Wearables Sewing Project: Science Fiction/Fantasy/Cosplay [ Round 144 ]

Oh dear, I hope it heals up soon!!! And your outfit is looking great!
I'm loving everyone else's outfits too! @Cryptid what a great idea with the puffy paint!!!

Some more progress for me: I've done the test pattern for the coat and I think I'm happy with it - now to go ahead and make the real thing!

I also did a test pattern for the vest and I think I can go head with that too - or, well, I could if I had the fabric but it's still on it's way! So onto the coat for now. Not sure if I'll get it done by the end of the month - there will be a fair bit of hand sewing with the trim after all - but I'll see how I go!

 

Excdellent!

Teddy

 

I've got my skirt finished, took a while between a bum shoulder and a new work schedule but I got it done! Now what I'm contemplating is the beret, or more specifically how to attach the tiny alligator clips I bought for it and future dolly projects. I'm torn between the quick simplicity of hot glue and the timeless security of sewing them down. I'd normally sew them on in a heartbeat, but these little buggers don't have any eyelets in them for sewing to anything; I'd have to sew them on upside down to use the toothed side's little zigzags to help secure the stitches in place, or risk the completely smooth, slippery side just sliding right on out and defeating the purpose of being clipped into place lol. I've got to play around with what works best for their actual placement anyway, so I think I'll get that figured out first and go from there.

Everybody's work is looking so lovely!!! As usual, you all blow me away and keep me inspired

 

Could you use a tiny drill bit (like the ones you can get for Dremel tools) to make holes in the smooth side for sewing down...?

Teddy

 

@Teddy ooh, now that's an adventure! I might have to try that in the future sometime once I have all the equipment.

 

If the metal is thin enough, you might be able to make holes using an awl instead.

Teddy

 

The basics are done! I did a trial run of sewing the clips on to see how they hold up. They survived a windy day photoshoot, so I think they're good to go!
Round 144 progress, and vest! by Jules B, on Flickr

Spoiler: Now for more progress!

Onto the vest! I laid out the biggest piece I had left, folded in half, just to see. It was a great fit, almost perfect right between her shoulders!
Round 144 progress, and vest! by Jules B, on Flickr
I had a slightly rectangular fat quarter to start with, so I tried to make sure I was as squared off as possible when doing my folds and cuts for the circle skirt. That paid off, I've got enough to work with!

Round 144 progress, and vest! by Jules B, on Flickr
The infinite patience of the bald model, fueling every project since dolly day one. (I'm considering removing the remaining eyelash rather than doing a reglue, they've really seen better days...)

Round 144 vest piecing (sorta) by Jules B, on Flickr
I'm probably going to cheat a little with the shaping like I did in a previous sewing round where I added a panel to create more forgiving torso coverage. Once the shoulders are sewn down I'll have a better idea of what I need to maneuver and what the placement of darts and such should be like!

(not sure why the first spoilered photo keeps breaking. every time i go to edit the post it appears normally, but then displays broken outside the editor lmfao mysteries persist

 

I see three photo's behind the spoiler, should there be more..?

Teddy

 

@Teddy fantastic, three is it! Hopefully that means it's working consistently now.

 

She looks awesome!! I love this! I like how she is holding her hat on her head. The colours are pretty, the lace under the skirt is pretty!

 

@morganatron , congratulations on taming the velvet! And those are some very nice breeches, the color is so vibrant The coat mockup looks promising.
@Cryptid , great idea with the paint, I like the contrast between the fuzzy fabric and the glossy lines.
@Thymeseer , hope your finger heals soon. The outfit suits your girl nicely.
@Mamo , Nice! Looking forward to see the complete outfit with the vest.

I'm finished Here is Amadis in her fairy court gown:
Princess dress - finished by helgie, on Flickr
I am happy with how it turned out, especially the foresleeves. I just love how they look against the velvet of the sleeves, all that time spent on embroidery paid off. The sleeves of the shift were a bit short, so all the thin violet silk showing at wrists and along the seams are separate decorative elements sewn to the lining of the foresleeves. The glass bead "pearls" nearest the hands act as buttons.
The partlet pattern gave me some trouble until I stopped trying to make it from scratch and instead modified a pattern for the top of a sleeveless dress. The central "pearl" is also a button, and the sides are not connected - there are eyelets and silk ribbons under the arms. The back is just velvet, no decorations aside from the silk ruff at the back of the neck.
The headdress is more of a headband. It is made of 2 parts - the one lying flat on the head is 2 layers of 7 mm wide synthetic ribbon with the silk ruff between them and the more visible raised part is taffeta lined with silky lining, with wire inside to hold the shape. There are 4 mm silk ribbons going over the ears and under the braid to hold it in place.
I may later add a veil or a hair net, change the underskirt, and Amadis definitely needs shoes - she is barefoot under the skirts.
I have a new appreciation for the complexity of historical costumes. I took everything off Amadis to finish (hemmed the underskirt, sewed the sleeves to the bodice), and dressing her for the pictures, with all the lacing, buttoning and adjustments, took almost half an hour.
I've been taking pictures with my phone while my photo camera is being repaired, when I get it back there will be more pictures, maybe even a photoshoot.

 

@helgie this is absolutely gorgeous!!! Your finished embroidery is once again amazing!

 

OMG so many amazing things this round!

 

This is beautiful!!

 

This is so beautiful!!! I'm just in awe - every part of it is amazing!!! I love the colours and all the intricate detail - the partlet is so cool (I've never seen one made in doll size before!) and the embroidery is just stunning!!! I love this so much, it looks so perfect on her and so amazingly beautiful!!!

Well, I'm not going to get mine done before the end of the month unfortunately - I started sewing the coat and really struggled with attaching the velvet to the lining (turns out the walking foot doesn't quite solve that problem - velvet to velvet is fine, velvet to lining not so much!) - then I got to the stage where I could try the coat outer layer on and realised I didn't like it in velvet after all!!! The pants are great, but somehow it just looked a bit cheap and "costumey" in a coat, not like real velvet (it's only polyester) - plus it drapes a little too much, I realised a stiffer fabric to make a sharp edge on the front would be far better, to show off those angled lines. So I've given up on the velvet coat (which is a relief, to be honest!) and starting the coat again in taffeta. I'll save the velvet for another project!

So I've sewn a fair bit of it today, but the waistcoat fabric hasn't arrived either, so I guess I'll stop rushing and finish it more slowly! Not a surprise really since I could only start so late, so I'll probably keep working on this while the next round is going, and see about joining a future round instead! And I'll update here when the project is actually done!

 

Oooooooh! Lovely!

Bad luck but it means you get to finish at a less frantic pace (or save it for another "Unfinished Business" round... but that means more waiting.

Teddy

 

That outfit turned out great. That little beret is such a cute accessory. I think you'll be fine with the clips, i have some full sized mini hats (that's a bit of an oxymoron, but you know what I mean) that have clips sewn on like that and they have held up fine.

Oh, that's lovely!
So many lovely detailed parts, you did such a wonderful job on this outfit. Amadis looks absolutely stunning!

I could be wrong here, but you mentioned earlier that the "velvet" was stretchy, I think what you may have there is not velvet at all, but a knit velour or a short pile plush. They have a similar look, but don't behave at all the same since velvet is a woven fabric. The fabric you used for the mock-up looks woven, so perhaps in real velvet it would work better, as the fabrics would behave a bit more the same.
But taffeta would probably work great as well. And in any case, this is a cool project, so I hope you get to finish it eventually. Perhaps you could extend it into next months theme, as it could be considered Basics to him.

I will definitely use that excuse myself. These little dolls live in a fantasy world to me, but to them, of course, their clothes are simply their clothes, and so can be called Basics, right?

Here is where my own project is at:

When i started this month I already had Ting's chemise and skirt.

For Ting I've made a bodice and an apron. I'll probably remake the bodice eventually, since the closures show a bit more than I'd like and the apron fabric makes the bodice look way too washed out, but for now, at least she is dressed.
Still to make for her: A more appropriate wig, the color is good, but the style is not. It will probably be sewn wig, so I think I can stretch the theme to fit it in next month. Her own socks, these are borrowed from another doll. Shoes, I have nothing that even remotely fits her and is in the sight style and what's worse is that I don't have any lasts her size either, so it will be a bit of a steep climb to get started, but it needs doing eventually.

Here is a clearer picture of the apron:


For Konstantin I've made a shirt and a pair of placeholder pants. The style and fit is ok, but the fabric is not ideal and they are nowhere near as detailed or well made as I'd like. However, they will do for now and now I have the pattern.
Still to make: He needs a waistcoat to be fully dressed, that will be for next month and should be easier than Ting's bodice, since I can do ordinary buttons for him. He needs socks and shoes of his own, the ones he is wearing is borrowed from another doll, but the good news is that they are close enough in size that I can reuse the same patterns and lasts, so it's not a huge task. He also desperately needs a wig, this one isn't even remotely what I want for him, just something to keep him from being bald. I think I have the materials, but I've never done a short wig this small before. It will probably have to be a glued hard-cap so it falls outside of these threads anyway.

Here is a clearer picture of the pants:


All in all, not a bad month!

 

They're shaping up nicely.

Although the britches aren't what you envisioned, they look good and will at l east make sure he's got something to wear while you work on the rest.

Teddy

 

Ah that's a bummer. Velvet and velour can be such temperamental fabrics to work with :/ The taffeta sounds like a good solution though! It's also so frustrating when you're stuck playing the waiting game for things to arrive. I hope the waistcoat fabric gets to you soon! I look forward to seeing everything all together!

Hah! I'm borrowing that thinking for my project now too! xD I think yours turned out lovely! The knee breeches look very cute, even though they're not what you were picturing.

As for my own progress, I was sick for a couple of weeks, so I didn't have as much time to work on adjusting Vanora's outfit as I'd hoped, but I finished something for her!

Unfortunately, I'm not sure I actually needed the stabilizer for the embroidery on her pants after all, and it didn't want to come away cleanly. It took a couple of days of trimming it away to get it to where it is, and it's still bothering me. Lesson learned for next time i guess. The snaps I used to try to avoid bulk at the back waist did not, in fact, do much to eliminate that, so I might remove them and sew ribbon or maybe elastic to the back waistband instead. I might also sew a ribbon from the front to the back in the crotch to keep them from riding up, but they seem to be staying in place ok for now. Overall I'm happy with them though, and don't feel motivated enough by the issues to make an entirely different pair!
Unlike her top :/ I used a poly lining fabric for it, since I got it during a trip to joann's to be a base/ lining for the bodice of her formal dress actually, but they were only selling 2 yard cuts, so i figured I might as well use it to test the pattern, since it's the right color. Of course, it's a stiffer material, so the top parts didn't want to sit nicely, and I had to add darts after everything was sewn to get them to cooperate. It also didn't gather as nicely at the bottom as I'd have liked. And trying to decide how to achieve the gathered effect in the band has proven tricky, so I'm not very happy with that either. I cut out another version in some spandex blend fabric i have, so I'm going to try sewing that one to see if the cup parts will lay nicer in that material, and I'm just going to gather the band as one piece once everything is sewn, instead of trying to have the outer piece gathered and a flat lining. Maybe that will work out better at this scale than my initial thoughts. I also wanted to do some decorative hand embroidery along the front of the bottom band to look like some kind of trim or shells, but I haven't figured out the best way to do it yet.
This has been my first time really making anything smaller than full sale, so I'm learning where i need to adjust my thought and sewing processes to suit it through trial and error xD I think my next project for her, though, is actually going to be drafting basic blocks to make a dressform, since I think her fancy dress will work best if I can drape it on a form instead of trying to flat draft it.

 

Thanks!
My thoughts exactly. This way he at least have something to cover him up and that won't interfere with the rest of the outfit too much.

I can't take credit for the idea, @PoeticSoul dropped it back in post #118

I think your girl looks lovely in her new outfit. The pants looks like a very fun design.
When I do decorative stitching where I know the back will show I usually use water solvable stabilizer, if one is needed. Doesn't work for everything, but it may be worth a try if you ever make a similar project again.
Another workaround if the machine need a bit of help to keep tension and feeding regular, but the fabric itself can handle the embroidery, is to lightly starch the fabric. After the garment is done, it can be washed out to return the drape and softness to the fabric, but while sewing the extra stiffness can help.

 

I keep having to remind myself doll sewing is about reducing bulk It's certainly something I keep learning as I'm getting into this.

Have you looked into small/ mini shells? I have a bag of tiny shells left from a project I helped put on for a children's camp. I have have some very small shell beads - like ones out of shell, but also that look like shells too - that a friend gave me. Something like them might be able to work for you?

 

I won’t be able to finish the hoodie in time-real life stuff-but seeing everybody’s takes on the theme for this month has been a lot of fun. Amadis’ embroidery is killer.

 

It's pretty but I'm sorry you had so much toruble with the stabilser and that the fabric for her top fought you at every turn. Goos luck with the spandex version.

Ah well, over-running isn't a problem, and there's always another Unfinished Business round co ming up if youj can't get back to it before then.

Teddy

 

@Lillith omg I adore the print on the apron, that's so perfect!!! Both Ting and Konstantin are looking good!

For my own progress, rather than crunch time it I'm taking the day off, two finished items that make a matching set and a pinned third thing is pretty dang good, for my usual output lol

 

I know I'm late but I did finish the dress today, been several unforseen challenges ( like not being able to get the muslin in a grey and breaking my sewing machine) so it's ended up being hand dyed and hand sewn, learned a lot though, including that i hate sewing snaps Extra slow as I've not hand sewn much besides holes in the dogs plushies and the odd button here and there. Not quite what I wanted but it is finished so there's that

 

The gradient and fray-edge look on the skirt is absolutely gorgeous!!

 

Thank you, I just wish the muslin would have held the dye better/darker in the darkest layers, but it was a good leaning experience! I'll see if I can get some colour fixative like retayne next time I hand dye something with this dye and see if that helps

 

That looks wonderful!!! I really love all the layers, it looks so good!!!

 

wow what a lovely outfit, I love the lace at the bottom and of the skirt, how pretty. Everything looks so well made and perfect for your doll! ❤️

I personally couldn’t wait to see this although the wait paid off, what a beautiful work of art and amazing details! ❤️

 

oh my goodness those two look so adorable together in the outfits! They turned out so well but I expected nothing less from you! ❤️

That’s so perfect for her, fits her well and looks absolutely adorable! Well done! ❤️





[/QUOTE]

The dress is so sweet on your doll, I love the colors and the design is perfect! Well done, awe she’s so cute! ❤️[/QUOTE]

 

Yeah I'll have to get some water soluble stabilizer i think. I didn't have any, and I've never used it before, so I grabbed the cheaper tear away kind, but I guess I'll save that for larger things where the back won't be visible. I did think about starch too, but not until after the fact, sadly.

Cutting out bulk at this scale is definitely something I have to keep thinking of, especially cutting out more than I think I need to lol! I do have some tiny shells, but they're a little big for what I was thinking for her top (but they'll look nice glued as decoration to her sandals!). I was thinking of doing some shell stitch or buillion knot kind of scallops, but it's been a while since I've done embroidery, so I have to remember how first.

This is so pretty and neat! I'm really impressed you sewed it all by hand!

 

Better late than never, I guess, but Lestat's outfit is (more or less) done!!! Actually, I still need to add buttons to his waistcoat when they arrive, and I'm pondering a jewel on his cravat if I can work out how to attach it, but I figured that it's close enough I may as well post a picture!
I ended up using silver, not gold lace as it matched the waistcoat better, and I kind of regret it to be honest, I think gold would have been better - but I can always make him another one at some point. The cravat was confusing to work out how to make, but I think it more or less worked, and I need to work on the waistcoat fit for future outfits (and maybe the coat - I think it may be cut away in the front a little too much?) - but it's that thing where if you made it yourself, all you see is the flaws - I think it actually went pretty well in the end!
I was also completely delighted to find some shoes that fit - they're SD girl shoes?! They're actually too wide, but I made him some over the knee socks, and they look fine once they're on! So that was great! Now if only I could find something to fit my FID boys too?!

So hooray, it's finished!!! I'll have to see what the May round is, and see if I can join in - I'm just pleased to have finished this one, even if it is half a month late!

 

I love it!! He looks amazing! You did a lot of detail in this outfit and it really shows!

Oh, I am beating around the bush to get through the next project, I started off on a good foot, but real life has disrupted my project. Hopefully I can also get some sewing done today.

 

This looks awesome!!

 

Thank you so much!!! The sexy Lestt vibes were definitely what I was going for, so I'm glad it succeeded for you!!! And OMG I was so happy with the shoes - these fashion size dolls are so hard to buy for!!!

Thank you!!! And yeah, life's been a bit like that for me this month - hoping next month I get more sewing done!

Thank you so much!!!

 

Great work! I see why you'd also want a gold version, but this one also looks very nice, just with its own vibe. I love the combination of lace on the coat and oriental flower pattern on the waistcoat. And if I may make a suggestion, if you get to adding decorations, maybe the shoes would also benefit from some kind of decor - bows or something like that, to add to the period look; though those shoes already are a great find.

 

Amazing!!
For a jewel on the cravat you could use a sew on rhinestone?

 

Thank you!!! And yes, I think adding something tot he shoes is a great idea!!! I was thinking of either a buckle or rosette or something of that sort, although I'm not sure how to attach it - glue I guess? - or what, exactly. I like the idea of a rosette, but I'm not sure what colour! Maybe I need to look up shoes of that era, I don't know a lot about footwear!

Also a great idea! I bought some little jewels but unfortunately they don't have a bit to sew them on - I think they are supposed to be glued on but I think that would come off every time I tied and untied the cravat. I think I just need to find a jewel that CAN be sewed on. It would be a last finishing touch! (Well, apart from the buttons. Now it's Easter the post isn't delivering, so still waiting on them!)

 

Everyone's projects are so great ! Good job ! ^^

 

Excellent!

It looks awesome

Teddy