Current Mood : Springy !
I heard the most horrible
thing ever today. For some reason, I decided to watch some darn wedding show,
and during the intro, this voice intones, “You only have this one day to
express yourself …” I think it’s a woman in one opening, a man in another
season. Either way…what the heck ? One day in your whole entire life to express
yourself ?! Does anyone actually believe that, or is the person talking nuts ?
I express myself every day ! Every doll dress I sew is an expression. Every
time I shake my big can to a few notes of music, I exist. What I am is apparent
each time I speak – and I talk. A lot.
You probably already know that from reading more than two entries. No wonder so
many brides and grooms are crazy by the time the ‘big day’ rolls around, if
they’re being fed garbage like that – and they’re paying people to tell them
this junk ! I really feel bad for the ones who’ve spent thousands of dollars
and actually feel squelched or that they’ll never have a chance to ‘express
themselves’ ever again. Boring as heck marriage, if you ask me, when nobody
expresses anything.
Anyway. I ‘expressed myself’
again, late last night. By the time I was done, it qualified as today, so here
we are ! Wanted to try my alteration of that NG Creations drop-waist bodice, so
I sewed it up. Almost too tight, so you’ll see it at least once more, for the
new, new version. I’m down to the last scraps, so the new2 version will
probably finish up the blue fabric, or leave just enough for half a pair of
shorts or something. It made a nice, if really plain dress, so I decided to
dress it up a bit.
You may have noticed, I don’t
often use trims or much decoration on my creations. Heck, when you really look
at classic Barbie attire, Mattel didn’t, either. It’s partially because, if I’ve
sewn something great, I don’t wanna bury it under glitter and lace and
rhinestones. I’ve seen too many doll outfits – and people clothes, too, if ya
wanna get into it – that literally drip with tulle and bows and roses and glitz…and under
it all is a super-simple, not even fitted, tube. Well, if I was trying to sell
a tube made out of a t-shirt for $20. (plus s/h !), I’d feel like I had to
glamor it up, too !
To me, simplicity is
elegance and elegance is beautiful. Unadorned, simple lines flatter much better
than all the décor in the world. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some shiny ! It’s
that I’m ridiculously proud (although private about it ) of my sewing, and I
love precision, so I want to show it off when I achieve ! Plus, the simple fact
is, I have no idea how to sew sequins and such. Despite the other simple fact
that the Universe knows I have enough ribbon, lace, and other trims to stretch
between planets, if not galaxies. I merely lack the confidence and possibly skill
to attach it to anything. Well, time to get that over with ! I did OK with the
ribbon on the boyfiends’ clothes – let’s go a little further.
When I saw how pretty DracuLaura’s
new dress was coming out – tight in the bodice or not – the first thing I
thought of was the lovely trim I bought during a previous supply run to Hancock
Fabrics. The one before the trips to get all that lame boucle knit, I mean. I
found some killer clearance sales and scored that delicate, slightly iridescent
trim for 25c a yard, marked down from $3./yd. At the time, I thought it’d look
great on Lagoona, but it’s pretty and will look good on anyone. Except maybe
Cleo. She insists on gold. I bought the entire reel, which was nearly four
yards, but they only charged me for three, so I had plenty to experiment with.
Had no idea how to attach trim
to skirt, but I figured I’d better do it while the skirt was still a rectangular
cut. Grabbed some scraps and cut a small length of trim off the end – which immediately
began to fray as soon as I took the Hancock’s applied tape off – and went to
it. I figured a longer stitch with looser tension would work. And it did ! So,
long story short (too late !), this latest dress has some trim on it. Yaaay. I’m
sure time and experience will give me more confidence with applying it
elsewhere, besides just a hem.
I’ve been wanting to use
that ‘bat’ scrapbook paper backdrop for years – but most of what I tried to photograph
with it were prints that clashed. Glad this worked. I called it ‘Batty for
Spring DracuLaura’, which still makes me laugh.
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