A pretty doll on a pretty day - and I think I did a pretty good job on her dress !

Current Mood : Oddly confident !

For no other reason than it’s Monday, so we all need a laugh and some cats, I’m posting this link to some great cat ads. My fave is ‘Norman: Eco-Warrior’, but they’re all good. Hope they make your  today a bit better !

Good thing I gave the Headless Headmistress pre-order a pass – it’s already been removed from the TRU site, and most fans assume pre-orders are already sold out. At this point, if I find one on shelves, yaaay. If I find one and actually still want one, yaaay x 2. Just hate buying something so sight-unseen, I don’t even know what the box looks like. Or the actual item, and not a prototype. Given Mattel’s track record with Barbie proto vs. photo, I think I made the right decision for me.

It’s super-hot here today, and the management hasn’t turned on the AC yet. I can’t really blame them, it’s only April, but when you and your glass of water are sweating sitting still, it may be time to kick it over and be done with it. I was all set to go out for a bit today, but I was just too tired and steamy to be in much of a mood for it.

So we stayed home, and I made a second go at the very rudimentary pattern for Baby Belle. It fits and closes now, but the neckline is much too wide. It still fit, so it was nothing to add a gathered rectangle to it, and now, she has a new dress ! I rather liked it, and started posing her for an early photo, but all I could see was her little naked butt. Guess I’m not done sewing – she needs panties. Glad I still have over a yard of that rejected green fabric !

Of course, since there’s next to no patterns for regular toddler Little Disney Princess dolls, there’s far fewer for baby LDPs. But that dress had come fairly close to fitting her. I wondered if the panty pattern I had for LDPs – courtesy of Doll Shop Deluxe, before it imploded – would work, if I used elastic. Heck, I even had some used elastic sitting around from last night. The panties that went with 80s Baby Crissy’s dress were too big for both Crissy and Chatty Cathy, and I liked the fabric, so I spent a half an episode of Law & Order reducing it to component elements. Including waist and leg elastic. It was only 1/8” wide, but with casings, that didn’t matter.

I simply couldn’t figure out how to assemble the panties with leg casings and a waist casing. You’d need a side seam sewn to make the waist casing, and you could sew one leg casing, too, but what about the other one ? I decided to just go for it and figure it out on the fly. And I had it right, the panties fit with some good, active elastic – they sort of resembled diapers. But, oh, how those non-elasticized legs sagged and gapped !

Then I remembered. Crissy’s panties didn’t have leg casings. They were hemmed, with elastic sewn on top inside. Hmf. I could probably do that. I went slow and carefully, and then I had well-fitted matching panties for Baby Belle. I wasn’t sure I could sew 1/8” elastic either, but I did it just fine, and it was recycled, too. What’s funny is, I more or less free-handed the dress, and it took about 40 minutes, with the usual stops and starts. I had a pattern for the panties, and they took well over an hour !

And there they are ! Of course, you can’t see the panties now. (facepalm) But I’m still pleased. I’ll probably go ahead and scan this pattern, then tighten up the neckline. She still has the elastic over her bangs, because as soon as I take it off, those bangs start creeeeeping up again. May have to do a boil-pour right at her hairline. The rest of her hair’s too wrecked to risk.

Hope to use a knockoff magic sponge later this week, see if it takes off those ink stains. Even if it doesn’t, I’ve enjoyed playing with her, and learning that I can make patterns for different dolls out of darn near nothing but the backside of Beloved Hubby’s revised essay print-outs, a pencil, and a ruler. The confidence I’ve gained from that is priceless, and ya can’t buy it anywhere.

Except maybe a thrift store…