#yosdkanon

[smallwonderdolls]

Two things I've enjoyed making recently: midi skirt and beanbag chair (filled with yarn fluff).

[smallwonderdolls]

Sui (Yo-SD Kanon) in a Boto's works overshirt. I really like the tomboyish vibe! My little bookworm never truly looks at home in overly girly clothes.

[smallwonderdolls]

My first time sewing with velvet!  

A friend of mine who works at a garment design company gifted me some swatches of fancy fabric.  I was inspired to make something with them to show her.  :D  Sui’s dress is made of a velvety black fabric with shimmery woven lines that don’t show up very well in the photo.  I think I’ll finish it off with a red velvet ribbon at the waist.  (She has surprised me by having quite an affinity with black and red, in addition to mauve.)  

I was going to make a dress for Laurie out of the dark blue velvet Sui is lying on, with a waistband of the spangly fabric you see on the right, but sewing velvet has turned out to be a pain!  XD  It “creeps”, or shifts against itself, something fierce, and two seams of equal length can somehow end up over a centimetre apart D: (I unpicked that seam and started over).  Websites recommend basting by hand before sewing, but that doesn’t help me since I sew by hand anyway and not machine.  Pins and clamps didn’t seem to help, either, since the fabric still slips, somehow, and even a half-centimetre difference is quite a lot at Yo-SD scale.   Instead, the one thing I’ve learnt minimises the creeping for me, is to carefully sew seams with a running stitch one way and then back up the other, instead of the (stronger and faster) back-stitch I usually use.

[smallwonderdolls]

My little helper. @^_^@

So the first thing I thought when I received my Niella head was how /tiny/ he is!… o. O How can this be a mini-sized head??  Are /all/ MiniFee this tiny!? The width of the gap between MSD and slim mini is finally starting to sink in…

My second thought was how /light/ he felt for his size... lighter than I’ve come to expect from a BJD (bearing in mind that I haven’t had the chance to touch any dolls besides my own since 2008 XD;).

Thus the weighing scale. :3 More on the results in the next post.

[smallwonderdolls]

A closer look at the collar of the top I made for Sui (working name).  Chain stitch; sequins, beads, lace applique.  

I’m still looking for dusty coral-pink eyes for her, but in the meantime...  I plan to tweak her lip paint this coming weekend.  *nervous*  First time doing facial aesthetics on a doll (other than applying eyelashes) in... hmm.... about 12 years?  The last one was Noel, whose face-up has actually held up really well and not yellowed much that I can tell.  

[smallwonderdolls]

Yo-SD girl yukata sewing pattern

Here it is!  Link: Yo-SD girl yukata pattern

I tried to make the pattern simple to construct while still retaining a level of authenticity in the appearance of the finished piece.  Basic instructions are available here.  Some notes:

Pattern is designed for printing on A4 paper.  (1-cm and 1-inch measurements are indicated so you can check if it’s printed correctly.)

The pattern is designed for Volks Yo-SD, but it should fit dolls of similar size fairly well with minor adjustments.  

Since I only researched girls’ yukata when I was making it, I don’t know what changes would have to be made for a boy, besides shortening the length of the body and sleeves.

Minor changes have been made in the linked pattern as compared to the sample photo.  For example, the front panel piece has been moved further to the side.

No pattern for the obi waist tie, but you can get creative and do it however you like since it’s simply a long rectangle... In a pinch, you could even use just a long piece of folded fabric (soft chiffon, for example), or wide ribbon, and tie it in the back.  

If you make anything with this pattern, I would love to see it!!  @_@   Comments are welcome, too, whether good or bad, so that I can improve in future.  If you wish to share it, I would appreciate it if you linked to this Tumblr post rather than directly to the pattern.  Thank you and enjoy! ^-^ 

[smallwonderdolls]

Sui being patient, while I work out the width of the shoulder tuck.  (the purple waist tie is temporary)

I’m quite happy with this iteration and am pretty confident that I will have a pattern to share very soon! So if you have been wanting to make a yukata for your Yo-SD girl but haven’t yet found a pattern - please look forward to it. ^-^

[smallwonderdolls]

A book for Sui

I mentioned before that Sui (working name) likes books.  This weekend, I got around to making her a little hardcover book of her own. ^-^  I’ve been making my own hardcover journals for a while now (for human use XD), so it was fun making a tiny one for the first time ever!  Read on for more pics and info~

I used my favourite, Japanese-made Tomoe River paper for the pages.  It is thinner than regular paper, super smooth, and a pleasure to write on - not that dolls will be writing on it. XD  The thin-ness of the paper makes it a good choice for doll-scale projects.  The red end-papers are origami paper, and the cover is made with textured lilac book-cloth from Talas.  The faux head-bands at the ends of the spine are just satin crochet thread glued onto ribbon.  As for the process, I generally use Sea Lemon’s method for making text blocks and hardcover binding.  

It took me a whole afternoon, but much of that was waiting time whilst the glue dried.  Other than that, the bulk of the work was tearing the individual pages and sewing them into signatures by hand.

Here is a look at the book in an MSD hand.  It’s more of a pocket journal size for them:

I wonder if people would be interested in purchasing these if I made more?  I already have bookbinding supplies, and I’ve a collection of pretty hand-printed papers from around the world that would make really nice end-papers for tiny books.  ^_^  You could even use old letters or other sentimental items to make personalised end-papers...  It would also be fun to collaborate with friends who could illustrate some quirky, limited edition volumes. :D