Monday, 23 June 2014

A break from work

I really am starting to think of making patterns as a proper job lately. I seem to be devoting well over an actual working day to it every day.  I need to take it easy before I overstress myself and can't work for ages again.  Ack. Woe.

So anyway, a while back, I bought my first Amber Stanhope doll. She was a nude doll and when she arrived, her eyelashes were damaged - and she had that fringe. (Bangs, if you're American!)   I had some BJD eyelashes, so I replaced them and made her look pretty, but I'm not keen on fringes on my dolls.

I mean, I like them on other peoples dolls, and I don't mind too much if a wig has a fringe, as long as it's not solid .   Someone mentioned to me that someone else had removed Satin Shimmer Amber's fringe completely, and she looked beautiful.... and despite my efforts to hide my Amber's hair under a hat for ages, I kept looking at her and thinking I should have a go...

So last night, I couldn't sleep so got out of bed, grabbed some pliers, and sat and yanked out each individual plug of Amber's fringe. It could have been a disaster, especially as I was tired and cranky, but it worked really well! The hair came out surprisingly easily. I think they must have rooted the fringe last, or the rest of her hair might have come out as well.

Here she is with her new do.  She puts me in mind of a Renaissance beauty like this:

I must say, I'm sorely tempted to enhance her hair by adding new plugs. Low-lights maybe. I have a lovely redhead blend of saran that I fancy using.  I keep looking at her lips too. Maybe I could change them. I'm not keen on her overly-pouty top lip.

I'm quite taken with Amber.  She has this attitude-y pout in some shots, but in others she looks sort of sad. I'm a sucker for a sad dolly.

Or she could be sulking because I won't give her silk....




  1. She looks fab - I didn't mind the fringe but I do think she looks nicer now! She looks more grown up without the fringe! I expect Amber is more likely sulking because she hasn't got silk - our Amber does like the finer things in life and she does think she's a cut above Ellowyne and Pru lol!!! Stop over doing it with the patterns and look after yourself! x

    1. It wasn't too bad as fringes go, but she does look so pretty now :) And yes. I'm sure it's the lack of silk that's making her so mopey!

      God, Trish, what am I like? I've just bought a Patience doll! I'd saved up so much from my pattern sales for my credit card debt, and now I've gone and bought a new doll. I'm useless, I swear.

    2. You're not useless you're just human lol!! Sometimes you just need a little treat and see it as celebrating your pattern success..... now you just need to sell a few more patterns!! Zoe is trying to help the pic got invited into the Explore group and that normally means lots of views (was over 2,000)... so you never know we might generate a few more sales for you lol!!! Oooh which Patience did you get!! I can't talk I've two more en route from the States at the mo.... we got our bonus from work last month and WI had a 20% off would have been rude not too lol!!!!!

    3. Now you’ve made me feel better, lol! I've got Through the Woods Patience, because I like brown/brunette hair, natural looking (not red) lips, and I love her little boots! I almost got Dorothy, but the boots swung it for me.

      Wow, good for Zoe! I had a look at the picture again and I saw how many views it got! That's very cool. And yes, you can't be rude to WI after all the lovely dolls they give us. ;)

    4. Nice choice - I think that you could make a blue check dress for her and she'd turn into Dorothy! It's the same doll with a different outfit I believe!! I'm waiting for Glinda the Good Witch Patience (I love the Wizard of Oz) and Perfect Patience with the bright red hair ! I'm looking forward to seeing what you create for them - they can wear Ello clothes but the need to be one size smaller for a better fit lol!!

    5. Haha! I thought she was the same doll too. Your girls sound lovely, I was tempted by Perfect Patience too. I'm going to work out how to make them some real purty things. I'm glad to hear they're similar to Ell. I hear they can wear Marley Wentworth, Tonner Harry Potter kids, Tonner Alice in Wonderland, and Agnes Dreary clothes?

    6. I love this blog

    7. Yes I've found that blog before - it's a fab review of Patience. She's the same body as the Harry Potter kids and can wear Marley and Agnes clothes as she's slightly slimmer in the body. It was fairly easy adapting knitting patterns for her as I just used Ell patterns with a smaller needle!!! Looking forward to the purty things... we like purty!!

    8. This is really interesting because if I can determine how much to reduce my Ell patterns, I might be able to tell customers how to re-size them for Patience. :)

      Have you heard of Gracefaerie patterns? They have a whole big list of how to re-size their patterns for different dolls. I'd quite like to off that sort of value to folks.

    9. Yes I've almost bought a Gracefaerie a couple of times ..... that would be good being able to resize the patterns. Try reducing to 81% to fit Patience - I printed a Designs by Jude pattern fit to page by mistake and it reduced to 81% and fits Patience very well - I made the bib skirt and dungarees for Mimi and Gigi using the pattern!

    10. Their patterns are good, but I found, even printing them out smaller as per the instructions (for Ell) they make up a little bit big. The instructions are good too, but I really like pictures with my sewing patterns, not just written instructions.

      Oh that sounds interesting. I'll be reducing some of mine when I get my Patience. Those little dungarees are so sweet!

    11. Pictures are very useful! Just found out my new girls are in Customs Charging - boo hiss for the customs charges but at least they won't be much longer getting here!!!

    12. Ha, yep, sometimes if you can't explain something, a little red arrow on a photo speak a thousand words. ooh excitement! I'll be tracking mine, but nothing's showing up on USPS yet.

