Something happened on the way to Ebay.....!

I had been looking at my dolls with a view to downsizing...I do this every now and again, especially if I see another doll that I might l like to add to my dolly family....and this was the case recently.  I thought about who to sell, and someone mentioned that a Hope by Kaye Wiggs had recently sold for a nice four figure sum on Ebay.   So I said to myself "do I really need not one but TWO Kaye Wiggs dolls with the same body style? Do I? Really?" and so when we went home a week or so ago to collect some things for Christmas, I decided to bring my Hope back to the coast with me with a view to getting her ready to sell.

Ahh but as we know, all the best made plans........I took some photos, I changed her wig and clothes and that was it.  I realised that I couldn't sell this doll even for four figures!  I'm not greedy, I know that if I have any regrets then this doll will be irreplacable because I'm hopeless at saving money and would struggle to find another even if I could get the money together.  I realised that the doll meant more to me than the money, which would just get spent anyway!!

Not only that, quite quickly over the last week, this doll has actually become one of my favourites of all my dolls!!!  How weird is that!!!!

So she is staying and today I changed her into this knitted set by Stassy Dodge in Latvia.  The set is actually knitted for the Sylvia Natterer dolls who are bigger in the body than Hope, but I liked how it looked on her.  Plus having been brought down here with selling in mind, I never brought any clothes for her!!! Poor girl!

I took her to the beach with us for our usual Sunday morning walk, it was mild but dull and very very still, not a breath of wind.  I hope you like the photos of her :) and warn you there are a lot of them!!!!

Thank you for stopping by my blog today, I hope you all have a lovely week ahead and keep safe and warm!

Sewing again, and a discovery....

The last few days have seen me sewing for the Kaye Wiggs girls again, this time a three piece outfit for a lady in the US.  She asked for her outfit to be made in pinks and also wanted overalls/dungarees in dark denim.  Here is her outfit:

The overalls/dungarees are made from medium weight denim with a small amount of lycra.  They've been washed several times to remove the dye.  They are all topstitched with rust coloured thread, have 6 working pockets, two on the back, two at the waist/hips and two on the bib.   As you will see below, the bib is lined in this case with blue and white polka dot cotton which is actually from a flamenco dress!!!  (I used blue and white as opposed to pink because I'm sure these will be worn with other outfits or even on their own!)   And they do up with proper metal mini overall clips!

The blouse is made from pink spotted quilters cotton with pointed collar and wide cuffs.  It does up with metal snaps and has tiny pink buttons sewn down the front placket:

One of the back pockets has a red 'tag' like real jeans do.

The sleeveless hooded jacket is made from soft fine flowered needlecord with a burgundy background and is fully lined in pink and white candy stripe shirting fabric.  It does up at the front with a pale pink separating zip.  It has two front pockets.

Here you can see the hooded jacket and the blouse.

However, I also made a good discovery when making this outfit too......the overalls/dungarees actually fit the Sasha dolls!  OK they're a bit on the long side but it won't take much for me to alter my pattern ever so slightly and have a pattern for a nicely fitting pair of overalls which fit Sasha and Gregor too.  And here is Nuria modelling them for me:

I love how the early evening sunshine is showing up the gorgeous colour of her hair here.....it's like spun gold :) 

Here you can see the lined bodice.....ideally Nuria would be wearing a vest or teeshirt underneath but I tried them on her on the spur of the moment....I'm not sure she's overly impressed about modelling topless!!! 

There is only one thing that I forgot to do and that is try out the sleeveless hooded jacket on Nuria too!!!!  I had every intention of doing so but packaged it up and sent it off today without remembering to do so!  Oh well, there's always next time :)        

Thanks for looking and have a lovely week!!!!

Keeping up the challenges.....

As I mentioned last weekend, I've set myself a challenge to sew something using patterns that I've not used before.  Well I've really been busy this week and although some of my 'challenges' have not exactly involved new patterns, they have involved modifications to those patterns.  For example, I made a sleeveless gillet for Dee's Elfine (The Sasha Village blog) and where the pattern calls for the gillet to be made unlined in knit fabric, I decided to fully line mine in lilac and white gingham and make the gillet itself in deep lilac corderoy.   I had to do quite a bit of it by hand but am very happy with the finished result, and so I believe is Elfine, so that's the main thing! :)  Here is the gillet being modelled by Hope, my Kaye Wiggs girl. 

And here are the details of the jeans....because I know it wouldn't be 'fitting' to ask HRH Princess Elfine to show us her bum ;)....they have 5 working pockets, opening front fly, leather tag on the waistband and red tag on the pockets, as well as tiny metal 'rivets' like real jeans have.  I don't generally add belt loops as they add too much bulk at the waist.  And please ignore the printing on the leather tag...not good...but once I'd put it on, there was no getting it off again. :(

Another challenge this weekend was to make a pair of boots for my Kidz n Cats dolls.  This pattern is designed for the American Girl dolls so is a little bit wide in the leg for the Kidz, however, I think with thick socks or boot toppers, they work very well.  I used red faux suede for these.

Sian (2014 Grace) gets to wear them first as she doesn't have any other footwear that remotely matches her outfit....

Earlier in the week I also finished a couple of outfits for another friend in the UK, these are for the Little Darlings and the ski pants are another pattern that I'd not used before but adapted from a different pattern.  Finn is modelling them beautifully for me.....(you'll also notice that she's trying a couple of different wigs....what do you think?)

Sewing aside, I also did a bit more work on the eye sockets of my other Kidz n Cats girl, Elise from 2013.  I wanted her to have these eyes but they are oval, flat backed, glass and wouldn't sit right in the sockets, I have now got them to fit perfectly, so I'm very happy with that as I think these glass eyes are much nicer and more natural looking than those I'd previously used.

And finally some photos of both Kidz girls together, Elise on the left with Sian.....they are the best of friends :)

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all have a lovely week :)