KiguKids and Machine Sewing

Yes. Machine Sewing, something I don't often do. Now, normally the KiguKids are completely done by hand, needle and thread, but I was feeling lazy. I thought, if it could save time and help me make more, maybe I could just machine sew them. Zigzag stitch the edges to make it similar to the regular dolls, that'll be good enough, right? WRONG. So wrong. Keep reading and I'll tell you about it.

Wallets, wallets, wallets.

Wallets! Or card cases. Not quite coin purses since they don't seal completely. Don't want change falling out everywhere. I haven't tested them for that sort of thing though, so maybe coins could work...I'll revisit that subject later.

Anyway, wallets/card cases! Cute, simple, and actually useful! Not to say hair accessories, pins, and stuff aren't useful, but this is something that's actually used. In two (or was it three?) days, I made five wallets.

Return of the Bunny Mufflers! And prints!

Chasing the Frill is doing bunny mufflers again! It's been a long time since I've made them, but I've started to miss them and despite it being 90-105 degrees F here, it's slowly, but surely(!) cooling down that maybe I'll be able to wear my personal bunny again. I'm sure it's a lot cooler and more fall like elsewhere, which means (hopefully) people may want a cute bunny to cuddle up with?

Pink Dragon Friend

I mentioned in the previous post that animal ice cream cones were a million times easier than making full plush. I meant it. This little dragon took me two days to make. To me, that's way too long for something this small. I mean, sure, there were some distractions along the way, but still. At least it turned out cute.

Blue and Black Bats

Continuing from the Pink Bats post that featured a little blue bat, bigger blue bats came into the making in the same style as the pink. The blue and grey matched well enough to keep the same color scheme as before, but I swapped the light blue for a darker yarn on the bow at the neck.

Bats and Pink Strawberries

I only have one size of plastic packaging that I bought with simple bows in mind. Not going to stop me from putting other products in them before shipping them out to clients. The spring strawberry bow is pretty crammed in there, but it fit and closed!
I sold the original baby bat at the monthly lolita swapmeet, but left the listing in the shop as I had already started making another. I made a few changes though.

KiguKids Red Twins + Mini

After finalizing the kigukid design, it was time to make some for the shop! Again, I dug through my fabric stash and found some oriental patterned stuff that came in a pack. Since there were two red types, making twins sounded like a cute idea

KiguKids Prototypes

After the previous dolly mishap, I tried another approach. I used the same face idea because that was the only thing I liked about the other doll. Unfortunately I didn't get other progress pictures of the first two prototypes, but I got a few of the third and final one.

Pastel Fluff Bows

Nothing gets me fired up to make stuff like having an opportunity to sell in person. I was invited to a cosplay swapmeet/picnic last weekend and decided that I needed to have more variety in my stuff. I'd bought this yarn a while ago and only really used it for accents like on the fluff phone straps or making fluff balls. It's way easier to knit fluffy yarn because I don't have to worry about missing stitches. However, my knitting skills are extremely limited, so I made what I usually make! BOWS!

Dolly Disaster

I got a new set of handsewing needles, which included embroidery needles. The time had come to actually embroider for real since I'd had these three hoops for a while now. I planned out a doll with an embroidered face and went from there. It looked okay in the beginning, aside from the puckering. I used scrap fabric that's too thin and had to fold it over so that the thread wouldn't show through in the back.

MokoMoko Animals

I saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier on the weekend it came out. Highly recommend. Before the movie, my friends and I shopped around the area. I don't live anywhere near where we saw it, so it was a bit more exciting and interesting for me. On impulse I bought more fluffy yarn, something I have a love/hate relationship with. It's cute, it's soft, but damn is it hard to see stitches when working with it. This is a little different since it's not fluffy all around but closer to eye-lash type yarn. I got it in 2 colors, white and pink.

Spring Strawberry Bows

Pink strawberries and minty bows are totally spring colors. At the last monthly lolita swapmeet I heard a girl comment that the red/brown strawberry bow was cute but mori, or something to that effect. I sold the other pastel one at the meetup before, so after that it seemed like a good idea to make more of the pink strawberries. It's seasonal and even though most of the girls that showed up to that meet up were wearing black (including myself) there are still others strongly into sweet !

"Jude" by DROPS Design

Another Christmas craft, this time for Lolita Secret Santa. This was made using a part of this DROPS Design pattern. I liked the look of the center with the rose and such and made a small shoulder pouch instead of a backpack. The creamy yellow fabric is what I used for lining.

Strawberry Cake Cover

I'm back! With old stuff! This is something I made for my sister for Christmas. My dad got us 7in tablets and I'd seen my sister with cutesy cases and stuff so it seemed like a good idea.The idea was a cake, yellow with strawberry and cream on the inside.

Kodama Mini!

Ariane of The Fashionable Cupcake had mentioned to me before that she eventually wanted to commission a Kodama from me. Last Friday night, it was brought up again (since I totally forgot about it) and that she was interested in a smaller keychain/phone strap version. Now, I don't think we ever actually set things in stone like if she was actually commissioning me right then and there, but I wanted to do it anyway!

I don't work in small scale very often since it's usually a little difficult working with things being well, small. It still took me about the same amount of time to make as a regular sized Kodama though, so that wasn't too bad. Ended up gluing the eyes on, because no way was I sewing on those tiny pieces of felt! If I had a felting needle, I would've stabbed them in. 

Size comparison! With a little box of Japanese gum, haha.

Doughnut Day

Apparently it's National Doughnut Day? Good thing I made some doughnuts last night. To get the summer rollin' I thought I could try crocheting something new. Doughnuts just seemed like a good idea, probably because I wanted to eat some.

Monkey Blues

I've been holding onto this post since January. It's been in a nearly finished state since then and I finally finished it this past Friday. Quite pathetic really, since it's been practically finished, all I had to do was attach the face parts. I was just too lazy and unmotivated to actually stitch them on that I finally caved and glued it. Bah, it looks fine, right?!

February 27 '13

Sorry things have been slow here. Being up and out to school early has me feeling tired lately. Haven't really been in the mood to crochet. I started making earmuffs last Thursday because the weather had been cold and rainy, but it was suddenly warm since Friday. Kinda just set the project aside, since all I really did make was the band. I doubt the weather will be getting cold enough to need earmuffs anytime soon. At least not until April. I haven't been really doing much crafting either, aside from glitter-gluing a plastic horse. I guess with painting and watercolor classes, I've been doing more 2D things. After spending too much on art supplies, I ended up getting more sketchbooks than I needed because of a sale [no point in passing it up, it was a really good one].

Watercolor's got me thinking about Sakizou's artwork and how much I love it [just looking at my meowboard you'd know]. My drawings lately have been trying to mimic her style, while of course still being my own. Mostly the cute and fluffy clothing and coloring. I'm a terrible painter, but maybe I'll be able to work watercolor into my stuff.

Low quality phone picture

Bunny Ice Cream

Bear bonbons, bunny dango, other cute animal styled desserts are thing, right? Especially in the clay sculpting crowd and acrylic charm makers. Bear cupcakes are easy enough, dango is a bit more iffy when it comes to the try colored skewered type. And a drawing of bunnies stacked on top of each other to make a sundae might not translate as nicely. Bunny head styled ice cream is a bit more manageable.

Bunka Face Pins 3

I know, more bunka faces. This time I had a theme. I started these faces on January 5th, which I guess is when I had the last post scheduled to be up! January 5th is Hayao Miyazaki's birthday. In honor of him, I watched some of his movies. I was going to try to watch as many as I could and go in order, but I ended up only watching three, and I skipped Totoro. I know, how could I skip My Neighbor Totoro? I had the order wrong in my head.

I started with Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind then Laputa / Castle in the Sky. Totoro was supposed to be next, but for some reason I thought it was Kiki's Delivery Service. I'll be honest, I wasn't feeling Laputa as I was watching it, but I pushed through it with the excitement that Kiki would be next since it's my favorite. So...I skipped Totoro and went straight to Kiki. No regrets.

Anyway, as I said at the beginning, I had a theme in mind as I made them. Miyazaki film heroines. Loosely based on them, since their colors are very similar and very natural. Either dark or redish hair and dark eyes. While I love that they do look so natural, it doesn't mean much diversity with the pins. I had to make some color changes.