My "Chobits" inspired dress for The Doll Wardrobe 2013 Fashion Design Challenge!

Hey everyone!  I'm excited to say that the blog The Doll Wardrobe is holding a sewing and design contest and I decided to enter.  So far 9 of the entries are posted but there may be more to come. Many of them look fantastic and I love looking through them all to see what others have created. I look forwards to seeing what else is in store for round 1.

Please check out and vote for mine (entry #6) and other entries here:  http://2013dwfashiondesignchallenge.blogspot.com/2013/07/entry-6.html

This is my entry for round. I created an empire waist line gown, inspired by regency era gowns and by a dress worn by the character Chi from the manga series "Chobits"

Chi's dress from "Chobits".

Regency era gown.

To achieve the floral decoration on the dress, I decided hand embroidery would be the best option.  I spent many hours with 5 different embroidery floss colors, an embroidery hoop, my fabric, and needles for this step but the end result was well worth the effort.

Below are a few more pictures of my final dress. I minimized them to conserve space but you can easily view them full sized to see details by clicking on an image.

                       

 You can also see more samples of this dress by viewing my entry on the contest page here (entry #6): http://2013dwfashiondesignchallenge.blogspot.com/2013/07/entry-6.html 

Also check out The Doll Wardrobe which is the blog hosting the contest.  It is a great source to read about clothes and fashion for 18 inch dolls.

So please. Take a moment to vote.  It will be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

Up-cycling Shirts

Making doll shirts is the perfect way to reuse favorite old t-shirts that no longer fit and to add variety to your collection. It is also a great source of fabric when experimenting with new patterns. I first started learning to make doll shirts through a free Liberty Jane Pattern. Once I felt confident which how the pattern pieces worked, I began sketching out my own patterns.  I tried out different necklines, sleeves, hems and more.  There is a lot of freedom when it comes to making a t-shirt truly unique.

My doll wardrobe was so full of little t-shirts all made from the same base pattern I was getting tired of it. So who says you should be limited keeping the front panel of a shirt 1 piece? I was inspired by the curved seam in the new "Tropical Bloom Outfit" by American Girl when I created the Tank top Samantha is wearing.

Tropical Bloom Shirt From AG

Up-cycling shirts is also a great way to give your dolls something name brand.  For the t-shirt Addy is wearing I made certain to include the little "Aeropostale"printed on the shirt.

Yellow Dog Shirt Project

I sometimes like to look back through photo albums of past family vacations.  One album I looked at, from the summer I was 12 years old, had an outfit that caught my attention. A yellow shirt I fondly remember wearing on hot days.  It had an oddly proportioned dog embroidered on with dark brown thread.

I lack a "mini-me" so Addy is my stand in.

Anyways, I had a similar color of knit fabric in my stash so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try some hand embroidery and sewing with stretchy fabrics.

The embroidery part was easy enough once i sketched out the little dog and had it in my embroidery hoop. It was the sewing with knit material that proved difficult.  I quickly learned thin and stretchy is a frustrating combo with fabric.  -_-   But after some work it turned out pretty well overall.  I picked up a few little tricks and am ready to tackle stretchy, knit materials again!

Note: The shorts are from a Liberty Jane pattern. The shirt also started from a free Liberty Jane pattern but I ended up fussing around with it.