Slik, Velvet, and Leather

Once upon a time, I bought a piece of lovely glove weight royal blue leather and had no idea what to do with it.  And then I found a piece of dark blue silk velvet in a store in Beijing.  So after torturing some of the dolls with holiday fug, I decided to see if I could make some gorgeous outfits as well.  I think I succeeded.

The whole outfit collection has:
1 long sleeved peasant blouse made of vintage Japanese kimono silk with machine embroidery on the sleeves and hem
1 short sleeved peasant blouse made of the same, but plain
1 leather vest lined with vintage silk
1 reversible leather/gold brocade corset
1 blue velvet skirt
1 blue velvet jacket with vintage mother of pearl button accents
1 pair of blue leather pants

Here's Cauthrien in the long sleeved blouse, the leather vest, and the leather pants. 

And here's Nora in the skirt, jacket, and the corset with the brocade side out.

Nora again, showing off the short sleeve blouse and the leather side of the corset.

And then we switched things up a bit to see how well the pieces coordinated.  The jacket and corset just make everything look so formal, and the blouse and vest dresses it down.

Cauthrien looks so very military in the jacket and corset

Nora looks old fashioned and all renfaire/SCA ready in the blouse, vest, and skirt.

Ugly holiday sweaters and not-so-ugly holiday books

And this week, in 'the human has too much time and not enough to do' category, we introduce our new collection of ugly holiday sweaters.  Made from ugly holiday socks.  The human is no longer allowed out on Black Friday.  (Not shown are the new hats that were formerly jar toppers from the Yankee Candle Company.  Those are for the party in December.)

But, there is some small consolation, as we are now back on track with our papercrafting projects after a break last week.  This week, to go with our holiday sweaters, we have some new kitschy vintage holiday books.

We have a book of Christmas Carols (courtesy of the John Hancock Insurance Company, 1950) and three vintage Christmas Little Golden Books from the 1950s:  Christmas in the Country, Jingle Bells, and The Christmas Mice.  These are the right period for Maryellen, and would be adorable little stocking stuffers.

 Christmas Carols

Christmas Carol Instructions

Christmas Little Golden Books
Little Golden Book Instructions

Instruction addendum for Little Golden Books:  Glue pages of book together.  Do not follow instructions for making cover.  Run a line of white glue down the spine of the block of pages.  Wait to dry.  Fold cover at lines.  Match first and last pages of the block of pages to the inside of the cover.  Glue.

If you liked these, please visit our etsy shop at JinjiaMixedGoods for more printable books for dolls.

Aggressively Seasonal Halloween: Round 1

I'm Nora.  Really, I'm not sure what the human was thinking this time.  Other than perhaps that it was fall, and thus close to Halloween.  Ah yes, and the fact that someone asked her to make this particular outfit.  To my eternal chagrin.   I happen to be the doll of choice for modeling since I have the coloring closest to what the client is looking for.

This outfit comprises of a long sleeve peasant blouse, and a reversible vest and skirt.  The first option is quite pleasant, if a bit plain.

The second and third options have just enough color to make a bit of splash, and the purple ribbon matches the bits of purple in the fabric.  I'd say I rather enjoy these, all things considered.

Dear client, please do not subject any of your dolls to this last option.  I beg of you.  No doll deserves this indignity.

Alas, I was not the only doll this morning subject to the aggressively seasonal streak the human is on.  However, Kana and Lily bear it with much better humor than I.  I do believe they actually enjoy the whole process.  To be fair, the human also spared them the worst of the potential color combinations.  Unlike me.

Kana and Lily are showing off a six piece aggressively Halloween mix-and-match wardrobe with a long sleeved peasant blouse, a short sleeve peasant blouse, a reversible vest, a reversible corset, and two reversible skirts to match.  There's a total of 32 possibilities for outfits, though the human has chosen her favorite 8 here.  Suffice to say, some combinations look better than others.

Alas, if I recall correctly, the human is only 30% of the way through the stack of Halloween outfits she cut out.  There will be more to come.  Unfortunately.

Matching Valentine's Outfits for Nellie and Samantha

I fully confess that I love dressing Samantha and Nellie in matching or coordinating outfits.  They just look too darn cute together.

Patterns Used:  Liberty Jane peplum top and easy shorts, both from Freebie Fridays

Fabric:
Cotton prints and ribbons from my stash that I was frankly sick of hoarding.  The ribbons came from either sales at Joann's or garage sales, and as with fabric, the stash breeds faster than I can use them.

Thoughts:
The first peplum top was a disaster since I tweaked the instructions so I could use velcro because I didn't have zippers around.  The waistband ended up half an inch too small for the bodice, and I had to redo the side seams so it would fit.  No idea what happened there since the second one didn't need any tweaks at all.  My favorite part had to be the little bow with a button finish.

Sweet Valentine's Day Skirt and Peasant Blouse for Kirsten (Free blouse pattern)

Once upon a time, I stumbled onto a quilter's estate sale and bought too much fabric.  Including a bag of precut 2"x4" scraps.  This outfit was the results of some of those scraps.

Patterns Used:
Blouse:  Peasant blouse/tunic by Jenwrenne Download Here and a ribbon sash
Skirt:  18 2" x 4" strips for the main skirt, one strip 2.5" x 27" for the bottom, one strip 2.5" x 13" for the waistband

Thoughts:
Well, I finally found a use for that jumbo red ricrac that came in a ribbon/trim grab bag.  Those things are mostly great, but sometimes, man, do they have some weird things in them.  I probably should have read the directions for the blouse before putting it together, so it has an elastic neckband, but also closes in the back with velcro.

More Holiday Dresses

Gold snowflake regency dress

Gold snowflake dropwaist dress

Silver brocade dress

Tshirt with peacock feather applique and peacock print velour skirt

Holiday Dresses

Bodice and sleeves of black stretch velvet with
rhinestones and a venice lace collar

Red velvet with vintage glass buttons and pearl trim

Bodice and sleeves made from a vintage handkerchief