Making Nutmeg's Second Dress
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- CinnamonLover
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Making Nutmeg's Second Dress
Someone over at Dolls Alive was kind enough to ask how I made Nutmeg's dress. I realized that I had a brief explanation of how I made her first, signature, green dress and attached the wings, but I have a new set of wings and a new way of attaching them, and a new dress! Thank you to everyone who has made me feel wonderful about having a sprite and playing Nutmeg all over the boards (but especially Dolls Alive).
Again, I started with my trusty old dinner napkin, which is now just about out of fabric so I'll need something else soon! But the edges of the napkin were perfect for making "bands" for the skirt and top. I measured the new band based on one I had made that works great for Nutmeg (one of her wingless tops for when she has them folded away and wants to fit in more places - those wings are big! At least for her). Instead of a garden hose clamp (or two connected together) I found this at Hobby Lobby! Flat Aluminum Wire. It is turning out perfect. You can see it in the middle of the picture above. Also at Hobby Lobby I went through their fall selection of leaves - I went right at the beginning of October so there was a wonderful selection. I settled on these, as being the color and size I was looking for. Obviously you don't just stick a branch on her and call the job done. So it was like I was the cold wind of autumn. All the leaves came off the branch. I used scissors. Much easier than blowing cold air on them for weeks. But the pile of leaves on my desk was great! Now you can see why I like the napkin edge. The "hem" is just about perfect for sliding the aluminum wire inside, to reinforce the fabric. Really was a perfect match. We got our sewing machine fixed a few days ago, so I suppose I could do this on my own in the future not needing a hem. Which is good. I recently used up the last of it. Next I spent some time going through the pile of leaves to find the perfect two to function as "cups". I was looking for a certain size and color dynamic. On the left you can see the stem still in, on the right I carefully snip the stem out, up to about the first major "vein", in preparation for "cupping" and the next step. Cupping is accomplished by overlapping the bottom of the leaf and gluing it together. I used hot glue, though I have since found that superglue works better on the material of the fake leaves. I still use hot glue more often because I have rather a lot of it, I like to use it, and I don't have a lot of superglue. I also like working with hot glue more than superglue. So I overlapped the "back" of the leaf so the "front" would bow outward and form the basis for the "cup". Even though she's small, Nutmeg has beautiful breasts and deserves the best. Here you can see they are sized and shaped perfectly, just a little larger than the cloth cups on the green dress, which is a good thing
- CinnamonLover
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Re: Making Nutmeg's Second Dress
Some of these images didn't come out as well, the contrast got wonky because the wings really do reflect light wondefully!
Here you can see the band with the aluminum wire in it. I have slit the top of the cloth seam and pulled it down to expose more of the wire. The wings have their own copper wire coming out like stems. I wound them around the flat aluminum band. This picture is darker but you can see each wing has two wires. Here one of them is still straight though the first one has already been wound tightly into place. ALSO at Hobby Lobby (you know what gift cards to get me) I found a nice pair of rounded needle-nose crafting pliers that I like very much. They have a cutter which I used for the flat aluminum band. I used the pliers to wind the last twist or two of each wire snug but not too tight (the wires will break) around the aluminum band. Finally I used my friend the Hot Glue Gun (I have two, a larger and smaller - I use the smaller one for projects like this), fitted the slit-open cloth back in place, and glued everything in place. All done! Nutmeg liked a session in the warm sun and cool air. She also loved the pumpkin I bought for her. It's like her Autumn Throne!
Re: Making Nutmeg's Second Dress
- carlys_guy
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Re: Making Nutmeg's Second Dress
carlys_guy
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Re: Making Nutmeg's Second Dress
Nutmeg (much like Cinnamon) was a product of my writing and my gaming, and I was motivated to try to make them come out just right. I had a blast working on Nutmeg's clothing, and in fact plan to make a wide variety of outfits for her. My biggest challenge, being a base newb with no particular sewing skills, is that next I'm hoping to do something like an old-time flight outfit, something like a bomber jacket or Steampunk air ship getup. I'm not sure my skills are up to that (though I have an awesome sewing machine). I will eventually try it, but I was hoping to find one and buy it.
The leaf-based dresses were fun to dream up and figure out.
Nutmeg loves holidays, so next I have to figure out something Christmas like.
- carlys_guy
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Re: Making Nutmeg's Second Dress
carlys_guy
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Re: Making Nutmeg's Second Dress
HA! Oh man. Each individual needle. And they're sticky! But it would look interesting if done in enough good layers. Talk about labor though! No. She can make that one herself if she really wants it.carlys_guy wrote:i hope you don't try a fir tree dress it could be painful it would smell great but those needles would be itchy and painful.
carlys_guy