New clothes and converses!

 As you can see the happy couple have had me make them all manner of things in the last week!

Max demanded a shirt, and while I haven't got any tiny buttons for it yet I'm happy to leave it open like this without them. I don't have a sewing machine so everything here was done entirely by hand.

The fabric was originally bought to make Julip rugs from but it was perfectly scaled for a checked cotton shirt!

Once all fully glued and stitched together I soaked it in hot water with a touch of fabric conditioner then dressed her in it so I could get it to hang more naturally with the sleeves rolled up. It worked really well and feels far less stiff than it did to begin with. It also filled me with confidence in my sewing skills as it didn't immediately disintegrate upon being immersed in liquid!

I definitely didn't make her camera - its a little resin DSLR I got from a friend a few years ago to use with my Julips. It was far too big for 1/12th scale (even though I think that's what its sold as) and probably slightly underscale for 1/6 but it's close enough to pass I think. I glued on a ribbon strap, painted the whole thing with matte varnish and added a little blob of gloss on the lens and the LCD display at the back. In an ideal world I'd love the gear from this set to play with but I couldn't find one at a good price so this will do in the meantime.

 I knew she needed a pair of converses so I ordered up a pair online, but they're coming from the other side of the world and I'm ridiculously impatient so I thought I'd make her a pair in the meantime and the new ones can always go to someone else when they get here.

I used this paper tutorial from Mitchymoo Miniatures with a few minor tweaks as I was working with fabric rather than paper and obviously at a larger scale.

I built up a wooden last on the existing foot rather than epoxy over it as I may want to swap shoes at some point in the future and wanted these to be reasonably easy to take off.

Styrene base with balsa wood and micropore tape ftw!

The printable canvas I used for miniature paintings the other day was the perfect material for the heel supports once soaked with water to soften it.

The main part of the shoe was thin denim from an old pair of jeans. I lined it with the canvas material, then punched in some holes for the laces with a thick needle.

I painted on some metal 'eyelets' with a tiny touch of silver nail varnish applied with a toothpick. This not only did away with me having to track down small enough eyelets, but also stiffened the edges of the fabric so it didn't fray. I know real Converses have another row of stitches on the other side of the eyelets but it was just too close to be able to stitch without risking tearing so I just painted them on later. The rest is all stitched though.

The tongues were just cut out sections of the same thin denim. The toe cap parts started off well, being glove leather they clung to the shape of the last really well but when I glued it on it turned out far bulkier and angular than I anticipated. I gave each a few coats of superglue to give them a nice shine and to harden them.

Because I know from personal experience that Converses aren't exactly known for their waterproof properties I rubbed on a layer of beeswax before assembly so at least my dolls can step in a puddle without ending up with wet feet!

You can see the blocky toecaps there. :(

 I couldn't find any decent thread to use for laces so to begin with she had to settle for toothfloss! XD

Some white grosgrain made the perfect edges!

The 'socks' are just tiny scraps of white fabric stitched around her ankles.

Here's the final shoes with better laces.

The infinity scarf was some scrap stretchy fabric I had lying around and her bracelets were tiny rubber rings I found in the plumbing department of B&Q! The black and white checkerboard one is simply a thin rectangle of pleather from an old purse stitched together and painted, with a bit of matte varnish on for protection.

As Juno stole her messenger bag I decided to make Max a rucksack instead. I'd saved the detachable hood from an old waterproof jacket of mine ages ago which I thought would be the perfect material, so after having a google for inspiration I got sewing. I liberated the zip from a cheap purse I'd initially bought for its 'chainmail' 

(Oh hey, sneak peek of another fig in the works! :P)

 I'd never sewn anything with a zip before so this was something of an experiment.It's a little stiff to open and I accidentally broke the top of the actual zipper part but it still works, you just have to be careful.

It has three front pockets - one big one and two little ones. The smaller ones are actually made from folded over bias binding. XD

I didn't have any wide enough grosgrain for the straps so I improvised with some soft grey ribbon. It really looks the part on one side and is velvety and fuzzy on the other size for 'comfort' 

I didn't realise that my thread was dark blue instead of black until I was nearly finished which is a bit of a pain in the arse but I can always go over the stitches with a touch of black paint.

It won't hold a huge deal but it'll be handy for going out and about with. I'd like to customise it with some patches and badges eventually as its a bit boring right now.

As something of a music aficionado Max really needed a set of headphones...

They turned out a little big but I'm really pleased with them nonetheless, especially considering what they started life as!

You know those plastic ring things round the neck of plastic bottles?

Yeah, those.

Trimmed to size and with the protruding plastic cut and sanded down, its perfect for the main structure. I can't take full credit for this observation however, I saw it here first!

As for the speaker parts, I stumbled on these really randomly the other day in Staples. They're little novelty thumb tacks with hooks so you can hang stuff from them. I bought a packet with the intention of doing just that but it wasn't until I decided to make some headphones that I realised just how perfectly shaped they were.

A little scalpeling, sanding and superglue/bicarbonate of sodaing later they were done, only requiring a couple of coats of glossy black nail polish and some silver for highlighting the detail. The padding on the earcups and headband is just trimmed down fleece. The cups look really plain from the sides so I may eventually add some kind of brand symbol or logo to jazz them up a bit.

The 'cord' is just some synthetic thread sandwiched between the earcup and the padding. It doesn't connect to anything but with a little blob of bluetack it can be stuck to a hip under the clothes so it looks like it feeds into a pocket and presumably a phone or MP3 player.

While Max pretty much told me what she wanted to wear straight away, Juno hasn't been quite so easy to dress though, she's fickle.

To begin with she wanted something very summery and hipsterish, so I made her a simple crop top and some knee-length harem pants...

...but apparently she was cold so demanded a coat, which I slaved away on for hours, but the front didn't turn out as I'd have liked so that too was rejected...

...in favour of this.

I'd made her jumper years ago for one of my male figs but it didn't fit him particularly well but with some better stitched edges it makes a good baggy jumper for a Barbie.  The fabric was thicker than the stuff I used in Max's shirt so it doesn't have quite the same number of folds and wrinkles despite the fabric conditioner, but never mind. The shorts were cut down from an old pair of Barbie jeans but I'd like to make some better ones. I handstitched the tights and left too much of a seam allowance so there's quite an obvious inseam now, lol.
The boots ended up waaaay too short and stumpy so she'll probably fall heir to the converses I ordered unless I can get her some alternatives. The infinity scarf is from a pair of £1 shop thermal socks and sheds like nobody's business.

I didn't realise until after I'd dressed her that she's really going for an Amy Pond look which I swear wasn't the intention!

Isn't it funny how sometimes memories are seemingly imbedded into the things you make? I can vividly remember sewing Max's shirt during my binge watch of 'Preacher', and the rucksack was made during a similar binge of 'The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes'. Netflix's 'Making a Murderer' was my background noise whilst making Juno's coat and I was watching a series about real life crime scene investigating whilst making the headphones too, so it kind of follows quite a dark theme!

Anyway, I bought a rescue Barbie at the car boot sale this weekend so she's getting a bit of TLC at the moment but I'll definitely be doing more with this pair soon as they're just so much fun to play with!