First sewing project! (for BJDs)

[landwhale]

Hey guys, so I spent some time over the last few days working a bit everyday on this little snowflake fairy. She isn't the kind that comes with wings though. I had the hardest time working with that blue material since it unraveled very easily. I'm not sure what kind of sheer material I should use since the other sheer material I tried also unraveled like crazy. Things didn't turn out as cute as I wanted but overall she looks ok. You can only see the wobbly lines and mistakes up close. Any tips on sewing with sheer materials or types of materials would be much appreciated.





She wear's lace thigh highs but you can't see that clearly. So she also has a pair of puffy pants to keep her decent and fluff out her skirt.



Just a cute photo



oh..I'm not keeping her, she is for sale since I'm not a huge fan of her sculpt. Admittedly she looks much cuter after her faceup but bills need payin.....She won't be seen again here.

Oh I guess, on that note, I do feel a little uncomfortable admitting that I bought a doll and won't be keeping it. I know a lot of ppl look down on ppl who buy dolls for the purpose of reselling, and it is what I am doing here. My reason for getting her was that I did like her product photos and she was going for a good price. I wanted different sized dolls to practice faceups on so I got her along with several other sized dolls from CH during a time event. I am selling her for more than what it costs for the raw materials that went into making her outfit but the same price as what she would have cost as a normal blank BJD from CH.

At the same time I feel like it's ok because I spent a lot of time working on her to smooth out her seams and she is fully body blushed and painted. I enjoy working on a doll a lot and find that after deciding their personality and a backstory, I don't do much with them. Even if I won't be keeping a doll, I love working on them and put just as much effort into them as I would a doll I am keeping. I just wonder if I offend anyone when I openly say I buy a doll, modify her and sell her for a higher price than what I bought her for. If I do, it's ok to let me know and I will reconsider doing this again.

[Evelien]

Aw, she turned out great, and the dress looks lovely on her!

[richila]

I believe in doing what brings you joy. If all that hard work brings you joy, that's great. It would be foolish to not get paid for your work-that would be like saying a painter shouldn't charge more than his supplies cost. You are obviously an artist, your "canvas" just happens to be dolls. Her snowflake is wonderful and makes me smile everytime I see it.

[Lokiholic]

As someone with lots of crafty artist friends, I see no problems with you making the doll look awesome and selling her for more. It took you time to do her faceup and make the dress and such. You need to be reimbursed for that time.

[maywong]

Nice work.

[Wardah]

It's when people buy dolls just to resell them without even touching them that is frowned upon. I have actually wanted to do like that with full sized Lalaloopsy dolls since while I would like to customize them, I have absolutely no desire to collect them.

I think there is something you can treat sheer fabrics with to keep them from unraveling but I dunno what or where to find it. I need to look into it myself because I made some sheer pants for my Monster High doll but I have to keep her in the box since they are so fragile.

[landwhale]

Thanks for the input. I just felt a little weird about it but I guess there are quite a few ppl who customize and resell. As for the fabric, maybe there is some sort of tape I can put on the edges to keep it from fraying. Not sure. All I know is that as much as I want to use sheer fabrics, I probably won't be for a while until I figure out how to work with it.

Lol, I'm just really into painting dolls. Eventually I want to get an airbrush but for now I am just going to concentrate on line work and playing with colors and contouring.

[embyquinn]

There are products sold specifically to reduce fraying and unraveling on delicate fabrics. You might have to hunt around a bit to find what works best on which materials, and testing on a swatch first is always best. You could also use washable craft glue just along the raw edges. Another alternative is to line the clothes, or even use very fine fusible web to strengthen the fabric. There are probably more solutions to the Fray Problem, but those are the ones I've used most often.

[richila]

Thanks for the input. I just felt a little weird about it but I guess there are quite a few ppl who customize and resell. As for the fabric, maybe there is some sort of tape I can put on the edges to keep it from fraying. Not sure. All I know is that as much as I want to use sheer fabrics, I probably won't be for a while until I figure out how to work with it.

Lol, I'm just really into painting dolls. Eventually I want to get an airbrush but for now I am just going to concentrate on line work and playing with colors and contouring.

If you draw the pattern on your fabric with a pencil, you can follow the line with Fray-check, let it dry and air out then cut just outside of the line. If you have a lot of allergies, like me, thinned out tacky glue will do the same thing applied with a tiny brush. Either way, it needs to dry before you cut and sew it.

[landwhale]

!!! Thanks richila! I will go see where I can pick this up.