Hello! I'm still alive!

 I'm really sorry that I've not been around for ages, I've not posted on my blog or read anyone else's either, which is bad because I do enjoy seeing what everyone else is up to on the dolly front.

As for me, well I'm well but have had six months of problems with one of my legs, several times I was unable to actually walk and I honestly thought the worst.  Well it turns out that I have 'severe arthritis' in my knee and lower leg and am too young (I like that!) for a replacement knee so I've been given strong painkillers.  They're working well but I feel so tired that sometimes I just cannot be bothered to do anything! 

However, I have actually been sewing, quite a lot to be honest.  I've let my house gather dust and concentrated on my dolls....well those dust mites deserve a life too, wouldn't you say?  Seriously though, I've been sewing, sewing and more sewing and really enjoying it.  I've also customised a doll so I will share some of those things here and hope, if I still have any readers left, you will enjoy seeing what I've been doing.

I received a new BJD back in April and although I wasn't sure whether I'd actually keep her, when she arrived I was smitten.  She is a Pao by Boto Doll and although she has a chubby body which I normally don't like, I really love her.  I've done a lot of sewing for her.....

 I've been having such fun with her, her name is Jin, which apparently means Jade in Chinese.

I've made outfits for my Gotz girls too....

 

Both of those girls arrived in the early part of the year....I had a bit of a spending spree!!  

Some more BJDs got new clothes....

 

Samantha (Elfdoll Hana Angel) got a new blue dress with beading around the hem.

Noa (Irrealdoll Nora) got a check dress and cream socks.

Black Cherry Dolls XiaoYu got a new denim pinafore and striped stockings.  The lovely knitted sweater and beret were a gift from a friend.

And she also got a linen dress in khaki green.

 Bastian by Little Cosmos Dolls got some new trousers and a matching top.

So these were just a few of the many things I've been sewing recently.

Finally I did a makeover on one of my Gotz girls.  Anna is from 2005 and although she was really nice, her eyes were quite flat and not the most attractive so I decided to give her a whole new face.

Here she is with her new look and new dress....well if a girl has a new look she really needs another new dress, I guess!  

 I almost cut her eyes out to insert glass ones but then I decided to try repainting her existing eyes, after five attempts I was happy with the ones I painted and after sealing them, I added clear UV resin to give them a strong shine.

I think she looks more like a child now and less 'doll-like'.

So you'll see that I've not exactly been idle, just not here on Blogger.  I will try my best to catch up with all the blogs but I might just have to start afresh from now.  Forgive me for all the things I've missed and for not commenting.

Big hugs and enjoy your week.

Sharon in Spain xx

A little bit of sewing......

As the interest in my dolls has started to come back, so has my urge to sew for them again.  Over the last week or so I've made a couple of dresses for the Little Darlings which I showed in my last blog post and now I've made a few outfits for my BJDs (ball jointed dolls) so I thought I would share the BJD outfits here.  

First of all I decided to make a summer dress for Angel, my tanned Ziya by Youpladolls, using a pattern that I've had here for many years as it came from a doll magazine back in about 2008.  I've used this pattern many times in the past but hadn't done so recently.  It is a pattern designed by Zozolala, the Dutch doll seamstress and I thought it would be a nice style for Angel.

I decided to add a frill to the bottom of the dress using a contrasting fabric which I also used for the shoulder straps. 

The bodice is a little loose on her but I like how it hangs.  The pintucks are a nice feature and add a bit of interest to the bodice.

  
Next, using a pattern from Tirin & Katten, I made a summer dress for my Eminor from Harucasting.  The pattern comes in many sizes and I decided to use the biggest size, designed for the MSD Imda 4.3 and increase it by 10% as Eminor has a slightly bigger bust than the Imda.  

I decided to leave the hem with a raw edge, just for fun and then to wet the dress and screw it up and twist it about a bit!  I love how this style suits her so much.  I've never thought of Eminor as a girlie girl,  but she certainly looks it in this style of dress with her hair loosely piled up on her head and her little brown Mary Jane shoes.  I think I need to make more dresses for her now!!!
 

Sorry about all the similar photos of her but I just couldn't choose as I love this girl so much!

And finally today, I made a dress for Anais, my Annic by Irrealdolls.  Anais is just 22 cm tall and very slim.  I decided to use the same pattern for her as I used for Eminor above but this time I would try the pattern for the Imda 2.2 size doll.  I measured Anais's chest and established that she had approximately the same chest size as the Imda 2.2 and went from there.

I think that next time I would slightly increase the size of the pattern before cutting it out....maybe by about 5 percent and also slightly increase the length of the bodice.  I think that a bodice that sits a little bit lower down rather than right under Anais's small bust line, would hopefully eliminate some of the bulkiness.  

The bodice in this size is quite tiny and fiddly to work with and being fully lined doesn't help, but I'm pleased with how it came out.  I used quilters cotton for this dress but the pattern does suggest that finer fabric would work well, so I might see what I have that's thinner for next time.  Also, I ironed the gathers down as suggested in the pattern, I think I'd want to do that a bit differently too as I don't like how some of the gathers are hanging here.

I also have another idea for an outfit for Eminor, this time using the bodice part of the pattern and instead of making it into a dress, using it as a summer top....and adding some shorts.  Hopefully I will make a start on that tomorrow.

Watch this space!!!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing a little of what I've been up to on the dolly sewing front.  Thanks so much for visiting and I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Big hugs, Sharon in Spain xxx

Blythe Con Europe 2017....Part One!

Last Saturday, the dawn broke, bringing with it the long anticipated Blythe Con Europe, at the Palacios de Congresos in Malaga.  I have to admit to having feelings of both excitement and slight trepidation because I was hoping to meet friends that I'd previously only spoken with on line!

The Palacios de Congresos in Malaga is just about 30 minutes drive from us and we've attended quite a few events there in the past, but never a doll event, so I really had been looking forward to it.  When we arrived the queue snaked quite a way from the building although it was a tickets only event.  There was lots of excitement in the queue, with people holding their Blythes and chatting away to old friends and making new ones.  Finally the line entered the building and we were greeted at the entrance desk by the event organisers who gave us our goody bags, wrist bands and one free raffle ticket.

The goody bags were great!!!  The illustration on the bags were designed by Olga, Vainilladolly, who was the main organiser of the event, and is a friend of mine. She is a brilliant artist, her work is beautiful and this design was no exception.  Below you can see a part of the design and further down you'll see the bag with all the things that I brought home in it!!!

The goody bags were really exciting in themselves, they contained soooo much stuff!  There were things that related to Spain, such as a fan , there were sunflower seeds which are eaten by the sack load here in Malaga, and then there were lots of sweets, a very cute badge, note pad and folder all designed by Olga, Vainilldolly, a very cute pen that looks like a medication capsule!, soap, a plastic egg full of little rubber dinosaur toys for dolls to play with, fruity lip balm in a little 'Russian doll' type container, a small jointed teddy bear made of denim, a tiny paper doll sheet with clothes to cut out!  Another sheet to cut out and make a doll in a box for your Blythe, dolly sized hair decoration and bead bracelet!  Soooo many things, I'm sure I've missed something.  And everyone had a lanyard to wear which was designed to look like the pull ring that changes the colour of the Blythe dolls eyes!

Anyway, there were 96 stands full of delightful things to buy, and oh my goodness I spend waaaaay more than I intended but my excuse is I'm helping the Spanish economy! LOL.

Here are my gifts and purchases.  The big bar of Milka chocolate was a gift from my dear friend Barb who lives in Madrid and came down to Malaga for the event.  She's such a lovely lady, it was great to finally meet her!  The blue and white striped socks were a gift from TTYA of South Korea, as were two very nice and unusual metal book markers which you can just see lying behind the egg at the front right of the photo:

Here are some close ups of some of the items I bought...

This lovely pale blue and white dress by Pomme Pomme from Kentucky, USA:

Great striped overalls with leather front pocket by TTYA of South Korea:

Lovely mohair fur rabbit helmet by Dafnery Dolls of Granada, Spain:

Cute tiny leather boots with working buckles also from TTYA of South Korea:

This pretty printed teeshirt dress from Shabby Village Bunny of Germany:

This pretty little tutu from Mi Mundo Blythe, also here in Spain:

This tiny wooden and leather catapult Tekubi Customize,  also from Spain:

My biggest purchase was the lovely little tanned Enyo who is made by the Spanish artist Laura of Irrealdolls.  Enyo is approx 17cm tall and is a fully jointed resin BJD.  He has a beautiful face up and as the artist pointed out to me, a quirky eyebrow!!!!  Below he's wearing his default outfit but I will take more photos of him in something less cosy soon!

Here he is stirring my hot chocolate at McDonalds....such a helpful little fellow!

Because this post took me longer than I expected, and it is now bedtime for me, I'm going to leave it here for tonight and tomorrow I will post photos of the actual event.  So please drop by tomorrow for masses of photos.....yes, I took photos of EVERYTHING!!!!

Thanks for visiting, hugs Sharon x