Wearables A cart (or two) from Hobbiton - various Hobbits and a Dwarf

Iple has done it again ... they're discontinuing a bunch of JIDs (and KIDs), including quite a few of the sculpts on my "someday" list. So "someday" became "next week, as soon as my paycheck arrives", and buckling down to sort through my ideas and come up with a concept for them was moved up on the priority list.

They were always going to be Hobbits. I like how mature minis look like halflings next to SDs, and as I already have some SD elves and humans with fantasy outfits, Hobbits were sure to happen at some point. (So will at least one Dwarf, a Souldoll Vito - but not yet.) As they won't be here for a bit, I tried to find the most hobbit-like company pics. I do hope to have some of their things ready before they get home though, so I'm starting this journal early.

I've decided on getting two couples (and an extra head, unless I do decide on a split later on). The first cart from Hobbiton will carry:

Folco Underhill (JID Kyle),


Violetta Took (Leona),


and Poppy Proudfoot (Cecile).


Once the wallet has recovered, Holman Proudfoot (Edwin) will join the party ...


... and because I'll be one girl body short, so will his sister Hazel.


To-Do-List in the next post ..

Edit: Here they are!

 

Hobbits need clothes. Luckily, this here nerd lady owns the extended LotR boxes for all the nice costuming extras, so Hobbit clothes are well-documented.

The boys need trousers (can be prepped in advance if I use drawstrings instead of trying to make them fitted), shirts, and waistcoats (definitely need to wait until I have one home).
The girls need under-dresses and aprons. I should be able to come up with something based on company measurements.

Update 02/28:
Changed my mind about Poppy's first outfit, from layered dresses to a chemise and drawstring skirt (plus a bodice once she's home). The chemise pattern is ready; for the skirt I'd prefer green, so I'm still hunting for the missing leftovers. I'll probably go for a dark green skirt (there is a finer weave somewhere, the dark green in the pic is human-scale linen), white chemise, and bright green lace-up bodice. Instead of ruffles, I'm planning a scalloped hem.
For Folco I might be able to prep a loose-fitting shirt together with the drawstring trousers ... although the movie outfits are a bit more fitted than anything I'd dare attempt "blind". The wearable bellies will definitely need to wait - plus, Folco is on the model body so he'll be the slimmer of the boys.


03/06: Poppy's "welcome home" outfit is done!


pinned on my only MSD girl, DiM Annabeth:


They'll also get props. Pipes come to mind, and pipe-leaf pouches. And Hobbits love to eat, so I'll finally have a reason to dig out all those mini foods tutorials again! This will be an exercise in scale - the pipes will be 1:4, but anything natural - carrots, apples, animals - will be 1:3 because halflings.
A bunch of yummy things I'll probably make:
- bottle-cap-sized pies
- various kinds of bread
- cheese
- maybe some cakes?



Side note - I'll try and make their clothes a no-budget project. I have so freaking many doll fabrics and leftovers that a bunch of Hobbits should be easy enough to clothe from what I already own.


I forgot to update these! /facepalm So here's a belated one ...
The first sets of clothes:


The first cart all faced-up:


Violetta's summer dress:


And a snapshot of (part of) the Middle-Earth gang, elf for scale:

 

reserved for updates

 

and one more

 

Thank you! I hope so I've always wanted to do this, and the discontinuation notice was the final kick up the rear I needed to actually do it.

First quick stash raid:

I don't have much that's thin enough for blouses or shirts ... but anything else (skirts, trousers, vests, aprons ...) is pretty much covered.

Poppy will get a dress from the patterned yellow/orange cotton. I know for a fact I own some brighter green cotton / linen, and various shades of tan and brown ... they'll turn up. And as usual there's my trusty Ikea muslin for anything basic (and aprons)! Embroidery might happen, too.

If anyone knows any patterns for JIDs, I'd be forever grateful.

 

Thank you! The names just sort of happened the other night, that's when I knew who was definitely coming home. I'm pretty sure I had an idea for Cecile, too ...

 

Thanks for watching!
The dolls are Iplehouse JID - be warned though, all but Edwin and Sierra (Holman and Hazel) are about to be discontinued. They do have quite a few other sculpts that size, but if you're looking for one of these in particular, you might want to hurry.

 

Gah ... just when I want to order my Hobbits, Life happens and takes a hearty bite out of the doll fund. Looks like I either need to scrap one body or one head ... but what to do with two floaters when there aren't any hybridable hobbit-like bodies around? Not sure if it's worth waiting a year to get them bodies just to not miss out on a head. So it's back to trying to decide between Cecile and Leona.
I do think Leona has more of an innate (in-sculpt?) hobbit vibe ... but Cecile is seriously underrated, Leona looks to be a lot more popular and I'm a bit worried I'll kind of tire of her too quickly? If you know what I mean. If I'm going to break the bank over a bunch of halflings, I want to be 100% sure they're worth it.
Kyle is absolutely coming home. Just need to decide on a girl.

So, um. Help? Anyone with either Leona or Cecile who could spam them or point me towards owner pics? I know MB Lilac's Leona, but that's about it ...

 

Sure are. I'm leaning towards Cecile too - Leona with her little smile does look very hobbit-like, but I prefer Cecile's smaller, more realistic eyes. I suppose she could be painted to have a bit of a smile too.

Also: Blank pic! Those are always helpful. They don't have any on their sales pages, but I found blank Leona and Cecile in the JID section of Doll Choice. Here they are side by side (pics by Iple, re-uploaded because you need to sign in to view these):


Definitely leaning towards Cecile. Leona looks super weird to me blank.

 

Nothing sad about it! Snail mail is less mistake-prone, anything can mess with digital patterns. Last time I tried to use a pattern uploaded in the non-metric-system part of the world it took me quite a while to communicate to my printer what had to be changed for the pattern to fit the doll it was designed for Then again, snail mail from the States to Europe is ridiculously expensive.

At this point measurements would be a great help. Poppy will be either large or glamour bust, but bust circumference is covered by company measurements. The width of the back would be good to know, and some other details they don't list - I'll try and post a pic of what I mean, with one of my other dolls standing in.

Maybe if I get very, very lucky the RL issue sorts itself out before the discontinuation takes effect ... until then I'm not sure how much of a loss I need to expect. Technically there shouldn't even be any loss on my part at all, but I don't trust the system any more so I kind of expect the worst at this point.

 

Thank you so much! You're being super helpful

 

The wonderful @rosalynmouse supplied me with loads and loads of measurements, so I can get started on Poppy's outfit.
Her Leona is small bust and mine will be large or glamour, so I decided on something that doesn't need to be as accurate: A chemise of sorts and a ruffly skirt (probably either drawstring or with an elasticized waist for starters - since I'm still pretty much flying blind). An apron may or may not happen at this point; once she arrives she'll get a bodice to wear with the chemise.
I have two cotton crincles and decided to go with the stark(er) white one for this project. The muslin might end up being used only for the boys, but I'm not 100% certain yet. I want a very clean, "starched" look for the girls.

The boys will get something else, too: Even though I'll be getting Folco on the model body, I want them both to look a bit more well-nourished than your everydoll next door, so I'm currently trying to figure out a way to make "wearable bellies" for them. I have an idea I can't quite describe and I absolutely need them here for the right shape, but I'll try and come up with a sketch. I still have fleshtone jersey-like stuff, I'll try and make a "top" from that and a potbelly-sized pouch in front that I can stuff with the polyester fluff used to stuff teddy bears and such. I believe someone has done this before; I'll try and find that thread and link to it.

 

Double post as the "edit" button doesn't seem to work.

I've started figuring out Poppy's patterns. A while ago I made an SD sized chemise and it was much, MUCH too loose ... with this one I'm going for 1.5 times the minimum width, that should fit comfortably but not fall right back off of her. Short sleeves gathered to fit (they're supposed to be a bit puffy, I hope that works), and the neckline will get a drawstring for adjustability. Like that she can wear it on and off the shoulder, as she pleases.
Her first skirt will likely be very basic, four-panel A cut, nothing fancy. Maybe some ruffles around the hem. Length-wise I think I'll try 25cm - floor-length would be 28, and I want her feet to show. (Which reminds me, they need furry feet! Fun times, no idea how I'll do that yet. But you can't be named Proudfoot and not have furry feetsies, no precious, so I better find a way.) I think I'll go with blue for starters, even though her fancy dress is supposed to be yellow. Unless the brighter green turns up, in which case I'm totally using that.
Progress will likely be slow as I've got a gazillion projects on at the same time ... but I'm still on it.

 

Thank you for the heads-up, I wouldn't have thought of action figures!

I found the thread but the project died, and some of the pics aren't showing up any more. Oh well. I'll research action figures instead.

 

Side note: The first cart has been ordered! Kyle, Cecile, and a Leona head are on layaway.

Right now (having seen blank pics in the waiting room) I think Cecile will be Poppy, but I guess I'd better wait until I have them home. Knowing dolls, they'll have a mind of their own anyway.

 

d'aww Middle-Earthlings unite!

Actually I was thinking along those lines for the feet, only I would've used liquid latex and the kind of leftover fuzz making mohair wigs will always give you. Like that I (hope I) can use the leftovers from their own wigs, so their feet fuzz matches their hair. We'll see if it works!

In the meantime, I caught them trying to wiggle out of this adventure-like thing just in time - apparently there was a glitch with my order, when I went to check how much I had to send as a first LA payment it showed as cancelled. I left a note on Iple's Q&A, then checked local time and realized I wouldn't get a reply until the discontinueds (read: all of the first cart) went off the air ... so I re-ordered, dropping them another line with the new order numbers as reply to my inquiry about the first one. Not on my watch, dear halflings! Guess I'll need to have some foodstuffs ready to pacify them when they arrive, and maybe a pipe for Folco ... flying blind, scale-wise. Halp.

 

Thanks! Sorry to hear about Akando, but good to know it worked out for your Cordelia.

I'm going to make everything. That was what got me into dolls Progress will likely be slow because I have a gazillion things going on, including but not limited to several more BJD projects, but making stuff and learning new ways to make stuff along the way are too much fun.
I do love looking around on Etsy and deviantArt - even if stuff is not the right scale, it's great for inspiration. (Speaking of which, I've dug a list of mini foods tutorials out of fav list on dA - if they do end up out of scale, the big kids will get 'em. Win-win! )

What do you mean about scale? JIDs are mature MSD, aren't they? 43 (girls) / 45 (guys) cm sounds bang-on 1/4 scale to me. Aren't the KIDs the mid-scale ones?

 

Aaah, gotcha now.
I've had props for SDs look out of scale too. Sometimes even self-made stuff with calculated proportions looks weird. Somethimes I think stuff looks weird when it doesn't. Keeping stuff in scale is tricksy, yes precious.

Making mini foods isn't that hard really There's a plethora of tips and tricks (and tutorials for all of it) floating around dA, textures and coloring and stuff - I could never ever come up with that kind of stuff myself, but there are lots of deviants who are really great at explaining the basics, so it's easy enough to follow even for a beginner. Just give it a shot

 

That they sure are - I tried (and failed) to find similarly proportioned bodies for hybridization. But most other MSD seemed to be slimmer / shorter to me ... the Miro 1/4 boy is quite a bit shorter than the Iple JID.
What I do find very out-of-scale is JID as teens with SD. Their bodies are very mature, but some of the 13-year-olds I teach are less mature and nearly my height (and I'm not exactly short) ... so that puts me off. Then again, this is exactly why I wanted them as hobbits Guess in this hobby anything is possible.

 

Starting work on the clothes today. I still have stuff for the current Sewing Project to work on, and while I've got the white thread out I'll try and get as much white stuff done as possible. That includes Poppy's chemise.

I also remembered the name that had slipped my mind! Currently, it looks like Cecile is Poppy Proudfoot (née Bracegirdle), married to Holman Proudfoot; Leona is Violetta Brandybuck, soon-to-be Underhill. We shall see what they make of those plans once they're home.

 

Found the paler green, which is a lovely colour, but not quite JID-hobbit weight. Oh well. I'll use it anyway, it's nicely bridging the stark contrast between the pure white chemise and dark green skirt.

As for the skirt, I constructed one - but it looks a tad long to me. It should come out just above the ankles (showing off her furry feet) - but I guess if that feels too long I can always shorten it.



Another problem is that the chemise fabric is very see-through. I debated making the front a double layer, but I'm afraid that would mess up the drape ... and the bright green is too heavy for a bodice. So right now I think I'll leave it as it is and make a muslin corset thingy to be worn underneath: No peek-a-boob, nice crisp white loose-fitting chemise, slightly fleshed-out midsection, bright green apron and dark green skirt. We shall see.

 

Progress! Wheee!



Far from making it less complicated, I decided to make a scalloped hem in the brighter green (the thread was bought for that fabric and is a near-perfect match) to tie the set together. (I'll make a brighter green apron, possibly with dark green embroidery.) I also decided to leave the top unfinished - like that if I decide it's too long I can still ruffle it to fit her waist and not lose any hem width.
Next question - chemise. I could hem the sleeves and either include the elastic in the hem or move it a bit further up, creating a ruffle .... oooor I could scallop-edge the sleeves too, then move the elastic further up, creating a fancy scallop ruffle. Decisions, decisions!

 

Oh, you absolutely need to read the books! The Hobbit is less than 300 pages

Good point about festive clothes. This should fit her all right, but the fancy ruffles might look better on a more form-fitted garment as this is "only" an everyday drawstring chemise. Maybe with her yellow dress ... ?

The scallops were done with a regular machine. It's a simple household machine, nothing too fancy, but it can do some decorative stitches and this is very useful.

Right now I've got the idea of an embroidered leaf on each of Folco's waistcoat pockets stuck in my brain ... but those will definitely need to be done by hand. And on the subject of waistcoats, I might try and use MB Lilac's MSD vest pattern as a starting point. With the general shape and proportions being there, it should be possible to adapt it according to company measurements ... or I might try and shrink an SID pattern.

 

Audiobooks are great as "background noise" for crafting endeavours. LotR is quite a different thing from The Hobbit ... I loved it, but it does ramble on a bit in parts.

I'm not sure about which leaf. I was thinking something basic, beech or hazel shaped. Oak might look good too, but I'm a bit wary of all the roundness, don't think I could get that to look neat We'll see. Puff paint is a wonderful idea! I think I have some left from can't-remember-what ... must give that a try for sure.

The best part about the second cart is that I'll have similarly-sized sewing models home already. I'll go for a different bust size for Violetta/Hazel and the default muscle body for Holman (Folco is on the model body), but I'll have some idea of their sizes by then. Can't keep relying on @rosalynmouse to measure all the dolls and things for me

 

But the Elvish is half the fun! (huge nerd here ) The Tolkien universe is one of my favorites too, which is exactly why when I saw MSD next to SD I knew hobbits had to happen. (There'll be a dwarf too at some point But hobbits first, seeing as how I already have some elves. They're not strictly Tolkien but I want them to fit in with the Middle-Earth crowd clothes-wise; the one on the far left, apart from getting a different wig, will get Rivendell-style robes.)

So many wonderful ideas - thank you guys so much! I think I'll stick to something fairly simple for the waistcoat, but there'll be lots of other stuff to decorate - picnic blankets, bags, pouches ... I'll try each and every technique mentioned, and if it takes a year

 

And there goes Life making decisions for me again. Can't find my white shirring elastic anywhere (although I know for a freaking fact I have some left!), so ... elastic channels it is. Not quite a ruffle, but the same look as the drawstring neckline. Should work.

 

If the hobbits were home already, I'd probably suspect them! Must have been one of the others.

I finished the chemise:


Doesn't look like much, without someone to wear it. ... but hey, it's done.
I printed some patterns today, too - shrunk one SID pattern and did three slightly different sizes of MB Lilac's MSD vest, hoping one will fit JID boys. Still need to check against the measurements, but I'm hopeful something works for Folco's vest / waistcoat. (Sewing wiz's - could anyone enlighten me as to the difference between vest and waistcoat?)

Once I've decided on colours, I'll start on his trousers. I guess it's because of Iple's pics, but I really like the brown(s) for Holman ... Folco might get blue, or brown trousers with a differently-coloured vest. Patterned fabric or no-budget project ... that's the question.

 

Side note - as my Sewing Project entry seems to be jinxed, I checked my variously sized patterns against the JID company measurements. Looks like MB Lilac's one is my best bet - length looks good (even though I had to guesstimate the JID boy's shoulder-to-waist length), but it was still a bit narrow, even after enlarging it a bit (dunno how much exactly, I don't own a printer and the one we have at work gets up to all sorts of shenanigans regarding size - as in, all settings say 100% but what comes out is ~75% and the like). So I tried to only add some width instead of enlarging the whole thing more - there were 2cm missing, so 5mm per pattern piece ought to sort it right out. I might add a bit more, or keep my seams super narrow, as I'd rather have it come out too loose than too tight. I want the clothes to be the proper length, not like something a boy dug out of Dad's closet, but I would like some room to spare width-wise. (And knowing hobbits, so will the boys!)
Test run tomorrow, hopefully. Stay tuned!

 

Put Poppy's clothes on Annabeth because she's the only MSD I currently own. The skirt is pinned in the back, with plenty of overlap because I turned the top over to account for the fact Annabeth is 3cm shorter than Poppy will be. But it does give a general idea:

 

Thank you And that would be so cool! The doll world needs more hobbits.

 

Definitely!

For the Dwarf I'm currently eyeing Souldoll Vito Haim or Lester - probably Haim though because he has the more dwarvish nose. With all the hair he'll get I don't think there will be too much visible of his face besides his eyes and nose

 

Thank you! The second order worked, they're on layaway. Right now I'm trying to get my other projects done (of sorts) before they actually come in - I should have plenty of time but Iple has extremely short production times so I'm half expecting to pay them off early.


Still a little stuck on Folco's outfit - I probably won't get around to starting before I go (one week work trip coming up), but I'm planning to make some sort of sewing dummy. Not a detailed one, just a bit of cardboard, paper, and tape. I think I've got a waistcoat pattern ready to go, but I'd rather not fly completely blind. As my main problem is judging shoulder / waist width, I'll try and make a cardboard "silhouette" based on company measurements so I can see how it looks.

 

I hope so, too I'll let you guys know!

Re-watched (parts of) LotR today and paid some more attention to the hobbits' outfits.
With the girls I'm all set, there are both skirts and dresses, and various styles of bodice floating around the Shire. The yellow/orange fabric with its woven pattern is perfect, so is the bright white for blouses.
The guys are a bit more complicated, as they tend to wear brocade or even velvet waistcoats and I don't have any doll-weight brocades at all. Even the embroidered fabrics I have are too large-patterned to work (Merry's waistcoat is embroidered instead of having a woven-in pattern). So much for no budget. I do have some petrol blue velvet leftovers from a renaissance outfit, maybe that could work if I re-arrange the colour schemes a bit.
What I also need to re-arrange is the waistcoat pattern, as hobbit waistcoats have a straight bottom hem and two rows of buttons. That should be a quick fix, though.

Bonus: As it's common knowledge I can't even go grocery shopping without keeping an eye out for doll stuff, I picked up something for the hobbits along the way. Annabeth (still wearing Poppy's clothes) for scale:




And lest I forget, note to self - Dollits Joo would make an adorable hobbit kid, along with KID Paige.

 

Have a fabric pic for starters



The petrol velvet turned out to be much too thick (like I feared), but I stumbled across the dark blue which I'd quite forgotten. It's not exactly velvet, but I guess it can pull off the look in hobbit scale. I've got enough of the bright blue to make two pairs of trousers if the first doesn't work (drawstring isn't really Shire fashion, most of the things they wear are very fitted, but I really don't want him to have nothing at all to wear when he gets here) ... or I might settle for plain muslin drawstring pants just so he's decent.
I did try a silhouette sketch last night, not 100% sure it's saying much, but I'm guesstimating the vest patterns will work. But I'm still a bit anxious to start, as all that is more fitted than the girls' stuff and thus more likely to go wrong.

 

I could do that. Vests are going to happen anyway ... what's keeping me from attempting shirts blind is the plain and simple fact that I'm a chicken. I don't mind re-making (or adapting) simple trousers so much, but doll time is sparse at the moment and setting sleeves, adding buttons and a collar only to have it not fit is not something I'd have patience with at the moment. So at this point I'd rather wait until he's home and make something nice that actually fits.

I did figure out something about trousers though (for some reason my computer won't play the extras DVD any more, so I "had to" re-watch the movie to get a good look at stuff - oops ). Frodo's trousers have a bit of room around the middle, and he wears suspenders under the vest. That's something I can do - leave the waistband off, leave a bit of fabric in front to add snaps or thin velcro, and add a pair of suspenders.

 

Well, that should make car rides more interesting for a while!