Friday, November 25, 2011

A gift, for Grandpa with the really long arms.

My parents are coming for Christmas this year. We're all so excited, especially the kids. We got Nana something special, it's a suprise and she reads my blog so I can't tell you here. Grandpa doesn't visit my blog so it's ok to share this one. Plus, I made it! I franken-patterned a bit for him. He has really long arms so jackets and shirts off the rack rarely have enough length in the sleeves. So, I thought since we got something awesome for Nana, that Grandpa should get something awesome too. I really hope this fits, I got my mom to measure something that does fit so it should work out OK. He walks a lot with the dogs and he needs pockets for dog treats, and the ever essential poop bags.

The perfect fit fleece jacket. I hope!
It's forest green, hard to photograph accurately at night. The body is lined with the grey knit but the sleeves are not. This should work well for the climate they live in.


I've also been busily working on my holiday dress for the dinner and dance at the convention center. Chinese brocade, taffeta and lots and lots of tulle :)

Saturday, November 5, 2011

A few things for Caitie

My Twinn dolls are about 24" tall. They can't wear the same clothes as American Girls at all so I had to draft some pants and things for Caitie to wear. I made up my basic 4 pocket pants in her size. I also made her a little interlock knit cardigan and some slippers. I haven't yet decided what kind of closure to put on the cardigan, maybe buttons? I can't put in a zipper because I didn't put facings in it.


Yes, she's wearing her pajama shirt under the cardigan. I haven't made her a regular shirt yet.


Slippers! She came without any shoes or socks and I bought her some baby socks but they were way wrong. So I knit her some wool slippers and cut out some leather soles. My husband has a handy little tool for punching holes in leather that made these an easier project. I made holes all around each sole and stitched them onto the socks with DMC pearle cotton floss.


Now they are non-skid (just what a doll needs) and warm for our cold winters.


She's checking the length of her sleeve here.  It's just right!

Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

My Twinn

I found a sweet My Twinn doll on ebay. She was in need of some help and the bidding didn't seem competitive. I put in a low bid at the last minute and to my surprise I actually won her. I thought for sure someone would bid in the last seconds but nope.. So, this is Caitie, she lives here now. My Twinn has over 40 face molds that they use/have used and collectors have given them names to help identify who is who. This one is called Caitie, it seems to suit her.


I fixed her broken neck, reglued her eyelashes back on, washed her hair, cleaned the paint off her face and limbs etc. She was in pretty sad shape, although it was all very easy to fix.

I took this picture before I cleaned her but after I had fixed her neck. Her head was hanging just by the cloth of her body covering. The lighting washed out the paint on her face but she had many spots where she'd been bumped on a wall or furniture and picked up some paint. magic eraser took care of 95% of these. She still has a couple of faint marks on her chin and near her mouth but I'll have another go at those soon.

She arrived in a pair of My Twinn baby underwear, and some velvety blue overalls with snowflakes on them. I drafted up a pants and shirt pattern for her yesterday. I made a muslin of the shirt that turned out nice for pajamas. I will tweak the pattern before I make a daytime shirt. The pants pattern still needs work but I was able to make a pajama pants pattern today. This turned out really well, so now she has a pair of good pajamas and I've got a better foundation for pants.


I wish I could capture her eye color more accurately. They look blue on my computer screen but in real life they are almost violet. She's a very high quality doll. This particular doll is from the time when the dolls were assembled in Denver by artisans. My Twinn has gone under twice, and the first time they were bought out by a company that was in over their head. Production went over to China and quality and customer service were severely lacking from what I've heard. The current owners seem to have a good handle on things and the quality of the dolls is once again very good. I really like how poseable the dolls are, though I wish their arms could bend closer to the elbow like how their knees bend. I guess they had to choose how much cloth to have on the arm because that relates to how much mobility they have. The vinyl goes up to just past the elbow so everything from that point down is stationary though they have motion in their shoulders. The armature inside the body lets the head tilt, bend at the waist, hips, knees etc. even the feet can move a bit.

Thanks for looking!