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First attempt at boots

My mini-me needed boots - I love brown knee-high boots, especially in winter. I've drafted a tights/socks pattern that I haven't got around to making up yet, but I used it as a base for a boots pattern. I traced it out, making it a little larger all around, then cut it into two parts - the leg and the top of the foot. I found some lovely faux suede materiel that was really thin and easy to work with. I used it to make the boots, including a fabric sole, adding stitching detail around the join of the two pieces of pattern and along the top of the boots. I deliberately made them loose enough that I wouldn't need a fastening or opening anywhere along the seams. The two boots didn't turn out exactly identical, but for a first attempt they were close enough for me to be happy. The next challenge was finding something suitable for a sole. I eventually settled on using a firm foam that had been included as packaging materiel in something I'd ordered. It was handily cut...
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Designing a dryad

Having repainted the doll for my dryad I started playing with other design ideas. I liked the pink and green in the original Venus doll but went for a slightly more muted pink. It reminded me of the gorgeous cherry blossom tree at my parents' house, so her name will be Blossom. I wanted something floaty and ethereal for her dress and came up with the layered design below. I have no idea how I'm going to make it yet, but at least I have pictures to work from! I haven't quite decided on her hair design either. I ordered some nylon hair which looked (on the computer) as if it would be the perfect shades of pink and green, but when it arrived the green was too blue. It will make perfect mermaid hair at some point! But it needs a rethink for the rest of the hair. More on Blossom's progress when I've finished her clothes...
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Making a mini me

As I'm making a mini Monkey I thought I'd better make a mini me as well. I chose Operetta as the base doll for myself as her face shape is most like mine. I haven't started working on the doll yet - for a change I decided to make her wardrobe first. I love autumnal colours and I think autumn is my favourite season, so I chose a colour palette of browns, oranges, reds and greens for her outfit. I found some gorgeous striped fabric in a bag of scraps I got for £1 from my local fabric shop. The pieces are very small, but more than enough for making doll clothes. The fabric was perfect for making an autumn coat from a pattern by Requiem Arts Design. I added green buttons to the front and the closure is velcro, but I may change that later if I decide she'll wear her coat open. The fringe at the bottom was a happy accident ! The fabric started to fray when I cut it and I thought it looked pretty good so I frayed it evenly all around. Because of the fraying I used fabri...
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Making a mini Monkey

I told Monkey in a moment of over-confidence I would make her a doll that looked just like her. She has a lovely tan - think like your typical Californian blonde - so I'm using Howleen Wolf as the base for this doll. I re-rooted her hair with blonde nylon. It was my first time using nylon hair and I went far too thick to start with, so I had to pull out a considerable number of plugs to thin them out before I was finished. I patched over where I'd cut off her ears with fabric, then managed to make a large hole in one piece when I stabbed in a plug too enthusiastically. Once I'd finally got the thickness right I used far too much glue inside the head and it took a good week to dry. *sigh* Lessons learned, I'm glad that's all done! Once that faff was all over I curled her hair using pipe cleaners and foil, and dipped in hot ad cold water to set the curls. I cut her hair once the curls were in and styled it a bit more. Monkey has quite short curly hair and that...
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Dollightful's tropical collab

I'm so stoked right now, because Dollightful has released her tropical collaboration video! There's something really exciting about seeing something I made in a video by my favourite doll artist (alongside about 4,000 other beautiful dolls!). If you'd like the watch the whole video, it's here:
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Making skirts

This week I've been working on drawing out some patterns for clothes and testing them out. My favourite so far is this skirt. I used a factory outfit to get the basic dimensions, then worked out how long I wanted the skirt and how high I wanted the waistband to be. The blue skirt, modelled by Catrine, was the basic skirt design I came up with, with a silver ribbon added at the bottom and a bow at the back to hide the velcro stitching. For Draculaura's skirt (...I think it came undone when I was taking pictures... oops!) I shortened the pattern and added ruffles to the bottom and a ribbon at the top and on the ruffles. I pulled threads out of the tweed-type fabric to give it and frayed edge and I used the thread to sew the beige ruffle and the bow on, so that it all matches.   I'm going to try a few more styles with this basic pattern - making it full length, having a high-low hem, a mini skirt and a petticoat - and then will see it I can modify it again to make a ...
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What do I do with a green doll?

The first Monster High dolls I bought for customisation were a set of two from eBay - Clawdeen Wolf and Venus McFlytrap. As I mentioned in another post, I don't have any pastels or airbrushing kit, and I don't really want to invest in them at the moment. So what was I to make of a green doll like Venus? I had two ideas - something to do with plants or something to do with the sea. I did a few sketches and decided to go along a plant-based theme and make her into a dryad. Her hair was in good condition but I wasn't sure I wanted that colour, so I cut it off and kept it for a future project. After the usual prep (sanding down any lines in the plastic, clean face with acetone, take out hair roots, etc) I repainted her scalp in a dark brown and also painted the ends of her arms and legs in brown acrylic paint. I had the idea that she would have the same colouring as a tree, so I used a brush to get lines in the paint like bark. I fully expect the paint to chip off a littl...
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