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Sewing Wanted: A really odd pattern

Jul 18, 2017

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    1. Hi there. I'm looking for a really odd sort of pattern for one of my kids, and I'd like to try to make it all myself, but I was in an accident a year and a month ago, and my brain is still kind off, well... off the mark? Anyway...
      So I have a girl, a green-skin Withdoll Lemon, and I got her in a trade and she truly looks like an alien. She's got this odd green skin, and purple eyes, and... well, I just can't find any 16cm "alien" clothes anywhere!
      Does anyone have any patterns for (or know where any is) 16cm Pukifee sized alien clothes? Or just a pattern for a super odd outfit, alien omitted? Or just a company that already makes one, would be okay. I can cobble together a bunch of pieces off a bunch of odd outfits, I just really don't know where or how to look. I checked Pinterest, but almost all the clothes I saw there was just standard dresses. I really don't know how to use that site.
      Thank you so much for reading this. If you know of anything to help me, thank you 3x as much. XD
       
      #1 moondream6, Jul 18, 2017
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    2. Check out the BJD company News - Nothing Sapiens. They have a line of alien dolls, as well as a line of futuristic/space girls. Their clothes might give you some inspiration.
      Also, maybe check out the alien fashion doll line Novi Stars (Characters) to get some outfit ideas.

      Hope that helps a little! :)
       
      #2 Wolfie Pie, Jul 18, 2017
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    3. Maybe a little silver jumpsuit? I'd suggest looking up retro sci fi for inspiration, 50s science fiction is a goldmine of weird lol.
       
      #3 purple_monkfish, Jul 18, 2017
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    4. Tinies are usually about the size of the old Barbie "Kelly" dolls, so if you can find any patterns for them that might be a start. Undead Threads has YOSD/tiny patterns, and some others like the Monster High dolls you could play around with and resize.

      Maybe try to narrow down what "alien" looks like to you? Asymmetrical necklines or hems? Openings in non-standard places? Sparkles or space-dyed yarn or big blocks of color? That can help guide your searches.

      Pinterest is kind of like a virtual "design board" - you can tell Pinterest to "pin"(save) pictures to a "board" of yours you choose. I find it helpful when I'm trying to look for a specific type of thing; for example, I have a board that is only traditional Japanese clothing, mostly details and cutting layouts.
       
      #4 xyzKitty, Jul 18, 2017
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    5. You could try looking at the patterns by DGRequiem on etsy, she sells patterns made for Pukifees. (Here is the Tiny doll section of her shop - make sure to click the right size pattern as LittleFee patterns are also in that section) I have used a pattern from her before and didn't have any problems with it. Many of her patterns have variations and options included in them, such as short/long sleeves or different styles, so you can make a few things from each one. Perhaps there is a pattern there that you could tweak a bit or use some unusual fabric for.
       
      #5 Zaliayn, Jul 18, 2017
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    6. Thank you for your reply! I've looked into them, and actually, their dolls are quite pretty. I do like them very much! I looked into the clothes they're selling as well, but I feel like it's a little bit like... big city punk, almost, but they're sort of on the edge of... just at the very edge of the kind of outfit I'm seeing. I really only see her in a bullet-proof style vest over her clothing, but that's the only piece that I know of. Her whole outfit is clashing and crazy and I can't even fathom what it's supposed to look like. I've been suggested by my father to keep drawing her outfits until I find one that 'works' and try to make that, but I lost my knowledge of drawing as well, so it'll be quite hard that way, and I really don't know how to make patterns. XD But I will keep looking at the Nothing Sapiens, I think they're very beautiful. Maybe if I ever get my money from the accident, I'll take one of those kids home. ;)

      A jumpsuit... That's really not a bad idea, and it'd go well with the bulletproof-looking vest she wears as well. I'll definitely get to looking at retro sci-fi art and seeing if I can pull ideas from their character drawings and designs. Thanks for your suggestion. :)

      That's also a good idea! If I find a Kelly outfit design that looks anything like what I'm looking for (without any clue of what exactly I'm looking for...) then I can download it and print it and modify it to fit my green girl. I really... maybe I ought to look at all the alien designs and take pieces of them too, trying to fit them together with the kelly pieces and the alien pieces, and the retro sci-fi and try to amalgamate a design for this girl. I really never considered what about the clothes they wear 'looks' alien, so that's a good question. If I can figure out what about what she wears makes her look more alien, maybe that can help me come to the finished outfit.


      I loooooove her patterns. I've wanted to buy all of them, but I'm currently out of my monthly money. None of her clothes really have an "alien" look to them, but I do have 7 kids who need clothes, so there'll be use for around 7 of the patterns I buy. I didn't know they have variations and options inside, that makes them that much more interesting to buy! :) Next month, I'll definitely buy about 4 of them, and give those a try as well.
       
      #6 moondream6, Jul 19, 2017
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    7. This is where Pinterest is useful. Create a board (you'll need an account) for Stella, then start googling. I searched for "50s space age fashion" and clicked on "images"; there's quite a bit of images for this time period! If you hold the mouse over the top left corner of images, sometimes they will have a red button that says "(p) pin" (it may be a plug-in I got for Chrome, I can't remember). Click on that and it will open up a pop up that lets you type in comments below the picture and choose what board you want it to go to. I can't draw well myself, so I do a lot of pinning of details and then make a sloppy sketch for when I'm working.

      If pinterest is too confusing (which I understand!) copy pictures into a document with the URL where you found them. You just want to have some kind of way to document what "looks" right for the outfits and give yourself a way to go back to the source for more info. Once you have an idea of what looks alien, adapting patterns will be easier. For instance, the dress shown HERE I would make a short skirted, sleeveless dress as the base, then make the skirt hem a "bubble" hem and add extra fabric around the shoulders to make the cowl neckline. The circle and the...feathers? are just extra ornaments that can be added or not. I hope that kind of helps. I've done a bit of cosplay (before Yaya Han started collaborating with the major pattern companies and cosplay got a little more mainstream) so I'm used to taking bodice A and skirt B and sleeves C to get what I want. :)
       
      #7 xyzKitty, Jul 19, 2017
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    8. Try Pattern Magic 1, 2, and 3 (by Tomoko Nakamichi) and Drape Drape (by Hisako Sato) for some very interesting patterns as well.
       
      #8 americanseamstress, Jul 20, 2017
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    9. Alright, so I combined together everything I've heard so far, and I've got a really basic idea for a pattern for Stella, very, very, basic, but I managed to draw my basic, and (I'm sure it'll change a million times before it's finished) I think so far I can try to make what I've designed. The thing I came up with is a hundred- no- a thousand times less spectacular than her outfit actually is. :x Maybe I should change the bullet-proof-esque vest from black to more of an oil-slick color, to make her outfit more pop-y?
      I basically started with a silver zentai, the bodysuit thing, and she's got holes in the sleeves, sides, and outsides of the thighs. I put the bullet-proof vest on top of that with big hard shoulder guards, and a belt with large pockets to hold her equipment. In my design, both are black, but I think that'll be entirely too dull for green-skin and galaxy hair Stella, so... the color may change. She's got high black socks on and some kind of shoes, I can't even imagine what kind of shoes aliens would wear. :x She's going to have some crazy hair piece to go with her crazy galaxy-colored hair, which I haven't imagined yet. I do know a girl who makes stuff like that though, so I'll probably commission her to make something like that for me. Considering deeply changing the design of the bodysuit to make that modified neck hole, because I feel it's too "human" as it is. Entirely too human.
      Stella's environment back home is so bad that she's got to have some kind of super-protective shoe... I'll probably have to make some kind of hard shoe out of worbla or something. Maybe make a shoe/boot out of felt, and then put that on her and worbla on top of it, because I have no idea what worbla would do to a doll foot. Her color is irreplaceable, they haven't released that color since the Macaron kids, so if she were damaged, I couldn't replace her. And I can't fix them.
      After my car accident I tried to fix my tiny's arms (Lance is his name) and I lost his S hook and now can't find a replacement S in that size. ... So I'm already quite messed. XD
      So, thank y'all so much. Pinterest was a /gigantic/ help, I'm still fenced about how to use it but I just typed stuff in and saved the stuff I liked to Stella's personal board that I made. It helped me piece together the stuff I liked and come up with a basic 1st draft design for her. I very much like the holes in the bodysuit, but since Stella's world is /so/ dangerous, perhaps it doesn't make sense with her dying, desert-like world. I'll need to modify the basic design I made about 20 times before I come up with anything final.

      I'm definitely going to check out those patterns too and see if I can add any of that to my extremely human, dull outfit I brain'd up, to make it more 'alien', because what I made is extremely human and I'm just not sure how to alien it. :x Thank you for your help, as well. Holy stuff I just looked at the pattern magic 3 and WOW that is really visually startling, I think it's much closer to what an alien design would look like! The sort of, sharp, angles in the fabric and... I just can't even imagine making something like that! I'm gonna buy them all. XD
       
      #9 moondream6, Jul 22, 2017
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    10. Great! This sounds like you've got a much better sense of Stella's environment and what sorts of things she would likely wear. Since you say it's a "desert-like world" maybe searching for clothing that is worn by people who live in deserts or who have to work in them (military comes to mind, especially with the utility-type clothing). Protective gear worn by astronauts might provide some inspiration too. Also, costuming for movies that feature these types of environments (Star Wars VII, probably Dune - the first novel at least is a desert world, are the first to come to mind).

      I'm looking forward to hearing about Stella's clothes :3nodding:
       
      #10 xyzKitty, Jul 22, 2017
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