The winner of the Cocoa Jackson sunhat giveaway is:

kinoko!

Congratulations! Your hat will be on its way from Cocoa Jackson’s top secret workshop ASAP. Thanks to everyone who entered.

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

Hi I know a lot of you want and like to create clothing for your girls … ( Nothing like a home made frock from Mum *S* ).

I have put together a sleeve tutorial for any of you who would like to give it a go, with visuals and step by step instructions. I sew them in entirely by machine so that is the way i have shown here.

1. Take your already hemmed sleeve and sew an ‘easing’ stitch along the top of the shoulder. This is a stitch that is loose enough that it will allow you to pull on it afterwards to gather the top of the sleeve. You acheive this by adjusting the stitch length and tension on your machine. i alter mine from the usual 2.5 to 3.5 length and the tension from the usual 4 to 2. Remember not to sew backwards at the beginning and the end to secure your stitches as that wont allow you to gather the thread afterwards. You stitching should look like this :

2. Next take hold of the bottom stitch and pull at both ends evenly to create an even gathering in the top of the sleeve. This enables you to ’shape’ the sleeve to fit the bodice . Obviously a puffy sleeve will require far more gathering than this one which is a straight sleeve.

3. Now you want to take the good side or the armhole in the bodice and line it up with the wrong side of your gathered sleeve. Like this :

4. Next step is to shape the sleeve top to fit directly up against the edge of the bodice. You manipulate it in place with your fingers as you go , adjusting the easing thread if necessary and pinning it flush up against the bodice without overhang. As you can see from pic #3 it is the wrong shape and this is where the easing stitch is used to pull it into the correct shape as you pin.

5. Firstly remember to change your machine settings back to normal otherwise the stitch wont be tight enough. You now want to run a line of stitching directly behind the easing stitch ( so the easing stitch is the closest to the edge of the fabric and will be hidden by the securing stitch when turned out the right way ). You can sew backwards at either end here to secure your stitiching.

6. Then flip over your sleeve once sewn and press with an iron.

7. The sleeve is now ready to be joined up inside out ready for sewing. Pin the sleeve and side of dress together , matching up as you go.

8. Run one line of stitching starting from the bottom of the sleeve up to the top and down the side of the dress. Then remove pins holding in place.

9. Turn your dress and sleeve the right side out and your sleeve is in !

Remember : Sewing often involves some swearing….but the results are invariably worth it !

Blossom .

This week’s Dollhouse DIY follows on from last week’s tutorial on printing your own fabric. This time we’ll be making the fabric into cushions. No dowdy chintz for these dollies!

1. Cut out your printed fabric leaving seam allowances on all sides. Cut out a matching backing fabric in the same size.

2. Pin the ‘right sides’ (the side you want to see) together on three sides. Sew the three sides together by hand or with a sewing machine.

3. Turn the cushion right-side out, using a pencil or chopstick to turn out the corners. Stuff the cushion with fabric scraps, cotton wool or commercial stuffing. Turn under the open edges and sew closed by hand.

And you’re done!

GIVEAWAY: If you’d like these cushions for your own dolls, leave a comment below and let me knwo if you’d like to be in the draw. I’ll draw a winner by random next Monday October 6 at 8pm. Good luck!

This week’s Dollhouse DIY is a tutorial on how to print your own fabric using an ink-jet printer. Next week I’ll show you how to sew your fabric into cushions.

Here’s Quince soaking up the spring sunshine while lounging against some home-made cushions.

I’m using an Australian commercial product called Premium (TM) Printable Fabric Sheets from www.accraft.com.au The fabric is white cotton, and is quite stiff- okay for cushions and capes, but not very pliable. Please note: it must be an ink-jet, not a laser printer.

1. Open a word processor document and insert some images. I’m leaving a white space around them for seam allowances. Do a test print on paper to check layout and colours ( I decided to skip that bit- *bzzzz* - and the document reformatted itself and removed my seam allowances!)

2. Set your printer settings to ‘Best’ print quality and ‘plain’ paper. Put the fabric sheet into your inkjet printer so that the image will print on the fabric side. Let the sheet dry for about ten minutes.

3. Peel away the paper backing. Rinse the sheet in a tub of cold water.

4. Lay the sheet flat on a towel to dry…and that’s it! The ink is set and can be washed gently by hand or in a machine.

Next week in Dollhouse DIY: How to sew dolly cushions, and cushion giveaway!

If you’re a novice or experienced at sewing, knitting or crochet, and would like to help the children of South Africa, here’s a way to share some dolly love!

The Uthando (’Love’) Project provides free patterns to make dolls for children in a community ravaged by HIV and AIDS. The dolls are to promote expressive play, which is essential for children’s development and mental health. Your doll could be a child’s first toy, shared by the whole family.

Why dolls?: The Uthando Project website says “The dolls are an invitation to play. They will bring delight to the children and their carers. This play may help the child with grief and loss. To own and play with their own doll encourages a child’s development in all spheres: physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual”. Ah, so that’s why we play with dolls!

If you’re not sure that your sewing is good enough, think again. No need for perfection, wonkiness is just as loveable. Just make them strong, because these dolls are destined for a lot of love! Have a look here for the details and simple patterns:

http://www.uthandoproject.org/

If you decide to make one, post and link your pics here! There’s also a thread in the weplaywithdolls.net forum: http://weplaywithdolls.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=546&p=8511#p8511   I’ll be posting mine in a couple of weeks.

To create a little bunny friend for your doll, you will need:

* Felt
* Sewing thread
* A pair of small scissors
* A stuffing tool - I use a small paint brush with the bristle cut off
* Pins
* A small sewing needle
* A bag of craft stuffing
* Test piece of felt for trying out chalk pastels
* Little brushes for chalk pastels
* Chalk pastels

Full Size Pattern for Download

Well well there was alot of fuss when this girly showed up on evilbay, now we know who she is, what will her price end up being after the ebay Amaryllis sold for something like 500 USD? I know I want one hehehe will definitely be keeping my eyes peeled and saving my pennies.

CWC Limited Edition Prima Dolly “Amaryllis”

We have been producing very unique CWC Limited Edition Prima Dollies, and this time is no exception!

Prima Dolly “Amaryllis” has vivid light green hair!
Her special eye color is hot pink, and it adds even more pop look to the doll.
Her make up is a gentle green eye shadow with pink lips and brush.
The color of her pajamas is white with light green dots and match her hair
color perfectly!

[ Face Type ] Radiance
[ Skin Type ] Natural Skin
[ Makeup ] Eye shadow- light green, Lips- pink, Blush- pink
[ Eye Color ] Hot pink (right/special color), Green (center/stock), Orange
(left/stock) and Blue (center/stock)
[ Eyelashes ] Stock
[ Hair Color ] Vivid light green
[ The set includes ] Doll, camisole, pantaloons, underwear, slippers, and
stand.
[ Price ] 7,875 yen
Limited Edition of 1000 dolls

[ How to Purchase ]
We will pre-release this doll at Odaiba VenusFort.
Detailed release date will be announced at this web site a later date.

[ Once Upon A Wonder World ]
Blythe 7th Anniversary Charity Exhibition “Once Upon A Wonder World at
VenusFort”
Place: Venus Fort 2nd Floor
Date: August 23 - September 17, 2008
Hours: 11:00a.m. - 9:00p.m. (the exhibition will be open till 11:00p.m.)
will be closed on September 8
Location: 135-0064 Tokyo-to, Eto-ku, Ome 1- chome Palette Town

Pic pinched from ebay auction: