the ol' b-day list

Another birthday creeps ever closer. (I can't believe it was almost a year ago that Vesper and Citron arrived!) Although there isn't really much on my birthday wish list I thought I would cobble together a wish list post, just because. It's fun, and I need all the fun I can get. I'm sorta not in a great place these days, and I get birthday depression pretty badly, so I want to try and combat that.

This image would have you believe I'm asking for all this stuff, the only thing I've actually asked for is a ring. I asked this of my little sister, when she asked me what I wanted for my birthday; I trust her taste so I just told her to pick whatever she wants. These are just a few from Etsy, not any particular rings I actually asked for.

I haven't asked anyone for anything else -- let alone a Litten plush! Litten is a Pokemon, for those who might not know, and it is my hyperfixation right now, and one of my only sources of serotonin, haha. But it's from an older generation of Pokemon at this point, and so it's hard to find Litten stuff now! Still, I might buy myself a plush as my birthday extravagance.

Otherwise, hand-sewing drawstring dresses has been my most reliable pastime lately, and I've already bought myself too much fabric and ribbon. So I have gifted myself this already! Still, I wouldn't say no to even more fabric. I need so little of it, yardage-wise, that if I play my cards right and there's a sale or whatever, it can be very cheap to buy just a foot or so of fabric. A dollar and change! And then I can make wee drawstring dresses.

This list is nearly non-existent, but honestly, I don't need anything. My best friend has offered to watch the Jane-est of stuff with me on my birthday -- she told me to "swing for the fences" and offered to watch both Power Rangers and Pokemon, like a maniac -- so I'm looking forward to that. I'm also looking forward to sending some of the dresses I've made to said bestie.

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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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