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More Knitting for Bythe - 2010 / 11 Fashion

It seems that I love assigning myself rather long-term projects ...

This one is for my granddaughter - I've bought her a Blythe doll & the idea is that every winter and every summer I will make the doll an outfit that reflects the fashion of the time.  Not haute couture / strange cat-walk fashion but what I see young trendy women wearing on the street.  Then when granddaughter has one of those VIBs (Very Important Birthdays) - 18, 20, 21 ???  she will get the doll and a collection of outfits - 2 for each year of her life.

Of course I'm behind with the project but after a flurry of knitting I've finished the outfits for last year!

Winter 2010 -

In grey self striping sock yarn (a cotton blend called "On-Line")  a little suit.  Simple pencil skirt and not-at-all-simple short jacket.  Little jackets like this were still very in this year and they do remind me of the fashions of the 19teens - feminised tail-coats etc.  Anyways - I did lots of short-rows to make the almost circular peplum - long at the back with a box pleat, curving up to a raised waist in the front.

 Back View

There is a wee half-belt with buttons at the back, a standing collar, 3/4 sleeves quite loose and with big cuffs. Collar & cuffs in Moss (aka Seed) Stitch.  A winter outfit has to have accessories - I'm planning to make a big bag, I have made a beret.  It is a Meret by Woolly Woormhead sized down by using thinner yarn and needles (ps: link is to Ravelry).

Summer 2010 / 2011

 

 Teeny weeny shorts - in a denim coloured yarn (again meant for socks) and a bat-wing top.  Very 2010 / 11 and also quite 1980s - there is nothing new under the sun!

 

The top is in a lace-weight yarn (Knit Picks Shimmer) I loved this yarn in the skein but when I started to knit a shawl with it I didn't like the way the colours pooled - on this tiny project the short length variegations work much much better. 

And a little Post Script:  Just before Violetta & I did this photo-shoot I got new prescription glasses (now on multi-focals which does make me feel old!!)  However, I must really have needed new glasses as I'd not noticed before that Violetta has really pretty painted nails - lavender colour   :-)

Cossies for Blythe Dolls

I have been making Cossies / swimsuits for Blythe dolls - trying to develop a knitting pattern for them and giving my dolls plenty of opportunities to channel their inner "Bathing Beauty".

 

Lillian's cossie is a classic vintage style with a 'modesty skirt' - the colours and stripes make it a little bit nautical.

And yes, she nearly did get her feet nibbled by the gold-fish!

Audrey got a boy-leg suit in candy stripes - it has a low back.

 


Violetta's is purple (but of course) with a frilly bottom edged in white just so you notice it!


Violetta's beach towel is a face-cloth (or flannel) cut in half and hemmed on that edge - the beach ball is a ping pong ball with texta colours.

Now - all these swim-suits are my own knitting pattern/s.  They all have the same halter neck top and, except for Audrey's boy-leg suit, they are basically the same shape in the body & bottom.  They can be worn over the doll's underpants - taking those on & off is an ordeal I was keen to avoid!

Lillian's old ADG body (see this post all about Lillian's body transplant) makes a wonderful dressmakers' dummy - I'm calling it Elle (after a certain supermodel who was known as The Body).  The dolls are really relieved that they no longer have to try on half-made garments with knitting needles and sewing pins that scratch and get all tangled up in their hair ... and I guess this photo should come with a "Partial Doll Nudity" warning!    

Pattern-making in progress ...

But wait - there's more ... I've made some swimsuits as swaps & things too.  So more Bathing Belle photos ...

This suit & bag was part of my Secret Santa pressie at the WPWD's meet last weekend. Mandy got my parcel - hope her dolls like it.

In soft aqua, a very girlie version with a frill skirt all round - this time edged with pearlised embroidery thread.  The beach bag is crochet.

And this was for a swap done through WPWDs.  I couldn't post about this until my swap partner got her parcel ... she lives on a Pacific Island which (predictably) made me think of resorts and lazing about a pool ... 

Doesn't Audrey make a wonderful swim-suit model?  The suit is a plain maillot but in a variegated sock yarn - there are some glass beads at the decolletage.  Another ping-pong / beach ball but this beach towel is knitted - stripes of left-over sock yarns in moss stitch (aka seed stitch) for a rather vintage look.  A knitted beach bag with crochet trim.

  And to complete the swap parcel - a maxi-dress.  This is from the halter-neck dress pattern I have for free (at the top of the page).  I used a self-striping sock yarn that I bought in Versailles :-)   it is "Opal Planète" for Bergère de France, the "Rosa" colourway.

Well, you've seen some beach bags above,  I made my own dolls a bag each too - to match their cossies.

 

Lillian & Audrey's are knitted in bamboo yarn - with trim to match their suits.   I used the "Turkish Cast-On" to make these ...

Audrey & Violetta both have really alabaster complexions - so sun-hats are a necessity.  Audrey's is crochet from the same bamboo yarn I used for most of the beach bags - the frill makes it rather like a May Gibbs gum-blossom baby's hat.

Violetta's hat & bag are both crochet from a metallic tape-yarn that I found un-banded in an Op-Shop.  Makes a great dolly hat as it is rather stiff.   I went a bit flamboyant with the purple nylon ribbons - but why not when she looks so cute!

Well, after all that modelling of swim-suits the girls decided to have a picnic and they tested the carrying capacity of their new beach bags.

Things ...

Time for a Catch-Up post?  To show you some Things I've been making and some of the other Things that have interested me - perhaps they will interest you.

Earlier this year I finally bought myself an overlocker.  I've been a seamstress for 3 decades but until this year I had avoided owning an overlocker.  So now I have an "entry level" machine (as in the cheapest one the brand makes) and it is making some garments a possibility ...

Very stretchy, fine, mesh fabric - with neat hems and edges.  Without an overlocker this would be a nightmare and / or impossible.



And it is making some sewing much easier.  This is the inside of a Blythe doll's dress.





But enough about Blythe dolls ... I'll show you all the things I've been making for the dolls in the next post...

Let's see more sewing.
I've been making some of my 1930's inspired Kimono / Cocoons  for my Etsy shop (see above for a link).  They are very Glam evening wraps - I've made one in this lovely black lace, the others are in some all-over sequin fabric - one is rose gold, the other is a brighter (9carat) gold.



The sequin Kimono / Cocoons are really Old-Style Hollywood Glamour.







Now for some knitting.
Also for the Etsy shop, some of my slouchy beanies - too warm for an Australian Christmas but Etsy is on the www and somewhere in the world they will be having a white Christmas.

This beanie is very toasty - it is my own hand-spun yarn - un-dyed, naturally coloured sheep and alpaca fleece. 








Did someone mention Christmas?
Last year I made knitted snowflakes as little pressies for family and friends ... seemed like a good idea at the time!   This year the little knitted Christmas decoration / pressie is going to be .... guess!  


I've a bit of a production line of them ... thankfully I don't have many friends.







Now this is also too warm a garment for this time of the year - it can wait till next winter - a poncho for my granddaughter.   A mohair blend from Bendigo Woollen Mills that I dyed myself - the stripes are a cheap chenille acrylic yarn. 





This is my favourite method of making a poncho - 2 rectangles stitched together ... add a neck-band and some fringe.  Fringe is mandatory for ponchos I reckon :-)

Have also finished this scarf - made from Habu yarns packaged as a kit from Dairing.   You work 2 fine yarns together and one of them is a blend of silk and stainless steel.  The steel means that it'll hold a frilly edge like this.











Now for something completely different - I love flat shoes, the freedom and mobility, the independence, the comfort of them.  Towering heels / tottering platforms are not for me - I walk everywhere, don't have a limousine so no limousine shoes for me thank you.  I live in Ballerina Flats (the French call them "Ballerines") and the ones I love most are, appropriately enough, from Blochs.  The black leather version is my shoe staple but I also love the white satin ones - I think they are meant as bridal wear.  


But the ones I buy don't stay white for long ...

This pair are now a nice dark emerald green.



Fabric dye, painted on.  Now I just have to decide if I'm going to put gold beads on them or not ...









Enough of things I've been making ...
Was delighted by this historical old advertising recently revealed by a demolition following a fire on King Street Newtown.

It was once a garage with "Cars for Hire"  and that was "Waratah Motor Spirit"...

This link will take you to another blog with more information (and a lot of advertising!)   Unfortunately, less than a week later the other end of the wall with "Perdriau Tyres" was covered with some unattractive tagging / graffiti.

Now for some nature.
Summer time means crickets - no not cricket the sport of flanneled fools but insects like this ... she hitched a ride into the house on the washing and had to be escorted outside again.

Lovely long antennas !

A few weeks ago on a very hot day I spotted this young kookaburra in some jacaranda trees.  Poor thing was trying to cool down - beak open and wings held away from the body.

I'll leave you with something pretty - another surprise from my garden because I planted this lily bulb at least 8yrs ago and this is the first time it has flowered.  A small arum lily it is a sweet blush pink colour.