Yur has some new accessories.  A girl can never have too many stockings...

Now that I have my space in a workable arrangement, I decided to start building Yur's wardrobe with the essentials.  I've made a selection of stockings for her.   A basic set of white lycra ones for wearing underneath gowns to protect her resin legs & feet from shoes.  Then three sets of sheer stockings for outfits that will show off her lovely legs.  The sheer sets are made of nude mesh, black mesh with ruffled chiffon at the top & shimmering white with a scalloped trim.  I have dozens of stretch fabrics in a variety of colours of solids/patterns/sheer & opaque...something for every outfit is very likely.

I thought I would share the pattern for the stockings with you.  Happy sewing!  It can be found on the Tutorials page or select the photo below to go directly to the download...

Wishing you a wonderful Holiday filled with laughter, joy & treasured memories!

My eyelet order has arrived!   I decided to put together a "How To" photo series for setting mini eyelet ...  It has been added to my Tutorials page for easy reference or access it directly by clicking on the image below:.

If you are in need of an eyelet setting tool for 1/16" (2-3mm) eyelet, check out www.mimiwoo.com - setting tool is inexpensive & Free international shipping is offered!

A new page has been added to the Tutorials page for this topic under Tips/Techniques.  Sewing Stretch Fabric with a Sewing Machine - included is the last instalment in this mini series.  Click on the photo below to access the page directly:

There is such a wonderful selection of fabrics with stretch these days.  In a variety of colours, patterns, weights - laces, jersey, bamboo or cotton for casual, fancies for evening, knits with texture, fine net...the list goes on.  The beauty of stretch is the comfort & fit.    

I've had numerous questions related to sewing stretch fabric with a sewing machine so thought that I would do a mini-series with some tips & techniques just for the sewing machine.  Although a serger is ideal for working with stretch fabrics, it is very limited when sewing on a very small scale.

Needle & thread are basics needed to sew all fabrics however, selecting the ones best suited for stretch fabrics will make the project go so much more smoothly. 

I finished posting up the decorative styling of Rococo Wig in the tutorial section.  It has been quite a journey for the making of the Rococo Wig.  Interesting & informative as well as labour intensive & time consuming to make the photo journal...yet most rewarding in the finished product.

Just to recap, the related tutorial sections are (clicking on the photos will take you to the associated tutorial section):

The spiral curls for the Rococo wig are completed & turned out perfectly.   I have created a new section in tutorials "Exclusively for BJD" & posted the previous how it was made segments there for easy reference.  There now is one for "Wig Wefts" and another for "The making of a Rococo Wig" which includes how to do the curls. 

The final instalment - decorative styling - for the Rococo Wig is in progress & will be along soon.

I have started work on a casual dress for Yur & will get some photos up shortly.

2013 will be an exciting year with plans for new patterns, handmade pieces, tutorials, more photography & improving/expanding website content.  

I feel very fortunate to be able to return to a passion of my youth - creating for dolls!  Ball Jointed Dolls (BJD) are quiet simply exquisite!  I have only one at the moment but hope for many companions for her.  To start the year, the primary focus will be creating for my lovely Yur, who is a 1/3 scale BJD.   I have plans for both casual & formal, as well as period gowns...draping is in progress.  Patterns are a natural result of this process & I will be publishing them so stay tuned.  Additions to the website will include sections (patterns, handmade & tutorials) dedicated to BJD! 

New Christmas stocking patterns are in the design stages & will be released this year.  

A busy year, indeed!  

Please feel free to contact me at any time with questions, I will gladly respond.  Feedback & comments are appreciated.  If there is content that you would like to see, let me know...I look forward to hearing from you.

In the works is a tall Rococo style wig - this is also often referred to as a "pouf" or Marie Antoinette style from the 18th century.  The three objectives for this wig were: 1) to create a wig with a permanent or dedicated style; 2) light weight given the height & over all size of the style; and lastly 3) to remain pliable or soft enough to allow for different embellishments to used (pinned in) once finished - thus I decided to use batting to build the base or under lying structure of the wig.

After looking at both historical paintings, as well as more recent photos from movies about the era, I decided to make the first wig an exaggerated height.  The first question was how to determine the height.  Upon closer inspection of the images there seemed to be a rough correlation between the length of the face & the height.  I opted to use as a guide the distance from the chin to the edge of the wig cap & then made the starting or "central tower" this size.  I have an Iplehouse EID & the measurement I used was 2.5" (6.35cm).

The wig cap shown above is crocheted & lined - any type of wig cap can be used.  In the initial stages of learning to make wig caps, several of these crocheted type caps were made.  I found that a stretch mesh cap was more flexible for positioning wefts, so am using up these trial caps for styles that are suitable - white & will be completely covered (location & number holes do not matter).

See the complete photo journal on how the Rococo Wig was made or  select "Read More" for the rest of this post ...

To make sewing as easy as possible & to avoid the hair getting caught in the feed dogs, I placed a regular sheet of white paper beneath the hair.  

See the complete photo journal on how the Wig Wefts were made or  select "Read More" for the rest of this post ...