Mood:
caffeinatedNow Playing: "Robin Hood" - Son's DVD, once more
Yup, still havin' fun with the sixth scale dolls. Found the box of jackets for them, and went through it, too. Had three identical hot pink nylon jackets with yellow-orange ties at the elastic waists - I have no idea where they came from, much less why I've got three. Cut sixteen jackets total. Yet for some reason, when it came time to put it all back in the box, I had to cram it in. Not the first time that's happened, but I'm no closer to figuring that out than I was the first time it did !
While I sorted today and yesterday, I put a few things aside that I wanted to try on Leia. She has her own wardrobe box that's just for her, so as I found clothes that looked like a fit for her, I piled 'em up. She had her own fashion show today - only two items didn't suit. One was a clownish pair of Ken pants that looked even worse on her than they would have on Ken - white pants with multicolored spots (from a 90s Disney Ken & Barbie set) featuring huge blue pockets that nearly reached her knees. Ugh. They're in excellent shape, though, so they got donated. Somewhere soon, an Ken doll will curse my name.
The other was the outfit from the Rosie O'Donnell show. Yeah, I actually used to have the 'Friend of Barbie' version. Kinda wanted a plus size doll, and she was well-made...just nothing I could do to her made her look less like Rosie O'D. I'm not one of her fans, allow me to state as mildly as possible. Anyway, the outfit was all polyester, but the red parts (pants and jacket) were fully lined. It fit, but made her look huge. So the all-in-one (goss, I hate it when Mattel does that !) pants and shirt went with the Ken pants, and we kept the jacket. It looks pretty nice on Leia.
There was a third outfit, a dress and matching jacket, that only partially works, but I decided to keep it. I got it in a 'who wants it ?' trade - a satiny ice blue jacquard fabric, well-sewn as a princess-seamed strapless sheath and a little jacket with gold rick-rack - it was much too big for a Barbie. And it's even a bit loose on Leia, but with the jacket on, it looks great.
Following ideas from the Unwanted Leia Asylum (link follows paragraph), I tried on two Hunchback of Notre Dame dresses I bought on clearance years ago. There was a buy-one-get-one sale on, and I snagged the three the store had - a 'True Love' set, some other doll outfit, and two of my favorite, a yellow and blue 'star' print called "Celestial Dream". For giggles, I took one of the 'Celestials' apart, made a blouse and skirt out of it. The other is Leia's newest outfit. They fit fantastically ! Ironically, the one pictured on the Asylum site is the one I don't have ! I'd thank the site owner for the idea, but it doesn't look like the site's been touched since 11/05, and my last note didn't garner an answer either.
https://www.angelfire.com/theforce/leiaasylum/index.html
Another thing I've noticed - the flashier the fabric is, the sooner and uglier it's gonna deteriorate. I bought 'Suburban Shopper' from a group friend, years before the repro was released, so it's vintage - nearly 50 years old. And with a bit of ironing, it'll look crisp as new. Now Belle's 1991 gold ballgown...yeeesh. I took good care of mine, and I rarely played with it, but it's already tarnished and saggy. More brass than gold. I don't know how many times I've come across snagged tulle and damaged fragile lace - I'm not even sure why anybody makes doll clothes out of some of this stuff. But, heck, it only has to look good in the package. Once it's bought, it's not like the manufacturer cares. Heck, even the high-end Mackie costumed dolls tarnish, fade, and discolor, and you know ain't nobody played with anybody's Mackies !
But that's why I use mostly cotton. Easy to sew, lasts a while, doesn't have a lot of the problems more dazzling materials fall victim to. And let's face it, I don't wanna put hours of work into something that's gonna look like a bag in six months. Best of all, I don't have to worry about selling my stuff ! :)
I also found a bunch of my earliest sewing efforts. Several were so badly made, I had to laugh and put them back with the Mattel-made and Dollar Tree stuff. No way am I donating those, they're awful ! I'd hate for a kid somewhere to have to make do with them. A few weren't that bad, but they were still nothing to brag about. But they make me smile to look at 'em.
Got to play for a bit - may get to play more tonight. Dusted off the Barbie FriendShip and take some dolls on a fly. I'm not sure why I didn't want to sew today, but there's always tomorrow ! Since we didn't get the four to eight inches of snow forecast - it rained instead - I'm sure Dearest Son's school is back to schedule tomorrow. And if there's one thing I know about me : give me limited time and resources, and I'll create with every spare second, but with unlimited down time, I'll barely get off my butt !
