Design Lessons from Play Wonder Part Three

Hola!

So we got some good poll ideas and "questions for us" from our last blog post -- but feel free to keep 'em coming -- we'll post the answers and the polls soon, but not for a couple more days. So you still have time to comment on that blog post: http://thedollwardrobe.blogspot.com/2012/06/questions-for-you-questions-for-us.html

Today we return to the Target Play Wonder doll clothing we purchased recently

and Maple ties it into her "Trends to Sew" posts.

So this is Maple here. Whattup peoples.

Warning: Longish Post.

Arista and Kenna are modeling the previously-discussed outfits for us (see Part Two), with two additions -- the jean jacket and the tan hooded vest. We actually turned the vest inside out and used the purple striped side. (We liked how it looked better, haha.)

Things to note for design purposes

1) Don't mess up the jean jacket. 

It is apparently easy to do. This one has little structure and detail. 

All it really has going for it is the denim flower. Which might have been awesome if it hadn't been so huge.

Light blue denim is actually "back" so this color should work, but it doesn't because it is low-quality faux denim that doesn't do the job.

We actually own Liberty Jane's Founder's Day jean jacket pictured below -- so we know a good doll-sized jean jacket is possible (though this one was not "inexpensive").

Check out these human examples for sewing inspiration. Hopefully Cinnamon will release a jean jacket pattern for y'alls soon, and you can start experimenting with this classic fashion staple yourself.

Madewell's Goldrush jacket

Old Navy

Urban Outfitters

Fashionista Jean Jackets from Yes Style

Our favoritest-est-est jacket eva

We want to order this one so badly....

And then rule the world!!!

And we also want to order the guy pictured in this jean jacket....

We don't need to order the clothing (though they are super-cool). 

Just the guy....

_____________________________

2) Vests are difficult. 

They are like the Advanced Biochemistry of the Fashion World. 

Many clothing companies just make dress vests for men only and stay away from female vests. They are challenging. You have to go trendy or just go home.

This item doesn't work very well. 

The stripes help it to be quirky, but the shape and design don't do the doll any favors.

Look to Urban Outfitters for youthful trendy ideas.

Patchwork denim

Steal the men's dress vest, just cut it for a woman

Crochet it up baby!

Talk about a dramatic look

And trot on over to Nordstrom's Juniors department for 

a jean jacket/vest combo style that can really pull an outfit together.

But don't do what Play Wonder did. :'-(

Fashionista Vests from Yes Style

And because we couldn't resist adding him in....

My Korean boyfriend sporting a man's manly vest.

Can't you see the desperate look on his face?

"Where's Maple???" he is thinking, "She is going to be late for our date tonight!"

Though he would be thinking that in Korean, of course....

A girl can dream, can't she?

_________________

We recommend trying these doll-sized patterns to attain your vestie dreams:

The Cascade Vest over at Liberty Jane Clothing

http://www.libertyjanepatterns.com/2011/10/cascade-vest-and-jacket-pattern.html

LJC also has several other vest patterns available.

And at All Dolled Up: Sarah's Vest, available as a sold item and as a pattern

http://www.alldolledup-dollclothes.com/patterns.html

Okay, that's the end of today's Design Lesson.

Come back next time for some blog post on something awesome from someone..... oh wait, from us. Yes. Come back soon for something awesome from us,
here at The Doll Wardrobe Blog. ;-)

Design Lessons from Play Wonder Part Two

Just FYI -- we'll be traveling for awhile in the coming weeks -- so we probably won't have any new blog posts during that time. But it will only be a brief hiatus. 

Also, we'll start a new photo contest (a small one) when we return with a $20 AG gift card as a prize. :-)

In the last "Design Lessons from Play Wonder" post we showed you all the items laid out from the three outfits. Today Arista and Kenna are showing you some of those pieces mixed and matched together. It was fun to mix florals and stripes for Kenna's outfit, and Arista's floral tank top and denim capris combo is perfect for late spring/early summer. And also, we liked experimenting with how belts looked with the outfits. Yay for belts!

So......The capris just barely fit Arista as we previously stated, but they work okay for photo shoots. The sizing is mostly alright -- just the waistline is too tight. We guess Play Wonder dolls don't really have rumps. Also, the ruffles skirt is very tight on Kenna, but we managed to get it on her. 

The white fishnets are not quite pulled up all the way and they are bunched a bit around her ankle area. So Play Wonder leggings will work well on AGs, but not the tights that start at the feeties. Hopefully that makes sense. The tights are not long enough and wide enough to make it past her calves.

But in general, our girls look pretty good.

Once we return from our voyage we'll have more looks from these three Play Wonder outfits, the continuation of Needa and Nichelle's story, and a lot more fun stuff!! 

Stay tuned friends!!

Arista's New Photo Blog!

Sup peoples!

We are doing a lot today.

1) Trying to load older, already prepped posts

2) Attempting to catch up to our own stream of ideas

3) Organizing ourselves to post about various updates

4) Planning the 3,000 errands we have to run

Sigh.

We hope you enjoyed today's earlier Kidz n Cats Mike post. Now we announce a new blog that we just started for Arista.

It features her photos that she has taken over the years -- of flowers, scenery, cats, buildings, patterns, etc. etc. Occasionally humans or weird creatures will appear in the shots, but that will be rare.

She has been experimenting with the photo editor PicMonkey, so we'll be talking a little bit about that there as well.

Perhaps the new blog can serve as a platform for more diverse photo contests in the future. First we'll see if we can get it off the ground. :-)

Please visit it today! 

There's only one post, but more to come soon!

http://aristasphotoblog.blogspot.com/

There is a permanent link to our newest blog up in the Tabs or Pages under our blog title here at The DW. :-)

March/April Giveaway Wrap-Up and 4 New Outfits in a Video

Sup, peeps. We just wanted to name our three winners all in one post, so y'all don't get too confused. All three ladies have responded to their emails. So this list is "finalized."

Karise E. won the mint green dress, Andrea O. won the purple dress, and Debbie A. won the red dress set.

Yay and congrats to all three winners!

And just so we have something else to entertain you today, we finished processing a new video: Four New Modern Outfits. We are doing a lot of those lately, haha -- mostly because we have so many we haven't taken photos of yet.

In today's video Cassie is wearing an outfit from Cutie Pie and Me. Her headband is also from that seller, but her belt is Liberty Jane, while her boots are AG. Lira is wearing a Doll Closet top, with a Liberty Jane belt, and Cutie Pie and Me jeans. Her shoes are AG.

Kanani is modeling a Britlyn Madison shirt and necklaces, with AG leggings, and Megori Girls boots. Arista's outfit is a tee shirt from 123 Mulberry Street, Josefina's vest, and a Liberty Jane belt and skirt. The boots are also from Liberty Jane, although they are also available through Britlyn Madison when in stock.

Any questions? Feel free to let us know!

Store Exclusive Re-Mix

Here are zee pics of the AG store exclusives that y'all talked about seeing on different dolls! There is Adanya in the red dress and red coat, Arista in the red dress, and Lira in the red dress. And the red dress is shown with black tights and black boots, as requested. Nothing much more to say--- no deep thoughts from me today. ;)

If you want to learn more about these AG store exclusives, please see the posts from the last five or so days. :)

Just around the corner is a surprise secret post... not the Sweet Melody mix and match that we promised a week ago. That will come after the surprise. What do you think the surprise secret post is???? Hmmmm, though I guess since I told you a surprise is coming.... it's not so much a surprise anymore.... oops. ;)

Arista Models Liberty Jane

Hello again everyone! Sorry for the delay. Once again, I meant to get this out on Monday but that didn't happen. I should just give up on the Liberty Jane Mondays and call it "Liberty Jane Once A Week." Haha. Wish I was faster posting things, but time goes by so quickly!

Anyways, today Arista will be modeling "Harajuku Station" for us from the Liberty Jane Spring Line, the 2010 International Collection. Then she shows off a couple Mix and Match outfits combining pieces from the first four outfits of the Spring Line. It was fun to just have four outfits to work from, limiting the possibilities but encouraging creativity. Remember- this is all about play! Be adventurous in mixing and matching your dolls' wardrobe and see what you can come up with. ;)

So here is Arista in "Harajuku Station" with Sparkplug, our metal dog (heehee)......

And next she is wearing the tank top from "Getty Villa Stroll" with the jeans from "Boomerang".....

And finally, Arista models the top from "U.K. Holiday," the shorts and sandals from "Getty Villa Stroll," and the fishnet tights from "Harajuku Station"...

Hope you enjoyed this post and our pictures!!!

Shop at Liberty Jane's Ebay store! Or at the Online LJ store!

All Dolled Up Doll Clothing Three Twilight Shirts!

Remember when we mentioned "Twilight" right before the "New Moon" movie opened? Well, Terrie at All Dolled Up Doll Clothing mentioned that she could make up some shirts with Twilight images on them. So we got some for our Twilight fans here in Badger's Wood. :D

The three long-sleeve shirts have the following pictures on them: Edward and Bella, Edward (just like the image on our blog!), and Jacob. Two white, one black. All pretty awesome. So who is lucky enough to get one? Well, we decided Stella, Sundari and our JLY #44 should each get one. #44 has been officially named Arista Lee Navarre. Yes, a little different than what we were all thinking about before with Autumn and Jessica, etc. But she finally just spoke up and told us her name in a very straight-forward manner. So now she is one of Stella's school chums.

Well you can't just wear boring ol' duds with fantastic new "Twilight" shirts; so we paired up the shirts with some clothing we had hidden away in our Doll Wardrobe. Heehee. Arista is wearing a beautiful pleated purple skirt from Etsy seller HelensHandmades. In addition, her boots, Sundari's cropped pants and boots, and Stella's skirt and tights come from Ruby Red Galleria. This is a Hong Kong company known mostly for making really great doll wigs (some of which fit AGs). They also have a small clothing line. Click here to see the clothing they carry which fits AGs. Stella's shoes are the sparkly high tops from Liberty Jane Clothing that came with the "Code Red" outfit.

As you can see below, we played with the Photobucket "stickers" option a little bit for this post and added some "Holiday Decorations" to this first picture. It amused me greatly to do this. Stella was a bit upset at first that I added bows onto them all, but then she admitted that they all looked very cute. ;)

These are some pretty wonderful shirts!
Especially that Edward shirt... he's so handsome.... ;)
Thank you so much Terrie!!

Interested in visiting the All Dolled Up online store
to see all the wonderful things Terrie has available for you?
Click here!