of outfits but I don’t make them –because I’m just not motivated enough to make them–for myself.

Now throw a friend into the mix.
Someone who doesn’t sew, or doesn’t do it frequently. Said friend mentions things that I know I can make…Can someone explain to me why I’ll go out of my way to make things for other people, I’ll spend hours sewing on stupid snaps & hooks, adjusting pieces etc. And I still won’t think it’s good enough?

*sigh*

Anyway, here’s a few pics of the stuff I made today.

Anyone wanna guess who they’re for?

Just a quick update–I’ve spent the last week or so trying to work on valentines goodies for Etsy.

I’m not sure how good the things are but I’m trying.  I’m making cupcakes & sweets & some smaller props to use.  Valentines has never been a holiday I paid a lot of attention to–but this year I think my dolls may demand a set of  goodies for themselves to keep. (that’s fair, isn’t it? I can keep some of the stuff I make….right?)

I’m being treated to a trip to Birmingham today! I’m going to the quilt shop there to pick up some more fabric for my in process 1:6 quilt. I started it with some various pieces I had lying around but am running out quickly & know there won’t be enough for all the additional blocks I have yet to make.

So here’s to a morning getting lost in Birmingham!

I’ll  check in later & update the Top 10 list with number 3 (and maybe number 2 also)

I’ve had a hard time with the winter holidays for a while now, mostly since I lost my father in 2003. Holidays–like Christmas & New Years are times that I have always associated with family, friends & a general getting together of folks.  Warm times.  Friendly times.  Suffice to say that it’s not felt like that for a while, and it’s something that I desperately miss.  I do really look forward to spending holidays with my family & friends again–but until then I have to make a concerted effort each year to remain positive about them–and get them over as quickly as possible.

This is where the diversions come in!

Diversions are things that for me–force me out of a general mode of thought or action. For instance, This Christmas season I’ve been pretty blue. I haven’t really felt like making doll clothes (except as gifts), painting doll heads or generally customizing. I haven’t felt much like writing either. When I hit this kind of wall I have to break out and find something that interests me, but also isn’t something I know a hell of a lot about. I like learning new things–and new crafts are especially desirable to me. Of course, a lot of crafts require money & an initial investment to get the supplies.

You lump it or find alternatives.

Anyway, this sort of goes hand in glove with my Christmas season. We were doing low-to-no budget xmas gifts this year (the job situation being what is is) and I asked for a new 1:6 bedroom set.  Yea I know, you’re thinking what do I need one of those for? Don’t you already have one erica?? How often do you do room scenes with beds? Huh?

Well the thing is, that the 1 bedroom set I have (which consists of a bed & 2 barbie bedside tables) is nice but it’s a particular style & belongs definitively to Alison. Alison loves Art Nouveau.  I designed it specifically with her in mind. So no one else is ever going to claim it! :P

below: Devra is house sitting & borrowing Alison’s bedroom

The other problem with that bed is the size.
It’s scaled smaller than the 3rd generation  Fashion Royalty dolls & to be fair it’s a pretty tight fit for the Hot Toys guys.  Which limits who can pose in it (and be naughty) The older Dragon/BBI bodies will fit but it’s tight.

:(

So, I thought a new bed set would be nice.  And it might also nudge Mark into the right direction–C’mon folks, I know when you see what he can make you’ll want to get him selling! (I’ve told him we can set him up an etsy shop if he makes stuff) Anyway–back to the diversion issue– Bed incoming right?

Well it’ll be in need of bed linens & stuff. (I guess I also have to make the mattress for it too LOL)

I’ve always had an interest in quilting. No experience other than making a 9 patch block once.  Lost patience real quick (I’m not a big hand sewer). But I thought eh, I’ll try doing some 1:6 quilting. Why not?
(Um, maybe because I don’t have a large amount of patience?) I decided I’d give it a-go with some of the fabrics I had.  It was sort of hard coming up with some combinations that I thought worked together.  Right now it takes me about 40 minutes to do a block.

The blocks look crummy in the pic, but they haven’t been squared off or trimmed down to size yet.

I didn’t get as much done yesterday as I’d hoped due to migraine interference. However, I did get a really great start on making an outfit for Inessa.

Who is Inessa?

Inessa is one of Natalie’s characters and an all time favorite of mine (so much so in fact that I created a sister just for her–I love interconnected characters).  I was going to link a pic of Inessa here, but her profile page needs updating *nudges nat* However you can see  Inessa here. (please forgive how horribly blurry most of the photos in that story are)

Anyway, Nat’s been mentioning that she’s been at a loss to dress the poor woman.  Not enough clothing in her closet that fits her style.  I can empathize with that since I have a few figures like that too….So I volunteered as an x-mas present (and with the ulterior motive of seeing more Inessa photostories) to make her an outfit.

:)   MERRY X-Mas Nat!  :D

Hope you like! :D

This is what I came up with last night (and this morning & this afternoon). Hope Inessa likes it (Yseult, her sister is modeling it on a borrowed E body) As usual, click the photo for a larger version (and inside the little funky box for an even larger version to see well, whatever details there might be) :P

This is a 2 piece set– a black shirt & a gunmetal grey/silvery skirt. The skirt fabric was really difficult to photograph.  It definitely looks better in person!

I felt kind of bad that Inessa was only getting one outfit–and wanted to make things interchangeable, so I added an additional skirt with the wrap & stuff to make it more complete.

The check skirt, black top, leather belt & faux fur wrap

Now, on a related topic—-Clothes & the organization of them!

Actually, I think I’ll post more on that tomorrow!

Yesterday I was successful in getting my dinky little sewing area organized & ready to use. This morning I started working on some sewing (right now I’ve stopped for a lunch & internet break)  :)

So far it’s going well & according to plan *knock wood* and by the end of the day I should have something (I hope worth showing)  for my efforts.  ^_^

Tomorrow will either be a sewing or a clay day I’m not sure which (and consequently sat will have to be a photo day–I wish it were easier & less hassle to set up for photos but everything always needs to be evacuated, moved or stuffed elsewhere in order to do it)

PS: I sorted through my fabric and am sad to report that I don’t have enough bits of my fqs left to start the quilting project.  I’m going to have to wait and see what happens with that (A pack of FQs costs about £10.00   xD   ).

Anyway that’s it for now!

Sounds sort of silly, doesn’t it?
But I’m serious…it’s been such a long time since I did any repainting or facial customizing on my figures that I now have that old friend “brush anxiety” keeping me company.

I’m trying to gear myself up to do some though!   :woot:   I’ve got a couple of spare heads to practice on (since it’s been months since I’ve done a face-up I know I’ll be horribly rusty & will have to struggle again to remember exactly how I do it) .

So the plan for this week:

• start getting a feel for painting again (3 or more heads painted)
• make a replacement 1:6 couch (black I think)
• sew some CG & Goh guy clothes
• answer pending emails (very late on those)

If I get 3 of those 4 things done I’ll be happy.

As I get the face-ups done I’ll photograph them for those of you who’d like a look at how it progresses.

I’m happy to report that the Damara project is moving along at a pretty good pace.  :)

Here’s what Damara looked like when I started this morning: (you can see part of the boob-plate in progress in this pic as well)

While not all of the work has been 100% satisfactory for me, I’m just feeling pretty good about doing something.  So far since earlier this week — I’ve managed to make her 2 different breast plates (which still need some sanding and detailing done) and they fit fairly well although there was apparently some shrinkage (which I didn’t expect).

I also managed to do her re-root –replacing her default hair with some black hair I had left over from my last restoredoll order.

(you’ll have to check the blog later today/tomorrow for picts of her new hair and breasts)

I was particularly lazy tonight and after spending all the time rooting her–yea, I couldn’t be bothered to do a proper boil perm. Instead I ran the hot water and stuffed her head into the water. Then I doused her in cold tap water. It may not take, but what the hell, right? I’ve got nothing to lose.  Maybe when I get up tomorrow am (or actually I guess it’s am now) I’ll check it out and see 1) if it’s dried and 2) if it worked well enough to at least let the hair lie flat.  I really do hate re-rooting. It is so tedious…but at least at the end of it you know you’ll end up with something. Not like when I sew and I never know if I’ll end up with a usable piece of clothing or something for the scrap pile.

Anyway, it’s about time for bed.

As promised (see, I do deliver!) here are the photos of the clothing I made. I feel kind of bummed that 11 outfits= 2.5 weeks of work. The photos aren’t the best, but they’re ok. My faves are #’s 1, 5,7 & 9…

Despite feeling somewhat burnt out, I think I may end up doing some more sewing next week…What can I say, I’m a masochist! ;)

Sewing & photostories:

On a photostory related note:

I have been struggling the last week or more to figure out exactly how many students I needed for the photostories. I’ve settled on a total of 10 male characters (broken down into groups of 2 for room assignments) & 18 female characters in total.

Both the Male & Female numbers reflect having RAs (resident advisers–2 each). so that the number of freshmen & sophomore students is actually 8 & 16 respectively.  I know the girls are outnumbering the guys at the moment–but for a few reasons that I’ve skewed the gender ratio.

1. I don’t have enough male figure bodies handy to make more.
2. It seems to me that there will be more girl groups/girl related plotting going on.
3. I need to have some generic girls to use as “filler”/ background/bit part players.

For the dorms I figure that they are smaller older buildings. Each floor has 10 rooms (2 of those are singles) and a large multi-person bathroom/shower/bath room. I think that the student lounge may be located at ground level (insted of my original thought that there is one per floor).

So back to the characters:

18 girls sounds rather overwhelming, doesn’t it?

Well it could be except that a lot of them (at least initially) only pop in and aren’t main steam characters. So they aren’t really that important to start with. They may become important later but only time will tell.

Regardless of their importance, I felt the need to figure out who they are, and of course, who they are rooming with! (that actually is important for continuity.) Which meant that before I could do up the room-chart I’d have to know who I have, who I need etc.

Talk about a pain in the ass!

the first issue is that I am running seriously low on supplies. So that means I’ve got to make people with what I have on hand–no matter how crap it is.  That doens’t make me happy, but I guess all I can really say is que sera sera.  and suck it up. :?

So who do I actually have made already? (18 doesn’t sound as bad when I look at what I have handy)

1. Mallory
2. Eff
3. Karly
4. Alex
5. Abbey
6. Felicity (she’s gone back for an update, but hopefully she’ll be back soonish!)
7. Raven

If I hadn’t sent Meg & Frid off to Texas, they’d have rounded the number up to nine. Instead, I’m left at 7…which means I have 11 figs to make.

I’ll update more about them as I go along (and figure it out)

Sewing related:

I know–I know!

I promised almost a week ago that I’d share some photos of the clothing I was making & had made…

Well… you need to wait another day!! ;)

sorry about the delay, but I keep wanting to finish one more piece… Hopefully, tomorrow, since I’ve had the blind replaced in my workroom, will be a good time for photos.

Well its been a weekend of ups & downs. 2 migraines really cut into getting a lot done, but today (Sunday) has been proving to be pretty productive. :D

So far today, I have managed to get the following sewn (all items still need to have hooks & eyes or snaps sewn in place. I prefer to do that while I’m downstairs on the couch which is waaaaaay more comfy than sitting at the work desk/table)

The majority of this stuff is for CGs since I need to earn some money to pay this month’s student loan bills.

• long sleeved pink sweater
• denim skirt with white & pink trim
• black, grey & pink knit dress
• Op-Art black& white skirt
• pink,black & magenta skirt
• black & white striped short sleeved shirt
• white printed t-shirt
• Black & blue gypsy/ren-esque shirt (hard to explain)

(pictures will come tomorrow when I have the patience to clean up enough space to shoot photos)

Now, back to sewing and then off to bed!

Hey Milk,  as promised this is for you…

Seth is the closest I have to Lexian coloring wise.

I promise the next corset will look better! :D

……

Yes, that’s right!
I played hooky from sewing and took a detour into printable land! :D (and then from there to a small, pretty pointless photostory with the one requisite “pizza-shot”) ;)

The pics show off Merrit’s new shirt, and one of Raven’s new outfits. The set up is minimal (sorry, it’s all I can manage right now. The story was just an excuse to show off the printables I made today)

Today was nice in so far as taking a break from sewing goes. However…I’m not really willing to classify making printables as “fun”. While I generally am happy with my attempts at making printables to use as props in my 1:6 dioramas I don’t find the actual process of making them that much fun. (I know, you’re asking me, but what about those books? Didn’t you spend hours and hours scanning them?)
I should clarify: I would enjoy the process MUCH much more if I had a flat bed scanner that was bigger than a sheet of A4. I never really thought when I left it behind in the states that I would miss my ledger sized scanner. An 11×17 bed would make a lot of this so much easier. Eventually, when I feel more up to it, I’ll take some decent pictures. And make better printables. They would probably have come out better on ink jet paper. Next time. ;) Meh.

Annnnnyway—-What you’re here for is the photographs, right?
Click the photos below for the link!

*sorry for the few typos & errors in wordage. I’m tired and I wanted to get this done before I went to sleep. those are my only explanations.*

Close up of basket:

I know I said I’d post some photos today of some of the things I have been working on sewing. :D

At the moment I’m kind of in a swing with sewing and don’t want to have to take the time to do a set-up and lots of detailed pics….So right now, you get the bare minimum. Snap shots… (Tomorrow, I’ll take shots of all the outfits & their associated figures. Really!)

Merrit, because he’s the reason I am sewing to begin with:

I am having problems getting his t-shirts to come out the way I want them to. It’s the collar that’s giving me trouble. Somehow or another it’s ending up…well….too large for the area. I’m considering that it may be a problem with any of the following (but I don’t know since i make it all up as I go along)…

• the pattern. I may need to alter it to make the neck opening smaller.
• It could also be that I need to add some form of stabilizer to it before I try sewing the neckband in. Who knows?
• could be the fabric. it stretches. maybe. but I doubt it.

Merrit in Stripes

Merrit in Stripes 2

Anyway, I also mentioned the other day, that I crocheted some half assed scarves for Raven. Here’s a pic. Along with a pair of striped leggings I made her.

Raven with Crocheted Scarves

No, really. It is.

When I don’t stress about how to do something! Haha :D

I sat down with every intention of sewing lots of goodies for Merrit. You know, blue haired, mohawky geeky boy. Unfortunately that’s just not what’s happened…

Instead of Merrit getting a new wardrobe…he got a teal T-shirt.

Raven, on the otherhand got 3 skirts, a pair of striped leggings, a black long sleeved t-shirt (to be fair this was meant for Merrit, but the neckline looked so weird with his scrawny neck. At least it gets hidden by raven’s hair), and Raven also got 2 scarves…one purple. One red.

Alison got a skirt & shirt set.

Maybe tomorrow will be Merrit’s day. (I’ve cut the fabric for 3 merrit T-shirts. All of which will require some geekiness or dorkiness to be transferred onto them).

I have finished (mostly. I have to sew hooks & eye /snaps on Cass’s dress) the 3 outfits that I started for the Seasonal greeting card.  On the whole I’m pleased with them, but not with the amount of headache I caused myself in the process of sewing (and making them).  I think perhaps it’s possible to figure out which figures I like best by how much effort I put into clothing them and making props for them.  (Merrit springs to mind). From this sewing exercise it’s obviously all about Cass & Viv — Paloma gets shoddy seconds. Ah well. :P Maybe Paloma will get something nice next time?

PS these are quick photos, so no one looks good in them and the hems etc are at all sorts of angles. *I’m tired and I don’t have the patience to muss with them right now. Cass’s gown can lie more nicely than shown. I’m just knackered right now…*

Cass: is in royal blue silk.

One of the great things about making props & clothing for your figures is that sometimes in the process you learn something about them you didn’t know previously. For example, I already knew that Cass is a pretty practical woman. But what I didn’t know is that she has a weakness for girl-y frou-frou dresses…but that the practical side of her nature wins out when it comes to clothes shopping. (this is witnessed by a look in her closet which would reveal a mostly jeans & t-shirts) So how does that practicality & desire mesh?

She buys a dress that can serve two purposes.

It can be the semi-cute bubble dress shown above. Or if she really wants to give into her inner-princess, she can wear it with the skirt lowered.  (and yes I know she needs some accessories/jewelry)

Cass likes a bargain as much as the next person–so 2 dresses in one fits her personality perfectly.

Actually sewing the dress was a pain in the ass. Part of it was due to the fabric. Part due to my failure to have appropriate sewing accessories to hand. (I did have some lovely black, very lightweight interfacing that I did use for her dress.)

I was leery of using the silk for 3 reasons:

• I had a very limited amount of it. If I screwed up, I’d have to either find a way to work around it or scrap it and go with another idea. the dress I had planned was going to be pushing things…even if I didn’t screw up.
• I didn’t have matching thread.  :|   I’d have to use black.
• I don’t generally buy silk so my sewing experience with it is limited. This silk was of a lower quality than the last remnant I’d gotten. I was leaning toward using a different (black) fabric but two members of the peanut gallery vetoed that and voted for blue.

I did manage to screw up 3 times on the bodice of the dress (2 of them went in the trash).  :-? The third worked ok, but there are errors on it that irritate me…but not enough for me to have tried cutting and piecing the remaining fabric to replace it.

Viv : is in turquoise silk.

Viv was harder to come up with something for.  I revisited her halter top style and thought I’d try it in the turquoise silk. It’s nice, and I think the color suits her. The silk is slightly better woven than the blue silk.  I top-stitched some of the seams with decorative gold thread (only the 2nd time I’ve tried that! Yay me!!! :D )

My biggest difficulty with it was sewing the trim on–and deciding which trim to use. I also debated giving her a belt in addition to the trim but decided against it.

While dressing her in the new clothes I realized that she needed some sort of jewelry to go along with it. I made her the necklace w/ swarovski crystal pendant & a pair of matching earrings. (I realized at that time that her ears seem to be lop-sided on her head!) :(   I figured that if she wears a matching piece of fabric as a head scarf, this could easily be a summer outfit too.

Paloma: is in a red woven fabric.

A blue-based red fabric I think I originally bought with the intention of using for a 1:6 couch? Instead its been transformed into a mediocre holiday dress with black trim (she needs a stole). :-?

This fabric frayed like crazy and I almost tossed the dress in the trash a couple of times.   :x I’m lazy when it comes to sewing and I don’t like to struggle to complete what I feel is an elementary design in fabric.

I love sewing because it gives me a way to create things that I want or need.  It allows a certain amount  of creative freedom–not being a fashion hostage.  This is especially true in 1:6 where most things are either barbie oriented or militarily oriented.

I hate sewing because I am certain that there are better ways to do it, or to get an effect. I wish I knew how to sew. I don’t mean the basic mechanics…but all the little things that you learn when someone else shows you how to do it. The tricks. The tips. I read a lot, and I watch whatever online tutorials I can find (*the ones that don’t crash my computer –or aren’t using super-computer sewing machines*). I usually putter and tinker until I can get something resembling what I wanted. Over the years I’ve learned how to draft my own patterns, sew basic outfits and so on…in the next year I’d like to do better. Maybe try making some lined suits or something….

So there you have it. Some whine. I’d like some cheese now! ;)

As soon as my fingers warm up a bit (the downside to living here is that the building seems to hold more cold and damp than anywhere else!) I’ll try to finish up my mini sewing projects. After that I’ll snap some pictures…

So look for an update a bit later!

I have been sewing but not as prolifically as I’d like.
Hopefully I’ll be well enough later this week to take better pics. (I need to take pics of the outfits I’ve made)

But just to show that I’ve been doing something….here’s a picture of Sonia.
Next time I try making it I think I can safely say I’m swearing off using PVC!

Well the mini-heatwave we’ve been having means that my original plan for the day (baking cinnamon rolls from scratch to bring to work tomorrow) has been canned. Too freakin’ hot for that!

Instead I’ve done the following:(more pics to follow a bit later)

• Continued working on the pole dancing (woo sexy shoes!) shoes/boot feet for the cy girls.
• Re-rooted a cy girl Ice head
• Boil permed (sort of) Midori’s head so that the hair might not boof out so much from her head. (she got slightly over cooked though)
• Worked on some more sewing patterns.
• Have cut out at least 12 shirts (this is stuff meant for trade/sale. need to earn some bus money)
• ” ” 4 skirts
• ” ” 5 waist cinchers/underbust corsets. These are from one of my older patterns when was just learning to sew; these might end up in the trash.

Quick pic