Aesthetics Finding my style or Operation: Get my Girls some swag (Update Feb 8)

Hi! It's baby's first big post, so please be kind (I hope I chose the correct prefix)

Since getting back into the hobby, I've been just making whatever I felt like making at the time. Great idea, until your dolls' wardrobe is mostly stockings (I found a technique to make them that's really fun and easy and I got carried away lol) and mismatched, ill-fitting shirts...
But now that it's ''New year, new me'', I decided I'd change that and find a style for my dolls that would be cohesive!

To get a better grip on what kind of a style/vibe I wanted to go for, I made this little drawing. (Aphantasia is fun until you have to visualize ''new'' stuff in your head) I don't know what this style would be called, but I drew inspiration from cottage core, mori girl, and then put them in a blender with current casual fashions and sprinkled a little bit of 2016 tumblr girl aesthetic too



So my victims dolls are Saga, Doll Family-H Xiao Chan, and Minka, Miyadoll Vivienne. (edit: if anyone saw that I had the names wrong in the drawing, no you didn't xD)

Here's my to do/wanna do list in no particular order:

• Better wigs (their current ones are kind of practice wigs and I'm not satisfied with them)
• Complete outfits! My girls need pants and skirts, desperately!!!
• Make shoes- or more like finish making shoes. I have many patterns already drafted onto fabrics, but the fear of failure prevents me from actually making the shoes...
• Redo their faceups and give them light body blushing (this will have to wait until spring/summer when the weather is friendlier though)
• Order Minka new eyes that have smaller irises to make her look a little bit more mature

Spoiler: Starting point pictures- what my girls look like before the project

 

Small update!
So far I've made Saga's wig (I'm really happy how it turned out! It's probably my favorite wig I've made!), one pair of mesh stockings, a black turtleneck (that I'm not too happy with) and the skirt for her!



The skirt was definitely a struggle for me, matching patterns is not my strong suit (which is why I only bothered with it in the front) and I hate hemming and will skip it whenever I can. But all in all it still turned out fine! There is a little bit of bulk in the front where it closes (there's two snap buttons closing it, because I'm not crazy enough to do button holes in this scale into a fabric that frays when you so much as look at it wrong) but it's not too bad. If it starts bothering me too much, I'll just have to make the two top buttons functional. So if anyone has any good tips for very very tiny button holes (the buttons are 5mm ⌀), I'm all ears!

I also made a wig for Minka, but the idea I had for the wig didn't translate well into reality so I had to start over. Hoping the next one works out better!

 

@neon_jellyfish Thanks!

@babezoid It's some sort of synthetic blend. I'm not exactly sure what kind of fabric it is because I got it from the scraps box at my local fabric store. It feels like something one would find in a suit cardigan, very light and slightly coarse. I hope that helps

 

Small update to let you know I've strayed from my original plan, which is not a surprise to me, at all...
I finished Minka's wig ages ago, and then I just decided to go with the original vibe I had for her, instead of the same aesthetic as Saga.
I'll talk more about Minka's aesthetic in my next update, now I'm just here to drop a picture of my latest piece of clothing I made! It's a romper I made with Resin Rapture's pattern that I scaled to fit, and made some small adjustments
(She's also wearing a beret I made using Lully's pattern!)



I also bought myself a second hand Pfaff sewing machine and oh my gosh I didn't know sewing small things could be this effortless!!! It can sew so close to the edge and isn't nearly as interested at eating the fabrics as my clunky old machine was. Definitely a huge life quality improvement

 

Thank you! She definitely feels more like herself now that she has her own style.

Thank you! It's definitely been a struggle of trial and error finding thin enough fabrics and then learning other ways to eliminate the stubborn bulk that shows up no matter how thin the fabric. Some clothes (looking at jeans...) still look chunky, no matter what I try, but I'm not giving up! I've seen other folks make super realistic looking clothes for even smaller dolls, so I know it's possible, just have to figure out their secrets