Slowing Down

It's February and for me, it is a busy month. I see myself cutting down on dress making and maybe blogging, or not. We'll see. Before that happens, lemme talk about my latest project.

When I did the clothes of the Life in the Dream House (LiDH) dolls, I had a plan. Before I made them, I bought the things I needed. I already knew how to style them even before I started cutting the fabric. That's not the case now.

I pick a doll and I create clothes for it from the stuff that I already have. Sometimes I have an idea for a doll but I don't have the right materials. I don't want to have a huge stock of fabric so I'd either edit the idea or scrap it altogether. That's going to take a lot of time.

Even when it's done, sometimes the final fitting on the doll is not as I expected. Like this one, I really wanted to make a simple cropped top and a gingham skirt for this simple doll. The mix of all the simplicity makes it a little boring even for me, especially after doing the LiDH doll clothes. This came out very secretarial. Although, I was really thinking of something she can wear at the office. That was the goal, and I guess it was met but...

It (the one on the left) still is boring to me, not to mention basic and old. So I challenged myself to make it a little bad-ass. The one on the right is what I came up with. I got the idea from the runway shows of popular brands. A lot of the dresses there have a classic timeless silhouettes and they just make it look more interesting by making them wear boots and/or hats. They added pops of color but I personally limited myself to black and white for this project. Maybe on my next projects...

Stop the Props

At times, this hobby can be time consuming. For somebody with a full-time job and who is technically the head of the family, it can get overwhelming sometimes. My training has taught me that when things get overwhelming, one should learn how to break things down, to keep them simple.

Some of the most time consuming areas of this hobby are (1) storytelling (2) making dresses (3) styling (4) taking pictures and (5) making props and dioramas. After breaking things down, one should prioritize. Storytelling went out the window a long time ago, although it creeps back in from time to time. I had to figure out in which area I really wanted to improve. I decided it's the dress making. Dolls can be beautiful even with a crappy background, right? Making dresses is more fulfilling with the right styling, in my opinion, so styling stays. And don't expect me to let go of taking pictures when I'm willing to spend more on a camera than a smart phone. Making props and dio finally has to be cut to a minimum.

Still, I wanted my doll photos to have an appropriate background and Photoshopping is not an option since it also takes a lot of time. My  interest in action figures lead me to a photo in Flickr that showed how to have an interesting background with minimal set up and clean up time (as cleaning up is also time consuming).

If you know how to display image files on a big enough TV or LCD screen, then it will be easy.  The screen will serve as a digital background, a sort of video wall. Another toy blogger wrote about it here. The solo pictures of my Life in the Dream House dolls in the previous entries all have digital background. All you need is the floor to be installed. The tricky part is lighting the scene such that the camera does not capture unwanted reflections from the screen.

I usually download suitable backgrounds on my phone during a commute or any waiting time or while in bed trying to make myself fall asleep. Not only did this cut down the time I need to take pictures, it also cuts down the toys I wanted to buy. Having less props also means I need less storage space. It's a win-win-win solution, if you asked me.

All Together Now

These are my version of Life in the Dream House dolls. Let's have one more look at all of them before I move on to other stuff. Plus, I want a picture where they all seem to get along.

Ryu

I love this doll. Unlike what Ken wore in the previous entry, I can wear Ryu's outfit, that is if it came in human size.

Almost

One sewing frustration I have is making a good enough (not necessarily a perfect) blazer. Constructing the collar is always a challenge for me. Finally, I have succeeded but I have to alter the pattern because it is a little short.

And yeah, I'm into pastel these days.