Archive for March, 2010




In preparation for the 2011 National Meet, we have begun to organise a travelling Blythe to tour Australia. Her journey will begin soon, and end at the meet itself in NSW, in the middle of 2011. Would you like her to visit you? Here’s the info you need:

Facts

♥   Up to 50 hosts Australia wide


Eligibility based on peer feedback (wpwd/50 posts + etsy and/or ebay and ID showing current address where Miss Sydney will be sent).  ID must be sent to the Travelling Doll Co-ordinator and kept on file until the project is finished. ID’s will be kept confidential and be destroyed at the end of the project.

Penalty. Bad feedback at BadDollyDeals or other sites will mean a rejection in application

Costs. Each participant will be required to paypal $10 to cover costs associated with the project (includes cost of doll and all surplus funds to be allocated to 2011 NSW Meet). See FAQs for details.  A nominated paypal account will be assigned.

Risks. Custom fees, postage fees and stress.

Obligations. Communication, any custom fees incurred when receiving the doll, taking and sharing pictures, being a good host, safely packing up the dolly for shipping, and being responsible for shipping costs, insurance, and tracking to travel to her next host.

Project ending. Every participant will be entered into a raffle to adopt the girl that they hosted with her collected goodies and give her a permanent home.  The draw will take place at the 2011 NSW National Meet.


FAQ

Q: Who are the organizers of this?
A: Committee members of the 2011 NSW National Meet include Jen (Jenink – Travelling Doll Co-ordinator), Adele, Jodie (Kittyrobot), Sophia (Philosophia) and Tanya (TamsArt)

Q: Which Blythe will be chosen?
A: We have chosen a stock Bow Wow Trad who will slightly customised to make her individual by Jen (Jenink)

Q: I like Blythes stock! Why do they have to be customized?
A: We thought it may be a good idea to have very unique girls traveling around Australia for this very exciting event. They will be featured in photos for at least a year, so they should be easily recognizable.
We are not expecting the worst, however if one of the girls disappears it would be more difficult to sell a custom doll.

Q: What about the costs?
A: Each participant will be required to paypal $10 AU to cover costs associated with the project. These costs include the doll and all surplus funds will be contributed to the NSW National Meet in 2011.  This is for fun! Not to make money.

Q: Who has to pay for the shipping?
A: Each participant has to pay for the shipping (incl. tracking and insurance) after their week of hosting.

Q: How long does the dolly stay with each host?
A: We have planned a 5-7 day stay. The doll must be shipped on or as close to the 8th day. Understandably, the post office is closed sometimes. We as organizers will make sure to keep in contact with the sender and the receiver so we know where the doll is at all times and whether to expect any delays.  A scheduled route will be planned and each participant will know who to send to next… It is likely that many hosts may be able to pass Miss Sydney on by hand delivery.

Q: Can I add goodies to the dolly’s suitcase?
A: It is encouraged, but it is not necessary that you add something to her suitcase. We ask you snap a quick picture of the item or items by themselves and email the picture to your organizer. We will be keeping a photo-journal of all the goodies she collects, as we want to make sure she doesn’t forget anything along the way. Miss Sydney will carry a travel diary for each host to write notes and it is requested that each host upload notes so they can be added to an online journal which will then be added to completed book package before she is handed to her host owner. Please feel free to write something about her stay or about yourself ….something that can be shared and enjoyed with all the other hosts.

Q: What are the obligations for participants?
A: Everyone who decides to join the project, has at least a 2 week obligation. Please keep in mind, that you must have time to communicate, to pick the dolly up from the post office, to unpack her, to take good photos of her, to pack her safely up again, and to bring her back to the post office. Furthermore, you have to stay in contact with the organisers before the dolly will be shipped to your place. We won’t let the doll be shipped to you, if you don’t give the OK a week before. Your obligation ends when the person after your turn has received the doll. This will be stressful! Please think about this before you sign up!

Q: What risks are there? What if something happens to the dolls?
A: We can’t and won’t hold anybody legally responsible for loss or destruction. This is one of the risks you are taking when joining this project. You could loose your payment of $10. This whole project is big and of course we hope that nothing bad will happen. But it might happen. Please think about this before signing up!

Q: Do we need a fancy camera to take part?
A: Definitely not! We only ask you take lots and lots of photos. Maybe photos of meeting your other girls, visiting historic monuments, going to the park to have a picnic, trying on new outfits….the possibilities are endless and please get creative!

Q: How will this project end?
A: Miss Sydney will arrive in time for the 2011 NSW National Meet where she will be on display with all her goodies.  She will then be raffled to one of her hosts to take home

Australian residents only can apply

Blythe, Community, Meets, News & New Releases, Petworks Momoko, Odeco & Nikki, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Hello hello, lovely Blythers!

As a poor student I am all too aware that not everyone has the funds to dress their girls up and down as much as they want to, so I am here to share with you my tutorial for this sweet little sweater dress made from half a sock. That’s right! You can get FOUR dresses from a pair of socks! Keep em’ all, give some away to your friends, you even have my permission to sell them (YOU ARE WELCOME) because socks come in so many awesome patterns which will be all over the place, so we could all find some great ones we haven’t seen before in etsy stores!

The AWESOME thing about this dress is that there is no pattern and it is really slap dash, it doesn’t matter how messy or lazy or “beginner” your stitching and cutting is, it turns out great anyway! You’ll be able to see this in my photos, as I threw this particular dress together in about 15 minutes :)
These socks are a little plain, but they are the ones I had laying around that I had never worn and wanted to experiment with! So without further ado, on with the tute!

YOU WILL NEED:

1 cute sock
needle and thread OR sewing machine with a ballpoint needle for stretch.
Sharp scissors
Measuring tape or blythe doll :)
Pins (optional)
2 Matching buttons / hot glue (Optional)
2 Closures of your choice

1: Choose your sock. It needs to have at least 13cm of ‘leg,’ by which I mean area above the heel, to get two out of the sock. You will see what I mean later on. This one has much more than I needed. Tube socks obviously would work well.


2: Measure 13-15cm from the top of your sock (the elastic cuff, being the bottom of the dress) and cut. Or, just measure it on your blythe so that the top of sock/bottom of dress sits just below the knee, and then make your cut at shoulder height, like I did:


3: Cut!

4: Cut in half vertically.


5: Take one half. Cut a neckline approximately 2.5cm deep. I just do this freehand, but I’ve pinned it here so you can see what I mean. In case you can’t quite see it here, the open part of the curve is the fold, the other side is the cut side. The other half can be another dress! If you had an ankle sock or shorter sock, this is where you can get the one half and then just throw away the half with the heel on it. Or keep it and think of something great to do with it!

6: Unfold, and there is your neckline!

7: Pin the side seams from the top, about 2/3 of the way down.

8. Stitch them! They WILL stretch out a bit when using a sewing machine, because we can’t choose which way the grain goes when using a sock. Don’t worry. This is a good thing. If you are stitching by hand, you might even want to stretch the fabric out a little as you go to get a similar effect.

9. Pin and stitch the neckline.

10: Pin and stitch the side seams… notice how shoddy mine are? Doesn’t matter one bit! :)

11: Turn inside out. The side seam you just sewed is now the centre back, and the front should look something like a stretched out Donnie Darko-esque bunny.

12: Pin and stitch down the ends of the straps/bunny ears, it is basically impossible to do this on a sewing machine, much easier to just do it by hand. Note: this is optional, it’s just for tidiness.

13: Attach your closures, I like to put the sharp bits of velcro on the part facing away from the doll to avoid scratches and pulls in tights, etc.

14: Scootch it up her legs this way… (probably an unnecessary photo, but you get it anyway) and then criss-cross the straps over her shoulders (ooh!)

15: If you are like me, you can glue buttons over where you stitched on the velcro because it looked so bad. If you’re not like me, it looks kinda cute anyway but you don’t have to do it!

Look, you did it! Wasn’t it easy? With practice it will get REALLY easy, just make sure you don’t get sloppy, like me! Find the cutest socks you can, kids socks would be fantastic but you’d probably get one dress per sock depending on the size. Still pretty good right? If you guys make one (Or many!) please post them in the sewing forum so everyone can see!

As I have never actually written a tutorial before, so I hope it makes sense. Feel free to comment or even pm me with any questions!

Have fun :)
-Amy

Blythe, Sewing | 7 Comments »

I was never a big Barbie fan before I saw Silkstones. The modern Barbie is just so available, flashing those overtanned legs, sticking out her chest and grinning like a loon.

Silkstone Barbies are a different kettle of fish, however. The Silkstone Barbie is so unavailable she’s verging on out-and-out snooty. She’s a grown woman and one who would not suffer fools gladly, I’m sure. In short, she’s a doll I can get on board with, a doll who is perfect to play Mad Men’s Joan Holloway.

Imagine my excitement, then, to see that Mattel have collaborated with the makers of Mad Men to create a Silkstone set: Ken as both Roger Sterling and Don Draper and Barbie as Joan Holloway and Betty Draper. The outfits and accessories are sure to be perfect (although miniature cigarettes and cocktails are definitely not on the agenda). The wait until their release in July is sure to feel long.

barbie, News & New Releases, silkstone | 1 Comment »

Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes