Tag: fashion

Another place, another time


Below is a page I colored last Friday and Saturday. It’s from the Sweden section in The Look coloring book. Two friends are walking the dog in Stockholm. This one’s in honor of a dear friend who lives in Sweden and of whom I was thinking while I colored.

I’ve named this dog Sabi (she’ll know why). Sabi’s a social media influencer who loves being the center of attention. He’s very big in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. In fact, he paid for everything they’re wearing and their cell phones. Good dog! (Note: He would be a good dog even without his earning power. All dogs are good dogs, including complicated Jack.)

(And look, Mark–another zebra crossing!)

Photo Friday, No. 927

Current Photo Friday theme: Vibrant


Mattel model Abby, wearing one of my dresses based on a McCall’s pattern, in the Place d’Armes Hotel courtyard, New Orleans, May 2009. I was there for a literary conference, and writers had fun posing with my dolls.

I’m happily compelled to share this comment from my last week’s “Album Cover” theme, about a photo that I originally used for a Photo Friday challenge in October of last year. Marc is the person who started the Photo Friday site in 2002, and I told him his comment made my year.

Can I tell you, Becky, that this shot, when you originally posted it, *is* the shot that inspired the #album_cover challenge. It’s a great shot with such lovely storytelling in a single frame. Kudos! marc · Sep 19 2024

Tiny Tuesday!


Eva Ruby, the tiniest member of the Batpack, did start coughing less over the weekend, so we thought things would be okay. Then yesterday, her appetite went away, and in the evening, we feared we saw a little blood in a liquid-y stool (sorry; dog people overshare). Off she went with the Supreme Ruler of Her World, Tom, to the emergency vet. After x-rays, bloodwork, and no coughing for the doctors, she was thought to be on the mend from whatever caused the cough. For a dog her size, eating even a blade of grass could have irritated her throat. She had no fever, nothing too alarming in the x-rays, but her bloodwork showed she was severely dehydrated. So she got sub-Q fluids, anti-nausea meds, and about four hours worth of monitoring before Tom brought her home. Now she’s on a bland, small-portion diet several times a day, and the credit card bill is not so tiny. Worth it for that smile and our peace of mind.


There is one topic about which Eva is serious and wants to have a word. (We think it’s from hanging out in a house with too many fashion dolls.) She says, “This is the day after Labor Day. Pack those white shoes away immediately. You’ll see them again at Easter and beyond. Yes, Florida, even you. If Texans can pack away their white boots and strappy heels, so can you other coastal fashionistas.”

Into the closet. See them next spring!
Approved year-round choices.

She does, however, make allowances for sneakers, tennis shoes, running shoes, and gym shoes. This is not simply because they’re sporty. They’re also optimal dog-walking shoes. Priorities…

As for me, I tried to rewatch this 1998 movie while Tom and Eva were at the ER. There was a lot of stopping and restarting because of ongoing texts. It was still fun seeing Sigourney Weaver play Katharine, a treacherous boss, and Melanie Griffin play Tess, who’s smart, sweet, and sexy. As she tells Harrison Ford’s Jack (why are so many RomCom leading men named Jack?), “I have a head for business and a body for sin.” A stellar supporting cast portraying working women (Joan Cusack is gold, as always) and sleazy men (though there are good guys, too). Bonus: A brief but good appearance by Olympia Dukakis as a personnel director at an employment agency is one of several characters who show the value of women mentoring women in the workplace.

Tiny Tuesday!

This morning, I was checking to see if I had a couple of miniature charms. As I opened and shut some two dozen plastic containers, I realized craft organization works best when you don’t make a mystery of it. Out came the label maker! (And on the way, I better organized as well as purged a few things that found their way into my supplies and that I’m sure I’ll never use.)

No more wasting time on searches!

And I did find miniature charms that worked for what I wanted.

Love and peace, and if trick or treating is part of your evening, have a fun, safe night!

Threads and notions

Friday night, Tom and I ran out to do some errands, including a trip to Jo-Ann’s so I could pick up a few things. I’d been creating a doll kilt pattern, and I realized if I planned to do many kilts, I’d need more snaps. I’m also using hooks, eyes, and loops, but I had plenty of those.

Later, as I sewed, I needed black thread and couldn’t find any. I couldn’t understand this; I have a lot of thread, and it should have included black. Today, I started a list of other stuff I might need from the craft store, but I again questioned how I couldn’t have black thread. I decided to check Lindsey’s Aunt Gwen’s sewing case, because I knew it had some thread–but no black. Then I decided to reorganize all my thread so I could add other missing colors to my shopping list. That’s when I realized that looking at my thread in the sewing/craft room illuminated by sunlight rather than ceiling fan lights changed everything. I ended up having six spools of black thread that I’d seen as dark green, navy blues, and dark grays last night. It still gave me the incentive to better organize my thread cases, this time, red to purple in the order of the rainbow, then the other colors like whites, tans and browns, pinks, grays, and BLACKS.

I moved the spools that have almost no thread on them to Aunt Gwen’s case so I can use them first when I need those colors.

I never get rid of wooden spools, and I took the one that had been gnawed on forty years ago by my dog Hamlet, wrote his name on it, and put it in the curio cabinet where mementos (and ashes) of our dogs are.

I’m glad I explored Aunt Gwen’s sewing supplies again. Remember how we went to Jo-Ann’s for snaps? These are the snaps I got there.

The card of nickel snaps was $6.99 and the card of black snaps was $3.99.

Then today, I found all these snaps from Aunt Gwen in her case. D’oh!

I don’t know what decade Aunt Gwen bought her snaps, but it must have been the years when people sewed because they had to and not because it’s a hobby. The nickel snaps were still more expensive–they were twenty cents a card!–but the black snaps were only ten cents a card. I guess I’ll be set for a while. From now on, when I go thrifting or antiquing, I’m looking for old snaps.

Aunt Gwen also had cards with hooks, eyes, and loops, so I’m definitely good on those.

And now: Ta da! Below is my first attempt at a kilt, with new fabric I got when Lynne was here; from today’s shopping, some new black suede strapping I wove into a belt, and I added a kilt accessory I found amid my jewelry making supplies, a crafting charm flower petal pendant, along with Mattel’s shirt, socks, and shoes.

If you’re curious, nope! He’s wearing nothing under that kilt. =) I don’t plan to make underwear for my kilt-wearing dolls, but I am going to use Mattel’s socks as a pattern to make more of those in different colors.

Fun times at Houndstooth Hall!

Kilting

Whether it’s the pandemic, three years of intermittent quarantining, or retiring from the workplace, I can no longer multitask the way I once did. Now for my own sanity, I need to focus on and finish one project at a time, but it sometimes stuns me the number of different things I do on any given day.

I won’t belabor all of today for you, but I did a deep dive into researching kilts and how they’re constructed because I want to make some at 1:6 scale for my male dolls. Last week when Lynne and I went to Jo-Ann’s, I found some good fabric for this project.

I finally designed a pattern that I think is the right size, and I marvel again that something I never thought to see or use again after eighth grade comes in handy: a math compass.

Projects like this keep me from spending too much time reading the news, and this will definitely be a trial-and-error project with a learning curve. Stay tuned…

Tiny Tuesday!

Today’s post is about a different kind of button from Sunday’s posts. Here to demonstrate is one of my character dolls. Hi, Elle!

This is how the average human-sized shirt button fits in Elle’s palm.


This is how the average craft button I can buy locally fits in Elle’s palm. I’ve used these buttons for doll clothes, and they work great as coat buttons or buttons on purses and other accessories, but the scale is a bit large for shirts and dresses.


Last week, I found a US Etsy account (important because of how I pay and how they ship) that sells 4mm buttons in large quantities at a great price. While this isn’t exactly 1/6 scale (i.e., human to doll size), it’s much closer. I fear actual doll size is best left to the manufacturers of dolls and doll clothes and those companies’ machinery. I have old eyes and arthritic hands, therefore need larger needles to be able to do the job.

But all the colors!

I tried to find poems or songs that somehow use “button(s)” in titles or text, but I wasn’t impressed with my search results. I decided to go with common phrases using the word “button.”

  • Button up! (It’s cold out there.)
  • As easy as the push of a button! (Very easy.)
  • Bright as a button! (Either smart/clever or cheerful/happy.)
  • That’s a hot-button topic. (Don’t talk about religion, politics, money, or within family, anything that will ruin holidays, including flaws related to parenting, marrying/divorcing, keeping and feeding pets, cooking, or drinking.)
  • Button it! (Keep your mouth shut/opinions to yourself.)
  • You’re pushing all my buttons. (By doing or saying all the things I like or dislike. Tone matters.)
  • Cute as a button! (Very cute.)
  • On the button. (That statement or action is accurate.)
  • Press the panic button! (It’s time to take drastic action in response to a situation.)
  • S/he’s got a button nose. (An adorable little nose–like Elle’s!)
  • My boss is very buttoned down. (Stiff, serious, all business.)
  • My company’s culture is very buttoned down. (Conservative, no risks taken.)
  • Hit the button. (Send or start something; end or stop something.)

Can you think of others?

Button Sunday

Didn’t feel so great today and thought I probably needed to get some perspective on what I was writing now that I’m at least halfway through the final chapter of the sixth book in the Neverending Saga. I also needed more rest. So after getting up too early and taking care of some household things, eating breakfast, and showering, I took a long nap under the friendship quilt I posted yesterday. More rest did help, and I figured coloring would be a good way to think about what I’m writing.

I flipped through one of the coloring books I got in late May/early June and haven’t used yet. Of course I picked the 70s because I’ve been trapped there in my own fiction for years now.

When I saw a drawing of Debbie Harry, I knew that was the one. When I posted it to Instagram (that’s where all my coloring buddies and I follow one another), I mentioned that I can still remember the first time I saw Blondie and Debbie Harry on TV. Lynne may not remember, but we were at my house, watching “Midnight Special” because the Beach Boys were hosting. Blondie was was one of the bands featured that night, and Debbie Harry was really good (as was the band). Lynne may remember that Debbie was dancing on stage and nearly tripped, but recovered and never stopped. Attagirl, Debbie.

If Lynne doesn’t remember Blondie, she might remember me cussing as I sat on the floor capturing photos of Dennis from the TV screen. The cussing was because that’s when I found out our dogs had fleas, because I was being mercilessly bitten by them. Right now as I’m composing this, I’m being mercilessly bitten by a mosquito. The more things change, the more they stay the same?


Today, July 9, is Fashion Day, and Debbie Harry was a fashion trendsetter when she burst onto the scene, part glam, part punk, all Debbie. You may remember that back when I was doing Runway Monday, I found Mattel’s Debbie Harry doll not in a box and without her original fashion. But I quickly made her an outfit all her own.

Funny thing. In the work in progress, my record producer character mentions “Midnight Special.” Here’s the lineup and music from that night.

S07E24 Hosts: The Beach Boys
April 27, 1979 NBC
–The Beach Boys (hosts) – “Good Vibrations,” “Here Comes the Night,” “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” “Angel Come Home” & “Lady Lynda”

–The Beach Boys, Roger McGuinn & Wolfman Jack – “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music”

–McGuinn, Clark and Hillman – “Don’t You Write Her Off,” “Surrender to Me,” “Backstage Pass”

–Blondie (clips from 19-Jan-1979) – “Heart of Glass” (lip-synch); “One Way or Another” (live) & “Hanging on the Telephone” (live)

–Tavares – “Straight from Your Heart,” “More Than a Woman” & “Never Had a Love Like This Before”

Music videos: –Bad Company – “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” & “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love” (concert footage)

And here’s my coloring page.