Doll clothing haul

I received one of my packages today for a purchase I made on Etsy, and I decided to go ahead and share my haul!

Behold, my loot!

Going clockwise from the top left corner, we have Simply Guava’s stock (purchased on ebay), 5 pairs of tights (also purchased on ebay), 2 adorably frilly dresses from Kuloft on Etsy, and a beautiful Plastic Fashion dress from Etsy,

I follow the designer, Laura, on instagram, as she usually announces on there when she is listing new dresses (usually it’s a couple minutes notice… and then 5 minutes later all the dresses are GONE). I couldn’t help myself and I purchased the chipmunk dress for Finley.

I love the shape of the dress with the peter pan collar, and I am a huge fan of the cute prints that the designer uses. I will probably keep stalking the Plastic Fashion etsy store until I find a dress with a cat print that I love.

I purchased the Ever After High Lizzie Hearts sweater from the etsy store Lambellina. This particular design is from a collaboration between Lambellina and Prince Ivy (both of whom I also follow on instagram). One of my favorite characters from EAH is Lizzie Hearts, and her sweaters drape so cutely on the EAH dolls in her photos.

Who wore it better?

I had kind of hoped that the sweater would look as good on my Middie, Bryn, but alas, the sleeves are comically long. I actually don’t like Blondie in this sweater either. i think her coloring kind of clashes with the tones of the top (it really doesn’t help that her tights and head band are blue). I think I will try the sweater on Cupid and see how it looks. The sweater is made very well (tailored like human clothes :D)… I would totally wear this sweater, and nerd out while I watch the webisodes of EAH on youtube.

I’ve slowed down on buying clothes, and I am currently waiting for a new body for Finley, 2 pairs of shoes from Etsy, a pair of hand painted eye chips for Finley that have been sitting in NY Customs for over a week (COME ON USPS), and a Sugar Mag dress from Ebay. I wish there were more sellers on Etsy and Ebay from the U.S, that way shipping wouldn’t take more than a week. I will post photos of Finley in the other dresses once I get her new shoes in the mail! I kind of don’t want to take photos of her in the dress with shoes that don’t match… I feel like I wouldn’t be doing justice to the dresses (… This is just how I feel… >_<).

I also crocheted this dress for Bryn:

I’m happy with how it came out, since I kind of went in without a pattern, but I think the yarn I used was a little too chunky. ^^ I bought a few skeins of yarn at Michaels today (there’s always a sale at Michaels /thumbs up) that I think will work perfectly for this type of dress.

I hope everyone is also happy hauling :3.

Ashlynn Ella and Hunter Huntsman two pack :D

Their hands are actually rubber banded together. Thought that was cute.

I just got this set today :D.

To be honest, I’m not sure what I am going to do with Hunter Huntsman. If I repaint Ashlynn, then I would feel inclined to repaint Hunter so they match… but I don’t think I’ve seen a good Hunter Huntsman repaint. And I’m also not sure I can draw a boy’s face. Lol, his hair is so funny. He has some kind of fuzzy material on the sides of his head to mimic super short shaved hair. I didn’t realize that both sides were shaved. I originally thought that Hunter had some kind of Skrillex cut.

Daiso Elly chan fashion pack haul!

Recently, I begged my SO to go to Daiso to pick up some doll clothes for me (I actually said “GET THEE TO DAISO. NAO! PLZ!”). Daiso is a Japanese 99 cents store (more like $1.50 and up store) that has a few stores in the United States. I don’t really have access to one near me, and when I saw a youtube video of a doll collector showing off her own haul of these little outfits, I flipped out and was overcome with this sense of urgency and need (my SO is a good sport).

Daiso has these dolls that are Licca chan knock-offs called Elly chan. They sell these fashion packs for the Elly chan doll for $1.50 each. I was actually hoping they would carry the school girl uniforms (I believe there are up to 3 different versions), but no luck. I did however get:

So far I’ve only opened up 3 of the outfits. I have to say, I’m a little sad about how badly the clothes are finished – there is a ton of threads hanging out and they don’t fit well on my EAH dolls. BUT, they were only $1.50 each. The clothes have velcro on the back to keep them on the doll.

I think Mattel would make an insane amount of money going this route, and selling fashion packs for their Ever After High dolls. I definitely recommend picking these up if any of the fashion packs catch your eye. I know there isn’t much out there in the ways of Ever After High doll outfits (short of buying a whole new doll and swapping clothes), and they’re only $1.50 each.

I’m not sure if I’ll put these clothes on my new Blythe – I’m afraid that these clothes might stain her body. I may try giving these clothes a good soak in vinegar water, and a light washing to see if any dye runs from the fabric before considering dressing my new doll in these outfits.

CA Cupid and Blondie Lockes

I spent yesterday slaving away over Cupid’s face. This being the 3rd time I’ve repainted her face (because I wasn’t happy that her face wasn’t as good as Blondie’s face), there were some substantial stains on the actual doll. The whole process actually takes up a ton of time – between waiting for coats of paint or sealant to dry, and trying to get every feature as symmetrical as possible, I think it takes about 3 or more hours from start to finish.

I saw the Lizzie Hearts Spring Unsprung play set and Blondie Lockes Just Sweet doll at Target, but I passed on both of them due to the price (:( I refuse to pay retail for these dolls, since they go on sale at one point or another online). I’m not too sure I’ll get Just Sweet Blondie, because from reviews I’ve watched on Youtube, I think that hair piece on top is her hair cut super short and gelled to shape (so she has Alfalfa hair!).

Blondie Lockes Repaint Success

I spent the better part of Sunday repainting this doll’s face. I’m super happy with how she turned out! I planned out her face on a blank face chart and this time I tried to incorporate more acrylic paint. Here’s a few things I learned this time around:

• Spray the face a couple of times before getting to work. The pencils and paints adhere better this way.
• To get into the crevice for the lips, I dip a tiny brush into water and then into powder chalk pastel. It’s easier getting the watery pigment in there than pencil.
• Mix your acrylics with some water. It thins the paint a bit and helps it go on smoother
• Seal atleast twice when done with the repaint.

The one thing that irks me is that the Saran Wrap I had covering her hair actually covered a little bit of her forehead, so I can tell where the sealant stops. Oh well.

And here are the photos!

Before and after:   Mid repaint: I used acrylic paint predominantly on the white parts of her eyes. The color pencils actually show up better on the white acrylic.

  Pretty much done:

  Boil wash and curl (sheet for modesty):

  Completed Blondie (and a shot of her hair):

     

Crocheting in Miniature – Doll Cardigan

I just finished crocheting a cardigan for my Ever After High doll that I would like to share!

The sweater looks pretty good on the doll… but not so much off the doll. I used a level 2 yarn (quite thin), and a size C crochet hook. The problem I’m finding with very fine yarn is that any gaps or loose stitches are really noticeable, and any yarn ends poking out after being weaved in look awful.

This sweater is a variation of the pattern found on Mamma That Makes blog. The original pattern was made for a Ken doll. I had to adjust the pattern to fit an Ever After High doll’s proportions, and also take into account the differences in the yarn and hook I used. I also kind of winged the collar.

Here are the basic adjustments I made:

Back of the Jacket –
Row 1: chain 16. HDC in 3rd stitch (14 HDC).
Row 4: chain 2, HDC in 6 stitches, HDC2Tog, HDC in 6 stitches.
After Row 5, I inserted an additional row of just HDC, then proceeded to Row 6.
Row 6: just insert the 2 decreases in a similar fashion.

Front of the Jacket –
Row 1: work an extra HDC at the end of this row (4 hdcs)
After Row 6, I inserted an additional row of just HDC (so 5 HDC), then proceed to Row 7

Arms – I wanted the sleeves to be long, so instead of working 7 rows, I worked 15. Also, instead of 12 SC, i worked 15 SC.

I’m going to try this pattern using SC only, as I think this will make the cardigan look neater. I also need some more EAH appropriate yarn colors! The olive green doesn’t really match Blondie.

Thronecoming CA Cupid and Blondie Lockes

I got Thronecoming Cupid and regular Blondie Lockes! I saw that a bunch of the EAH dolls were on sale on Amazon, so I nabbed these two. It’s kind of perfect, since they’re roommates in the story.

Welcome, Twin!

CA Cupid and Blondie Lockes

I think I will keep Thronecoming Cupid as is (for now). As for Blondie, I’m going to be repainting her face tomorrow. Instead of predominantly using watercolor pencils, I may try to use acrylic paints this time… We shall see. If i do a better job on Blondie than I did on CA Cupid, I may do CA Cupid’s face over again.

Blondie Locks isn’t my most favorite character in Ever After High, but she is a lot cuter than I thought she’d be! Her hair is a hugeee mess (it’s all tangles). I can’t wait to get started on her makeover.

Crocheting in miniature – Doll clothes

There aren’t very many patterns out there for 1/6 scale dolls, and the ones out there range from adorable but super hard to make (and often the patterns cost money) or very basic and kind of frumpy…

In an effort to save some money, I’ve been trying out different free patterns I’ve found across the internet. Today’s pattern is a variation of the below:

Blythe Fashion Doll Summer Top

Difficulty Level: 2/10

It’s really not hard. The instructions are pretty straight forward.

If you are a crocheter or knitter and you don’t already have an account with Ravelry, get thee to Ravelry!

I didn’t have the right size hook or width of yarn, so I had to guess how many extra chains I needed in the beginning. Since I also wanted to make the sweater into a sweater dress, I eyeballed the decreases and increases.

I’m not terribly happy with the outcome. The stitches are a bit loose (so her skin shows D:), and I kind of winged it with attaching the sleeves as well. IT WAS SO HARD TO GET HER HANDS INTO THE SLEEVES! Her fingers man.

Cupid will live in this sweater for the next couple weeks… Only because I know that if I remove her from the sweater, she is never getting back into that sucker ever again. (And that giant creature is my most adorable cat, who loves attention and hates all things that take away from her attentions).

🙂 I may make one for my Blythe when she gets here… depending on what her hands look like.

My second (and final) attempt at repainting

As soon as I got home from work, I took some acetone to my CA Cupid’s face and removed the faceup I gave her the day before. I’m quite happy with the final result.



I did a few things differently this time around that helped me translate my idea into the reality of her wee plastic face.  

• I found it really helpful to sketch out her face beforehand. It is also probably a mental thing but planning ahead also made me more confident about my ability to repaint. 



In this case I just printed a pseudo face chart for myself and started sketching out what I wanted my doll to look like. Having it all drawn out helped me organize my thoughts and actions actually factored into when I decided to seal Cupid’s face.

• I used spray sealant liberally this time around. I must have stepped outside to use my Mr. Super Clear about 6 to 7 times. It sort of went like this: Powder on blush > Seal > Color in white of eyes and define eye shape > Seal > Draw and shade pupils and lips, and deepen the color of already sealed portions of face > Seal > Continue to define the face while building up color > Final seal > Add gloss varnish to eyes and lips.
• The sealing between steps is annoying because you have to put your work down for 15-30 minutes, but it’s crucial for doing a soft save on what you’ve drawn already and it helps with layering colors to get more depth. 
• Try to keep clean Q tips and super thin brushes handy. I used both dipped in water and shaken off to clean up mistakes. 

Also, I’m not sure if I did something wrong or if I’m supposed to seal the doll more than once when I’m done drawing, but when I boil washed Cupid’s hair at the end I noticed that some of the watercolor pencil from her eyes ran a little when a tiny bit of water splashed onto it. At that point, I didn’t want to wrap her up again to spray the sealant on her and then repaint the gloss varnish… Next time though. 



Evolution of her face. 

My first repaint

I purchased my only doll (Cupid from Ever After High) because I thought she was a cute character, I liked her pink hair, and I really want to try repainting. I found her for $10 on Amazon and then I proceeded to purchase my tools.

• Mr. Super Clear UV flat sealant – $18 on eBay 
• Watercolor pencils – $30 from Michaels
• Chalk pastels -$9 from Michaels
• Gloss varnish – $10 at Michaels
• Various paint brushes 
• White acrylic pint (had at home)
• Acetone – $2

This is her before:Mid repaint:The finished product:Sailor senshi of love!I’m not all together that happy with how she turned out. I think I did the best I physically could, but I will probably erase her face and start over. I learned a few things about myself in the process though!

• My hands shake. BAD. I’m not sure if it’s from the pressure or if I’m getting old.
• I am not an artist.
• I am overly optimistic about how much better I can do at this.
• Gloss varnish goes LAST.

I’m a little proud of how symmetrical I was able to draw her face. When I repaint her again, I will blog about it :3.