Out of This World OMGs (and the sewing done for them)

The ultimate purpose of the LOL OMG-size qi pao/cheongsam pattern in the previous post was to make a dress for the very 1960s style LOL OMG that I painted purple

 

 

Why did I paint a LOL OMG purple?  Honestly, it's because I suspected that the exaggerated cartoonish shapes of the OMG design would work well in a fantasy skin tone, but I suspect that's something MGA will never actually decide to produce.  So. I decided to paint some myself.

I painted another one green.

 

 

Green's dress is made from a galactic print quilting cotton, using a pattern I drafted right before I cut the fabric.  An A-line halter dress does not need a lot of fitting tweaks.  I also drafted the pattern for her tights right before cutting them, and the stretchiness of the fabric meant they fit the extreme curves of the LOL hips surprisingly well.

Purple's dress was made from a sturdy (not tissue) lamé that was scavenged from a terrible, full-skirted dress from a large cheap doll (which had an interesting head that found its way to another body.)  Well, relatively sturdy, for lamé.  There are some slightly shredded bits on the back darts and one of the side seams where I clipped a little to close to the stitches, and the fabric pulled apart slightly while maneuvering the dress onto the body.  I never intended these to be their forever clothes, so it's fine for now.

The wigs are made from long pile faux fur, using a modified technique from an early 1970s craft book I stumbled across on eBay years ago.  By 'modified' I mean making the bouffants as wigs, instead of pinning the fake fur directly to the doll head as directed in the book.  I have roughly followed the directions for similar doll hair by gluing the fake fur directly to the doll head, too.  To make removable wigs, I first wrapped cling film smoothly over the heads, then a layer of thin knit (ideally it would have been tulle, but I couldn't find my spool of tulle until after the project was finished.)  Secure those around the neck, then spread glue on the scalp area and start attaching things.  Once dry, remove the layers, pull the cling film out, and carefully trim away the knit/tulle.  Wig accomplished! (Styling done separately.)

 

Part of what made this project take so long was because I decided to do a video

OMG Qi Pao

I was working on a somewhat extensive doll customizing project,and had an idea for a dress I wanted to make for one of the dolls: a qi pao/cheongsam.

I have made similar dresses before, for a few different sizes of dolls (including a pattern I shared here), but the challenge this time was that the intended body was a LOL OMG.  If you're not familiar with those, they're extremely...hippy.

I did have a version of the pattern in a size that would fit the doll's torso, so I traced that and added significant hip flare.

It wasn't enough.

I poked through my dolls and found someone else who could wear it: this vintage Hasbro Leggy head on a mildly hippy Jakks Pacific Tinkerbell body

I traced the pattern again, this time adding a lot more hip.  And it ended up very close!

When I shared this picture, a few people said they thought the drag lines added realism to the way it fits, because it's a challenge in the real world to find things that fit hips like that.  And while I do find it  acceptable for this dress, my goal was to make this pattern in lamé, so I really didn't want to put that much strain on it.

I traced the pattern again, adding a bit more hip space, then tried it in an absolutely flimsy tissue lamé that was far more uncooperative than other lamés I've sewn, and I really botched the hip curves.  Fortunately, a Bratz body is about the same size across the chest and shoulders, so I needed only to flatten the hip curves a bit to make it acceptable for that body.

Then I sewed it again in a sturdier lamé and it fit like I hoped.  No proper photos of that yet, though.  Soon!

Another Doll Kimono to Wear to the State Fair

 I was planning to make one big post of doll sewing I've done in the last few weeks, but some of it is for dolls in a video I'm still editing, so I thought I'd go ahead and share this one: another kimono made with the pattern and instructions in Dolly*Dolly vol 24

The kimono fabric is left over from the fruit shirt I had issues with (and fixed!) last year.  The obi is the last bits of a fabric I bought and used a lot when I sold doll clothes on Etsy, and it always made me think of highly stylized pies, so it seemed appropriate to use with the fruit print.

I have seen scans of another Japanese doll sewing publication that has the obijime and other obi decorations sewn directly to the piece, so I tried that this time.  I forgot to compensate for the back overlap, and the obijime knot ended up off center.  I'm still learning. (I also very belatedly realized that all of the obijime I've put on the doll kimono I've made using Dolly*Dolly vol 24...have been purple.)

I have another doll kimono cut out, but haven't felt like sewing it yet--my friend has invited me to go to the craft re-use thrift store this weekend, so I'm back in that mode where I just want to find things to donate (which is considerably more challenging now, after destashing so very much to the craft re-use thrift store last year.)

Orange Trial

Husband is consistently disappointed by the increasing amount of synthetic fibers in the selection of polo shirts in local stores.  I decided to try making a polo shirt, using Simplicity 9994 from 1981

It was an attempt.

Puttering

I have been working on a variety of projects that do involve at least a bit of sewing each, but I haven't been inclined to take photos of parts of unfinished projects to share with the world. (Discord, yes. But not the world.)  I might get there soon, though, as all the parts of the different projects come together.

(This is why I don't generally work on multiple projects at once--I thought I'd give it a try again to see if I could balance/juggle things differently this time.  Nope!)

Rain on a Parade

Simplicity 9896, released earlier this year, is a weird pattern

Where did the design come from?  Is it a knock off of something designer label that I'm completely unfamiliar with?  Was it originally intended as a costume/cosplay pattern, but they decided it was too complicated?  It seems like something science fiction. It has Pokémon Trainer Style.  It's also weirdly Kwik•Sew-esque. 

Whatever it is, I was drawn to it, and got it in the last Joann Simplicity sale.  I was in the middle of the patchwork cardigan at the time, and then I wanted to sew those two doll kimono,  then I decided I would try this pattern.

I very quickly regretted every decision I made on it.

But. It got better.