Greta came with me on vacation and she delighted most everyone she met! We stayed very busy with fun, family and food!
You can see more photos from my vacation in my Flickr stream!
At the moment, I am photographing and preparing a bunch of hats for the shop. Seven new striped pixie hats and a few new colors of berets will be going up sometime tomorrow. Missed the one you wanted or looking for a specific color combination? I take commissions for knitted hats!
In personal dolly news, I recently acquired my second Emerald the Enchanting Witch! Ironically, I sewed a few gift dresses for Emeralds before I owned one and have yet to sew for my own, so that will be a high priority in the next month. I have a few ideas for the silhouettes I would like to see on them. I love their chubby little bodies.
The weather is getting nicer and my dance urges are growing persistent and stronger. Luckily, this has also motivated me to do an update! I updated the ArtFire shop last night and now there is only one dress left. I simply can not say thank you all enough!
Last week, I had a day of FAIL. Whilst sewing, the dress I was working on {the one that was inspired by my previous post} developed an unexplained stain. This happens on rare occasions and usually it is a drop of machine oil. Well, I pulled out my handy dandy stain remover pen* and proceeded to blot the offending stain. Not only did the spot remain, but the stain remover also removed the printing from the fabric! Doh! I used to test it on scrap fabric every time I used it, but subconsciously ceased the precaution since I had never experienced a bad result. Lesson learned. I decided to forge ahead and sew on a snap because the dress was almost complete. That is when I turned the dress over to discover that I had somehow snagged the tulle layers on something and s 5mm cleft of fabric was missing from the hem. Out came the pinking shears and the tulle is now shorter! That dress is a hot mess that will probably live in a box with the other castaways for the next few years.
{Insert imaginary photo here}
After the dress debacle, I decided to relax by sitting in front of the computer and indulge in the newest episode of Lie to Me while knitting. Halfway through the show {which featured a prince charming psycho killer played by Jason Dohring, better known as Logan Echolls from Veronica Mars, the best show ever,*squee*} I am starting to unwind when the next thing I know, I am being hit in the head by the shelf formerly mounted to the wall above me and all of my dolls come crashing down on to my desk, my lap, and the floor. Nightmare scenario. I am very happy to report that there were no casualties and only one scare! The eye mechanism in Arabella, my Yuki, popped out of place, but is a super easy fix, especially since she is an RBL, and actually exposed that her pull string was about to break due to a snag on the metal grommet in the back of her face plate. I’m glad it ended well!
In more relevant news, I finished a new design! I decided to try combining my love of over-sized dolly collars and rounded, peter pan collars into one! Instead of having two separate sides, the collar is in one lined piece. I’m really satisfied with the result. The woven cotton solids used in this dress have been a great inspiration for me. The beautiful colours are achieved by weaving two different threads together to create multi-tonal fabric that just sings. It is really suited to dolly scale and has a lovely drape.
Crane is also wearing a Parasol Doll Diane Arbus Beret.
*Tide To Go Instant Stain Remover, not an official endorsement, heh.
Tulle, 1950′s prom dresses, kitties, mustaches, cowboy boots, over-sized collars, oh my!
*This is how the design process works in my head! I am planning on this being a consistent feature to record and share the evolution of my inspirations into designs!
When I first began consistently selling my handmade doll clothing, my packaging was really basic: a reclosable poly bag. Actually, that’s a little embarrassing now. I knew my presentation had to improve and I assumed the right idea would strike me eventually. Over the years, my packaging has slowly evolved. My most recent addition is the scalloped edge. This is the first batch of items I have packaged with this adornment and I really like the simple, whimsical look it adds. My most inspired packaging moment (you don’t hear that sentence very often!) was when I began sealing my packages with a bow. Yup, that’s a real bow! I use a little hole punch through the card stock and the bag, thread the ribbon through, and seal it with a hand-tied bow. That’s better than sealed with a kiss!
I am pretty pleased with the combination, but I am not completely satisfied. I still need to figure out a way to incorporate my logo into the packaging in a clever way and possibly figure out a way to speed up the packaging process. It takes a great deal of time, measuring and precision. It is a lot of fun to pick out the ribbons and papers to coordinate with the clothes, so it’s not all hard work! I am going to try and print out my logo on card stock, punch it out with a big, circular punch and then thread the circular logo card on to the front of the package before tying the bow. I am also thinking of trying cellophane bags.
There is a great deal of inspiration to be found in the packaging of other dolly artisans, too.
Diem of Tiny Haus hand carved a block print which she uses on recycled paper for the tops of her packages. The effect is really warm and folkloric.
Getting a package from House of Pinku is an unbirthday party in package form. Everything is pink, from the mailer, the paper header and even the bag that holds the dolly dress!
Yesterday, we had a glorious warm, sunny day and today, a flood advisory! Luckily, I was able to steal a little time out of doors with Crane and Stella and they graciously modeled hats so that I was able to do an update last night. There are still a few berets left! I also take commissions on any of my self-designed knit hats, so if there is a specific beret or pixie hat your dollies need, pull my string!
On another knitting note, I finally finished knitting up the brilliant Blythe Hoodie pattern by nxtdrgrrl! Notes on my modifications can be found on Flickr an on my Ravelry projects page. I’ll post the written instructions for the buttonhole modification soon. Thank you so much for this wonderful pattern Paula! I loved knitting it and look forward to making many more!
We will also be having a Knitting Blythe Meet soon! I look forward to teaching those who would like to learn and assisting those who want to take their basic skills further. I love knitting!