Alison clothing, progressing

Quick summary of today's progress. Here's Ali in her new pants and most of her new shirt.

First, the pants. They're still lacking a back closure because guess who forgot to buy velcro DESPITE WORKING AT A CRAFT FUCKING STORE

As you can see, the pockets are wanky as fuck, but I'm letting myself get away with this.
I haven't faded the jeans, though I'd like to. I had some fun adding distressed patches, but I'm also keeping track of the fact that these are for a canonically 10-13 year old, so I'm being careful to not let any distressed patch get too high up on the leg. I'm sort of shooting with the clothes for around age 13-14, because that's freshman year of high school, which was when I started really making choices about my own clothes, and I'm working a lot of Alison's personality (both from the books and from what I made up as a kid) into her clothes.
Wow, that was a long sentence. I should stop writing htese when I"m so tired.
What we do know, all canon aside, we do know from the dolls themselves that none of them have developed chests, or wear bras. I didn't have boobs till I was in like my junior year of high school, so I'm saying that's a passable thing for 14. I developed way later than most girls but shhh whatever.

Something I'd forgotten is that her t-shirt (from her starter outfit) snaps in the back so she can get it on. When I realized this, I had to adjust my plans.

I went from plans to do a full jersey shirt to making it raglan sleeved. Raglan sleeves aren't super 'in' right now with the cool kids in freshman high school who are hip to the jive and go to the sock hops. They're still very associated with modern sporty things, and they'll be fun to put on a graphic tee.
Bonus point about raglan sleeves: I can put a snap closure on the back of one sleeve, and make a discrete connection for a closure to let her head in. The black fabric is something I had hanging around after the Lin Beifong cosplay. It's an athletic semi-mesh, which wasn't intentional, but I like it.

I'm still not sure what to put on the shirt. I'm tempted to copy the polyvore I originally used as an inspiration, and just put, "weirdo," but I also might put "dyslexics UNTIE" on it. In canon, Alison is dyslexic, and has to come to accept how getting after school tutoring affects her social life, so I want to represent the way she comes to terms with that. I saw the shirt in person and thought it was funny, but it's always tough for me to represent a disability that I don't have. I need to think this one over more.

Also, found her hat that I made her yesterday when I was at work today.
I'm going to work the teal/blue color theme into the outfit more than it currently is. Wouldn't be the Magic Attic Club without the girls being color coded for our convenience. To be fair, I love the color coded thing.

And a last and final shout out to Sergestiel, my serger, making that shirt much easier.

Helena has pants!

My room is a wreck and I'd like you to excuse that.

For those of you who don't know BJDs, its pretty common to sculpt them more anatomically correctly than, say, a Barbie.
This was a problem for Helena, because

• Things Helena has: a crotch with defined labia
• Things Helena did not have: pants.

And that was a bit difficult to explain to people, so here's her skirt.

The scale's off, which matches her oversize hat, so I like it. It kind of reminds me of arm knitting, that big craze we've got going.
The waistband's a sort of 4x4 rib. It's really 4x4x8x4, repeated twice. I wanted smoother hips.
The body's got a bit of expansion to get a bit more flare, and then there's a bubblestitch hem because why not.

I haven't woven in the ends yet, and I may never do that.

You might also notice that Helena poses very strangely. She was literally the cheapest doll that I could find that wasn't a recast. Her joints are more hinges than true ball joints. They don't even have a peanut joint. They look like they have a floating peanut, but the joint is attached to one part of the arm.

Her hands and feet don't have balls on them, either, so they move laterally but can't go up and down.

All in all, Maddie and Gooliope are a lot more fun to pose than her. I'm considering buying a resinsoul body and putting her face on it, because her face is quite pretty.

Maybe tomorrow I'll write about the Duffys I'm working on.

Finally working on Helena

I'm not dead!

So, Helena has a wig, finally. Sort of.

It's 100% athletic tape and yarn, but that's not the point.

I'm not sure I've introduced Helena before, but she's a Bobobie Lotus BJD, light tan, stock faceup. They're about $130, so they're as cheap as you get. 

Polly, 2010-2015: Really want a BJD to sew clothes for.
Polly, 2016: Have a BJD and never sew clothes for her.

I think my main problem with Helena is that she's just not very poseable. Her hinge elbows and knees just don't move as much as I want them to.
This, obviously, is because I bought the cheapest possible BJD that I could find.
I love her face, and I keep considering buying a 5stardoll body (about $200) and putting her head on it.
Of course, this is what I'm going to do with the massive amount of money that I just have hanging around.
Haha.

I actually bought a wig for her a couple days ago, because she really needs one.

<stock image>

I'm getting the feeling that she has blue hair. I got her to sew lolita dresses for, and I'm sure I will soon, but for now, blue hair.

Anyway, the girl needed some hair, and I needed a project that'd take a couple hours and that I could watch TV during.

I started making the wig a while ago. I bought some plied wool yarn and took it apart, to get some chunky curls. The wefts are made of two layers of tape, and the cap's tape.

I pretty quickly realized that I couldn't get enough fiber to make a full wig, so I'd originally stuck the heel of a sock onto the cap. A couple days ago, I finally decided to knit her a real hat. 
The hat's attached to the wig, and it really makes the wig fit better.
She's got a skirt in progress, too. It's on the needles and I work on it before bed.

I've been having trouble finding the motivation to actually sew anything except class work recently.
I've been having trouble finding the motivation to sew for classes, too.
I dropped out of school again.

That's not what this blog is for. This blog is for doll things. Here are more pictures of the doll wig.

Helena's dress that I made her in about 8 minutes doesn't actually cover her butt all the way. Being a BJD, she had a defined vulva. This is why she really needs a skirt or something.

Over on the other side of the cleaning supplies is Maddie, who looks fantastic and makes Helena look like a hack job.

Anyway, I'm back. Doll updates are going to be coming as they do. I think Helena is a bit into being a pirate cosplayer, so prep for some of that.
Poor girl really needs shoes.