Summerdaystudio

She Didn't Quite Make it to the Opera

        Before this whole bed rest incident, I was all set to join the Just Crafty Enough blog's Project Project Runway Challenge 2012. And what that does entail exactly? The site describes the challenge as:

Project Project Runway is an ode to the fashion design show we love so much. Each week we do the same challenge as the designers on the show, but our models are dolls. Each challenge is announced after the show airs on Thursday night, sometimes the challenge is slightly adapted to fix working with dolls. Designs are revealed the following Thursday.

        When I stumbled upon the site, they were on their way to Challenge #2 already but Kathy of Just Crafty Enough was kind enough to reply my email so I could hop on board. I was very excited you can imagine, as I love dolls and I love sewing the tiniest things. But alas, after finishing this dress, all sewing and online time had to cease around here. So, while I wait for next year's challenge haha, it wouldn't hurt to post this lovely dress from Challenge #2:A Night at the Opera worn by my darling vintage Sindy (who needs a reroot before then haha).

         It was fun drafting her basic slopers and applying vintage techniques on making the final pattern. The fabric was so slippery and I lined everything with thin fusible interfacing. Making and ironing the pleats was quite tedious, and I wish they invented irons just for doll clothes. I would love to do more draping and beadwork in the future too as you can do so much in such a little time (meaning: stuff I would not have the patience to do in real-size clothes haha). I dress vicariously thru my dolls haha.

        To see all the wonderful works of the participants every week, check out the Just Crafty Enough: Project Project Runway 2012 Flickr group! 

Peace. Love. Dream.Create.

The Little Stitch-Along dress

            Hullo! The little dress got done on time eventhough I just blogged about this now :-) I am so happy that Holly got something new to wear. This is the pattern I drafted for our class to use, and tomorrow I am seeing the works of my students so I am pretty excited about that.

            When I get around to converting it to vector, I will most likely post this pattern as a freebie here on the site. This dress was completely hand-sewed using back-stitches, so it's easy to do. No sewing machine this time. I had a lot of fun doing the little french knots all over the dress! There was a time when I could not for the life of me get french knots right, so I guess that is why I over-compensate now LOL.

            I tried to illustrate some of the stitches I did above (knotted stitch was copied from the book Ilove as mentioned in the previous post). Isn't the knotted stitch such a lovely raised stitch? Let me know if you try it out in a project! Oh and the crimp bead is a really tiny bead that is used in jewelry making.

            So that's that for the May Stitch-Along of Feeling Stitchy! :-) But guess what? There's the June Stitch-Along coming right up! This time, we get to choose from all the free embroidery patterns available on-line. Fun, fun, fun! Head over to their blog and see some great samples to get you started.

            As for me, back to the drawing board and dream of something cute :-) p.s. this is usually how I look (and dress! in Deer Husband's clothes) when I am sewing tiny things. Comfort is KEY!! haha Bye everyone! 

Peace. Love. Dream. Get Comfy!

Well, Well, Well...

            Hullo! :-) Lost in transit I have been again. Inasmuch as it feels like there is so much time to blog, the reality is there really isn't! LOL. The past few months, as usual, have been a whirlwind of sorts.

            There has been work (thank heavens), and I have started teaching at this school :-) One of my classes is for kids, and so the dollies have come in handy. Alex is still not quite done, and Lili's blue hair is still all over the place. Just have not found the time! This week will be hectic again, but schedules should be going back to normal now that the sisters will be back in school. I shall finish all customizing back-logs as soon as things calm down for a moment. 

            It is Mother's birthday today :-) (Well, technically yesterday), and would like to greet her a Happy Birthday in far-away, beautiful Alaska! Salmon season has begun again, and off she goes to work. Thank you Mommy ♥

            Here she is in a dress I sewed for her for a wedding she attended :-) My mother has always been very supportive of all our endeavors. And although she knows that I am a "cardiac arrest" kind of sewer, she still let me have the honor of making her a dress. P.S. Mommy taught me most of the crafts I know, and she is now supporting the dolly wardrobe :-) she knitted the pixie hat and shrug of Alex. The pixie hat was loosely based on a pattern found on Ravelry :-)  (and I say loosely because the first one came out really loose!)

            My sewing and draping skills are slowly getting there, although I really could not have finished this dress in 24 hours without the help of Team 'Nao's Burpie and Angel! Ever-reliable for rush orders :-) Thank you.

            Dirkie gave me draping lessons, and I draped my design with muslin first. I have fallen in love with darts, and have been experimenting on giving it structure. The back of the dress has darts that taper downwards to create a boxy effect. This will be something I will continue to develop as I really liked how it did that LOL. The fabrics used for this was completely new to me, so once again I learned something new. I did develop contact-allergy when i started cutting the sequined fabric! Which has now made me a bit scared of fabrics. JUST a TEENY WEENY BIT. Weirdly enough, no one else had a problem with it, including my mom who wore it. The inside of this dress is fully lined in satin so it would be cooling on the skin. The learning experience continues on my adventures as a seamstress.

            This was for our friend's Muslim wedding ceremony, which sadly I was not able to attend and take photos of (because I finally fell asleep after putting this dress on Mommy). I had to wait for the stories of the beautiful wedding till they came back for dinner! :-) A lovely wedding, for a lovely girl. *sigh* i ♥ weddings 

                That's about it. Hopefully these coming weeks I can finish more projects and I will be able to post some of the fun stuff we do in school with the girls. A post is also in the works about another dress I sewed for myself for another wedding, which I ended up not going to cause I got sick from exhaustion :-(. But the dress was super effort, so it still must be shown! :-)

                A new Basaak clone has joined the girls, and I really need to work on her ASAP. Sometime this month, the clones should be getting their Licca bodies. I cannot stand their bodies anymore! So frustrating to work with :-( Holly is still completely stock as a part of me has fallen in love with her just the way she is.

                Alrighty then. Sayonara! And let's see when if I can post sooner than later :-) 

Peace. Love. Dream. 

Holly and the Chickens

        Today my darling Holly checked out the chickens outside. I finally finished her dress last night and have made my final waistline control sloper. So much better how the neckline and armhole sits. The back sloper just has a tiny adjustment to be made on it's armhole, and I am ready to put that on the final sloper too. 

        The right side has a little bulge, not because of the pattern, but because of my sewing LOL. It was getting late and I was excited to see the dress..I really should have ran another line of stitches to fix it. Super excitable I am when it comes to sewing. 

        Anyhoo, it was a cloudy Sunday for us, with much excitement from last night over feeding the Giant Phyton in our backyard. He is now quite a sight to behold. 

        Tomorrow I have to leave and work the whole week on other things, and the girls will have to wait till I get back home. The sewing adventures shall continue then.

        Hope you all had a wonderful, blessed Sunday everyone! Here's to wishing you all a lovely week!

        Peace. Love. Dream. 

The girls...

        Hello again world! As much as it would be wonderful to post all the time, being in the ranch means the slowest internet connection. But on the other hand, no internet means no destractions and I can focus on finishing little personal projects that keep me sane and deliciously happy.

        Through the years, their have been many a little thing that keep me inspired. I tend to surround my work area and fill up my bag with little cute things that I can work on when I want to relax. But now, in my 30's, I have found that dolls keep me floating on tiny little clouds and bubbles :-). Of all these, for the past 6 years or so, I have wanted to own a Neo Blythe, that wonderful girl with the color-changing eyes. But since they were a bit pricey for my student budget back in the day, I decided to wait till the right time came along. Many things happened along the way, and the begotten son came and I grew up some more that my dolly dreams had to be filled with endlessly looking at their photos on Flickr. 

        I FINALLY met my very first real Blythes on a trip to Manila earlier this year on a visit to my cousin and her daughters. My cousin, another lover of all things cute (same cousin I mentioned in this post) had just gotten her girls that Christmas. We had first talked about Blythes on my previous trip, and she had set out to find them on her next flight out. Well, they now have a Cassiopeia Spice (left) and a Bohemian Peace (right), both Takara Neo Blythes. Oh the joy! It was so wonderful to be able to play with them and specially, to photograph them! Such pretty girls. 

        When I went home, I started practicing sewing little dresses, so that when the time would come that I would find a special girl of my own, she would have a lovely little wardrobe to choose from :-) I had also promised my little neice that I would sew little versions of their school uniforms for their lovely girls. A promise I have yet to fullfill as my sewing skills is still "getting there" LOL. I do would want them to be wonderfully made.

        One of the main reasons I wanted a Blythe is because they are perfect for customization, and the world of customizing them is endless. Since I was scared to finally own a real one, and then practicing on her, I decided to get the affordable fake ones called Blybes to customize and give to my sisters. 

        So friends, meet Alexandra (this is her before and after shot) :-) She belongs to my littlest sister. 

        Alex has had a lip carving, two eyechips changed, sand-matted face, hair trim,  lips repainted and her nose rounded and philtrum carved and nose holes carved too. :-) She was the first one I worked on, and she is actually far from done, but I couldn't wait to take photos LOL. I made her top on the after photo, but I am not happy with my basic sloper that I have been formulating, much adjustments need to be done specially on the arm hole part. That, and drafting a basic sleeve sloper scares me, but something I have to get to doing soon.

        Presently, Alex is back on the work table and I removed her makeup as that was not really the final one. Littlest sister wants her to have brown hair cut like hers, so that will take a bit of time as I am still rerooting the hair of the other little sisters' Blybe, who is called Lili for now (she said she will change that once she's finished). 

        I am learning many lessons in carving in plastic and rerooting, and all the other little goodness that customization brings. Dear husband and little brother have been a wonderful help and their manly strength comes in handy in changing eyechips and carving hard areas. There is still much to be learned, and the excitement that each morning brings when I wake up and see my work desk! 

Alex and my darling Holly (Takara Simply Mango) in the morning while Lili's head parts are all over the desk (yes, that will be her blue hair!). Files and folders are my day job, but the girls are nearby to remind me of clouds and happy things.

        And that is my little happy secret place that I am sharing with you. On that note, time for me to go back home to the hill and leave this little town nearby that has fast internet LOL. May you all have a wonderful weekend whoever you are, wherever you are. 

        ♥Peace. Love. Dream. Have a happy secret place.