Unimax Dolls of All Nations Collection

This beautiful doll is part of the Unimax Dolls of All Nations Collection. She is Carmela from Mexico, obviously not in her native dress. (EDIT: Turns out she's not Carmela. Carmela has curly hair. Since this was a thrift shop girl, she was sloppily dressed and missing her shoes. I THINK she's the China girl, but not sure. It doesn't really matter) These dolls are wonderfully sturdy and I think will make great play dolls. I think they will survive little girls' rough play. She is in a dress from Susan Israel and BEJUSTME on Etsy.         

I love her clothes. This is the size for Ruby Red Fashion Friends, it makes a long dress on her but fits her well. I thought the Siblies dresses would fit, but they were too small around. These girls are sturdy, normal size bodies, not the skinny ones popular these days. 

Yes I like to make doll clothes. But when I saw Susan's, I just had to order some. I have two Fashion Friends but they don't mind sharing dresses. Not all Fashion Friends clothes fit these Unimax dolls. I am in the process of drafting some patterns for them. So my granddaughter's two Unimax girls should have full wardrobes in time for Christmas. Hopefully. Depression, Be GONE.

I have some catching up to do, so will probably be posting daily for a little while. I have to check and see if I posted some things. I think this is for only me but find that sometimes as many as 50 people read a post. Crazy. 

Even though I have done some pattern drafting, I decided to take a class from Chelly Wood on making pants patterns. Go to her website at chellywood.com and look around, lots of patterns for lots of sizes of dolls. And look into a class! 

 

Only 90 today!!!

Yesterday I got to spend the afternoon with a friend. It was so nice just sitting visiting with someone. Especially her. She lives 8 or so hours away so don't see her often. She's here caring for her mom, and I have a lot of experience and sympathy for THAT.... as has been documented in this blog. 

Today I got a package from Debbie in Nevada City, she sews doll clothes and other stuff on Etsy. The shop is Grizzly Creek, if anyone is actually reading this and wants to check it out. Here's the latest thing I got... kind of a bland photo I guess but the dress is cute. 

I've also gotten tiny clothes from her, for 4 to 5 or 6 inch dolls. She also makes other things, check out her shop

https://www.etsy.com/shop/GrizzlyCreek?ref=yr_purchases

Hope the link works. 

It was nice not to be so hot today, but tonight it's smoky, haven't heard why.

Bland picture, bland post. At the moment, trying to get back in the habit of posting. I'll try to be more interesting. And catch up on what I haven't posted about crafty-wise.

Musings on 107 degree days

Thursday....to figure out where stuff goes. Some goes places I can't reach because of what is piled up in there, some go other places, and some I have no idea.

I have read several things about how to not procrastinate, and why it is hard to make decisions, but there doesn't seem to be a magic thing that I could do (which is what I would like) that will solve everything. Going through stuff triggers everything. Trauma stuff. How can I possibly toss stuff from my kids' stuff... But they don't want it. It's only my own feelings that stop me. I am not rejecting anyone when I let go of the stuff. But sometimes it feels like it. 

More to be added.

Today is Friday. So far, it's "only" 104 but it's only 3:30 pm. Today I was trying to print an A4 pattern on US letter size paper. So far so good. We will see when I actually make the pattern. It's a Barbie dress and a Barbie asymmetrical  romper, it has only one shoulder. Both patterns are from Jhoana Dolls. They are in Spanish, which isn't really an issue, the videos have no words anyway. But the patterns are on cm graph paper, and are supposed to print out A4 size. So a bit of a challenge there. Also printed out a crocheted finger puppet by @paradise_amigurumi. 

I really like Jhoana Dolls' patterns. They are simple, well fitting, and elegant. I know enough Spanish to kind of get by, and the videos don't have words, just a demonstration. I think it will be fine. I did ask a question before I figured it out by myself, we will see if someone answers.

Back to the sewing/craft room. Need prayer, LOL

whose idea was this?

The first doll dress I wanted to do was for this little 4 inch doll, since she didn't exactly have her own dress. I got her from ebay I think, with a few other dolls, and they were dressed in odd clothes that didn't really match anything. So I got a few dresses from someone on etsy; but I wanted to make my own. I decided I would try one for Betsy first. That went pretty well and I got it done pretty quickly. So then I decided to go smaller. Good idea, I said. Sure. I think I could have made myself a whole dress in the time it takes to sew a teensy one LOL

But she's cute.

Here she is with her big sister.

 

This kind of reminded me of The Sound of Music when the siblings all had matching dressed made from drapes. I still have scraps of this stuff. I could make another dress for someone, maybe I should make scarfs to match and teach everyone to sing. HA. 

Betsy McCall got a new dress

She's been begging for a new dress, since the one she has is around 50 years old, made by my mom when I was in around 4th grade. I had one to match, and there's a picture somewhere of me in the dress. I should try to find it. 

Anyway, I've been  meaning to do this for quite some time, but the last time I got Betsy out, her stringing was unstrung and her poor head was rolling around. I studied up thanks to Atelier Mandaline and got her restrung. But then she sat for awhile longer. I found some fabric to make her a dress, but put it "somewhere". The other day I was looking at the fabric I made a mask from and thought, maybe there's enough for a little doll dress... and Betsy was the first one I thought of. Both Betsys could use a new dress, but this one was my original, so I thought I better make hers first so she wouldn't get mad at me. 

oh yeah. imagination. 

She looks pretty good for 63. Shhhh don't tell her I told.

Betsy's new dress

30 hours of riding in the car to go see my daughter... more like 32 total. She moved far far away. She had a sweet new baby I had to go meet. I took some crochet thread Just In Case I felt like making something. Here's what I did.

No pattern. I started out making a vest for Yasmin. Didn't like it, so decided to turn it into a Betsy dress. Just kept holding it up to the doll and adding stitches. Added the collar/sleeves as an afterthought. Like I did for the Barbie dresses.  Still needs a petticoat, but the basic dress finished.  Of course then I saw her hair was a mess. Oh well. She'll get a formal portrait later.

Tod-L-Tim

I had a doll in childhood I called "Kathy". She was a rubber doll, and she's still in a suitcase I haven't
been able to locate, haven't really tried, but she's probably in The Middle Bedroom {{shudder}}...

Anyway, I wanted to find out how old she was, and what she is called, and I found her picture online. She's called Tod-L-Dee. I guess I didn't like the name Dee, I don't remember how she ended up Kathy. I don't even remember when I didn't have her.

So I found out that she had a twin, called Tod-L-Tim. Of course I had to have him, so I found him on ebay. Then of course he had to have some clothes. I drafted a shorts pattern for him, and I had a T shirt pattern that I thought would be about right.

The pants are made from some pants that were hanging around here, not sure where they came from but they were in The Rag Bag. Hubby puts a lot of inappropriate (in my opinion anyway, LOL) stuff in that rag bag. I took them out of there and put them in the Out Pile since they were still in reasonably good condition. They were pretty small so don't know whose they would have been... oh well stuff like that happens around here, we find stuff from years and years ago that no one is using, and we wonder why we don't have storage space. So I grabbed them and turned them into Tim's pants, with plenty left over for some other doll to have some pants too.

The T shirt was one of mine that I've loved for ages but has a few holes in it. It's probably 18 years old at least, but Timmy isn't going to mind. I don't really like the neckline, but this is the first T shirt I've made that is this tiny. I made dozens when my kids were growing up. There's plenty of fabric left for experimenting, and for now, Tim has clothes. And I'll make a dress for Kathy (Dee) when she surfaces, so they will be Matching Twins although Kathy is much darker. They won't care and neither will I.
 

Learning things you never thought would happen...

Learned something  today. The older American Girl dolls are chubbier than the newer ones. So.... no wonder I had trouble getting the jeans to fit. Now I have to find out what doll Kaleigh has. And if I am going to continue to sew for American Girls, should I get another? I of course don't want to spend $$ on one. So if Goodwill gets one in, I'm ready. LOL

I'm a bid sad about that. The originals were shaped like real girls are shaped. I haven't seen a new one to compare, but it is sad that they thought they better skinny them up. Mine is getting loose jointed so may end up going to a doll hospital.

I actually bought a pattern online today. Mostly I have made do with the free ones. Now I find out (because it is a good pattern and says that it is made for the newer dolls) that my poor girl is chubby. I don't think it will make much difference.

The pattern I got was from craftsy. The Juliette Dress

Kaleigh

Working on some American Girl Doll clothes for Kaleigh. I don't have a grand daughter of my own yet, so Suzie graciously offered to loan me her daughter! Since I've been sick I haven't done much, but I did finish a scarf and hat set while traveling to Disneyland. Here's my Molly modeling them.

I did not plan the way the variegated yarn striped. I LOVE it but probably could never duplicate it! I still have a bit of that yarn so might try again. The hat could stand to be a few stitches larger but I think it's really cute.

Kaleigh isn't getting her package until after Christmas unfortunately since that's in two days. I hope to have a few things done tonight.

Christmas Day.... turned out to kind of be wacky, because Kerry is still sick. We went to Jay's but only stayed an hour or so before coming home so he could go to bed. Which left me alone for the evening, again. Sigh. HOWEVER.... finished the jeans, cut out the vest. I love the detail on the jeans. Yes the stitching isn't perfect. Yours wouldn't be either if you were making a less-than-two-inch pocket.

Molly

Molly is an American Girl doll that I found at Salvation army for about $5.00. My daughter always wanted an American Girl, but I could never justify $100-$150 for a doll. Too late now for her... but I bought Molly anyway, because... well, because. That was several years ago, and I made her some tights, and that's all.
I was talking with a co worker and mentioned making doll clothes, and she wanted me to make some American Girl clothes for her. So I did. Pajamas, and a blanket, and a pillow.

Wish the colors showed up more, but this is just a phone shot. The fabric was a little scrap, it's apples that look appliqued. I just embroidered it a little more and it actually looks appliqued.

The pink (also the backing) is a piece of old curtain, and the binding was also a scrap. Found the batting in a bag in my mother in law's closet. It always makes me feel good to make something out of nothing. And the binding isn't perfect, and the border pulled a little when I sewed it, and it isn't perfectly rectangular. OH WELL.

The jammies are from an abandoned nightgown project that was also in the closet with the batting, and I wondered why it was abandoned. As I sewed with the fabric I knew why! It can't be pressed, it is a wrinkled-on-purpose fabric, and loosely woven, and slippery. But I persevered, and although it was a little frustrating somehow that makes the victory of completion sweeter.

Molly is enjoying them, even though she knows they are not hers, she is proudly modeling them, and even took a little nap. Doesn't she look comfy?

Sewing Block...

WELL... I did finish a quilt top, and modify Lucy's pants. I found an outfit designed for the Beanie Baby Kids at a thrift store, and modified THAT so it can be taken off and put on easily. I think that line of toys would have been very successful except for the taking-on-and-off clothes issue.

I don't really understand why I am so reluctant to sew. There is no danger of the cat eating thread, she doesn't live in the same house as my sewing machine. I'm just doing it for self/family, so it isn't Perfection rearing its ugly head. Big Sigh. Lord, help me figure this out so I can Get On With It.

Most of my crafty time in the last six months has been spent organizing. I took over my mother in law's bedroom (since she has been moved to an Alzheimer's facility-- read about THAT adventure on my other blog.

I found an old shoe rack at a thrift store, and found containers at the Dollar Tree to fit on it. I started sorting my scraps into the containers and oh it is going to be so easy to grab them for my paper piecing projects. I love paper/foundation piecing!! The best site for patterns is Paper Panache. Her patterns are clear and detailed. Easy to Challenging.

Of course, when I saw her Nativity wall hanging I just HAD to do it. I had High Expectations of finishing for Christmas but here it is, November, and it isn't done. :(  BUT I will Carry On and hope for the best. I know that my expectations for myself are setting me up for failure, but I refuse to take that on, and will be happy with whatever I accomplish. I can see that the Doing will be a prayerful tribute as I work through the days. I am looking forward to the process.

Another thing in my plans is to set up her garage for furniture refinishing. I have some chairs that desperately need to be done. I love the look of bare wood, but might have to paint these two. We will see. I have six of them all together, and four of them have been refinished.. My parents originally had all six, and my mom antiqued them this mossy green color with dark glaze. Not my favorite color but they looked good with the table. Eventually my mom gave me two, and my brother two. She stripped her two and re upholstered the seat and back and they looked great, so I did MY two. My brother put his out in his garage for ten years or so. I asked about them, he said NO. But when he moved to Washington, he left them behind. :) They originally came from the shoe department of the Montgomery Wards store in Stockton, California. They are really sturdy. The wood used isn't consistent, they were painted. So some of them have arms that don't even match! But I love them because my six foot seven son can sit in them without worrying about them breaking, and they are just cozy and comfy to sit in.

So although I really miss my old place, I am carving out some crafty space, and have Big Plans for a spring garden. One day at a time.

Lucky Lucy

Welll.... I am side tracked from Barbies. I found this Beanie Baby doll, and with some research, found out she's Lucky Lucy. She is not in mint condition, part of her clothes are missing! So the first thing I made for her is a crocheted dress. She did have her red top and pants... here's what she's supposed to look like (right):

It is obvious that her clothes are not designed to be taken off and put on easily. Her pants rode down and kept coming off her bottom, so maybe they were fastened on securely at one time. My Lucy has no jacket or hat. I am going to add some snaps to the pants so she can be dressed more easily, since I want her to be actually played with! Her shoes are fastened on, so at least they are not lost.  The first thing I did was make her a dress. We were on vacation so with all that driving I had plenty of time to crochet. Now, we all know that a doll is just a doll, has no personality, and no feelings. But doesn't she look more relaxed, and more loved, already? :)  I also made a jacket for her. It's a lot of  yellow, but that's her (my) favorite color, and besides I found this big ball of unknown fiber in the thrift store (I love thrift stores... too much I suppose)... the ball is not very much smaller, even with a dress and jacket. 

UPDATE, February 2016..... I have now acquired two more Beanie Boppers.

Snazzy Sabrina I found at the thrift store. She was only a few dollars so she slid right into the basket of the shopping cart.

The latest is Paula Plappertasche.   She's a cutie. Her jacket was damaged, but I could make another if I get the itch to do so.
Here are the three girls in their basket. Lucy is wearing a dress and hat I found at the thrift store. They are soft cuddly cuties and I hope to have some fun sewing for them and finding some little girl who will love them. So do I save them for possible granddaughters or find another cutie or cuties? Time will tell and I will know what to do. Meantime, I will enjoy seeing their cute faces in my collection.

Barbie's new dress

Barbie has a new dress...

Quick and easy. I can see this is going to be extremely versatile, long skirt, slim skirt, straps, cap sleeves... this one is for a little sweetie's birthday party tomorrow. Doll Not Included. I got her a couple commercial outfits, because I just didn't know how much sewing I would get to do. And glad I did-- this one is all I had time for! This blog has some other ideas I am going to try as well.

Sewing has been frustrating with the loss of my machine cord. It is going to cost at least $80 to replace. So I bought a teensy Dritz machine for $19.95 at Walmart. So far have patched two pairs of pants and made this dress. It isn't heavy duty of course but I think it will be fine for little stuff. It is battery operated...
 I like the way the dress turned out, and have some other fabric scraps to use. This is from a fat quarter, it uses just 5 inches of the fat quarter so I could make a few from the fat quarter. 

So a satisfying time making her dress! I got a few other pieces to make others, so I guess MY Barbie collection will be well dressed, unless I give more away...

There's a great tutorial for this dress here:

http://www.craftinessisnotoptional.com/2010/08/barbie-dress-tutorial.html 

I did it a bit differently because I wanted the top lined. Turned out great! See what else I've been up to with dolls here...

dolls and such

Well I have always loved dolls. Not so much for playing with them, but I did some of that, but of making clothes and furniture for them. I guess I am still a little girl.

My mom used to knit sweaters for my dolls. This is the first one I did. Now that I've done this, I want to do more. :) I got some gold sparkly crochet thread and next time I go to my mom's I'll do it... because we end up sitting around talking, and I can't stand not to have my hands busy.

I got some Only Hearts Club dolls. Three of them.... Olivia Hope, Karina Grace, and Lily Rose. Olivia and Karina because of their names, my daughter Olivia Grace. Lily Rose because she is strawberry brown with freckles. I wanted to get them more shoes, and found them here. Intricate little shoes. It will be fun to make them each a little wardrobe. You can get little sleeping bags and such for them, but I have some fleece scraps which will do nicely.

I found out that their bodies are similar in size to the Blythe dolls, which I don't like because of their oversize heads, but I may be able to make some more clothes for them, I downloaded some free patterns,  Will see if they work.

Now we will see if the Idea Girl will finish what she started.

July 3

I sure go off in other directions easily. Here's what I did.... I just did the blue one, fitting it on the doll as I went. So I wrote down what I did, and then did the gold one, and changed it a bit for the green one. Trying to decide if people would like the pattern enough to buy it? Don't even know how to go about it...

And then there are the fabric clothes I have made. The recipient loved them :)

July 11th

Saw this pretty soft yarn and thought about making a doll jacket with it. The first thing I did was make a shrug. Easy. ch 30, sc in back loops for six rows. Sew together at the ends for sleeves. It's hard to get on her, because of her fingers. I just put my fingers in the sleeves while easing it on her. Looks good. Not for the littlest Barbie lovers though.

Found a scrap of blue flowered that I will make a dress from. As soon as I get the living room clean.... !!

finished!

Even though today was a very hectic day, I managed to finish my little sweater while my hubby was watching Die Hard; I have less than no interest in those kind of movies, so it is nice to be able to work on something and still sit next to him ignoring the movie he is watching. Not bad for a first try knitting with itty bitty needles. Since I didn't have the doll with me when I started, I didn't know that it would be so short on her! Should have checked my gauge more thoroughly, I did a 1 inch square and it SEEMED okay... but... So I decided to make it short sleeved as well so it is more of a top than a sweater. Next time I'll take the doll... and make it longer with long sleeves.

If I do this again. I have LOTS of other projects to finish. Tomorrow, TWO CARDS.... I am behind due to the hospital adventures, and need to get them out to Gueck and Chris. I didn't sign up for any other swaps because I just must catch up on other things.

So one project FINISHED. Hooray!! The pattern for the sweater, although MY sweater doesn't look a lot like the pattern because I changed things a bit (as I usually end up doing!!) The sweater wasn't on a doll so I didn't think about how short it might be. I shortened the sleeves because I think a good sweater should actually cover you to be warm :)

http://knitting.craftgossip.com/free-pattern-barbie-doll-sweater/2010/12/12/

and she has an etsy shop, and that green cabled turtleneck is sure tempting me...

Niki Jin Crafts etsy shop