And he's not exclusive or next year's SDCC chase, or anything ! Whoo-hoo !

Current Mood : Sew happy...

Few minutes after I woke up this morning, I was bouncing around, all happy. Dearest Son wondered why momma was acting so weird but Beloved Hubby knew. “Next new doll is a Slow-Moe, right ?” He knows me entirely too well !

Far as other dolls are concerned…It might be the end of an era, but the day has dawned that I gazed upon photos of two upcoming dolls that will come with four pair of shoes each and yawned that I don’t want either. There’s a time I’d have wanted both, even if I didn’t particularly like any of the shoes they came with. But that time has passed, and even though ‘I <3 Shoes’ DracuLaura and Cleo look great and come with cool footwear, I don’t want either one.

In fact, of all the dolls shown at SDCC this year, there’s only two I do want, and one is only a ¾ sort of Want. Slow Moe is the only definite must-have for me, even if his massive overbrow and dense lumbering quality has been replaced by a kind of goofy sweetness and a Kid n’ Play hairstyle, I like it, and him, and will snag him at the earliest opportunity – and hope we already have groceries that week.

Clawdia is my mostly-want, and a good chunk of that is Barbie nostalgia.  Her huge grin makes me smile every time I see her, and aside from the great shoes and so-preppy socks, her wardrobe looks like something a slightly sinister (or more fashionable) Babs would wear. And let’s not even get into her golden, curly locks ! When she comes out, I’ll look into her glasses-covered eyes – and her eyewear is amazing, I’ll want to snag a second pair for Ghoulia – and decide on the spot, in the harsh light of retail. We all know how this has gone in the past…

Locally, I also learned something by accident. Found a couple Russian Barbie patterns on Pinterest – which I stupidly didn’t pin and now can’t find again – and saved them, because they were unusual styles I didn’t already have six hundred times over. I mean, how many different ways can you do pants patterns for the same measurements ? Long about noon today, I started thinking that one gown could make a nice MH skirt… so I printed my saved scan out, studied it a bit, then printed it again, at the recommended 72% for MH figures, and sewed it up. 


While the usual 'what you have divided by what you want' formula would only have me reducing Barbie patterns about ten percent, I've found  that reducing a Barbie pattern to 90% doesn't take into account those very thin, swaybacked bodies. I heard someone else was starting out at 72%, and found that it worked most times, so I started doing the same. It's a good jump-off point, but as illustrated here, it's far from the final answer. It helps when the pattern is very simple - two pattern piece, three fabric pieces skirt, slim and slightly slinky. Even sewn up using cotton material, it looked Mad Men inspired. It was a bit too tight – pulled at the hips and had to have a split in the back for it to fit on the doll – but it really looked nice. And I got some practice in making split skirts on the fly, which is always good. Never done one before, but this one is almost good.

Printed it out at 75%, which made a big whopping 3/16 “ difference. Still, I have plenty of fabric, and it’s so basic, I can stitch it up in a half hour… and I can always make further alterations later. Rather than grab my usual rotary matt to aid with the cut, I used a grocery ad. And the cutting went much smoother than it has in recent memory. Guess it’s time to retire my 2002 cutting mat, it’s pitted and warped, and I probably should have tossed it two moves ago, but…the mat I already have to replace it is huge. Much bigger, bought on sale with a coupon, but there’s literally no place on any Arena surface to put it. I’m leaning towards snagging a small 6” by 8” model next time we hit Hobby Lobby, but who knows how many phone books and grocery ads I’ll go through before then ? There are times I really miss having my own car…

Anyway, stitched it again tonight, and 75% is good. Don’t need the split, and the fit is just about perfect without any other alterations. I may shorten it a bit, but that pattern can be altered to darn near any length, no problem. And I discovered that both the usual cast of ghouls and the smaller ones can wear the first version of the skirt, although the fit is a bit better on Howleen. You’ll get photos of both skirts tomorrow, promise !