Wearables Sewing Project: Fairytale [ Round 102 ]

Hopefully the sort that's used ot scare small children.

I have a number of SCA friends (one of them has been Queen of Drachenwald several times and takes the doll I made her to events, if hs ehas luggage space) both over here and in the US. DoA seems to have attracted a fair number of Scadians, Renfair participants, and historical costumers.

Teddy

 

You are the kindest, thank you so much for the feedback. I keep playing in my mind what to make but my mind is not cooperating, Like most things, hopefully not this one, it takes 10 years for me to finally figure out what to do... lol

These themes are so inspiring and do get the mind thinking like crazy. Great hosting, thank you for all you do!

 

I think what all these hobbies have in common is that hey are great "umbrella" hobbys. The kind of hobbies that you can use as an excuse to try your hand at many different crafts and areas on knowlege.

I'm a larper, myself. Mostly with focus on historical stuff, but not exclusively. If I had never tried my hand at sculpting and mold making to make masks and other special make up efects for myself and my friends when playing goblins and other nasties (this is me), I would not have goten as far as I have with my doll making, just to mention one example of bleed over.
Hobbies like these tend to blend into each other. The methods for historical research are the same, regardless of if it's done for a human or a doll, for example.
The doll hobby have countless little sub-hobbies within it. Even a specific topic as this thread -sewing for dolls within a certain theme- still shows off many many sides of the hobby.
And I love it!

 

Absolutely @Lilith (cool picture BTW)

Teddy

 

Hello! I'm a bit late but I'd like to join this round.
My model, as ever, will be Ayleen (Fairyland LittleFee Chloe), and yet again autumn seems like a good time for micro crosstitch and Slave motives. Though this time I'm planning something with more colors than the outfit from last October:
Yaga apprentice - woods by helgie, on Flickr
The outfit I have in mind is nothing specific, just one in which Ayleen could go on an adventure in a Russian fairytale. It involves:
- White cotton shirt with embroidery on collar and sleeves (already started);
- Dark blue wide trousers or sarafan (sleeveless dress), still undecided if it should be more in male or female style, might do both;
- Coat, with red and green pattern on dark blue background, probably with long false sleeves, I like how they turned out last time, this style will allow to show off the embroidery on the shirt sleeves, and it is a very characteristic feature.
- Red sleeveless overcoat, probably trimmed with fur;
- Headdress, bracers;
- Possibly boots or valenki (felt boots).
I'm afraid I'll be quiet busy in the second half of the month, and am unsure how much of the above I will actually manage. Hopefully at least 2 layers. But there's an Unfinished business coming up, and this outfit is definitely for winter, so in September I'll just do what I can. Fortunately, I already have good patterns for shirt, dress and coat.

I love this month's theme, and am impressed with the projects in progress and even already finished!
@mydaffer great dress, very nice color, and the apron is so cute!
Good luck everyone, and I should probably get back to the teeny-tiny crosses...

 

@helgie Never too late to join! Your plan sounds amazing, well worth taking your time with.

 

Sweet - the rus trousers sound good.

Teddy

 

I love fairyland dolls, I have Bisou, can’t wait to see the outfit you make and wow embroidery and cross stitching, that’s always an added special touch, good to have skills like that in this hobby!

Thank you for the kind comment. I’m really happy you like the dress color and the apron. I had a lot of fun sewing these.

 

I'm lurking this round because I'm making an embroidered elven robe for myself for Fest. Really loving seeing what everyone's working on though! (And that great human outfit you linked, Teddy! Though it looks a bit too warm for my fest...)

 

It was certainly too hot to be outside on that day in San Jose - I took a shortcut across a roof terrace at the hotel, and stopped for just long enough for tht picture to be taken before I hurried inside to the Land of AirCon. It's all natural fibres, but those trunk-hose are padded out with cotton quilt batting, and they have six layers of fabric on top of that, if you include the panes.

I find one of the challenges when sewing for dolls is not only scaling down the thickness and drape of the fabric but figuring out which layers you can skip to reduce bulk and still have it look "right".

Teddy

 

I'm fighting this one right now. The doublet is slightly padded to get that smooth shape, but since the doll is hard and I intended to ommit the shirt layer, it has a tendecy to collaps and buckle when the doll is moved. I may have to make him som sort of a underlayer to get it to stay nice when handeling the doll, but I don't think a full shirt would play nice with the sleeves. I may make a super thin sleevless shirt, just to have something in there.

Other than that things are gonig pretty well. I am working on embellishing the pieces and slowly putting it together.

 

How about a little pillow under the bits that collapse - would that work?

Teddy

 

Possibly, but there is very little space in there. If a shirt-like thing won't work, I may do what I sometimes do for the underbust area of the girls and put an extra layer of padding there. I used thin cotton flannel for the padding in the doublet and it's possible an extra layer or two in the right place would do the trick. But there is always a risk for the edge of it starting to show trough with wear.
I'll figure something out.

 

Yep. I've had that problem before.

Good luck finding a workaround

Teddy

 

Wow this is awesome, I love it. Can’t wait to see it on your doll. Hope you find an easy way to remedy the issue you are having. Nice details.

 

This is amazing, I love the colors, the material and the story. WOW! Your doll is so super adorable, I love her little sweet face like that. This is so nice, I'd love to make Kimonos for a few of my Volks girls, are they hard to do? I really love this whole theme so much. BeAuTiFuL!

 

What a delightful story! I love the slightly darker colour palette on this one, it ties the creepy and cute together very nicely.

 

Sweet! You find such fun fabrics for them.

Teddy

 

I've made some progress on the doublet. It's been slow going since it's all done by hand but I only have the last of the buttonloops and the buttons left now. After that the doublet itself is done.
The fabric underneath is for the sleeves.

 

Yay! It's looking great already

Teddy

 

@PoeticSoul and @Teddy Thank you both! I am having fun with this. I just finished sewing all the buttons.

 

@PoeticSoul Thanks for sharing about your day-of-the-dead face-up. What a great idea to introduce myself to doing a face-up. I luckily have lots of pastels, so I'll get there eventually.

Just reporting in that I found a big girl to sew for! I'll introduce her after our meet-up this weekend. I crochet a beret for her. Lol.
Hope to incorporate some of the inspirations you ladies are sharing! Wonderful embroidery, trims, fabrics! Well done everyone!

 

Thank you so much for the link, I am going to try this, I can’t wait. You’re little doll is so personalized by the time spent on trying to de-yellow her and the face you gave her, that makes her so valuable in itself. That’s the kind of dolls I truly adore.

My goodness that is looking fantastic, I don’t have an ounce of patience for something that tedious, hats off to you. Lovely fabric as well, love the update!

 

Thank you! The materials are a lot more humble than they seem. The outer fabric is a rather dense polyester duchesse, the inside is thin cotton flanel and the trim is a cheap decorative braid of the same type often sold for making christmas ornaments and such things. Oh, and the "buttons" are put together from brass beads and those little wire-with-a-stop-at-one-end, things. I don't know what they are called, but they are sold for jewelry making.

The doublet itself is finished and I'll try to get a picture of it on the doll tomorrow.

 

Head pins, and your doublet looks amazing!

 

That's it! Thanks.

 

Hmmm.... {wonders if he still has those two unopened packs of head-pins in his beadworking box....}

Teddy

 

for fabric I am using an SD size kimono bit and found that I wanted also to fit part of it to this MSD size girl, her hooves making her fit into fairytale month... that face.... Doll zone Likou

DOA sewing by mare joy smith, on Flickr

 

Very cute - with that itty bitty little nose.

Teddy

 

Doublet finished!
Now he just needs sleeves, socks and shoes.

Sorry about the crappy light. Daylight ran away from me.

 

It's lovely!

Teddy

 

Adorable doll, love the colors of the material you are using.

That looks so professional, love the way it turned out. Well worth the time and effort! It’s so enjoyable to watch project transformations. I get so excited to see everyones start to finish projects.

Lighting is never on my side......

 

It looks amazing!

 

@dailymare Those pink stripes are so cute!! They're so proportional as well to doll size.. very nice!

@Lillith You're killing me - your handwork is so neat! How beautiful!

I will claim success on my steps taken so far.
I said I'd try to make a mannequin and patterns by Monday. Well, here I am on A Monday. Perhaps not the claimed Monday... but....


I made this mannequin by wrapping my doll in cling wrap, and then using masking tape to create a few layers, then snipping up the back, removing from the doll, and re-taping the back seam.. finally I stuffed it.

Unfortunately the tape comes off itself very easily. I'm thinking maybe I need to cut pieces from the tape to make a pattern and then remake the mannequin from a sturdy fabric. If anyone else has any ideas how to make a sturdier mannequin, please let me know.




Okay and then the fun part.. pattern drawing!

I created patterns for four different clothing pieces.. a dress, a coat, a skirt & shoes.








Now, in the spirit of what I said about trying to do this with all the proper steps.. I'm going to create a set of "muslin" (idk if I have any, but will use some cheap fabric) test pieces.

.... by *this* Wednesday ...

 

@maxxxamillion I am in awe of your determination to start with the mannequin beofr youe vn get to any of the clothing.

Have you seen any of the YouTube videos about making the "bootstrap dressform"? I don't know if that would help you in this project, but it might give you some ideas for things you could apply ot a dolls dressform if you take a look at some of them.

Teddy

 

@Teddy Thanks for the recommendation! I hadn't seen that before... just duct tape dress form making ... I just watched one video that showed up at the top of the search results for the bootstrap dressform and already felt I gained some helpful thoughts!

 

You're welcome - I follow a lot of costumers' YouTube channels and the bootstrap form showed up on a lot of them

Personally I'd be tempted to pi n fabric aroud my dolll body until I got a fitted cover for it, makerk all the pin lines as seams before taking it off again and then make the pattern from that, and check it on the doll body puy piutting the sewn dress form cover onott he doll body again and making any adjustments before finalising it, closing up the neck, armholes, and bottom, and stuffing it.

But going with a pattern made form the duct-tape version should also work (I'd still be tempted ot do a final fitting on the doll body, once the cover is sewn)

Teddy

 

@Teddy I jumped right on it and made a pattern from the tape version, was interesting to see how uneven the wrapping ended up being... most of the side pieces were somewhat grossly non-mirror shapes ... I'm glad this will be a good chance to make the sides match & clean it up a bit. Along the thought process of test fitting, you made me realize it's also probably smart to mock this up quickly and test fit it over her before sewing with a tougher more sturdy fabric.
Nice

 

Wow everyones work is so advanced and great!
@mydaffer That blue dress is gorgeous, also the apron with the little cat as decoration is a nice touch
@Lillith The fit and details on your doublet are stunning!!!
@PoeticSoul I have a soft spot for kimonos and your interpretation is super cute and colourful

As @maxxxamillion, I made a mannequin first, also I dyed a piece of fabric and some laces to match better with the color scheme I have in mind. This is the before and after:
WIP by ccsakura85, en Flickr

Today I cut the pattern and probably will start to sew tonight.

PS. @Valdemagra Thanks for your comment about Haruko, she is a little spoiled girl, that dress was the last one I handsewed for her.

 

@5akuraD1va The dyed fabric looks so lovely!

 

@Teddy @mydaffer @PoeticSoul @psychicandroid @maxxxamillion and @5akuraD1va Thank you all for your kind words!

That dressform is going to be great, maxxxamillion.

And 5akuraD1va, that's a very nice dye job. I'm looking forward to see your project take form.

I have finished the sleeves and I decided to simply baste them into the doublet.
I finished a pair of socks as well.
He still need shoes, cuffs and a collar, I think.


And here is a close up of the buttons on the sleeve:

 

Wow. Just had fun working through everything I've missed. Really wanted to take part in this one, but time has worked against me. OtOH, my rather daunting crew is showing up this week, so I buckled down and finally did the robes I was supposed to do back in "basics" month. Put a pic up there. I have a new-for-me little Sov centaur I was hoping to get decked out in this month, but I fear it's not going to happen. Been working on the mobility of his fetlocks, and have sprayed him, but no faceup yet, and he's, um...in pieces. Sigh. Maybe I can make him something before the end of the month...

 

Sounds like you're well on the way to creating aworking dress form.

Nice work

Excellent!

Good luck with those last bits - will you make shoes or try to find some thto buy that are in a suitable style?

Sounds like you already have enough going on to keep yuou busy this time around.

Teddy

 

Thank you for the kind comment about my dolls outfit.

I love the dye job colors so much.

Both regular and dyed, the laces are beautiful choices. I’m eager to see the completion of your doll outfit!

 

Bravo, the outfit is so professional and love all the materials and details.

So much detail just in the buttons alone. It’s so perfect for the doll you choose to sew for, he looks amazing in the outfit.

 

I will probably have to make them myself, but I don't look forward to it. I am not much of a shoemaker, but I doubt I would be able to find anything that would fit him and still be the right scale and style. Iplehouse feet are on the small side of the size spectrum when comparing to what shoes are easily available. It's possible I could find someone to comission a pair from, but I'd rather not risk it. Money is an issue as well.
So next step may be to make him a pair of lasts. It's about time anyway, the poor guy only have a single pair of boots that fit him.

@PoeticSoul Thank you! I am toying with the idea of making him some sort or robe/coat-thingie to go on top and I really wanted the shoulder bulk to be able to fit into a pair of short puffed sleeves in case I ever get around to it.
Something like this is what I am picturing. But it it well into "will probably not happen any time soon"-territory.

@mydaffer Thanks! He does look rather pleased with himself, doesn't he?

 

Got a picture to share in case any of us have seen something that might do...?

A robe like that would look so good - especially if you line it in a light colour so his darker lower half is shown to advantage against the light backgorund in the opening of the robe.

Teddy

 

@5akuraD1va that lace is fabulous! Did you dye it pink first and then paint on the gold? Quite stunning!

@Lillith I'm kinda in love with that outfit. Nice job!

@Teddy: no kidding. If I do anything, it'll just be some kind of little quick like a bunny tunic. Hopefully I've got something in his color scheme.

 

Yes he indeed looks rather please and will be the utmost appreciative when you make him a pair of custom boots to add to his collection of.... one pair!

Exciting, can’t wait to see!

I personally got off track as I did try to make another dress for under my dolls apron. I may post even though I feel it was a flop. So.... I’ve been adding closures to all the outfits I have made over the years. Also, looking for one pair of loons I made, how I lost them...... I can’t figure it out. Maybe I just have toooo much stuff.

 

Exactly, first dyed it pink and later painted the golden details.

Love the black and gold fabric for the sleeves and the tiny buttons (♡ω♡ ) ~♪

 

I'm in love with these little flannel kimonos! And all the stuff on her obi is darling. do you mind if I ask what pattern you're using for the kimono? Looks a little different...

 

Firstly, I’m a HUGE fan of older Volks and have several. So her being as adorable as she is and me loving frogs so much too, awe, I’m loving her and her adorable little Kimono. How clever you are to make such an adorable outfit like this for her. Now I want all my girls dressed like this, lol. Well done, love it and her too! BRAVO!

 

Froggies!! Yay!

Teddy