It's me again! Been kind of quiet again, but I've been working hard! The weather was rather yuck for the 1st part of the week. That slowed me down...big time. I like to think that being born on the first day of summer/summer solstice/the longest day of the year makes me a sunlight loving girl! I NEED sunlight to function and feel 'right'. Well needless to say those grey days we had just drained my batteries. So I stayed cooped up with my laptop, a book (or 3!) and my sewing.
Two weeks ago I had a customer in my shop ask me to ship to Sweden...not a problem at all. The day I
shipped his order we began talking about a custom order! (I really was blown away by the fact that he commissioned a 2nd order before the 1st one arrived!!!) So the last 2 weeks have been spent in a whirlwind search for the perfect fabric and sewing an outfit unlike anything I'd attempted for Monster High!
I am realizing just how spoiled I was living near Columbus GA...I had not only a Hobby Lobby, a JoAnns, and a Michael's but also a Hancock Fabrics all within 20 minutes of my house!!! Well up here there in a Michael's about 35 minutes from here and our Walmart carries a
small microscopic selection of fabrics. That's IT!!! The nearest town with a REAL fabric stores is 45 minutes to an hour away!!! Oh the horrors! I needed a teal and black striped fabric to go with the teal and black stripes socks the customer had. And believe it or not, in the large shipping box (24x24 square) of all my fabrics, I had nothing like that!!! Not even a black and WHITE stripe. (I did play around with dyeing my own fabrics as I have several black and white fabrics, just no stripes!)
In the end I spent a day running around the shopping plaza 35 minutes away at every shop I could think of that might have textiles! I found the exact fabric I was looking for at Walmart...in a dress...however the dress was $13 and it was all BLACK...with a TINY black and teal shrug. UGH so NOT worth my $13. I kept looking and found a few racks over a black and white striped pullover. It was 100% cotton too so I knew I would take the dye perfectly! AND it was only $7 for the shirt which was ALL stripes...ooh and some cute lace trim too!
Okay, okay enough rambling...on with the pictures!!! =D
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| Vann's Vision |
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| Without the Jacket |
Ok so here it is! Vann's Vision! It is a horizontally striped halter neck body suit, with a 'vertically' striped double tiered skirt. There is also a black faux suede military style jacket with teal cuffs and epaulets. I've added a pair of silver toned dangle earrings and a smoky black purse. My customer loved it as much as I did!
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| The original concept art for Vann's Vision! |
This is the original concept art I drew for the outfit. I think I did pretty darned good! The bodysuit and the skirt are patterns designed by me. The jacket is a shrunk down Barbie pattern. (I like the look but future pieces will get tinkered with to fit a little better.)
Before you ask...no I didn't draw this...I have this really neat sketch book by
Fashion Angels . It has pre-drawn bodies and comes with a bunch of stencils for the clothing! For someone who can't draw a lick, this is amazing!!! I have drawn several more ideas for outfits that I plan to work on! It's neat (and NERVE WRACKING!!!) to draw a design and then bring it to life! Although I think I will consult my fabric stash before drawing patterns since I am in a fabric store wasteland....oh how I miss all my fabric stores!!! lol
This picture is one I took that will be used in the listings for my new Mix and Match Collection. Some times coming up with entire outfits (jewelry and accessories too) gets tiring or boring. Sometimes I just want to work with something fun. I decided to offer individual pieces at a lower cost. In this picture Draculaura (whom I think I will start calling Lala...like in the books...much faster to type! lol) yeah, Lala models the denim vest I made back in GA...it's stretch denim with a white ribbon bow and blanket stitching. Frankie is wearing a teal skirt I made while I was messing around with dyeing fabrics for Vann's Vision. The teal and black check is dyed the upper portion is not. Ghoulia is wearing my Tiptoe Through the Tulips top. I made this one a few weeks ago. And Clawdeen is wearing another denim piece I made back in GA. It's a pencil skirt edged in a double blanket stitch. I love the way the double stitching made the hem flare out a bit! These pieces will be listed in my
Etsy shop this week!
Whoa, the outfits look great!! I love the striped dress especially!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Heather! That striped outfit sure gave me a run for my money, but in the end it turned out well worth the effort! :-)
ReplyDeleteHey, we've both been busy sewing !!! I bought a bunch of guy's shirts to make MSD sized Tees and I've been having so much fun. Love your cute little mix & match outfits, they are very clever. Got me a MH doll the other day, after much prompting to do a re-paint ...
ReplyDeleteBTW: I've wanted to move for the past 5 years now but your dilemma is my biggest fear - I will move somewhere there are no craft stores !!!
I have been watching all the cool BJD clothes you've been making! And following the intriguing storyline you've got going as well!
ReplyDeleteI so understand your fear. I'm glad the stores out not TOO horribly far away but they are far enough to make a quick trip out, nearly impossible!
The fashions are great and the stripped one was defiantly worth it. It's beautiful!! I am loving the separate pieces too. Your drawing is very cool too I wouldn't be able to tell that you didn't hand draw it if you didn't say so.
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