New addition

Well I have a new addition to my collection, this is Prudence made by Wilde Imagination, she comes with 2 wigs that you can change, she also can fit into previous wigs made by WI as well. She is like many dolls in one.

The Tonner Convention

Well everyone I've had time to rest and relax a bit, now I'm going to let you all know that I had a wonderful time at the Tonner Halloween Convention. I'm not going to do a full blog tonight but I do want to share with you all that I won 2nd place for one of my designs. This was my first con and my first entry. I think If I spend a bit more time on my next entry I may win 1st place. So I'm going to share some pics with you all. I had a lot of fun making this dress. It reminds me of what San Francisco looks like in the rain, a bit grey but it sparkles. Part of this dolls story is that she lives in San Francisco, in her grandmothers old Victorian. I always imagine that she is a bit like me, she loves this city and can find beauty here in the most interesting things. If you've seen San Francisco in the rain you know what I'm talking about. 

 Ellowyne at he competition, she looked good standing there I was just proud that I had accomplished this. 

One of the other entries, I thought this one was fun cuz she was wearing a duck tape dress, something Prudence would do. 

 The 1st place winners, I liked this one too, because it was a homage to San Francisco too, and the dresses were beautiful.

Ellowyne showing her ribbons in the hotel room

Some time ago

Greetings all,

Some time ago I posted a few pictures of a doll I made, I can now say that the doll was sent out to be shown in a DVD project. Patti Medaris Culea is doing, check out her site http://www.pmcdesigns.com/index.php

I'm working on another doll now more to come.

The Lady in blue

I Just wanted to share a few pics of one of my newest works, more to follow but here she is for now. 

Spirit dolls

Greetings everyone I just wanted to share this beauty with you, she is inspired by African Goddesses called Oshun and Yemaya, they are represented in the colors of the doll's dress, yellow for Oshun and Blue for Yemaya, each is a powerful and beautiful women in her own right, they are also considered sisters  and work together often. Oshun also represents the river and Yemaya the Ocean, this doll  represents where the ocean and the river meet.  

I made her for a dear friend of mine, at her request she asked me to combine these colors anyway I saw fit, and this is what I came up with. I call these types of dolls spirit dolls. I used the wonderful patterns from Patti Madaris Culea to create her,  ribbons were used to create the dress, I love using things like ribbons in this way. I had just enough to make the rows of her skirt. I had to improvise the last ruffle of the skirt with some white eyelet, and to be honest when I used I knew the dress was done.  I will also let you in on a little secret the lace on the dress came sewn to the ribbon, I had to remove it to make the sleeves and bodice. This has to be one of my favorite dolls,  she turned out beautiful. I think sometimes the doll will let you know what it wants to be and in this case she did. And in the Fancy Lad style she is very fancy, So take a look and enjoy. 

Just for fun

Hey everyone, just for fun I thought I'd post some of my other work so that you all can take a look. The first pic is of the first lady in white, then I have my King and Queen, Next is the Fairy GodMother, then some of my illustrations, these I did in fashion Illustration II. Enjoy. 

A Grand Day Out

Last Sunday I took a trip to one of the best museums here in San Francisco, the de Young museum. This year they are hosting a exhibit called "Balenciaga and Spain" from the title you can guess they were showing the work of Christobal Balenciaga and how he drew inspiration from Spain. The dresses were beautiful, and you could really see how he drew inspiration from his background, art and religion. I can't say which dress I was attracted to the most because they were all magnificant. I was able to get a bit close to some of the dresses and see the backs of others. I wish I could share pictures of the dresses but alas no photos in the gallery, but I did manage to locate some. After the exhibit I decided to find a cold drink and sit and listen to the band playing in the ampitheater, I do have to say that it was a beautiful day for being outside and having a inspirational day.

Hippy Chicks

A few weeks ago the BADDD had a 60's party, Prudence and Ellowyne found some old hippy outfits in the attic of Ellowyne's fab vitorian (Ok I made the skirts), the rest of the outfits were from differnt doll fashions I had around the studio.

I had a great time at the meeting, I actually one of the winners of movie bingo and got the rocking movie hair. So enjoy the pics of my hippy chicks.

A vision in White

Not too long ago I was asked by dear friends E and JR to create a doll dressed in white as a gift for a friend in Peurto Rico well I finally finished her, now this is not a original pattern I used the a pattern from Pattie Medaris Culea's Book "Creative Cloth Doll Making" I love these patterns they are so fun and expressive and highly adaptable. I do believe these books should be part of any cloth doll makers library, they have good techniques and lots of inspiration. Back to the doll she is dressed in white, with long curly hair, hand painted face and shoes. So please enjoy the pictures and check out the book.

School's Out for Summer!!!

Well my wonderful followers (all 3 of you). School is out for summer and I say wahoo!!!!, I did not finish either of my coats but the has not deterred me, I will finish them when I get back from Chicago for a weekend of fun. I do have to say that my hand sewn in lining looks fabulous, I did go a good job on that. The great and talented instructor of 15C (aka Construction 3) asked us what we learned, I said that I learned that pad stitching is a wonderful technique with beautiful results, she also asked would we use what we learned in the class? I feel that yes I would use the techniques, heck learning how to do welt pockets is priceless, I am planning on practicing this technique some more my corners were not as perfect as I would have liked and practice makes perfect. She also asked us about the our challenges, I mentioned that my biggest challenge was time management, with work and another work intensive class I should have figured out how to manage my time better, I should have just come home and sewn more. Grades will be posted soon and I'm looking forward to that. I did learn a ton in this class, and in a way I also learned to let go of some of my sewing fears, I'm making a hand tailored wool coat. How hard can a dress be?
On Sunday The CCSF Fashion Department had their annual Fashion show, and can I say as a first time attendee, it was good, lots of fun, lots of good fashion many of my friends from school had clothing in it, and one of the senior designers won a 2 year scholarship to the Academy of Art here in San Francisco. How cool was that? Now I have no idea what went on behind the scenes, there is always some kind of drama in these things but I didn't notice much in the front of the house. Ruby Skye was kinda cool, and the company was a blast.
So now I'm off for a bit, more in a few days. Enjoy the pics of my fabulous and well done hand stitched lining (I'm a pro at the ladder stitch, that is the stitch I use on all my hand sewn dolls).

A Sample of the my collection

This semester I'm actually taking two classes, my other class is called "Starting a Garment Business", in this class we have a big project to present on Tuesday, this dress is part of my collection and is a example of my sewing skills. I developed the pattern and finished this look today. I still have a bit more to do and this is a huge part of my presentation. I made the dress to fit my American Model. I think she looks amazing. Wish me luck, and cross your fingers so that I get an A.

More Coat

Well this coat is killing me, I have a few weeks till class ends, I still have another coat to make "will he do it?"
 Dear readers who knows, I'm feeling the pressure to get everything done before the end of class. This week I have to work on my final presentation for my "Starting a Garment Business class, Lucky for me I'm half done on this I can polish things up a bit. The presentation is on the 17th. I will look back at this semester as being one of the hardest I've done, but I'm proud of my accomplishment thus far. Wish me luck and send positive thoughts my way.

The Coat

Well I'm posting a few pics of the coat I've been working on for construction 3 class, it's been a hard road but almost done. Working a bit more tonight wish me luck. 

Hankie Pankie

Today a new book arrived from that magical place called Amazon, "Hankie Couture" by Marsha Greenberg. I couldn't wait so I just flipped through the book before starting home work and I can't believe how fun and inspiring this book is, it's colorful and the the images are clear and easy to see and there are patterns in the back.
Looking through the book brought back memories of when I used to dress my sister's Barbies in my mom's scarves. Being the late 70's and early 80's mom had a cool collection of scarves that floated and hung wonderfully. Who knew that i was draping back then. My dresses were simple and usually tied with yarn or ribbon but they were always haute couture and worthy of a red carpet in our eyes. So if you have a chance check out the book and enjoy the photos and the inspiration.  As for me I will try to come up with a dress inspired by the book and post it here, of course this will have to wait till after school is over but that is only a few weeks. Now back to homework.

So here is the book cover, I think it is a bit "Fancy"