I told you so.

Hey! So, here are some of the drawstring dresses I've made (I told you I would). Olwenn's modeling one that I really like. The pink hearts on this red fabric are so tiny, it gives strawberry vibes! So I paired it with this strawberry cardigan from CuteDollDressUA. Golly-gosh, Olwenn looks great in red. The bow on her shoulder is where the dress fastens, and for this dress I used more of a wine-ish red ribbon. It's just what I had on hand at the time!

Anyway, Fidelia, Olwenn, and Aury are all wearing drawstring dresses right now, plus I have made two I'm sending to my bestie for her Daunting Drusilla, and then there are these that nobody's wearing right now.

You can really see how these dresses are just tubes with little areas for the arms to poke out!

I'm not quiiite done making these little sacks yet; I got a couple of new fabric scraps and some more ribbon today...

Other stuff I've been doing since you last heard from me:

• waiting for dolly mail so I can make a spring haul vid
• reading Dark Rise and Dark Heir by C.S. Pacat
• hyperfixating on the Pokemon anime series, Sun & Moon specifically
• working on a smol ripple :3
• trying to figure out what I think about The Tortured Poets Department

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drawstring dress

Waah! I sewed a dress!!

Okay, so it kinda barely counts as a dress. It's like a tube. But still!

The other day I dressed Mallow in one of the two drawstring dresses I've had in my Blythe wardrobe since back in the day. I think I got them second-hand on Blythe Kingdom; I don't know who originally made them. Basically, they're like little drawstring bags, but open at the far end. They cinch with ribbon strung through a channel that goes around the doll's neck, and then you can tie it at one side.

It's been a while since I've thought about these two dresses. But once I fished the green one out to put on Mallow, I realized, "This is just two pieces of fabric... I wonder if I can sew something like this."

I turned the other drawstring dress I have, which is white with squirrels on it, inside-out and gave it a look. First I traced around it onto some graph paper and tentatively extrapolated the places where the fabric was folded around the top. Then I studied the order of operations in how it had been sewn, folding it at the proper places. (And I have to say, for me, this was genuinely akin to messing with high-level black magicks, so I'm surprised my dark guess-trapolations were remotely workable. Honestly. My brain is not good at this kind of stuff.)

So, long story short, I tested it out and hand-sewed a frickin' DRESS! Out of this cute mushroom fabric, because of course, cute mushroom fabric, what do you take me for! I had some gingham ribbon on hand and thought it matched the vibe well enough to act for the closure. It came together pretty perfectly--in a technical sense, as in, everything works as it should! Of course my hand-stitching looks sort of homespun, especially because I used a highly contrasting thread. (Look... if I am sewing by hand, I have to be able to see my stitches on the fabric!!) And it took a couple of hours of sewing since I wasn't using a machine. But Fidielia is literally wearing it right now, so I do not care one whit if it looks cheesy!

Even having taken a couple of hours, this came together a lot faster than the skirts I've recently sewed, so you can bet I'm going to go through a phase of making drawstring dresses! Look forward to more...

I think they would look cute with some embellishments, like little pockets or embroidery or appliques. But there's something to be said for simplicity too. Simple shape, simple execution.

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"Froggy, you weren't such a bad guy, either."

The other day I was possessed by the urge to crochet a froggy headband for my girls. This is not an original design or concept, really! Just my take on it! There are lots of cute frog-inspired helmets and stuff for Blythe out there.

I'm kinda tickled with the way it turned out! I used a yellow-green yarn (it looks greener IRL than in these particular pics, but it's definitely not lime green), plus some white and chunky black, all of which I already had on-hand, and had myself a nice little time figuring out how I wanted to do the eyes.

I considered using elastic along the back to make it particularly accommodating, but I've done this on other headbands and it's some extra labor, and if you don't get the dimensions of the elastic exactly right, then the headband can be too large or too small, and either slouch or be so tight it slides up and off the doll's head. I did a couple of ties made up of single crochet, and quite simply tying them around the doll's chin before moving them behind her hair works so great!

I also added these heart beads on to the end of the ties, just for a cute touch! (I should probably trim these long draggly bits, huh.)

Honestly, making this gave me so much serotonin. I've been pretty bummed the last couple of months, and this did me soooo much good. I love spending time with my girls, and dressing Mallow in this green drawstring dress I've had in my dolly wardrobe since 2010 inspired me even further, so I made something else too! Stay tuned!

PS: I don't know why this blog post isn't hidden under a "read more" tag like all the others! Froggy didn't want to hide, I guess!

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