Updates All Around!

Howdy y'all!

FIRST: I won NaNoWriMo (yay!) with "The Abyss Gazes Also", but it's not over yet. If you haven't checked it out yet, you can right here. We're on Chapter 53 right now, heading into the climax, and it's getting good reviews, so come along for the ride!

SECOND: Look at these fine-ass ladies who recently came to stay.

Picture Day Operetta and Music Festival Abbey.

Our local Walmart is moving out all its old stock, and both these lines are on sale for $10 each. Check your local Walmart for end-of-season deals too! Spring 2014 dolls are coming!

Here's Abbey with just the front piece of the box removed, still attached.

Here you can see everything the doll comes with. The Music Festival line is a budget, or minor, line, but I think you get a good amount of quality accessories for the lower price. She wears a 1960s style blouse with one dropped shoulder, gathered waist and elbows, and ragged-edge three-quarter sleeves and waistline. She has a blue-and-purple faux denim mini with frayed edges. Her melting ice belt in blue translucent plastic is re-used, and I usually despise belts, but in this case it helps to keep the edges of the blouse from curling up.

The one stand-out piece of this outfit, for me, is the boots. Translucent blue melting ice boots, knee-high, with removable bright pink spiked shackles. You can't tell me that's not awesome. (Her blouse and adorable headband also prompted me to get her. I just love the style!)

I mean LOOK at those boots! You can also see her VIM pass and her earrings in the shape of one blue snowflake and one purple crystal. I wonder how many other Abbey dolls don't include her signature "ice crystal" choker?

Now on to that lovely lady from the catacombs...

Picture Day Operetta! I'd been looking EVERYWHERE for her, and B wound up running into her at Walmart, which was unexpected. She was on my must-have list for the following reasons:

- One, she's Operetta.

- Two, the Picture Day sets are fairly cheap ($10 - $15 in most stores right now, $19.99 on release) yet come with some of the greatest accessories and design for their price point. The clothes in this line are consistently well-made and gorgeous. The Fearbook is worth it if only for the sheet of stickers within.

- That jacket! Finally, an MH letterman jacket for a ghoul!

- Those shoes! .. OK, basically the fact that she's 1950s ghoul cool reincarnated. Spectacular.

However, as you might guess, that cute little "hairdo gone astray" image of her on the Picture Day boxes translates to "glue-stiffened unmanageable coil of hair" in 3D, which also left her face spattered with glue; and the back of her head has been pressed so firmly against the box that any shape her carefully crafted ponytail and pompadour might have had, has been destroyed. So, yes. She's on my "imminent boil and re-do" list.

I noticed also that her left hand is deformed and will require some careful trimming with an Xacto before it can bend as normal. Other than that, she's flawless.

The coat is cut just under the bust with three-quarter sleeves. The main body is purple pleather, with an MH logo printed on the upper left breast. The sleeves are white faux leather. The coat has knit acrylic trim at the cuffs, hem, and neck. It's well-made, though I worry about the longevity of the pleather, and it looks absolutely fantastic.

The corset is a removable piece with thin velcro closure and printed white stringing. It is structured just as a small corset should be, in panels, and it fits just right.

Operetta has a handbag shaped like a red and black dripping heart, with a music-note "tail" detail on one side. The bag is small, just big enough for a ghoul's iCoffin, but I do appreciate the nifty curve in its strap, designed to help its weight balance on a doll's arm.

On her left wrist she wears a simple black bracelet, common to the dolls released in this line and around this same time. On the right wrist she wears a bead-detailed red bracelet, a recolor of Lagoona's Dot Dead Gorgeous white bracelet.

Here are her amazing shoes, with molded and painted buttons and a red seam along the inside of the ankle. I can't get over these. They're gorgeous.

Her facemask is still heart-and-cobweb shaped, but this time the spider at its edge is bright red, adding some visual punch. On her right ear she wears a long earring of black vinyl records.

This is the full complement of accessories with this doll: jacket, corset, dress, fishnet stockings, bag, bracelets, facemask, earring, and shoes, not to mention folder with spiderweb patterns and closure, stand, and brush.

The jacket, shoes, socks, and corset could easily be added to other Operetta outfits, without disrupting her basic style themes.

The dress, leopard print interspersed with music notes and treble clefs, combines the "strapless" (clear plastic straps) look of the Ghouls Night Out designs with the tulle, patterns, and ruffles of the Dot Dead Gorgeous line. It's elegant, fierce, and adorable, all at once. That's Operetta in a nutshell!

So, in conclusion, I'd say the Picture Day line are worthwhile, for your own collection or for storing as a future investment. This is the second "basic" Operetta doll and in my opinion she's a gem. It's obvious Mattel put a lot of work into her design and the craftsmanship used to put her together.

As for the Music Festval dolls, I feel their costumes make them worth the cost, but they don't offer much else. If you have a favorite character, get them in this budget line if only to have some variety; otherwise, these dolls will soon be on deep discount, so keep your eyes peeled.

Up next: Pattern layouts for common MH outfit pieces!

Super Simple Monster High Clothes, Pt 4

So far, we've made socks, stockings, dresses, and hats. Now how about some separates to tie things together?

After making all those other bits, doubtless you've got scraps laying around. This is a handy and fun way to make use of them while boosting the content of your doll's wardrobe.

Materials:

- any random socks you've got laying around, clean and in decent shape, AND / OR leftover sock bits

- scissors, needle and thread

- a doll volunteer for measurements

* Some basic sewing skill is required for this project. Don't worry - it's nothing fancy and if you don't succeed at first, just try again until you do!

First, let's talk about those sock bits. Here's a diagram of our initial sock, cut into pieces, prior to any sewing.

Most likely, you have scrap from the portion of the sock labeled 'top or skirt material', as well as the '????' area. If you decided you don't like the look of the sock hats, you might be anxious to use those up, too. Well, here's your chance.

Step 1:

Choose which piece of scrap you're going to use, based on its dimensions. Use your doll to get an idea of what pieces will fit for different items. See the image below for an idea of size ranges.

I have a bunch of pieces about 4cm square, so I'm going to use those to make tops, and I have a few sock tops left over, which I'm going to cut down to 6cm x 10cm to make snug and cozy winter skirts.

Each skirt will be one piece, usually rectangular. Each top will be TWO pieces, a front and a back, cut to the same dimensions.

Decide which pieces can become tops (minimum measurements: 2cm x 7cm) and which can become skirts (minimum measurements: 3cm x 10cm), cut them down to the size you want, and sort into two piles so you don't get confused. Not that I ever do. *ahem*

Step 2:

For skirts, all you need to do is stitch up the sides to create a tube. You might want to test the fabric around your doll's hips first and mark or pin the amount of fabric that needs to be removed.

Tops are a little bit more complicated, due to arms and necks.

Place the fabric on or under your doll to determine where you'll need to cut armholes. Armholes can be created by simply folding the fabric in half and cutting out a small semicircle. Cut small; you can always make the hole larger, but you can't make it small again!

Use your doll again to help determine where the neckline needs to be. I've found with this material crew necks, mock turtle necks, and short, sharp V-necks look OK - but a scoop neck leads to weak shoulders, and a too-steep V can make a shirt unwearable. Again, fold the fabric in half and cut a line or a circle. This ensures both sides are even.

Step 3:

Sewing! Fold the "right" sides facing one another, "wrong" side facing you, get that needle threaded and get going. Put on some music or a favorite Youtube series. (Personally, I like to listen to Lovecraft stories from Librivox.org while I sew.)

Remember, the skirts are a single piece stitched into a tube, while the tops are two pieces stitched together at the sides. The skirt will not require an opening for closure (as long as it's 10cm or greater in length), but the shirt will most likely need to have a slit cut into the top quarter in order to fit over the head or the hips. We'll worry about closures later. For now, just get the pieces together.

Step 4:

Once they're all sewn up, go ahead and try them on. Among the pros this is known as the "first fit". It may not be pretty. Remember back when I said I don't get confused? Well, during the making of this post, I sewed two shirts with one "right" side out and one "wrong" side out. Guess I got distracted by all that Lovecraft.

This is when you'll need to cut those slits in the shirts. Make a slit less than halfway down the back of the shirt, to ensure it can fit over the head or hips without too much stretching. You can leave it open, as I did with one of Catty Noir's new tees, if the fit looks good on the front, or you can use Velcro, snaps, or a safety pin to hold it shut in the back.

Extra Ideas:

- Because these clothes are all made out of socks, they do have raw edges (if you haven't hemmed them). You can disguise those edges with a bit of ribbon or with fancy cuts, like a zig-zag pattern for Frankie Stein, or a wave pattern for Lagoona Blue. You can also buy fabric supplies such as iron-on hemming tape to finish the edges.

Next up: Using tubes to make leggings and soft pants. Plus, sleeves!

P.S. - I got the Monster High image base from winkxchara on DeviantArt... and, if you like any of the items you've seen in my pictures here, check out my Etsy store. Cheers!