Entry #33

Newbie

My Outfit-

Blank Canvas

                              My outfit was inspired by this simple yellow top.

      I loved how it was simple yet flattering, and it gave you so much to work with. Then the phrase “blank canvas” came to mind. A blank canvas is for working on. You get to be creative with it. You decide what it turns out like…and that is what I wanted girls to be able to do with their meet outfit for a My American Girl doll.  

The thing about the MAG outfit now or ever is that it is just that…an outfit. What if the doll doesn’t like pink? What if she doesn’t feel right wearing a onesy? (That is  my interpretation of that awful pink shirt) What if the outfit doesn’t express her individuality at all? That is what AG is trying to do with the MAG’s… make them be individual, but the outfit doesn’t really show that in my opinion.

 So, I constructed my blank canvas, and the stuff to make it into a beautiful picture.

It is a simple white chiffon top, and a pair of plane-jane capris.

 I know, boring. But wait until you see what is in store. For now you have to wait, though. I made the jeans using a free pattern from MiloMila, a doll pattern company. They were very baggy and not exactly fashionable. So, I sewed them up, cropped them into capris, and skinnied them until they were perfectly almost hard to get on

 I used a sewing machine for the pants and shirt. The shirt I made up a pattern for, and it was very simple. I cut out up-side down balloon shapes out of fabric, 

sewed in the sides, and it looked like a dress. I wanted it to be a hi-lo hem, so I cut it to the right length and, um, hi-loed it until it was the right length, I gave it a hem, and the bottom was done. Next, I cut out an area underneath the arms for arm holes,

 hemmed that, and I had a nice yolk-ish thing. I folded that over a little and sewed it so that a ribbon could go through. 

Once everything was nice and hemmed…I threaded the ribbon

…and MY SEWING MACHINE BROKE DOWN!!!!!! I wanted to cry, but I laughed instead. I was determined, and I was also about to get VERY good at sewing by hand! You see, I had a lot more than a shirt and pants planned. I had a whole wardrobe of accessories for you to choose from to go with the outfit, so that you could choose an outfit that best matched your MAG”S personality. I had still to sew purses, belts, make necklaces, headwear, and shirt attachments. And I had about two weeks to sew all of this by hand. Oh, yah, and I still had the to sew the jeans X(

             Luckily, my BFF Aqua had a sewing machine that I could use for the jeans, so that was very helpful. Thank you, Aqua! I laid out the pattern on the materiel and sewed it all up until they were just how I wanted them. 

Next, I wanted to also make an attempt at doll Toms. I followed the famous duct-tape tutorial, but I sewed everything instead. It involved lots of fabric, cardboard and glue, and I won’t show you pics because you can just use the tutorial. Well, ok, just one.

This is an in-progress shot just to prove that I did make these. They turned out very cute, but I didn’t think that they were good enough for the actual outfit. 

They were my first attempt after all. So, I tried the shoes from this year’s gold AG holiday outfit, and Saige’s sweater outfit shoes. I chose those because I thought that they complemented everything in the outfit.

      From here on, it will be a bunch of pictures in a row of me making all of the accessories. They included 4 bags, 5 shirt attachments, 4 head accessories, 2 belts, a necklace with a bunch of different charms, and a bracelet and anklet. WOW!

     Now for the modeling! A big thanks to me very sweet, agreeable model Pepper for her beautiful smile and fearless poses!

What I really wanted in this outfit was not only the fact that You can custom dress your doll, but I wanted it to be an outfit that you can do lots of things in. So here Is Pepper, doing lots of things in her blank canvas. She can ride horses, she can play tennis, chase her puppy, or she can even dress it up to go to a party! 

And that’s the fun part…the dressing it up. Here is how it works…there are 5 different categories of accessories as you can see in the drawing. You get to choose one thing out of each category to dress up the outfit. You can choose the thing that most reflects you doll’s personality. Here are the shirt attachments; there is a square of Velcro on the shirt, and a square on each attachment so that it can stick to the shirt to give it a new look. 

A ruffle, a double bow, a bowtie, a tie, and a flower.

 Say you’re doll was girly girl…she might choose the pretty purple flower. Now for the charms that attach onto the necklace. You get to choose a charm to go onto the necklace, and even though the bracelet and anklet are in the same category, you can choose one of those too. A fish, a teddy bear, a pink bauble, a silver leaf, a tree, a heart, a cupid, and a flower.

If she was a nature girl, she might choose the tree. These are the head accessories: a beanie, which is not only a beanie. You can fold it to make a beret, you can pull it down all the way to make a winter hat, or it can be a fashionable beanie. Next there is a yellow braided headband, a flower headband, and a pretty green clippy.

If she was a fashion fanatic, she would probably go with the beanie. The belts come next, where we have a purple ringed belt and a corded belt. The corded belt I cut out of a normal belt of mine, thinking it would be perfect.

Here come the bags. A cute denim flower one, a “totes cute’” beach tote in case you are convinced that your doll is part mermaid, a sweet corduroy fringed purse, and my fave, an ice cream cone back pack with buttons!

     Here are three combos to give you an idea of what you can make with the accessories.

Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to comment saying what your outfit combo would be! BTW, I did not copy Isabelle’s mix and match idea, I realized after I had thought this up that this is kinda like it. Just thought I would clarify. Please note, everything except for the jeans, top, corduroy bag, and tie are hand sewn with a needle and thread.

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