Wearables Sewing Project: Fairytale [ Round 118 ]

I'm definitely hoping to join in this month! I have a few pieces I've been wanting to make but the holidays and sickness got in the way of dolly sewing. Here's to a (hopefully) productive month to kick off the new year!

 

I have been planning this for like a week ever since I knew I was getting the doll I want to make this dress for, google searched for fairytale dress and came upon these inspo pics (Chantal Mallet Dolce Vita dress)



I happen to have some black velvet or velveteen and, at least on my phone, that second picture the skirt looked green. I also happen to have some deep green satin and some deep green chiffon which I thought could work together.

So I collected my materials and a vague sketch of what I want came into being.


The bodice is going to be very structured with some boning and more pointy than my inspo pics and will hopefully be reversible. Black velvet on one side, green satin on the other. The skirt is going to be very poofy and floaty but I need to figure out if I'm using it pleated or if I have to iron the pleats out to use it without them and figure out how I'm going to get that poof, possibly buying some tulle. The shirt-y bit and the shoes are there for if I have time.

 

Ooooohhh....so I could continue to work on princely attire for Josiah & pretend they are in a Rococo version of a fairy tale. ;}
But today I'm taking it easy & hoping I'm not catching the stomach bug the family has recently experienced...

 

Ooooh! Lookd like we already have a couple of signups for this one. Once agin, I'll try to join in, IF I have time. We will see. But I will enjoyt other people's creations regardless.

Teddy

 

I want to try my interpretation of an ancient Hawai'ian legend, Hi'iaka i ka Poli 'O Pele.
My model will be Domadoll Okja as Hi'iaka and will be gathering materials this week to make her costume.
Will have to re-learn how to post pics here too.

 

I will join, but I am not entirely sure with what doll. I ment to use the troll again and make the tunic I failed at a couple of rounds ago, but I don't know. I am kind of exhausted and need an easy win, so maybe I'll just make som fun, low effort stuff... I'll take a day or two to think about it.

@PoeticSoul I love your pretty story robes. This will be awesome!

@Crissaegrim Wow, that's a beautiful dress. I look forward to see what you will make.

@Shulamite That sounds like a really cool project!

 

Today was three different mockup iterations for the bodice and then remembering that I'm sewing with velvet so minimising seams very important. Final mockup iteration is a four piece bodice rather than a six piece bodice. I've also ordered tulle (and a variety of other fabric for other projects because I found fabric that's a decent imitation of chainmail and pre-quilted fabric on a scale that will make a decent gambeson. But that's not related to this) and found my black cotton. I'll wait until the tulle arrives to decide whether I'm going to go for a full tulle petticoat with the chiffon over the top or a sort of half-farthingale with tulle around the bottom.

And I definitely need to make her into a dress form because I forgot how much anxiety working directly on the doll gives me.

 

I've decided to do a relaxed, low ambition project for this round.

My model is a Maskcat Joy, still nameless.

I only have a very vague plan. I'll make her some princessy fantasy things, starting out with a dess similar to the one pictured. I've picked out a pale blue fabric with a similar drape to the dress in the picture. The main difference is that I will do some embroidery on it. I will just start and see where it takes me and do my best to just enjoy the process.
It's not as epic as a gigantic troll, but when the day comes and the troll wants a princess to abduct I'll have a well dressed candidate.

So far I have traced the pattern on to the fabric and I have starched the fabric to make it easier to handle while sewing. So I am ready for the fun part. I will try to do as much as possible of the embroidery while it's still flat. This tiny little doll is only 26cm tall, so it would be difficult to do embroidery around the sleeves and neckline when the dress is put together.

 

Seeing as my dolls have a slight lack of an actual wardrobe I have decided that I will join in with this round and hopefully (fingers crossed) finish and outfit for one of my dolls, or at least a few clothes that I like.
My model for this is going to be my Resinsoul Li, Tammy,

I want to make a few simple fairy tale /fantasy style commoner outfits. For this I decided that i would make a simple Pinterest board linked here: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/cookiecreamicecream/sewing-challenge-fairy-tale-inspiration/ to get a quick idea in my head on how I want this to work. I'm not too bothered on which colours I will be using, though I will probably try to stick to more pale/ natural colours to fit the look better. Really I'm just aiming to use up some of my large stash of fabrics.

I think that I am mainly going to use patterns from Lomi's Playground on Youtube. I've picked the caplet pattern and the Minifee tunic pattern from their website as a starting point, hopefully I will also have time to make a simple skirt/ apron as well but we will see.

 

@cakie99 Sounds like a plan. Fairytale people need their basic warderobes too!

 

It will look lovely witht he embroidery

Nice idea

Teddy

 

I will join this month. My plan is to do a flower outfit/dress/costume/something. Not sure how, but I will do it for my Fiona, a souldoll msd. The stash on the picture inspired me to think flower.

 

It will be fun to see what you come up with

Teddy

 

This came at a perfect time for me! My poor Realfee bunny has been wearing a temporary dress for months. She needs a cute spring and fairy-like tunic! This challenge will hopefully encourage me to actually have her ready for Easter this year lol Unlike last spring .

So doll of choice is: Realfee Luna who I call Lily.
My materials will be from my stash and the pattern will just be on the fly. It’s just gonna be simple smocking and gathers. The vibe is inspired by my favorite painting by Kinuko Y. Craft which I included in the collage.
I’m very excited to finally give this girl some attention!

 

That plan looks so cute, love it!

 

@JennyM This sounds fun. Hard to go wrong with flowers!

@lully.lullers That looks like it's going to be very pretty.

I am off to a good start. Sorry about the poorly lit image, I swear it's blue in reality.

 

@Lillith good idea to starch the fabric.
Now I have cut flowers and leaves from the fabric and fray checked and trimmed the pieces. (The fabric was meant for curtains but I have used it for a dress to myself). The flowers are quite big and can work as petals around her waist to form a skirt. Tried yellow bodice to give the idea of a flower center, but the color looked totally wrong. White looks nice, but I don't want it to look like any dress, so I will have to find out something else.

 

The center of the flower in the picture looks like it has some green in it as well, that could possibly work. Or you could bring the colours of the flower into the bodice using beading, embroidery or some other form of decoration to keep a white bodice from being too plain.

 

Question, I know this is suppose to be a new project challenge, but... I've been ill and don't have much energy for projects right now, however, I have a fairy I made for Resinrose last August, the theme was fairytales and I made my vision of Thumbelina for the costume contest. She's already completed obviously, but I have never posted her here on DOA, or anywhere really. I have some process pictures I took. Would you all be okay with my using her for this challenge? She took first place

 

Cute!

Oh that's going to be lovely - can't wait to see it in the proper colour. Isn't technology infuriating at times?

Gorgeous!

Have you tried

pastel colour, such as pink or peach for the flower centre bodice?

Oh yes, that sounds like a great suggestion. Tiny beads or french knot stippled across white could give it a lovely texture, and you could vary the colours as you stitched them in place.

My view is that I don't see why you shouldn't post here. She fits the theme. You did the work and everything. I don't think not doing it within the actual month of this challenge should prevent you from sharing your work with us here. Many of us share things we started for other rounds or which relate to what we're working on in a round even if it wasn't made during a round.

I'm sure others will weigh-in with their opinions too,

Teddy

 

Final mockup on the actual doll before I start working with velvet. I am probably going to shorten the back and sides to make the curve down to the point a bit more dramatic and make the laceup back work better as well as lowering the centre front too, this was more about getting the fit correct. And my tulle should be here soon so I can start playing with poofy skirts. I'm hoping that the velvet will cover up the, um, nipple situation but otherwise I guess I'll have to put some sort of padding in the chest area.

 

To be fair, it's not like I would have done any better with a low tech camera.

@Crissaegrim This looks promising! When I do ball gown bodices for dolls I usually pad them a fair bit using something like layers thin felt or flannel. I mostly do it to smooth out the lines and make it less likely to wrinkle under the bust, but depending on how far it's extended and how it is shaped it can easily be used to hide nipples as well.

I've finished another pass of embroidery.

This time the colours are a lot closer to reality.

 

Are you going to add darts to fit it arund the curve of the bust? The tip of the dart ending at or near the nipple might be enough to disguise it.

So pretty.

Teddy

 

I wasn't planning on darts because I'm going to have boning to make it stand away from the bust and the points stand upright since neither my satin or my velvet is particularly structured material. Also I really, really do not want to try doll-scale darts on velvet.

 

I will need to bow out of this round. Unresolved technical issues!
Good luck everybody

 

Fair enough

Poop! Hopefully next time.

Teddy

 

Screenshot_20230101_https://flic.kr/p/2o9byGw131634_Brave
Still can't get photo to upload. Well, I will wait for next challenge

 

@Lillith and @Teddy, thanks for suggestions I shall definitely use beads and/or french knots.
@Lillith , the embroidery looks nice and must have been fun to do.

 

You need to select BBCode, rather than Embed when copying and pasting the picture link into your posts


Teddy

 

Thank you Teddy.

 

I think the embroidery is done!

This went a lot faster than I though it would. It was so satisfying, I had a hard time putting it down.
Now I just need to put it together and wash out all the starch and markings.

 

Beautiful work

Teddy

 

Thank you!
I had fun with this. I just hope it will still look good once I get it on the doll. Both the materials and the stiching is somewhat out of scale, but I think it will be all right. Time will tell.

 

I'm sure it will look right, regardless.

Teddy

 

Wow this is looking just incredible right now, you're making me thing of making one of these for my dolls now, and I've not even started sewing my outfits yet!

 

Thank you. This is one of those projects that you can easily make as simple or as elaborate as you'd like, so i'd say; go for it. I just started simple and kept adding to it until I was happy. No real plan from the beginning, but likewise no real comittment. I like this style of embroidery project, because embroidery can so easily take a lot more time and effort than one would think. It's nice to have the option to just stop and call it done every time a line of stiches is finished.

Here is a close up, if you want to see the details a bit better.


@PoeticSoul I'm happy to hear that you have recovered. I can't wait to see what the robe will look like.

 

Lilith this closeup really shows how nicely done your embroidery is, & so nicely in proportion for doll size!
PoeticSoul I'm glad you're feeling better. The bugs this winter have been knocking my family about. Yowza! I'm finally feeling good enough to debate how best to trim Prince Charmings waistcoat. Pattern drafted, fitting adjusted, and fabric cut. Here goes!

 

Hello and Happy New Year to everyone ! So cool projects here for this month ! If I have time and energy, I will think of continuing my Snow Fairy Project with my Soom Rosette, Pandore. I made quite te whole dress last time. I need to modify some things on it and make the coat. Plus, I need to finish the horns (one day XD).
Hope my health will be ok for this this month. :/ Anyway, I can't wait to see your projects. ^^

 

Yaaay!

It does indeed.

Fingers crossed for your eneergy levels to be good!

Teddy

 

I did not plan this project from the beginning, just letting it grow from the thin fabric with big flowers. The bodice became a challenge. The nearest pale pastel I could find in my stash was the fabric I used for the Chanel inspired suite in my profile picture But I found this yellow silk yarn and knitted bubbles to form the surface. Now I am working on a green leaf inspired shawl/cape.

 

Excellent!

Teddy

 

@JennyM That's a very cleaver solution. The knit gives a very nice texture and the sheen of the silk gives it a bit of glamour. Good choice.

I have finished the dress!

Now she needs a nicer belt. And some sort of a crown or circlet. I would like to make her a flower crown, but I don't know how I would make flowers this small.

 

JennyM, the color & shine plus the texture & beads works great for your flower.

Progress!! After the challenges of the last couple of weeks, I hardly even complained when his waistcoat required hand sewing. ;}

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/f56/LionHeartHats/PXL_20230108_161814746.jpg
Decided to go with the fancier trim because the Soda dress his lady wears is all gold & fancy.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/f56/LionHeartHats/PXL_20230108_163601992_2.jpg
Once again learned it would be best to triple check the fit before sewing the side seams & adding the trim...but managed to squeeze his Unidoll chest in, just barely with the help of a hook closure. Did take a moment to make pattern adjustments for future reference.
Now to get back to work for a few days before I tackle his coat.

 

Lilith, the dress worked up beautifully! so the slit opening is up the back? That's the tricky thing, getting stiff doll bodies into some of the simpler old styles of clothes. Nicely done.

 

Thanks!
Yes, the slit is in the back and there is a tie string at the neck. When closed and the ties tucked into the slit it's very discrete and with a belt that hold things in place on top of that it's almost invisible. It's the best option I've found for dolls this small, especcially when I want to keep the bulk down, I may want to make some sort of an over grament for this.

That waist coat is wonderful!

 

So I have started to sew together the fabric pieces which I cut out the other day. I've decided to use brown thread as an accent colour for the caplet just to make it have a little bit more detail. Once I had sewn it together, I flattened out the seams and sew a top stitch for some detail, as well as an extra line of stitching at the back to make it look like with was sewn out of more pieces. I've Zig zag stitched around the bottom of the caplet for some more detail but I don't really like how it looks much.

I have sewn the hood on the the caplet as well and now it only really needs a clasp to be finished. However, I don't really think I like it too much right now.

The edges of the caplet just look a bit too messy for me and I feel like it is too poofy. So I've just folded the fabric inside itself making the front panels shorter and I think that makes it look like it fits better to her shape. I have then tested out a different length by again just folding the fabric up to her chest area and I feel like this just makes so much of a difference.

So now, to finish this off fully, I need to make those small adjustments, sewing the front panels so that the caplet fits tighter and then shortening the length, hemming the bottom of the caplet and finding a suitable looking way to clasp it shut at the top.

 

@cakie99 Drape in doll scale is always tricky. Most things end up being too springy, at least when new. Depending of the fibre and weave of the material it's possible that you can "train" it to drape better. But simply making a more fitted version would work as well.
I think you are doing well and I hope that the changes you plan makes the cape fit more to your liking.
I like the colour and the hood looks like a good fit.

 

Beautiful!

SIlk ribbon embroidery on a narrow ribbon base... perhaps? Or beads...? There's a book of embroidery that gives instructions for 3D embroidered gardens that has regular embroidery techniques that could be adapted too:

It's gorgeous!

Glad the fit issues weren't too much to deal with!

Best of luck with his coat

Good luck witgh those adjustments, it's a pain when something comes out looking different from how you'd envisioned it.

I know some makers will make the garment then wash it, and put it on the doll or a doll stand while damp so it hangs into doll-scale folds and let it dry that way. Workds best for natural fibres like cotton and linen, I think. Polyester is meant to resist wrinkles so would fight the process.

Teddy

 

I will have to do some experiments, I think. Thanks for the ideas.

 

Thank You for your kind words, inspiration and suggestions. The cape is now almost finished. I put together some leafs cut from the original fabric and some mohair leafs. I will post a picture when I have fixed Fiona's head. It has neither eyes nor eyelashes at the moment.
@Lillith how exiting to wait for your crown solution!
It is so interesting to watch everyone's solutions and progress.

 

Hoping to make a return, triumphant or not, this round! Happy belated new year all, may 2023 bring good things and dolly joy to your households. I'm also going for some fairytale basics this round - making a simple caftan-style dress for Coriana, my little cleric! Sort of combining the theme for this and the next round, I'm going to be recycling the fabric cover a set of pillowcases came in, and using a bracelet as a belt (maybe? We'll see how I like it when it's finished). I'll be using this tutorial, which I believe I found recommended here on DoA actually!

Round 118 Fairytale project! by Jules B, on Flickr

The vest and skirt Coriana is wearing here were also made by me from previous rounds! (Crochet shawl and bag by me as well)

 

A very efficient plan

Teddy

 

I have spent most of today fighting with 3.5 meters of tulle to figure out in what configuration I want to use it. I have discovered that you can squish it down to 15cm and that gives you a truly enormous amount of poof. But it's kind of a nightmare to handle and seems like a waste of fabric. So I might end up with two double layers using the width of the net (136cm) and see how that goes.

 

I decided to sew a ribbon on the bottom using embroidery thread and that has helped to make the bottom a little bit more stiffer and hold the shape of any bends that I make when positioning the capelet. I dampened the capelet, put it on my doll and even tried steaming the fabric into place, holding it down with an elastic band as it dried and that has helped a little, however, it still does lay down quite right. So I ironed in some pleats to the back and side of the caplet and its looking slightly better. It seems that the fabric I've used must be some kind of polyester because it just doesn't want to sit right but still I quite like the way it looks.


In fact, I like this caplet so much that I might even make some more later (in different colours) for my other dolls, but the pattern will need a little bit more adjusting to make them perfect.