Sewing Machine...

That's me...I'm a sewing machine.  No I didn't magically transform into one, but I'm sewing like a machine!  I am so happy about it too!  It takes soooo much less time to whip up an item of doll clothes by machine than it does by hand! I wanted to sew this past weekend and finally got around to clearing space on my desk for my machine. I even got my pieces prepped and ready, only to pull out my machine and discover that my power cord was NOT in the case! Um seriously...why would I NOT pack the power cord in the travel case!!!  Ok not a big deal, it's got to be in one of the boxes in my studio!  Um no, ok how about the garage. Negative!  The storage shed?  Yea, not there either.  Master bedroom, hall closet, closet of doom... (Don't ask1 LOL  It's a weird smallish square room that is little more than 3 feet in either direction! o_0) No, no and no...seriously where on earth did it go?  Heck for that matter where are my Sharpie markers and the rest of my clay tools that were in a pen caddy, and where is all that ribbon that I de-spooled and put into individual baggies.  Ah crap, it would appear I am missing at least one whole box of belongings!  And since I KNOW it didn't get loaded onto the moving truck, since we inventoried EVERY single box that came OFF the truck, that means this box is either in out camper in OH or at the dump! DAMN!
   Thankfully my aunt found the cord I needed for a good price on ebay, AND it turned out the shipper is out of the town my husband works in!  So instead of taking 4 days to ship I had my new cord in 2!!! So here are the beginning fruits of my sewing machine labor!

"Oh Hello there!"

I've been using this Create a Monster gal as my working model for a while now.  I bought her honestly only because working about the basic dolls hair was beginning to annoy me.  Since these CAM dolls wear wigs this seemed like a perfect solution!

Turns out I am LOVING this gal, whom I have decided to call Gris.  (you know french or spanish for grey {or gray! lol} ) I have also decided that although Mattel bills her as being a werewolf (her ears clip into the wig like barrettes), she is now an alien.  

"Look at the cute Bunny!"

Today was gorgeous out so Gris and I headed outside for a photo shoot! I tried to get her to wear jeans but she said a true model could work in anything!  And work she did!  (after she got done investigating the bunnies! =D)

The denim skirt is just a simple stretch denim skirt. The top, oh the top...Last night this thing gave me no end of trouble.  I prepped and cut out the pieces, it's a simple 3 piece pattern: front, right and left. Sew the sides to the front then to the closure.

  Well I don't know what or where it went wrong, but if I stitched closed the lower portion of the top, it wouldn't fit over her hips, but if I left it unsewn and did velcro or snap it stuck out like a reverse baby belly or a weird bustle!!!  Ok so what to do, what to do?  I know I'll trim it straight and add some corset style lacings. I know I have some Picot ribbon somewhere that will be perfect to hold the 'lacing' ribbon.  Well you remember that missing box...with all the baggies of ribbon.  Yeah THAT's were all my picot ribbon is. :-( Crap...now what...oooh I found some silver chain, I could always sew that to the edges and weave through that.  *try the top again on Gris, What's this the edges almost meet! This means no room for lacing...* Double crap, back to the drawing board.

In my search for the picot I managed to find 2 pieces of blue ribbons that matched the fabric PERFECTLY...

SO I tied a bow  out of some of it, and sewed another set of strips around the front under the bust area and then sewed one snap over that to one side and the other to the matching side with the bow covering it. Since I still loved the idea of the chain I used it to make some edgy straps!

I started out making this top to show a potential customer how this fabric would look, since for some reason my camera HATES tacking pictures accurately of flat fabric. I figured if the customer didn't decide to buy one of these (In addition to the piece she is commissioning) I could always sell them in my shop.  Well what should have been a simple top became drama I at that point late last night was more worried about simply making it look like the top fit correctly!  But after all was said and done I think this top will go in my shop after all! =D

  The other thing I created last night was this adorable set of purple floral knee high socks.  These are also for a customer.  An awesome amazing customer whose MH closet actually has multiple D-Lightful Designs in it! :-)  He is the customer how commissioned the cool teal and black striped outfit here!  My outfit was supposed to match a pair of knee socks he ordered online. Only when his knee socks finally arrived they were WAY too big!!! (THIS picture shows my Barbie sized Mini-ME...{eep who needs her on blog post!} wearing another pair of supposed MH knee socks!) So I offered to make a pair for him. My customer decided he would rather have solid black ones instead of the stripes though.  Well I had to draft my own pattern and decided to use this material as my practice material. BTW they came from a pair of clearanced baby tights! LOVE that!  The pattern worked perfectly and is really easy to sew. I'd share the pattern, but honestly the pattern piece looks decidedly like a portion of the male anatomy! Eeep! O_O  (Of course if you are interested in a MH knee-high sock pattern let me know and I'll email it too you! ;-D)

Since then I have made my customers black knee highs and started on a second 'sample' fabric top as well as another denim skirt.  Hmm what else do I have in the works...more Barbie/Monster High sized foods including: loaded baked potatoes, green beans, steak, lobster tails, green enchilada platters with rice and beans and um I think picnic foods as well as tea party foods. On the fashion side there are a few more 'sample' tops, a couple more skirts, Fear Squad uniforms and a fun concept/twist on tea party wear!  Thankfully all of my customers have said to take my time and such so these will be spread out over the next month or so.

A bit of sad news, which if we are friends on FB you already know, but my husbands mom passed away rather suddenly last week. I was blessed with an amazing MIL who I will always treasure.  While it hurts that she is gone I take comfort in knowing all the suffering she dealt with over the last 10 years is gone and she is whole and happy once more! LOVE YOU MOM <3  Because of that I will be gone most of next week as we travel home for her memorial service.  I hate the reason for going home, but it will be nice to see our families.  Sadly we don't get to go home very often as it is so expensive. But we are definitely going to stay in better contact with our families and try to make it home as often as we can! Please remember to hug your parents or call them if you can. They can be gone before you get a chance!!!!