Custom Order In Progress

 Good afternoon dolls! This week's focus has been on my new custom order that I mentioned last week. I didn't give you too many details then, so here's the scoop:

A psych professor is doing a study on girls age 4-7 and which doll they would choose based on size - Barbie, Tyler, and Emme. So each doll will have the same swimsuit, workout outfit, jeans & tee, business suit, and gown. This means I'm taking patterns that I have for Barbie-sized dolls and enlarging them to fit Tyler and Emme. The professor was kind enough to loan me her Tyler & Emme dolls to use as models and they are gorgeous! So far, I have the swimsuits for all three complete...

and the jeans & tee for Barbie... (the denim is ultra soft and stretchy)

and the workout outfit for Barbie... (I love this over-sized hoodie! It looks so comfy!)

I didn't really realize what a difference is size there was between Barbie and the other two fashion dolls. I know it's 4 1/2 inches, but that's not that much, right? Ha! Look at the difference:

So this is a challenging project - but believe me, that's what I live for! I love to be challenged. It's a great way to develop my talent and craft. Over the weekend, I will be resizing the pattern for the workout outfit & the jeans & tee-shirt. Out of curiosity, I tried the jeans for Barbie on the Tyler doll - they are the right length for her capris! And I'll just need to add a smidge around the waist. For Emme, I'll need to add just a little bit more to the length (about 1/4 inch) and a little bit more around the waist. Emme is my fave doll so far. She's my size ;)

Have a great week, dolls, thanks for sharing in this project with me. You can follow along and see more photos on my facebook page and on my twitter. And don't forget to stop by my shop to see new items added daily!

One custom order is completed as another one comes rolling in...

I'm very happy to say that I have finished my custom order for Hande. I only took photos of three dresses - remember though that there 5 of each of the three pictured. It is a little hard to tell from the photo, but the dresses have ribbon trim along the waistline - one is white, one is black, and the last is pink. Each dress has a matching drawstring purse trimmed with lace like the one in the photo.

These dresses are my own design and created with special fabric sent by the customer. I'm pretty proud of how they turned out.

And as I was finishing this one up, I got a request for another custom order! I'm very excited about this and what a challenge it will be! I will be creating 15 outfits again, only this time, only 5 of them will be for Barbie. The other 10 outfits will be for the Emme and Tyler Wentworth dolls.



Aren't these dolls gorgeous?? So I will be making 5 different outfits in 3 different sizes - Barbie, Emme, and Tyler. Each doll will get a light blue swimsuit, a pink/white workout outfit, jeans and a navy long sleeve tee, a purple/lavender suit, and a two-tone pink gown. Here are my fabric selections:

What will really be a challenge will be resizing the patterns from Barbie up to the Tyler doll and the up again to the Emme doll. If you don't know much about the dolls, I did some research. The Tyler fashion doll is 16 inches tall - approx. 4 1/2 in. taller than Barbie. This doll has the same proportions as Barbie. The Emme doll is also 16 inches tall but she is considered "plus-size", so her proportions are not quite the same. These two dolls are made by the Tonner Doll company and run about $60 for the Emme dolls and anywhere from $60 to $250 for the Tyler doll. I'm wondering now how much they would be on e-bay or Amazon.com... hmmmm... something to ponder, anyway.

I will begin my work on the Barbie-sized outfits today. I'll post pictures here and on my facebook page, www.facebook.com/BarbieBoutiqueBasics. This will be an exciting undertaking!! I'll blog more about this order next week, dolls!

Lots of Love,

Crystal 

Custom Ordered Set of 15 Dresses

Ok, I confess... I'm a horrible blogger! I just haven't been inspired to write! And I've been struggling with finding a way to juggle it all... being a Mommy & wife, working part-time, creating, facebook-ing, etsy-ing, blogging... clearly blogging has fallen by the wayside. BUT I'm back and I'm going to blog EVERY Friday - even if it kills me LOL!

So, this Friday, I want to talk about what I'm currently working on, which is really exciting for me. I have a dress that I designed the pattern for - it's a simple V-neck, sleeveless dress that is knee-length and pretty classy looking, if I do say so myself! But here, take a look and you can decide:

I love this dress and it is fairly simple to create - I've made it in several colors and it is currently being sold locally at Kids Bazaar.And now I am working on customizing for a customer using Barbie fabric that she sent me. This new print for the dress is great - it's black and white with just a dash of pink! And I'm making a matching drawstring bag with black lace and pink embroidery floss. It will look similar to this:

I'm going to change it just a smidge by adding a second drawstring so that the purse will pull open/closed. I just started putting the purses together last night and I hope to finish them up tonight. The dresses are complete minus hand sewing on the snaps. I meant to take photos last night, but got caught up with other Etsy things, so here are the photos from 3 nights ago...

Did I mention that the customer wants 15 of them? How exciting is that! Her friends are going to receive this dress and matching purse for Christmas - what a great friend, huh? I'm hoping to have everything 100% complete by next Thursday so I can get these posted by Friday - can I do it? Of course!

A little more about the pattern - This dress is altered from a knit top pattern that I had. I added some width to the back to account for the lack of stretch in non-stretch knit fabrics. I lengthened the lowered edge and flared it out some to give the dress a more A-line silhouette. The bodice gathers in front just a smidge where it connects to the skirt of the dress. The waistline at that connection point is raised to an empire waist. When the dress is complete, it will have ribbon trim along that line. However, the photo I showed you earlier, has a bow to one-side. This customer opted not to included that bow. I normally prefer Velcro closures as they are easier and quicker to sew on than snaps, but, as I mentioned, these dresses will close with snaps, per the customer's request.

I'm very excited to be working on this custom order. I love creating for people and this one is definitely a pleasure! I'll update with more photos soon - maybe even tonight!

Lots of Love,
Crystal

UPDATE: I got three of the dresses 100% complete (snaps even!) yesterday!! Yay! Here's what they look like:

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