A Box (of Heads) Opening

Gathered around for the box opening party, humming a few popular tunes while they wait.

Oh look everyone, the box we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived!

Maybe Candace should go first. She’s been waiting all this time not only headless, but handless and footless as well.

Look, here are her feet…..both sets!

Here Sis, let me give you a hand.

Thanks. Why don’t you go next and find your head.

Hey, it feels great to finally have a head on my shoulders. You next Candace.

Look guys, now that I have my head on right I’ve been thinking….Did you know that Wovenflame was charged taxes on the full insured value of our box of heads, wigs, eyes and such, even though she already paid the relevant taxes when she first bought them? That’s just SO wrong!

I’m not going to stand for it! I’m going to ask my team of lawyers what can be done about it. I’ll see you two later.

Do you really have to go right this minute?

Wovenflame is counting on me. She can’t afford this kind of double tax grab!

I’m determined to do what I can to rectify the situation.

And I’m angry!

Shannon! How was work? Our heads are back! Yours is right here….

Wow! You look FABulous!

Look, you must be the “C.F.P.” (customizer’s favourite project) she sent these awesome designer shoes for you.

Ohhh, I LOVE them! Thanks So much Ban!

They fit perfectly.

Oh, it’s such a relief to get out of those high heels! Let me slip into something more comfortable.

Much better. Did I hear you say you’d play your guitar for us?

I could listen to you play all night.

Maybe he has other plans Shannon.

Really?

Yeah, really.

~  ~ ~

Custom Minifee Sweater

It's done! I designed and knit this custom fitted Minifee sweater for Ban Sidhe in partial payment for faceups and doll modifications she did for me.



It was a long hard grind, with much ripping and reknitting while I worked out design details, but I'm oh so happy with the way it turned out.....and better yet, so is she!



The next step is to compile my notes into some sort of a readable pattern so that I can more easily knit it a second and third time....for my own Minifees this time. And who knows, maybe if there is enough interest I'll get around to offering it as a PDF pattern as well.

Shapely Torso

Working on a design to fit 16" Fairyland Minifee dolls. This one is for a swap of sorts but maybe the next one can be for one of my girls.



I'm really pleased with how well the shaping through the body went. Now on to the neckline details.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from Serenity, Peanut and Pumpkin and a whole colony of bunnies.

Travelling Home Soon

And here's my other girl, the modified Minifee Luka, Shannon.





I'll most likely be using light grey eyes for her. The brown eyes are Ban's, used because my original grey acrylics are too gappy in the modded eyes. I have grey, soft glass eyes ordered.

Now that all four dolls are finished they will probably be heading home on Monday. Hopefully they won't have too long of a "layover" in Customs.

A Closer Look

 Here's a closer look at the awesome faceup that Ban Sidhe gave Candace, my Fairyland Minifee Mirwen.



Just one more to do and all four can be on their way home. Candace and Shannon will be traveling with my daughter's two.

Couldn't Wait!

I suppose I should really wait until she's back at home, on her own body, but I just couldn't wait to show her off. This is Ban Sidhe's photo of the beautiful, custom faceup she did on Candace, my Minifee Mirwen.



Candace has to wait around while Ban finishes with her traveling companions, my modified Minifee Luka, my daughter's modified Mirwen boy and her Luka, and then they will all head home together. What a box opening THAT will be!

Spring Gingham

I spent much of Saturday and Sunday sewing for the resin girls. Pumpkin, Serenity, and Peanut all got new gingham dresses to welcome Spring.





The LittleFee dresses are sewn using the Adams-Harris pattern, "Angel Baby". The Pukifee dress was sewn using MyOwnLittleWorld's pattern "Puff-y Sleeve Dress" pattern, for which I altered the sleeves to have elasticization rather than a non-stretchy cuff.

I've been knitting too, but I forgot to take pictures of the latest project while the sun was cooperating. More about that project on another day, I guess.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Pumpkin, Peanut, Serenity, and the dog, Benjamin Bowser.

Candace Takes Over

Before she goes off to BanSalon for a faceup, manicure and pedicure, Candace wanted to stop in to say hello.



She's a Fairyland Minifee Mirwen head that arrived with my daughter's doll. For now Candace will be sharing a body with Shannon, the Fairyland Minifee Luka sculpt I introduced earlier.



The two girls will be traveling to Ban's together, but without their shared body, so for a while I'll be fitting the wardrobe items I'm knitting and sewing on a headless, hand-less, foot-less body. Um .... yeah ..... I promise I won't be showing creepy photos of that.

More from her Box Opening

My new Minifee didn't end up with a box opening story even though I took a lot of pictures that day. I had started on a story, with all the resident tinies involved, but just wasn't "feeling it" and in the end opted to have the others go take a seat while I did a photo session with just the Minifee Luka. So here's a few of the photos I took, but never ended up putting up on the blog.

 

Here's her pretty face, incomplete at the moment. This closed eye head is the one that is actually mine. I'll be having Ban Sidhe, a talented artist, "open" the eyes and then do a custom faceup. The open eyed head belongs to my daughter but I am using it until her Mirwen arrives later this week. We will be swapping open eyed heads at that time. I'll end up with a modified to open eyed Luka and an open eyed Mirwen (which I'll eventually buy another body for), while my daughter will have a open eyed Luka and a modified to open eyed Mirwen (hers will eventually have a boy body).

Did you get all that? So while this Luka head is out for modding and faceup my Minifee body will wear the blank Mirwen head. Then when I get enough money together for another body I'll send the Mirwen head to the same artist for her/his beauty treatment. I'm not sure if my second one will be a boy or a girl, but at the moment I'm leaning toward getting a second female. I just think their wardrobes are more fun and that side of the hobby is where I find the most enjoyment and creativity.



In this bathing suit photo she is still wearing the 14mm amber coloured glass default eyes (the ones Fairyland provided). Straight out of the box she shows off her amazing balance and posing ability by standing on one foot, unsupported.



By the time I had taken this photo I had inserted the 12mm grey acrylics I had purchased. This dress and jacket came with my vinyl Delilah Noir doll, but I made the tights.



Here you can see that the dress will need a little altering in the bodice. It didn't fit the Delilah Noir right either! It's a cute dress though so I think it's worth the effort....some day.

Now I'm a Cobbler Too

This doll hobby has me really stretching and learning new things. I think the challenges have been good for me.



My newest doll, the Minifee, is hard to find shoes for. Dale Rae, a company that used to stock the right size, has discontinued the line. I know of only one other dealer that stocks the right size of shoe and she doesn't ship to Canada. Another option would involve the hassle of having a US citizen forward shoe orders to me but that just doesn't seem worth imposing on friends I only know online through the ball jointed doll hobby.

So that leaves me with only one option. Making my own!



I made these shoes (real leather!) using a free tutorial I found at the AntiqueLilac website, but I made a few changes.

A while back my daughter and I purchased a step by step lesson package for making Pukifee shoes. Not long after the purchase we found an inexpensive eBay source for shoes of that size. My Pukifee has 14 pairs of shoes! Does she really need any more? (well.....maybe, but they are easily purchased....heh, heh!)

The poor "New Lady" wasn't so lucky. She only had a pair of white pumps and a too tight pair of sneakers that were a real hassle to get on. I had to come to her rescue! So using a few finishing tips I found in the Pukifee lesson package I made improvements to the AntiqueLilac technique and walla! New Minifee Mary Janes. They remind me of the old "Earth Shoes" of the '70s.

The changes I made to the basic MSD shoe tutorial were as follows.

1. I rounded out the shape of the toe slightly so it is less "big toe" shaped.
2. I used crafting foam for the sole of the shoe.
3. I created a bit of a heel using doubled craft foam cut to shape.
4. I covered the gap between the sole and the foot of the shoe with elastic trim.
5. I used stick on Velcro for the fastening.
6. I added a decorative stud in place of the buckle.
7. I padded the end of the toe with half of a cotton ball so that it would not lie so flat.
8. I trimmed the opening for the foot ever so slightly larger.

They're still pretty flat and leave much to be desired, but I'm quite happy with my first attempt. I'd really like to do a proper "shoe last" for shaping the shoes, and also make proper, thicker soles cast from a mold.

So much to be learned and experimented with!

Serenity Meets the New Lady

Serenity was once again doing some modelling for me.



This time it was a dress made for NixiPixie's Neelsie.



It's a good thing she's so good about giving these little outfits away. I think she looks darn cute in this one. Maybe I'll have to find the time to make her one too?

In the middle of the modelling photo shoot, "the New Lady" walked by. Serenity went right up and politely introduced herself.



She never asked once why the New Lady had no faceup.



There seems to be a real bond growing between the two of them.

Ooops! Update.

Things got hectic around here and I forgot to update the blog even though I have had lots to blog about! Now, after a long absence filled with activity how do I narrow it all down to a manageable bit?

I have photos! Maybe I'll start there?

On February 21st a new doll arrived.



She's a 43cm Fairyland Minifee Luka. Pardon her lack of a faceup. She'll be going out to a faceup artist for that in the next couple of weeks. When she returns I'll make a decision about her name.

In preparation for her arrival I spend a lot of time knitting,



and sewing,



and more knitting,



and yet more knitting,




And the Minifee isn't even the only exciting, time consuming thing that has been going on around here. Since just before Christmas I've had the good fortune to be able to add several new technological improvements to my life. Each came with its own ka-thunking big manual to learn how to run it. I hadn't fully digested my camera manual when I received a laptop for Christmas. Yesterday I added an iPhone 4S. I LOVE the iPhone, and thank goodness much of it is intuitive, but there are still some challenging bits and another big manual to look through if I want to take full advantage of all that it offers.

Do you have any idea how thrilling it is to tell your phone to add tomato soup to your grocery list? And then have it actually do that? That "Siri" is my slave I tell ya!

Oh. And the iPhone told me how to find the local yarn store's new location too. Amazing.

'scuse me. I have to go. I have some toys to play with.

Wig Experiment

I've been experimenting with wig making using a tutorial I found at the Antique Lilac website.



The wig is begun with a crocheted wig cap. It is then covered with mohair lock "wefts" that have been sewn together on a sewing machine.



Hot glue is used to attach the wefts which, unfortunately, means the wig can't be dyed after the fact. I'd like to either get my hands on some mohair locks that are naturally of a darker colour, or perhaps experiment with dyeing my own before the wig making process begins.


 Check out those gorgeous natural waves!

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. It's looks better than I thought it would. Now if only I had hairdressing skills and could give it a better haircut!

**Special thanks to Louise for providing the mohair locks!**

Cupid Loves the Month of February

My Fairyland Pukifee, Serenity, is a sculpt called "Cupid". Is it any wonder that she wants to wear her Valentine's Day Dress for the entire month of February?

Tricks for Sewing Knits

It has been brought to my attention that some sewers have a difficult time when sewing knits. The fabric gets pushed down into the machine, especially at the beginning of the seam.



It helps if you use a straight stitch presser foot on the machine, and also a straight stitch throat plate, if you have one. The straight stitch presser foot has a narrow channel, not the wide slot used when zigzag stitching. The straight stitch throat plate has only a small hole, not a wide slot that is used when doing a zigzag stitch.

It will also help if you use a fine, ball pointed sewing machine needle.

Don't start sewing right at the edge of the material. Instead back stitch a few stitches to the edge and then go forward. Also be sure to keep both the thread from the needle and the thread from the bottom pulled to the back as you start to sew, to prevent snarling of the thread.

Wovenflame’s Tall Stockings for Pukifee

Pattern pieces for the tall stockings and the arm warmers (detachable sleeves) are in "Wovenflame's Knitting Patterns for Pukifee" available on Ravelry.

*If you have trouble with the fabric jamming down inside the sewing machine, check out the post, "Tricks for Sewing Knits". 

Turn down ¼” along the top of a piece of stretch knit fabric that is several inches wide. Using a straight stretch stitch or a narrow, short zigzag stitch, edge stitch this upper hem.

Trim the hem close to the stitching.

Now fold the fabric back on itself, right sides together, matching the top hem and any stripes in the fabric. Place the stocking pattern piece on the fold as indicated. Pin the pattern in place making sure the pins do not cross the edge of the pattern piece that is marked “stitching line”.

Stitch around the outside of the pattern piece from hem to toe.

Trim the seam reasonably close to the stitching, but not so close that there is danger of the stocking developing a hole.

Turn right side out, press

If you were careful when matching the stripes while pinning out your pattern piece, you will have a perfectly matching back seam.

Try the first stocking you make on the doll. Fabrics can sometimes vary in the amount of stretch. If your fabric has the average ability to stretch the stocking will be pleasingly snug and will stay up unaided. If it is too tight to slide over the thigh, try again, this time allowing a little more width. The pattern piece will work for Fairyland Pukifee dolls when using most stretch fabrics.

Wovenflame’s Arm Warmers 

or Detachable Sleeves for Pukifee.

These look really cute while winterizing a short sleeved top or dress. They are made following the same technique as the tall stockings except you must hem both the top and the bottom of the fabric piece before laying out the pattern piece.

Dress the doll in the detachable sleeves before you pull on a short sleeved top or dress for a warmer, layered look.