New saris for Blythe

Finally finished three new Indian saris for Blythe dolls for my Blythe Etsy store. I purchased a bunch of silk sari remnants from Toronto's Little India neighbourhood a while ago but hadn't had a chance to make the saris until now. Sales in my Blythe Etsy shop have been slow and I didn't see much need to be adding new items, but I did actually sell out of the saris, they are one item that seems to sell well.



I'm really happy with these, I paid special attention in choosing coordinating trim for the cropped tops and used a metalllic thread to add even more sparkle. Available now in my store.

Tunic

I finished this tunic over the Christmas holidays, it's tunic A from the Japanese pattern book "Stylish Dress Book." What should have been a very easy project wasn't: I failed to notice that the pattern called for a gathered neckline, which I hate, so it ended up being too big. I opted to put in darts instead, and it turned out OK. Also, I used a size too big and had to take it in a lot, but I had already made the side slits (a variation on the pattern). I'm still not 100% happy with it and may go back and fix the side seams.



For the top stitch I used a metallic thread and had a lot of problems with the thread breaking. I've used metallic thread before without problem so I'm not sure what the difference was this time. After some research I discovered that a special needle should be used, so I had to go out and buy new needles... but now I know.

Sketchbook project: done!

Well, it's done - my sketchbook for the 2011 Sketchbook Project is in the mail. Fortunately, the deadline was extended by a few days which gave me a chance to finish it. What I learned: I am not artistic. At all. Creative, yes, but not artistic. This is evident in my "sketches". A lot of my pages look more than a scrapbook than a sketchbook. However, I really like working with charcoal, which is very satisfying but also very messy. Plus I spend considerable more time on a charcoal drawing than one done with pencil or another medium. Had I planned my time better I would have done more charcoal drawings. And I would have chosen a different theme. It was really difficult coming up with "happy thoughts"; I noticed that a lot of the pages are of physical objects which make me happy, and not of events or people which make me happy. There's a difference. Not sure if I would participate in this particular project again but it was fun.



My worktable is once again messy. I'm currently finishing up three new silk saris for my Blythe Etsy store. You can see Margot in the background modelling one I've already finished. They should be up in the store on the week-end.

Corduroy dress and other projects

Over the holidays I had a long list of little things I wanted to get done around the house, most of which I accomplished (updating my finances, tidying closets, re-organizing sewing supplies, all that boring stuff). I was hoping to get more sewing done, I had purchased new fabric to make two tops but I also had some repairs and alterations to do.


This was a dress I had made a few years ago before I had a serger, so the seams weren't very good, and I've since lost weight so I wanted to re-shape it. I also added some contrast trim so it doesn't look like a sack - there's now a black and white floral trim along the hemline and armholes (forgot to take the before pics). Much better!

This week-end I hope to finish up a tunic I've started. My sketchbook is about half done and there's only 10 days left to finish it, to I need to really get some serious work done on that!

Coming up in my Etsy shops: I'm sold out of saris for Blythe so I'll be making new ones soon.