WIP American Girl Victorian Dress

After having been laptop-less for quite awhile, its nice to be able to blog again! This post's subject is the WIP Victorian I started some weeks ago. Between my ribbon conundrum and life happening, its just been sitting there for weeks.

This is my inspiration pic.

The salmon color is quite hideous. I didn't want to make an exact copy, so I went through my fabric hoard to pick out what I thought would be a good fit both for the pattern and also for the intended doll, which happened to be my beautiful Nicki I got as a gift on Halloween. I went with a floral pattern on white. Since white lace would just be lost on the white fabric, I decided to go with a pink ribbon and do some sort of fancy ribbon work for the trim. Ribbon work isn't something I really do, so I had to decide exactly how I wanted the trim to look, and then find a good tutorial that explained how to accomplish it.

First I went with a darker pink - not dark dark, but more I guess of a medium rose pink - ribbon an inch wide. I really had a hard time trying to find any decent tutorials searching on my phone. Now on a laptop, I can find quite a few of them! What I originally tried to do did not work. Not only was I not pleased with the affect of my sad attempt at a fancy trim, I wasn't really liking the pink color of the ribbon. So, back to the store I went and got this time a paler 1/2 pink. The simplest thing to do, I decided next, was to simply pleat the ribbon. I love the affect combined with the fabric of the dress. :D

So far I have the ribbon on one cuff and the bodice. I started adding it last night to one of the top curved collar  pieces that surround the pin tucked yoke. Its a bit of a challenge to neatly curve it while keeping the pleats steady. I have a feeling that I am doing this the hard way. There's probably a technique to this that I am not using. I'll have to do more research to see what I can learn on the proper way of doing ribbon work. Here's all the pieces I have left to trim:

I went ahead and sewed the pin tucked yoke to the bodice piece before I actually needed to, but I wanted to see how it looked. I will take it back off, and add the other pieces to it, then sew it all back together.

In a true confession, I think I rushed the drafting/testing process with this dress. I'm seeing a couple of issues where I didn't think it through as carefully as I should have, where I should have been more cognizant of bulk, etc. Hopefully though, everything will go together neatly, and I'll be happy with the finished process. If it all comes together right, my Nicki is going to look absolutely gorgeous in it!



 

A catalaoging of my present projects....

I did complete the Taeyang outfit that was the subject of my last post. By the time I was finished with the kilt (which took me several hours) it was getting late in the evening, so I opted not for the more detailed shirt I had originally planned on, that would have echoed the strap and chain theme of the kilt, and instead went with something simple. Like a painted tee shirt. I will go into more detail on that when I get some good pics taken of the outfit. In a nutshell, I absolutely love what I made!

I feel it would be good for me to actually sit down and write out a list of all the projects I have going on right now. They are, of course, in various states of progress.

1. The lingerie for my friend's doll line. I really need to get this done, as they have ordered the fabric, which will then be passed on to me! This will have some funky sort of bolero number going on, which will be interesting to make. I'm kind of excited for that particular challenge!

2. I am super excited about this one: The Bitty Bitsu project! This has been stretched out a little while, between both of us being sick (brutal freaking flu season) and the holidays, but it has finally now officially begun! I was on fire the other night, and ended up drafting 7 patterns out of 11. Yeah, it was awesome, and I'd sure love to have another burst of whatever creative juice that was. I haven't had a chance to run all of them yet in the test fabrics, but mostly there. After that,  I'll need to make the right adjustment, and can get to the actual sewing! This is a project I am just so happy to have - I love the challenge of making tiny things as detailed and real looking as possible, so thank you sweet customer for choosing me!

3. MH stuff...I started a dress for an Abbey that is pretty complicated, and haven't gotten much past the bodice. I've just set that on the back burner for now. I need to finish the second Abbey themed dress, but am lacking the glittery silver snowflake buttons that I envision, which I can hopefully find!

Then there's the Slo Mo project. I have the Ghoul Spirit 5 pack Slo Mo, and whoever came up with that horrendous outfit should be found and captured by the dolly fashion police. I came up with a concept of bondage pants for him in a charcoal, with straps going from his pants, both in the front and the back, and attaching to his straitjacket inspired shirt, which will be in grey. The pants are done, sans snaps. Once I get the shirt done, I will do a post on just that.

4. My AG 20's project. I am putting my curly topped blonde (#56) Aggie Mae, in 20's era clothing. I so love this era, and finally have THE doll for it! I started this outfit maybe, by now, a couple of weeks ago, and have to finish the dress, and sew the sash. I somehow managed to cut out a waistband an inch too short, even though I had just measured my doll's waist. :/ I have no idea how I did that. So, I need to take that out, which will be pretty quick and simple. I just need to actually do it.

5. An AG Addy dress from one of the books. I am super duper excited about this one, and so lucky she went with me, as someone else had contacted her first. She really knows her stuff, and like my friend who I met when I took a commission for MG book/ paper doll reproductions, she wants to work off of historical photos to adjust the design. This one hasn't gone too far yet. We will be starting the actual design process hopefully soon. So while I am not actually working on this one yet, it is still something I have in the works to think about.

6. The Akhmel Alien Project. Also for the same friend as project #1. I am working off of a tape form, and this doll is very, very tiny. I haven't really done much on this one, as the doll is presently being painted by an artist. I need some measurements taken, and I sure hope the doll artist knows how to properly measure her. I want to get started on it, but am wondering if it would be smarter to wait until my friend has the doll actually back in their hands, and I know I can trust them to measure correctly.

Today in Hobby Lobby, they had their cotton prints 30% off, and I found 2 pieces I just had to get for my '50's AGs. My Maryellen still has no dress. I have made 1 50's pattern, which, while I really like it,. I've made more than one dress off of it already. So I would love to make another style of dress for ME. While sitting in the car today at the laundromat, I found a design which just goes so well with the yellow floral print I got today. I will wait a little while to start on another pattern. Unless I go on a late night binger after getting a good amount of work on commissions done. Though tonight I need to finish organizing the AG disaster that I started on last night. We'll see how it goes!