[Dolls] Little Rabbits and Cakes

These were one of my absolute favorites out of all the outfits that I have made so far. 

Mint, polka dots, lace, ribbons, bunny ears, and dessert. 

What more could you ask for? ;-) 

[Dolls] Blue Calico

A very simple dress made with a floral fabric that reminds me of calico mentioned in the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I tried out a different style of tucks on the front and also tested out the applique stitch of my sewing machine (Brother CS6000i) on the pockets. 

I love fine, delicate pin tucks, but these are quite lovely as well. 

[Dolls] Country Girls

I love white socks and Mary Jane's :-) 

The floral print fabric worked out very nicely with the smocked design.

I discovered the smocking decorative stitches on the sewing machine (Brother CS6000i) and had to try it out. I ran about 5 or 6 rows of straight stitches across, gathered the fabric together, and then ran the decorative stitch on the gathers. The pleats are not as intricate and detailed as hand-stitched smocking, as you can see from the picture below: 

However, the uneven and scrunched smocking is cute in itself and works well with the yellow dresses. Maybe I'll give hand-smocking another try some time later. 

[Dolls] The Blue Period

My love for sewing began when I learned of BJDs, or ball-jointed dolls, back in 2003. One of the key attractiveness of BJDs is that you can customize them to your taste - sculpts, wigs, eyes, faceup (painting the dolls' faces), clothes, shoes, accessories, and so forth. Some people purchased outfits, while some, including myself, opted to sew original outfits for their dolls.

Being self-taught, there were many, many trial-and-errors as I struggled to learn about the different stitches and drafting patterns to get the look I wanted. However, sewing soon became one of my most favorite hobbies. After a couple of years, I began to sell the outfits I made, and now, as of 2010, I have started to receive commissions. What a long way I have come!

The following outfits are recent works - two identical outfits consisting of a dress, bloomers, anklets, and hair ribbon.

(Volks YoSD Yuu [left], Volks YoSD Kanon [right])

Sewing has also led me into other related crafts, such as ribbon embroidery, as you can see from the little, blue rose that I did on the bib of the dress. 

I still make mistakes, but nothing beats watching your favorite TV show while sewing away :-)