craft, Doll, monster high, sewing, Uncategorized

SHOES for Wednesday

Doll shoes.

Pesky little doll shoes.

Ever After High dolls have SLIGHTLY larger feet than Monster High Dolls. Sometimes. Not always. Sometimes they can swap shoes and sometimes MH shoes are just too small for EAH.

This is what I have learned.

After buying some MH shoes.

So, I turned to one of the EAH dolls I picked up at my local Hobby Off and took her shoes. High heels would have to do, even though I’d wanted tiny shoe/boots I could add a buckle to.

High heels would have to do. Using an X acto knife I removed an extra front strap and scraped off the flower detail where all the straps met

Using my new best friend APOXIE SCULPT (Oh, I love you Apoxie Sculpt. Let us never speak of the two part epoxy putties I tried earlier. So you are expensive? I live in the land of cheap Mr. Super Clear, it evens out) and made tiny skulls.

I then painted the shoes with black acrylic.

Once the skulls had dried overnight I painted them, glossed them, and attached them with hot glue.

YAY!

(I picked up three MH stands for 500¥ at Dollyteria. yay.)

And thus Wednesday is done! I’d take her out for some outdoor photos but it’s raining.

costuming, sewing, Uncategorized

Finished Costume Pictures.

I totally forgot to show you finished costume pictures from RomaFest.

But you need to know that I got there nice and early for pre-show rehearsal and spent times napping dressed like this.

The show was huge, those of us dancing in a Turkish Roma influenced style were but a small part, probably making up about 10-20% of the performer. This is Team Turkish Roma Style, minus one. We danced improvisationally with live music and then did our own solos or work with our troupes. I have no troupe yet so I soloed.

Left to Right:
Marika, Nourah, Miho, Me, Ikuyo and Tomoka.

The last member, Ai Donya, can be seen in front here.

I liked how the body stocking looked, and got good feedback on it, but I will add more bling to it so it doesn’t stop below my ribcage.

There was also a camel costume.

Other random shots.

I don’t know if there are any in-action photos.

craft, sewing, Uncategorized

Never Ending Cat Skirt.

Cleaning and organizing my craft room always involves finishing some projects and alterations.

Tonight I added three more patches to the never-ending cat skirt.

About three years ago I bought a simple, white, eyelet skirt at the Gap, figuring it would be fine for work.

Then I realized it needed a little more length so I added more eyelet at the hem.

As soon as I wore it, some of the eyelet caught on a chair at school and ripped.

Not being willing to admit that I’d made a bad purchase and that fast fashion sometimes is built to fall apart, I started patching it with appliques from my scrap bin. The tears almost always happen on the sides….from catching on various chairs.

Today I added a jaguar, left over from my quilt backing, and two pairs of black and white cats on pink backgrounds.

It shouldn’t really work but it does. When I wear it I garner squeals of joy….and it’s not easy to be exceptionally adorable in Japan. The bar is high.

I think this has been in my to-fix pile for so long that I might not have worn it this school year. Tomorrow black tights, black sweater, never-ending cat skirt it is.

craft, sewing

Capelette: I’m ready to be extra at your funeral.

Over a year ago I bought two kinds of fake fur when lining and updating my vintage coat.

Last summer, when making a Gothic Emily Doll for my friend Emily I saw a capelette pattern at Yuzawaya while I was trim shopping. It looked like it’d be a great way to use up my black fake fur.

It was the Japanese version of this pattern, just the three capelettes and none of the shrugs. It was cheap as well. I figured I could draft a pattern or just buy one and whip it together when I had time.

This month I stash-busted leftovers for finish it February.

I’m putting a hook and eye closure you can’t see for now, but when I find the right dramatic closure or vintage buttons I’ll use those instead.

Tada, I’m ready to be extra!

It’s not the most extra fake fur capelette I’ve ever made…I made this and a matching purse and gave it to a friend about 10 years ago.

But, I don’t think the black capelette needs eyes…yet.

And, having a wire pet brush (for doll hair) was really helpful in brushing the seams of this coat.

costuming, craft, sewing, Uncategorized

Costume Finished!

I hope to get better photos at the show on Sunday but here we go!

RomaFest is this Sunday. I am having some strong imposter syndrome feelings but I know I love to dance.

I didn’t have time to make something from scratch nor the money to buy anything that would be of the same quality as my handmade skirts.

And when I make skirts I generally make GIANT HUGE SKIRTS.

So I took an existing skirt I’d bought used and changed it up instead. I also made it a narrower skirt, more like my favorite teacher Reyhan Tuzsuz would wear.

I think I invested about 20$ in trim for this project, which is cheap.

Final skirt and general outfit (sans accessories):

I’d also literally made the vest top from pieced together fabric scraps from a too-small pair of fancy dance pants someone gave me for the fabric. I did that in 2017 here.

I’ve decided to give a body stocking a try. Not out of feeling insecure about my tummy but because Turkish Roma women who dance often do NOT show their stomachs and feel like that’s a better choice for me to make when participating in a festival about Roma music and dance.

If you’re wondering about Roma/Romani people and wonder why my dance costumes look like what you’d describe as “g*psy” costuming, here’s a fine start to why I don’t use that word and you probably shouldn’t either.

craft, Doll, sewing

Diana Prince pt 2

I’m doing fairly well with the “finish it” goal of February and so-so on the frugal one.

Diana Prince, the groovy boutique owning super spy WW with no powers, is almost finished. Removed the Barbie lining of her jacket and I relined with leftover kimono silk from my own jacket re-lining project last year.

She still needs jewelry and boots, because this Diana Prince understands the essential nature of good accessories.

Alas it seems to be hard to get a good even white on her existing boots.

I may need to make her a pair. Making shoes/boots is probably in my future. The “Bratzilla” doll I remade has irregular sized feet (for a doll). Unlike the snap-off shoe-feet of Bratz, Brazilla have feet-feet…but larger than your average fashion doll.

Same for the DC Superhero girls dolls. I love the fact they have more realistically proportioned feet but am sad that this means a dearth of ready-to-wear shoes. These dolls can wear other doll’s clothing but it’s mighty hard for Wonder Woman to find civilian clothes that work with her red boots with WW gold accents. How’s she supposed to have a secret identity once she gets her super powers back?

Bruce Wayne doesn’t have to wear Batboots in the boardroom. It’d make things obvious.

Bruce Wayne, I imagine, has to be mighty good with makeup/concealer. That cowl doesn’t protect his whole face from bruises. Does he send Alfred to buy it? “It’s for Master Bruce’s….mistress”

That’s a montage I want. Superhero dudes learning bruise concealing makeup techniques.

And I want more doll shoes.

And if I want either of those things, I’ll need to pay someone or make them myself.

craft, Doll, monster high, sewing, Uncategorized

Heads up! Finish it February!

I haven’t been around because illness took me DOWN. After two rounds of antibiotics, more nasal steroids, and the joy of three days in a row without kerosene fumes I’m almost better.

Welcome to Finish-it-February, wherein I try to be frugal by focusing on finishing projects instead of starting them.

Of course, as soon as I proclaimed this on February first and my buddy Ebony said hell-yeah! (she’d suggested Frugal Febuary and I added the ‘ffing Finish It)…I came home and started a new project.

Luckily the Hedgehog bonding scarf worked up quickly with items I had and I could count it as ‘Finished’ and decide to be more mindful in the following days. After February I could easily see myself making a second one and doing a tutorial on it.

Right now I have two focuses for the first half of this month:

1.Put faces on smaller dolls.

On my small balcony you can find these heads right now…plus one more.

Top to bottom:

Wednesday Adams via EAH Raven Queen
Teen Titans Go Jinx via Monster High Operetta
Groovy 70’s Diana Prince via DC Superheros Girls Wonder woman.
(not shown) Raven via EAH Royal Faybelle

Stuffed Animal Renewal.

I didn’t just have conjunctivitis, I also had a sinus infection. It took me DOWN.

Also, it’s made a lot of detail work I could be doing impossible. When I tilt my head down to focus on what my hands are doing I feel all the weight of the crap in my sinuses and it hurts.

I haven’t had much energy while getting well but I’m NOT GOOD at not doing anything, or doing next to nothing. I get a little stir-crazy. I’ve spent a lot of time in bed so I’ve mustered the ability to do laundry, make my bedroom feel clean..and renew an old stuffed animal.

I’ve written about my history with Ralph here before. Because I’d found him left behind at a campsite, I’ve never known him in pristine condition….but I figured he could look better.

I decided first to restuff him. I opened him up at side seams, removed the existing filler, stuffed him with polyester filling, and restitched him. His body was filled with foam chunks, I’m glad I did this before those started to chemically break down into dust. His limbs were filled with cotton-like batting. The final photo is after this process. Ralph is sitting a little prouder.

Then a made a paste of baking soda, dawn dish washing soap, and a little water. I took a toothbrush and started scrubbing his fur.

Then, when I’d scrubbed as much as I could like that I took a spray bottle of vinegar, spritzed him bit by bit and removed the fizzing/past residue with a clean towel.

To get rid of the rest of the moister/oil/grime I put him in a plastic bag, poured about a cup of baking soda in, and shook until he had a nice crust.

I let him air dry a few hours.

Then came the dusty task of rubbing/cracking him down with towels first and toothbrushes second to get all that baking soda out. I suggest doing that over a bathtub because there will be baking soda everywhere.

Along with the toothbrush I used a pet brush to make the fur fluffier again.

No, I don’t have a pet with fur who needs this. It’s for doll wigs/ stuffed animals/and re-rooting with yarn.

Fluffier Ralph! He still has a bit of baking soda to work out of his fur here.

I also used some high-grit sanding paper (1000/6000/8000/10,000) to buff some deep scratches out of his eyes.

And, in my final act, I’m stitching new fabric on top of his old ear-lining… because that fabric is sad.

I have one more ear to go but Ralph is already looking much better.

New Year, New Ear, New Me!

craft, sewing, Uncategorized

Finishing the quilt: best laid plans

My plan, after being diagnosed with conjunctivitis on Sunday, was to rest as much as possible on Monday (which I don’t work) and return to working at the elementary school on Tuesday. I’d still be contagious for two weeks but could prevent spread by washing my hands often/not touching my eye/ touching no one and almost nothing.

At that point I knew my head cold symptoms were part of the eye issue. After all, the nose is next door to the sick eye socket.

I didn’t know that conjunctivitis could also present flu-like symptoms.

Monday my eye was crusty in the morning but looked much better. Yay, Medicine!By midafternoon a was starting to show a fever and body aches…and figured I might need to take a day off and contacted people…and by the evening I had a full fever and so many body aches I couldn’t pick things up off the floor. Was in bed by 8pm and woke up every few hours to change out of sweaty bedclothes and remove more quilts from my bed.

Including my now finished quilt! YAY!

At the start of Craftsmas I was determined to finish the scrap quilt I’d made the prior December. I’m not a trained quilter nor do I think much ahead about lights and darks and balance. I just trust my years of art to serve me and figure…they are my scraps, they’re related…even if just to me.

I’d finished the top of the quilt in 2017 and put it away for most of 2018.

In the last two weeks, armed with fabric for the bottom/ batting I picked up in 2017/ and cloth for the edging, I set to work.

First mistake I made. I cut the bottom fabric THE SIZE I wanted the quilt to be, with a little length at the top and bottom. I should have left at least a 5-10cm border to insure I wouldn’t lose details like the squares that are just at the side of the design.

Pinning before tying a quilt is best done with curved safety pins created for the purpose. These turn out to be easier to find in America than Japan. I could get them on Amazon but they’d take a week to get to me. Straight pins it was.

When the task of tying was finished (a three day process for me but it would have taken longer if it hadn’t been vacation) it was time to trim the excess fabric and batting (which I only had at the top and bottom) and edge the quilt.

I then took the bias tape I’d made. Well, not real bias tape. Quilts have straight edges so I could do mitered edges without cutting the fabric at 45degrees. I joined the strips of fabric as one would join bias strips. I pinned and machine stitched everything on one side.

Then I hand finished the folded over bias-styled binding on the other side. Pining before whipstiching…until a friend reminded me that I have Wonderclips and needn’t be risking all the pin pricks.

Finished and on my bed!

When there’s better light I’ll take photos of the boxesand some of the other creatures who live in my quilt.

For now this is folded up because nighttime is coming and so is my fever.

craft, sewing, Uncategorized

Quilt

For the last week and few days my mother has been here (and we’ve traveled to Vietnam) so crafting hasn’t been my highest priority. Tomorrow she heads back to America and the Craftsmas resumes.

It’s time to line this scrap quilt I made last year. When spring of 2018 started coming I stopped after I purchased the batting. Warm weather isn’t what I need to go forward on a scrap quilt.

Now that my free time is starting it’s time to finish this.

It’s 160cm wide by 240 long. Ignore the mess. It’s what happens when you have to push everything to one side of the room.

The Mom and I visited the Nippori fabric district and I came back with my quilt backing fabric (and more…) and threw everything into the wash when I got home (and then hung to dry).

Tonight, after she went to bed, I finished the backing.

Tomorrow it moves to my dance room (where I am currently sleeping) to begin tying it.

Do It Yourself: WFU

The dolls and art of a woman in Japan trying to be better.

Category Archives: sewing

SHOES for Wednesday

Finished Costume Pictures.

Never Ending Cat Skirt.

Capelette: I’m ready to be extra at your funeral.

Costume Finished!

Diana Prince pt 2

Heads up! Finish it February!

Stuffed Animal Renewal.

Finishing the quilt: best laid plans

Quilt