New BJD Dresses

New BJD Dresses

I have been busy putting together some new looks for my Dream of Doll girl Leya.

A light frothy number made of voile and with a shawl made from a piece of antique lace material and vintage lace edging.

 

A couple of quaint dresses and half bonnets made from "tea dyed" cotton with matching dyed lace.

Vintage Material and Lace BJD Dress

I wanted to start a new project for my Dream of Doll Leya. I thought something vintage would be interesting. I thought of something floaty in white.  I knew I had a vintage brodeire anglaise christening gown in my stash. The top half was not much use but there was a lot of useable material in the skirt. So I took the seams etc apart and took off the lace to be carefully pressed ready to be reused.

One of the joys I have in life is taking things apart! Give me some old dress, bonnet, or tablecloth and I will work away at it for hours. Carefully discovering how it was originally put together and deconstructing it into useable pieces again. Then the gentle washing, if needed and pressing to make something beautiful out of it again. 


This new trend of "make do and mend" is nothing new to me. I have been doing it and loving it for years.

The skirt more or less spoke for itself as the bottom of the dress was a perfect size and scale for a doll dress just had to select a section of it. The bodice I hummed and harred over for a bit.  I decided to do a separate bodice and unattached sleeves. I used a bit of orignal lace from the dress and some new lace I had in my stash.

I don't mind mixing new with old sometimes. As the dress was still pristine white the laces matched very well.

I found a nice piece of "drapey" lace material but have not as yet decided just how to use it. I don't want to make a veil or headress out of it as the whole thing might end up looking a little too much like a wedding dress which is not my aim.

I have made the sleeves so far and started on the bodice and skirt.

At the moment I have not got a wig which I think would be suitable but I will finish the wig then see how that looks.

New Dresses for Elin Iplehouse BID

Work In Progress

I had started working on some new dresses for my Elin an Iplehouse BID doll but let myself be distracted by things. (Both good and bad!)

So I thought it was time to knuckle down to things and get them finished, poor thing she had waited quite long enough now.

I started off with some fitting adjustments and some all important bow placements.

I cut out a couple of others to work on. And decided on a few design changes.

The hats were a bit tricky to get into a nice shape but I think I managed it in the end.

The first dress, the pink one, I made the bodice longer finishing at the waist. On a whim I made it shorter for the other two.  I think they both look as cute a one another really.

Now all that has to be decided is which is the favourite one?

Ribbons and Lace

Sorting My Life Out  (part 2)

I have recently returned from a visit home to the UK. Its was ostensibly to visit family and friends but secretly it was I suppose the desire to indulge in a little retail therapy.

Mostly of the craft variety.  So I visited my favourite shop, Abakhans

http://www.abakhan.co.uk/

It is chock full of all kinds of everything. Materials of every hue on rolls or sold by weight, so many a  bargain to be had. They stock lots of wools again by brands or by weight. Then there is every other kind of craft resources you can think of. Card stock, templates, beads, sissors, ribbons and braids.  I could have filled my suitcase but the thought of airline excess baggage charges held me back. So I spent a lovely hour or two browsing and settled on a new batch of ribbons and braids with a bit of lace for good luck.

This is the tangle I had when I got home. And I also more here to sort.

So time to get sorting. I started out by making some ribbon cards from cardboard.  Partly to give them some rustic charm and partly because I would have like to have used some from Sajou but they are rather expensive.

Then I started winding........and winding.......and winding.........untill:-

Things became ordered and serene again. 

So the theory is I will save myself lots of time and have everything to hand and can be found at a moments notice.  Well like I said its only a theory!

The Sajou cards I think I will save and use for the lace. But as I have such a large collection of laces vintage, antique and new they won't go very far.

I first discovered the joys of Sajou from Biscuitbears blog postings.

http://biscuitshouse.typepad.com/biscuits_house/2010/05/index.htm
http://www.sajou.fr/catalog/cookie_usage.php?language=en

But the lace story is for another day perphaps.

Iplehouse Elin

Iplehouse Elin Still in Box


My poor Elin is still in her box because she does not have any clothes or shoes to wear, she does not even have a wig of her own. I really love these Iplehouse B.I.D. dolls they all have there own special expressions and Elins is so sad.

http://www.iplehouse.net/shop/step0.php?b_code=B20100407023028&c_code=C20110318101323

I thought it was time to do something about this. So I gathered a selection of fabrics and yarn and woke her up to make a few choices.

Choices Choices

Little Iplehouse Elin.

But of course give a girl too many choices and things just get confusing.

Mmmmmm?

There was indecision and pondering. The pink is very nice. But the green I do like green.  Mmm or maybe the red. Then a small voice piped up "I know....all three"

Decisions Can Be So Tiring

Well I made a start on one of them at least and she seemed quite please with the beginnings any way.

I have crochet the bodice in cotton yarn and will attach the skirt to it.  I think fabric straps would look good and will try to maybe make some sort of jacket or a bolero.  And a sun hat could look quite cute too.

I will try this one first then think about the other fabric and cotton yarns.

New BJD Jumpsuit

Sewing A New BJD Jumpsuit

Posted on March 31, 2012 

Thought I would try to make another jumpsuit ( or catsuit depending on how old you are!). I have already make a pattern for one and it turned out not too bad, even if I do say so myself.  The material I used last time did not have as much stretch as this black lycra. But I thought I would cut it out without any adjustments to the pattern and make fitting adjustments later. Unfortunately I did not have enough material to cut the pattern out in one piece. I had made it out of a kitchen towel and the join between the two towels fell just below the natural waistline so I took a chance and torn the pattern there to make a separate top and bottom. Then just seamed them together.

First Cut Out Your Pattern

As I had suspected it was a little too loose and not the sexy tight suit I had envisioned.

A Little Too Loose

A Few Adjustments

But I just took a deeper seam allowance all round the legs, crotch, side and shoulder seams. Then added a couple of darts in front. The “accidental” seam just below the waist seems to have worked out ok and in fact looks better than the one I make full length.

We Are Getting There

I was quite pleased with the fit so far, I put a simple rolled neckline on. Then I put some elastic stirrups to the bottom of the legs to keep them from rolling up when she puts boots on.

Not that she has any long boots at the moment. One of us has to save up enough money to buy her some and I suspect it will be me not her splashing the dosh.

So The Final Results:-

A New BJD Catsuit

All Finished

I made a red leather belt and matching necklace to jazz things up a bit.

A New Wig - A New Look

I tried on a new wig and got a whole new look.  Which one do you prefer?