It's been awhile!

I admit I've let this wane a bit. Most of it is because I've been incredibly busy with school. I know, excuses, excuses.

Fortunately, this blog will now be full of pictures. I have my own camera! It's rather hard to motivate myself to sew when my cell phone camera (which, let's face it, is not the greatest) was the only thing I had. But now I can quite happily snap pictures all day long with my new DSLR!

With that explanation, it's time for a lot of pictures.



The first few pics were a bit hard to shoot.



...shortly after that, I discovered that the image stabilizing on my lens was still off. That helped!



A nice portrait.

Then Christmas came!



Annabel thinks this new girl has a fantastic dress, but is the worst conversationalist she's ever met. (I did try desperately to get the dress off. Unfortunately it's very much glued on. Sigh, sigh.)



But, Annabel got the tiny necklace that was supposed to be for it. HaHA!

(Christmas decorations are my mother's doing.)



Then I found...

...the pile of old Barbies from my youth. Much mischief managed.



"You mean people actually WORE this? Intentionally?"

"It was the early 90's, Annabel. It was a very, uh, different time."



"I can't believe anyone would wear this. I'm a sparkly, glittery mess. And the tights! No human being would EVER make such things..."

"Two words, Annabel: American Apparel."

"...point."



"I thought you said 'nice holiday portrait', not 'try to make Annabel look like a soccer mom' portrait..."

Hello, Goodbye...

...as in, Hello from Emory instead of home -



as this cell phone picture from my dorm can attest. It's cold and blustery out there but so far my classes seem to be going well!

That's the good news...

The bad news is that the good camera is at home. Tomorrow I am trooping to the library to see if they have a setup for doing digital photography, however, if not, image quality will be... well, about as good as that picture of me above.

So with the wind sort of out of my sails, pictures may be few. All as well since I need to study. If I get really desperate for detail, I'll just SCAN Annabel...

But until then - 2 pictures from when I was still at home, and more from before.



Look! She can stand up in those shoes! (shamelessly stolen from another doll...)



I don't really like that top that much but oh well.

And from before...





This gazing globe was sent off in a trade but it sure was fun to snap a few pictures of it beforehand.

Sweaterdress from a sock - again

The tights are also new but, well, a little tight. I want to do another pair that are more like bloomers - loose. :)
...and here's the sock where it all came from. :)

New favourite pictures!

Enjoying the good camera at home while it lasts!

Silvery Stuff - fun with premo!

So, I am the remarkable combination of disorganized and scatterbrained. So much so that it's possible for me to go shopping in my own room! I found some Sculpey Premo in silver (and in white), and played around with the silver today.

So, I made - a twisty bracelet, hilts for some swords which are looking unfortunately like overgrown kitchen knives. And then on the other side, a fancy clasp for a cloak and the start of a necklace. The clasp I'd like to use on a cloak, either silver or dark green - I'm not sure - then trim it with this craft rabbit fur we have kicking around that's silver-grey.

No, Annabel isn't doing the robot. She's showing off all of her new bracelets! That's sort of the 'wrong side' of the twisty bracelet. The others are just really simple bangles.

And there's the best side of the twisty bracelet.

I've also been hacking at a coca-cola can for some light silvery stuff for some pretty light metalsmithy. So far not much success but I haven't been going at it with much of a plan, haha.

Pink And Blue Buttons Outfit (and wrap skirt)

Ignore the state of my coffee table, if you would... I need to make a stand, instead of propping Annabel up against my bottle of leave-in conditioner when I want her to be standing. >>;

So, this wrap skirt is another failure of making a circle skirt. But oddly, I quite like the results. I'm thinking of just making some wrap skirts (with heart-button closures) out of at least 2 more types of cloth. I have a lovely pink-green print, and a yellow print, and I'd like wrap skirts of those two, I think. I cut a template out of a paper plate and once I figured out that the arc wasn't quite right, I just went, "oh well, I'll cut out 2 pieces and join them together". Rather cute, all in all.

My first whole outfit!! I feel very accomplished. Well - no shoes - but still! Well... The Fashionista barbie brown-and-pink boots sort of go, but I'd like to make a pair of soft ones out of the brown fleece that button up with blue buttons to kinda tie the whole thing together. And I'd like for her to be wearing the cream tights from the old pair of granny panties instead of the brown tights. But still! I am very pleased.


The muff likely needs some little decoration on it, maybe one of the tiny silk roses that you can find and some ribbon along with a button or three. :)


Here's the hat, sans hair. ...It fits perfectly. But I'm going to say that it was my plan all along to leave it small so that it would sit jauntily off-kilter on top of her hair. I don't much like her with wig removed, wearing the hat.

Circle Skirt... failed attempt #1 + Project List!

NO TYCHO NOOOOO

Tycho is not a very good helper.

...which is one of the reasons why I didn't realize her hand had slipped half off. Sigh. I blame that on Tycho! But also I may have some adventures in felting later to correct that...

Also sorry if these pictures look a bit odd. They actually should look more normal than usual. Our den is pretty warm-toned, and I keep forgetting to hit autolevels. So these are actually more true to life. Doesn't Annabel have such lovely green eyes?

Anyway, I tried to do a simple circle skirt. I also did so thinking, "I don't need a pattern! Ha!"

No, no, I do need a pattern, and I do need to use a string compass, it is not something I can eyeball. So this skirt is, uhm, a little lopsided. Fortunately it's hidden fairly well here. The top is also just from the pair of old granny panties.

So!

Things I still want to do, in my last week or so of vacation...

-Figure out that loose hand and do some felting - maybe with glue if possible - to correct it. (I have tacky glue and the fray-stop stuff, would those work, I wonder? Or is hot glue felting the best way?

-Make some tights from the granny panties (w/ lace trim at the bottom, on the leg, capri-ish length)

-Make a good circle skirt cardboard pattern. Perhaps scan and post here.

-Make circle skirts out of most of the cotton prints I haven't touched yet - the greeny-pink, the pink stripes (this one done up better), the yellow.

-Make pants out of that corduroy.

-Figure out a simple, more fitted top pattern out of cloth. Perhaps combine with circle skirt to sew some sundresses.

-Make a small bodice of some type to go with the fancy evening gown.

-Cut up a Coca-cola can and try some simple armorsmithing/jewlerymaking. Circlet, bracers, shinguards, maybe a breastplate if I get the hang of it?

This is Tycho. He is a dog. He is a dog who loves his little squeaky mouse very, very much.

Parasol! + Links?

Guess who found the paper umbrellas that she had gotten years and years ago in a pack of 100 for her barbies? Guess who discovered there are a very few left? :D Guessed right!! Now Annabel has a lovely new parasol. I'd love to do a shot of her a la Kaylee from Firefly, sitting outside the ship with her wacky outfit and her parasol... that's the first episode I think? Ah, I can't remember.

Also...

If you would like to link to this blog, I would be more than delighted - ditto for followers. I made this button for use on forums and if you would like to use it to link I would greatly appreciate it. I will link back as I can!

Fancy Silky Dress

Looking at this dress, you probably wouldn't have guessed this was formerly a pair of granny panties...! I may be frugal, I may be odd, but I like 'em much better as a dress for Annabel than as uncomfortable too-large panties.

Now that it's well sewn - you can see how bad my work is in the shot that's from the back, and there are a few stray threads I still need to clip (I was just so excited to take pictures, haha). The fingerless gloves/over-fancy arm warmers were made from the same material. I probably have enough to make at least 2 more dresses from the fabric, 3 if I'm careful, thanks to the panties being a rather large pair!

I may reinforce the bodice a bit too... oh Japan, and your insistence that poor Annabel's bosom apparently always is set to "it's got to be at most 20 degrees out here" perky.

I may add on more to this. I may not. I'm surprisingly pleased with it, even from the back. There's a small train you can see there and when she's sitting. I think I might figure out some sort of belt or corsetlet-bodice to go on top of it to give it some punch. It's plain, but rather charmingly and elegantly so right now.

Penguin Lounge Pants (hopefully, soon PJs)

It took me two tries to make these and still they aren't quite right. (Sigh.) And I've tried to make a top two times too. After working with slightly stretchy cloth, I just can't quite grok how to work with the very stiff, unyielding flannel. Whatever I think will be loose ends up far too tight! I at least have gotten a top I think will work, spanning the gap with some ribbon, and making it button in the front... when I can find my bitty buttons, anyway. (Argh!)

The top pictured isn't a new one... but I did make a new white-knit top out of the top of a sock. It looks almost cable knit. I'm not sure quite what to do with it honestly... Ideas are appreciated. I have some pink silky fabrics that I could make a skirt for it with, or some pink-patterned plain cotton, or pink-and-green, or yellow, or even that corduroy. Decisions, decisions.

...but isn't it an adorable flannel, even if I can't sew it well, though? Penguins AND hearts! :)