A bit of sewing for Holly....

Holly is my Zwergnase Junior Wentje who came here at Christmastime, a present from my  husband Brian.  Until now the poor girl has stood for ages in her default outfit then she was changed into a 'hand me down' from one of my other dolls, but today, finally, she has an outfit of her own.

I wanted to make her some loose fitting linen overalls and so searched on line for photos of what I had in mind.  So firstly I made a pattern by taking her measurements and drawing it out on a large piece of brown paper.  She's 55cm tall so the usual A4 sheets wouldn't work for her.  I tweaked it a few times and then decided to use an old pair of trousers of mine to cut up for the fabric.  I don't have much linen type fabric here and all that I do have would have been too small.  Plus I didn't really want to use good fabric in case the pattern was not a good fit for her.

I'm really pleased with how they've turned out.  I used some red metal overall clips that are meant for human sized items, and they worked perfectly for her.  I made a simple cap sleeved white tee shirt to finish off the look.

The overalls have large pockets on the sides so that Holly can fill them with her belongings or of course she can fit her hands in them too.

I have tweaked my pattern slightly to make them a little less full under the arms, and next time I think I will make them with short legs for the summer.  

I hope you're all keeping safe and having a nice day.

Big hugs, Sharon xxx

Trying outfits for size....

Jo, my new Zwergnase Junior Miriam has been trying on outfits for size as, at 55cm tall she is the biggest of my 'play dolls', excluding my two Himstedt dolls, and so far we haven't got much to wear in her size!  I tried lots of things on her and had intended taking more photos of her in different outfits, but Sods Law the weather today has been dreadful with really, really high winds that have smashed several of our flowerpots and uprooted trees locally, not conducive to taking dolly photos!  So I will just show her in the one outfit I photographed yesterday......

I made these overalls/dungarees for a Super Dollfie sized BJD so they are way too long on Jo but they do fit her quite well elsewhere, so she is wearing them for the time being.  They really could do with an extra snap put on the sides where the gingham pocket backs are, as she is currently showing off her knickers from the side!  I guess she has a bigger tummy than the BJD they were made for!!

Her hat is from another doll who's name escapes me but one of the doll companies here in Spain....

Leoni (Violet) also got a change of outfit this week but hers is new and I didn't make it, I bought it online.....it's nice to have someone else do all the hard work sometimes!  I really like this fine needle cord jacket and skirt with the orange long sleeved top and the striped leggings.  The hat and ankle warmers are from Kidz n Cats.

And finally, just a quick photo of the beach and the sea taken a couple of days ago on my afternoon walk....yes the morning one was missed as I overslept!!!

The afternoons at this time of year are also great for walking except that Lucy and I keep getting caught up by the local goatherds and their hundreds of goats as they walk through the campo as we do!!  Lucy goes berserk and wants to 'help' with rounding them up.....whilst I always seem to get embroiled in conversations about the weather....and we don't get very far very quickly!!!

The goats are very interested in Lucy and not in the least bothered by her mad barking at them!  

Well, thank you for visiting, I hope you've all had a good weekend and that you have a great week ahead!

Big hugs, Sharon xx

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!!!!

If I'd known you were coming......

......I'd have baked a cake!  as the song goes!  Well actually I did know that these little girls were 'visiting' today as they are Louise's pretty Sasha's who wanted to join us to model some of the new clothes that their mum recently commissioned me to make for them.
Thank you Louise for sharing your girls with us, I'm glad they and you like them!

The little girl on the left is wearing a white ra-ra skirt and sleeveless blouse set in a nice crisp cotton which Louise asked me to edge with navy blue ribbon and matching navy and white striped socks.  It also has a sailor style collar which is detachable (as you can she it's 'detached' here!) and her cardigan is beautifully knitted by Gill I believe.

Louise tells me that the little girl on the right has struggled for a while to find her 'style' as she is a bit of a Tomboy!  But she really loved her new 'aged' jeans with four working pockets and her sleeveless cotton blouse to go with them.

Oh!  Another little girlie has joined them!  And she's wearing her dungarees and another sleeveless blouse!  Louise told me that the dungarees were a nightmare to iron as they'd got a bit creased in transit.....they are a linen mix which I guess explains it.  Ooops!  Which actually doesn't bode well for the pair I started making for my own girls a few weeks back, they're still squashed into my sewing box only half finished...oh well!!!!  

Thank you very much for coming to visit us here in Spain girls, I hope you've enjoyed showing us your new outfits!

Thanks Louise for sharing the photos :)

I hope everyone has a lovely Sunday, and a Happy Fathers Day to dads everywhere who celebrate.....though it goes without saying that hopefully our parents are special to us every day, not just on their 'designated' day! :) 

A (temporary) new look for Hope! (LOTS of photos!!!!)

This morning I decided to remove Hopes faceup!  I generally remove the existing faceup if I'm sending a doll off for a new one because some faceup artists prefer it and also I always think that it just saves them the job!  I know I'm a bit premature because my slot with my chosen artist won't even be available until the summer, but I did it all the same.  Then I thought I'd have a little practice on her myself.  She looked quite scary and ugly without her face!!!

Once she was all nice and clean I sprayed her with a coat of Mr Super Clear Flat (sealant) and then got to work.   Now I'm not the worlds best faceup artist....in fact I'm not very good at all, but I like to have a go....and it's only temporary!  As it happens though, I'm really quite pleased with how she's turned out, she actually looks rather sweet!  Apologies for all the photos, they are a bit repetitive but I couldn't choose which ones I liked best!!!

Wig and overalls by me.  And faceup, obviously!!!