While I enjoy getting what I want, there's something better about making what you want !

Third day in a row with the doors open and the AC off. It’ll probably go on tomorrow, but then off again – it’s only supposed to get up to 59° Friday.

I was in the mood for shoes again today, mostly because I’d found a great idea. Etsy’s Jenwrenne posted a PDF file of all her dolls’ feet, traced. I could easily print it out and compare them with my dolls. Maybe some other dolls had similarly sized feet, and I could find shoes for them that way ! Turns out, DP&M dolls have feet nearly identical to Journey Girls. Maplelea and Kidz n’ Cats, and just a bit longer than Girl for All Time. Unfortunately, each of these dolls have even fewer shoes than the Diz girls, and they’re even more expensive than mine. Much nicer on both counts, though. I need to publish tracings from my dolls, maybe it’ll help someone else.

I found several more potential additions to the shoe collection during the hunt. One was on eBay, very familiar – one of the six pair that comes in the TRU Journey Girls first shoe pack. Yes, there’s two now. I bought that first pack months ago, and found out that only  half of them fit my Princesses, the rest fit AG and clones. Ah, well. I wouldn’t mind a second pair of pink flats, could always paint them black. Asking price was a bit high at six bucks – the set of 6 pairs was $15. – but the shipping is what set me off. Fourteen dollars ! Just for shipping  one flyweight pair of plastic shoes, not even bringing up that they’re part of a set that cost far less. Just to verify, I asked if that was the correct shipping amount, and got a reply that they could see their way clear to stuff ‘em in a paper envelope, but they wouldn’t be responsible for loss or damage, and it’d only cost me $8. instead of $14. No thanks. I decided to wait for a better deal, and while I was waiting, I could always sew.

What I really wanted was machine-sewn shoes, in fabric instead of felt, that looked as good  and fit as well as the ones from Beach Baby Dolls’ pattern could. Hmm… Added a quarter-inch seam allowance to the uppers’ inside curve, cut out two of everything per shoe, and gave it a try. It worked ! Decided to use the fabric I’ve already made so many test runs from, since most of ‘em were worth keeping. I’d need at least one pair of shoes to match. Preferably two. Having a little trouble with the fabric fraying from being worked so much – I hand-sewed uppers to soles, then went over it with the machine – but I think that if I add just an eighth of an inch to the outer curve of the uppers, and maybe cheap serge the uppers together so they’re one piece *before* getting sewn to the uppers will probably work better without fraying. Less stress at the seam. Or I could Fray-Check ‘em. Either way.

So I’m pretty happy with the day. Should get back to finishing up that shirt-dress tomorrow, it needs to get done. I owe it to Tia. Isn’t National Sewing Month fun ?