And it's doll sewing again

 But! This time, it is not using my own pattern!

The Internet Archive has some issues of the Japanese doll sewing magazines Dollybird and Dolly*Dolly.  I cross referenced the sizes listed for the magazines on Mandarake (a Japanese second-hand pop culture store) and used that to scale the scans for printing--specifically, the kimono and associated accessories for 27cm dolls, from Dolly*Dolly vol 24.

While I do have some of the 27cm dolls the pattern is intended for, I wanted to make this one for a Silkstone Barbie, so I added some length to the bottom edge.  How much length?  C'mon, it's me, you know I didn't measure it.  It was enough.

The hardest part was trying to decipher some of the direction images in the low resolution scan--I'm sure that would have been easier if I could comprehend written Japanese beyond recognizing a few nouns.

There were a lot of instances of wondering what the images were even depicting, but I tried to do what I thought I saw, and the pattern pieces eventually corrected me.

This manifested as a lot of fiddling with fabric until: “Oooohhhhhh, that’s what that picture is showing, OK, that makes sense.” There are some things I figured out after I had finished the particular part, so I’ll need to correct those in the future, once I finally take this off of this doll, which won't be any time soon.

The magazine also shows how to dress the dolls in all the layers. This Barbie has so much batting wrapped around her waist to straighten out her curves.

The main fabric is a vintage cotton that I’ve been holding onto for years, waiting for just the right project. I did make a simple doll skirt from it once, but that didn’t use much of it. I had to convince myself to use it for this, but I didn’t have many options in the doll fabrics that were long enough (I did cut this across the grain, just so I could use smaller yardages) and that coordinated with this doll’s make up.

Once I decided to use that print, I figured I’d go ahead and use, for the contrast facings, the small amount of red gingham that I overdyed with pink, which was another fabric I was saving for just the right/completely unknown project.

 

The obi is a Tula Pink print that I have no idea how it came to be in my stash.

My doll friend QueenOfSquids sent the flocked dot on blue fabric used for the inner collar

The green inside the sleeves is a poly cotton that's been in the stash for years.  The excessively thick obijime is cord fro a drawstring bag.  The fabric tucked into the top of the obi is an embroidered organza trim.

The main thing I like about kimono is the rampant print mixing, and now I appreciate the textured accents, too.

I approached this with more patience than I usually bring to a project, because I only barely knew what it would involve and had to follow all the directions, which is not something I generally do when sewing.

I do eventually want to sew more things from these Japanese doll sewing magazines, but they will have to compete with all the other things I always want to sew. (Which does, at the moment, include one more--simpler--doll kimono.)