HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

It's a good thing 'doll time' runs differently to 'real time' so my dolls could have their New Year Party even though we are already well into January. 

And it's also a good thing that I won the Nommy Miniatures giveaway on The Travelling Twig blog last year or they wouldn't have had any food for their party. Well, actually they would - I have two slices of toast from an early Barbie Fashion Pack - but that's really not party food.

Instead they had meatballs, noodles and fortune cookies:

They look great and appetising and my dolls are very grateful.  They are also now aware that there is dolly food available and want me to add significantly to the menu.  (Just a side comment here: I am always reminded of the differences between America and Australia when I see the meatballs in the noodle box.  In Australia, you get noodles in noodle boxes but not really anything else.  And you generally only get fortune cookies in chinese restaurants, not with takeaway. )

As you can see, one doll opted to use a plate for her meatballs

but the rest shared from the boxes.

And even our cat attended the party. She stole the cushion from the playset box as we were setting up and claimed it as her latest toy.  So far, it has survived her better than I expected.

 In case you are wondering why this is a different cat to the one who was sleeping on my computer keyboard in the last entry - that beautiful cat disappeared around the middle of last year (that was one of the reasons my comments became a bit sporadic from the middle to end of last year).  We searched and searched but have never seen or heard anything of her since.  In our searching, we contacted our local Animal Aid which takes all strays picked up in our shire, and kept an eye on their website where they list the animals they have for adoption.  After a few months, we saw this cutie who really needed a home.  She is about 18 months old and had been in the care of Animal Aid for 10 months - more than half her life.  So Luma, as we have called her, has come to live with us and I am sure you will see more of her over time as she is a real character.

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone.  And I hope you will hear more from me this year than last year.

THE YEAR I DIDN'T WRITE ABOUT

Last year was a very busy year, paticularly after June.  And there were a lot of blog posts that were drafted in my mind but that never actually got written.  There were also some unexpected obstacles to writing.

So I thought I would do a quick overview of some of the doll and doll-related things that happened last year:

In June I met Barbie.

A shopping centre (shopping mall) near us was extended and refurbished.  The new shops that opened included a Big W store and meeting Barbie there was one of the attractions of their 'Grand Opening'.  The unfortunate thing was that the 'Grand Opening' was on a Wednesday and she was there between 1pm and 3pm when all her fans were at school. But she really was lovely (and had a very faint American accent).

At the end of July, Ikea did release their Huset doll furniture set in Australia so I gave in to peer pressure and bought one.  (And it was only $2 dearer than the American price, yay for Ikea ).

In August, I decided that if I was going to sew for American Girl dolls, I really needed an American Girl doll to make sure the clothes fitted properly.  So Megan came to live in Australia. (you will meet her properly in another blog post).

And, finally, having been taught by you all to always keep my eyes open for doll stuff in unexpected places, I found these little keyrings in Riot which is an art and craft chain here in Australia.  They contain tiny crayons in seven different colours.

 They are almost perfect scale for Barbie and were only $2.

 

Do you like the top Barbie is wearing in this picture?  It is one of three easy tops I promised to blog about last year.  It is very easy to make and the only sewing required is for the press stud (which you don't have to have).   Now I just have to write out the instructions so they are not too confusing.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I haven't abandoned my blog.  I just gave myself writer's block by saying I would do top patterns and then getting too busy to take the photos and write it all up.  I've finally decided that that post/s will happen but I'm still able to write about other things in the meantime .

So a very quick post and photo from sunny Australia to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I hope you all enjoy your day.

QUICK AND EASY DOLL SKIRT (TUTORIAL)

I hope everyone had a happy Mother's Day (whether you have human children, animal children or doll children - it all counts).  I spent mine sewing - not for me but for the dolls.  (I'm not really complaining, I did have a happy day.)

When the dolls heard I had agreed to make another wedding dress, they chucked a wobbly.  (I'm not sure if that's an international phrase or just an Australian one but think of two year olds and temper tantrums and you'll get the idea).  They said I hadn't done any sewing for them for ages, that the amount of fabric I had to sew into doll clothes was getting bigger than Mt. Everest and they DIDN'T HAVE ANY NEW CLOTHES!

"I've got the tiara.  Now where's my dress?"

So I decided to refine a design I had at the beginning of the year.  I was trying to design some very quick and easy outfits that anyone with very little sewing time or experience could create.

And so here's my first tutorial - for this very quick and easy skirt.:

It's a variation of a pull-on tube skirt so you need to use stretch fabric.  And because you see both sides of the fabric in the finished skirt you need a stretch fabric that looks good on both sides and that stays lying flat when it is cut. (The edges of some stretch fabrics roll around themselves when they are cut - don't use them for this design,)  Here are some of my selections:

I found the following measurements where the ones that worked with a wide variety of stretch fabrics.

For Barbie,  cut a rectangle that is:
           10cms (4") wide  (this is to go around Barbies body so make sure the fabric stretches this way)
            12cms (4 3/4") long

For Monster High dolls, cut a rectangle that is:
           8cms((3 1/4") wide (again this has to be the stretchy way)
           11 cms (4 3/8") long

Fold this in half so that the two long sides are together, and the right side of the fabric is to the inside.  Pin from the top down to just over half way down to the bottom.

Using a 6mm (1/4") seam sew from the top down to the pin and back stitch. (Use a ball point or stretch needle).
Now cut through the seam allowance to your stitching line but not through it:

Now turn your tube of fabric inside out and pull the uncut part of the seam to the outside.  It should look like this:

Again using a 6mm (1/4") seam, sew from the point where you finished stitching last time to the bottom of your seam.  Make sure you tie your threads off at the top and bottom of your stitching so your seam doesn't come undone.

You've now finished sewing your skirt.  What you have to do now is turn the skirt back to the inside (the way you had it when you first started sewing).

:


Now roll the top part of your skirt down over the bottom part until you can't see the seam and you are happy with the length of the two layers:

If you want to, you can sew a couple of hand stitches at the sides of the skirt to keep the layers together the way you want.  Or you can leave it so you can adjust the layer length for different looks when your doll wears the skirt.  Slide your skirt onto your doll.  It should stretch to fit over her hips but then shrink again to fit close to her waist. 

No, I didn't leave them topless.  I also designed three easy tops to go with the skirts.  I'll tell you how to make them in my next post.

RUBBISH BIN = TRASH CAN

There is a very good reason why I am publishing this post today - I'll tell you why at the end of the post.

I have always been fascinated by languages - all languages not just English.  But just lately,  I've been noticing (and finding extremely interesting) the variations in the English language used by different English-speaking countries.  I always knew there were differences but  the more American blogs I read, the more things I'm noticing.  And I keep asking myself, "Why?"

Why do Americans say "trash can" and Australians call the same item a "rubbish bin" (this was probably the one thing that sparked my attention)?  And why is the food I call a "biscuit" the same thing Americans call cookies?  And even more interestingly, why is it that Americans use the word "candies",  English "sweets" and Australians "lollies"  and we are all talking about the same thing? (Sometimes I'm surprised we can even understand each other!)

And I've found out that sometimes when I think I know what you are talking about, I'm close but I'm not quite right.  For example, Americans use the word "bangs".  I only just found out what you are talking about!  In Australia, "bangs" are side pieces of hair that are not quite as long as the rest of your hair.  To an Australian, this:

is a 'fringe'. 

And did you know that when we read "Little House on the Priarie"  and books like that  which talk about little girls wearing calico dresses,  most Australians have a picture of little girls wearing dresses made  of this:

because this is what Australians call 'calico'.  (Americans call this "muslin".)   The fabric Americans call 'calico", Australians would probably call a 'liberty print'.

It works the other way too.  When an Australian says they are wearing thongs, they are NOT talking about their underwear.  A 'thong' is underwear, but these are' thongs':

Yes, I know, everyone else calls them 'flip-flops' (which is probably a more accurate name).

A while ago I was at our local Officeworks store and I found an (almost 1:6 scale) Australian-type rubbish bin.  It even has wheels that roll.  So, for your information,  here is an Australian rubbish bin.

Actually, it's three rubbish bins - the other two are people-sized.  Why do we have two?  The one with the yellow lid is for recyclables, the other for general rubbish. And as you can see,  Barbie puts her own bin out for rubbish collection just like everyone else.

 


And why did I think today was a good day to post about the fun language differences that I'm discovering?  Well, today is "Hug an Australian Day".  Isn't that amazing, there is actually a  special day for doing that (it's every day for me really)!

ETSY MADE ME DO IT!

I've been thinking about opening an Etsy shop for quite a while now (probably at least a year and maybe even longer).  But there was always something else to do (life's been very busy) and so it just didn't happen.

And then, a few weeks ago, Etsy sent me (and probably a million others) an email suggesting I open a store.  They even offered free listing for the first 20 items if the store was opened within two weeks.  Well, there's nothing like a deadline and a free offer to get me going.  So I have finally opened my Etsy store.

"Doll Heaven" sells doll clothes.  At the moment, I have mostly listed American Girl/Journey Girl doll clothes because that was what I had ready.   The pictures below are just a selection:

 

I have a few Monster High and Barbie outfits as well.

I haven't made it to 20 outfits yet but at least I've started and I will add more as I make them.  I also plan on adding clothes for other dolls like Ken and my Tonner girls.  So thank you Etsy, I hope others took advantage of your offer too.

THEY'RE OFF ... AND RACING

 Eek - what happened to September and October  - I blinked and they were gone! 
Actually I know what happened - here in Australia it is spring and so everyone wants dresses for spring weddings  - and for the racing.

November in Victoria (where I live) is all about the Spring Racing Carnival - the Melbourne Cup, Flemington (where the race is held), roses (because they have beautiful rose gardens there)

- and fashion.

Melbourne Cup Day is always the first Tuesday in November and is a public holiday for the state of Victoria (yes, we have a public holiday for a horse race!).  The actual race is held at 3.00pm and is called 'the race that stops a nation' because pretty much everyone in Australia stops and listens to see who wins this race.  This year, it was won by Green Moon.

But Melbourne Cup Day isn't the only special racing day.  The Saturday before Cup Day is Derby Day, the Saturday after is Emirates Stakes Day which is specially for families and today, the Thursday after Cup Day is Oaks Day or Ladies Day.

The other big thing about the Spring racing carnival is the Fashions on the Field competition which this year has been running for 50 years  There are competitions for women's fashion on each one of the special race days.  There are also special competitions - on Melbourne Cup Day there is one for designer's outfits, Oaks Day has the millinery competition and Stakes Day has special competitions for children's fashions.

And so, because today was Oaks day, my girls decided to get dressed for the races.

 

They were all very happy with  their choices:

Therese chose strapless and summer flowers:

   Audrey chose purple and a big, black hat:

  

 And Stephanie chose separates in blue and white:

She also carried a pink handbag but left it with her friends for the photoshoot.

They had a lovely time and the weather was perfect.   Maybe next year, I'll have enough time to make dresses for all my dolls and have my own Fashions of the Field competition.