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

February Already! And finally some dolly time :)

Most people complain that January goes by so slowly after the rush of December and Christmas but I must admit, that having been in the UK from the 3rd to the 11th, the month seemed to whizz by!  I was hardly home when the 31st arrived and brought with it my son Brendan who came over for a week's holiday with us.  He mainly comes to see us on his own as he has more holidays than his wife Virginia, so when she comes to Spain she naturally spends the time with her family.  Anyway, it was a great week, we did lots of chatting and laughing and of course shopping, Brendan always wants to buy things here that are apparently much cheaper than the UK, so he keeps us very busy!!

Lucy loves having Brendan home! 

 

On the dolly front I have sold a couple of dolls and done a bit of sewing as well as have taken some photos of different dolls who've had a change of clothes or wig.  The weather has been lovely, very warm and sunny, perfect weather for taking my girls outside to photograph.....

Here is Holly (formerly Wentje, the doll I showed in my last post), she is a Zwergnase Junior and is 55cm tall.  I changed her into this dress that I made ages ago for another doll that has since left for pastures new.  I then added a 'shirt' underneath so that it looked a bit different from when the last doll wore it. When I first got her I wasn't sure about her but since I got back from the UK and have had a chance to 'play' with her, she's really grown on me. 

 Also today I changed the wig on my Little Cosmos Dolls Robin.  I've always thought of her as a dark haired girl but yesterday I received this wig from a group order I'd participated in back in the autumn.  By the time it arrived, I couldn't remember who I'd ordered it for!!!  So Dylan (Robin) tried it and I really think it suits her so she will keep it.  

Who'd have thought she'd look so angelic as a blond!  Funny how looks can be so deceiving though😉

I also changed my little Sienna (Bastian, also by Little Cosmos Dolls) into this cute outfit by the Gorjuss company.  It seems odd to have a coat with short sleeves but it's not cold here now so little Sienna doesn't mind 😉.  This girl's face so appeals to me, she always looks so worried, like she's scared she's about to be told off!!!

 
I made a couple of outfits for my Kaye Wiggs girls, here is Gracie modelling the outfit I made for her....It wasn't quite finished in this photo, I'd forgotten to put the cord through the bottom of the sleeveless hoodie!!

Here we go, the cord is now done and I made another outfit, this time for Hope. 

I have a third outfit cut out and ready to sew for Layla, I'll get to that soon I'm sure!

In the meantime, I am off to the UK again on Thursday to see my mum and brother.  My mum has been doing very well since her fall and is completely on the mend now, thank goodness.  She was recently discharged by the physiotherapists and is now walking well with the aid of a walking stick or a walking frame.  I'm only going for five days but looking forward to it....apart from the weather!!!

I have some dolly purchases to pick up whilst over there so hopefully will have some new arrivals to show you on my return.

Have a great week ahead, and for those of you being affected by Storm Ciara, keep safe and warm.

Big hugs
Sharon in Spain xxx


 






 

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

Busy, Busy!

The last few weeks have been very busy for me, I don't mean to neglect my blog...honest!

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of what I've been up to.  There's a lot of talk in the BJD (ball jointed doll) world about recasts, I don't want to get into that subject on here because it's a very emotive subject and I'm going to bed soon and it plays on my mind, but my lovely friend Sue in the UK and I, were talking back last summer about how it is possible to get a cute BJD for a really reasonable price, without resorting to buying recasts. 
 
Soooo we both bought a head each from a company called Alice's Collections in China, the head in question is a Little Peach 1/6 scale head from the company Doll Family and at the time we bought ours, it was $18 plus $5 postage.  I see the price has now gone up slightly to $22 but still very reasonable for a bjd head.  The head comes in five resin colours, normal pink, white, normal yellow, tanned and grey and we both chose the tanned version.  The head comes blank without any body, eyes or wig.  The heads shipped approx two months after we purchased them, so I received mine about November.  We were then going to send Sue's head cap to a company called Resin Soul, also in China, as they have a resin matching service and will make a body to match the head cap from the head.  We chose the 1/6 scale girl body.  We decided to wait until after Christmas to order the bodies.  The bodies would cost $80 each plus postage.

After Christmas, unfortunately, I had a bit of a financial crisis and was unable to go ahead with my ordering of a body, so Sue went ahead and ordered hers.  Unbeknown to me, my lovely friend ordered a body for me too as a gift and she surprised me with this generous present in February!!!  I'm so very blessed.  💖

Sue sent my body and her dolls head to me, so that I could do the faceup on her doll as well as my own doll.

This is Sue's blank doll.....
 

 
We wanted the two girls to be twins, so I worked on them at the same time in order to achieve some sort of uniformity.  

I tried to make both girls as similar as possible but despite all my efforts at keeping them dust free, I managed to get some tiny pieces of lint under the sealant!  I was not a happy bunny and decided to start Sue's doll again.... but for the life of me I cannot find the photos of the finished head second time round, so here, below, is the first one.....

Finally the two heads were finished and I was happy with them.  And today my husband, who is currently in the UK, was able to hand Sue her finished head.  

Here is Sue's lovely girl, who is now known as Ida.....she has a lot of attitude!!!

I made this outfit as a gift for Sue.....

And here is my girl, who is called Sarah....

Sarah also has to wear glasses but she left them off for the above photos!

And here is Sarah in a different outfit:

 

I will take some better close up  photos of Sarah soon, I just need to replace her eyelashes as I'm not happy with the ones she currently has, as I used the wrong glue.

I'm very happy with how both girls turned out.  I'm not a professional faceup artist, but I did my best to bring the girls to life and hopefully I have achieved that!

Thank you for visiting, I will be back soon with the other things that I've been up to recently.

Have a lovely week ahead!

Big hugs Sharon xx