PR-Good News Bad News

The good news?
Season 6 of Project Runway has a start date on Lifetime Television.

The bad news?
We have to wait until friggin August!!!

Read on:. PROJECT RUNWAY Returns to the Catwalk With August 20 Premiere on Lifetime Television

TIB Manna Energy Drive

Local story about Etsy

Local crafters put their stuff on Etsy

The site is an explosion of handmade crafts, some good, some bad, some strange.

People just aren't making things like they used to, said local artist Melanie Falk.

You go to almost any store, and you'll find the sleek, slick, small and mass-produced, but it's all almost entirely UN-unique. Where's the personal touch? Where's the evidence that a living, breathing humanoid crafted this item?

For more of this story, click on or type the URL below:

http://journalstar.com/articles/2009/03/29/living/402/doc49cbc3a275ce2544519755.txt

Meet Thistle!

I know, some of you are probably thinking "Thistle? What an odd name for a doll, associating one with thorns...."

BUT, as the person who suggested the name pointed out (thank you hundredpoundradish):
"Many thistles have a beautiful pinkish flower top, but they also have huge spikes that will wound you if you mess with them."

That's my girl!

And the winner is....

We have a winner! Actually TWO winners....read on...

Here is a list of all of the names submitted for the "Name This Girl" contest:

• Paisley
• Cotton Candy
• Macaron
• Cerise
• Coral Pink
• Lavender Pink
• Cherry Blossom
• Pinky Rose
• Thistle
• Pim
• Delilah
• Elliot
• Annelie
• Mia
• Lavender
• Lydia Biscuit
• Marissa
• Adelaide
• Dinky Devereaux (Dink for short)
• Tilly Harvard
• Petunia Lee
• Delphine
• Pansy
• Leilani
• Dusty Cosmos
• Lily Primrose
• Poppy Kinneret (Hebrew for harp)
• Floss
• Mimi
• Blush
• Hayley
• Kitty Wise
• Vega Lune
• Flamingo
• Trinity
• Neon Rose
• Genesis
• Varda Valentine

And the winning name is.....

Thistle

submitted by the

hundredpoundradish (TIB).

And the winner of the drawing is....

Carrie Me! (blog)

I will be personally in touch via Etsy and TIB!

Thanks to everyone who played, it was fun and I'll try to think of more challenges!

Name this girl! - win a Project Blythe dress!

Two prizes for this challenge! (read on) Leave a name suggestion in a comment to this post, and you'll be entered to win from a random drawing.

I got this girl several months ago, and have yet to find her name. Let me tell you about her...

I just got her some new pink eyechips. I thought it was a crime for Takara to give a girl pink hair w/out matching eyes, so I bought some pink eyes from TIB and switched them out.

She's kind of like Reese Witherspoon's character in "Legally Blonde," in that she is a total girly-girl and highly intelligent. She's not a law student, though. She likes to wear her hair in a one-sided ponytail like the character "Sissy" in "My Favorite Uncle"--60s-70s TV show - do you remember that one? She's a cat person.

She has her dark side, though, and you don't want to make her mad. When she is manic she turns into a goth version of Courtney Love with pink hair.
I want a name that usually isn't a name, like her stock name "Biscuit." It could be the name of a flower, a foreign version of a word, like "Belle," or any interesting smart and girly word.

There are two prizes attached to this challenge, shown above. One dress will go to the winner of a random drawing of comments on this post. The other dress will go to the person whose name suggestion I pick. If I don't pick any names, I'll randomly draw twice.

If the winners of the challenge would like a different dress from my shop (on the right side of this blog), and if I have the fabric available, I will make the winner's choice.

So, leave your suggestion for a name as a comment on this post, and you'll be entered to win one of the dresses from Project Blythe.

Deadline: Sunday, March 22nd, midnight Central Time

Another spring-like dress in the shop.

New in the Shop

Waiting for forsythias again...

Available on Etsy.

Sequels and Reruns

Made another couple of dresses today, another "mod" dress and another "Pistachio Salad." (Will I ever be able to remember how to spell "Pistachio" correctly?)

Break out the bubbly, I did a collar!

I knew I was going to try one at some point, but I didn't think it would actually turn out!

TIB Avatar

Project Blythe out in the world...

I love seeing my doll clothes on other people's dolls! This one is a stunner - that hair and how it matches the print of the dress. Thank you Maija! Take a look here:

Maija's Blog
www.maigirlz.typepad.com

LilGypsy's Blog
http://maisondeblythe.blogspot.com

Sewing Binge

I've been sewing up a storm these past few days...six new dresses in a couple of days...I think it's cabin fever.



I've been sewing up a storm these past few days...six new dresses in a couple of days...I think it's cabin fever.

Blythe Charms

Some scrabble tile charms I made for a swap in the "Art du Blythe" Yahoo group.

Swiss Dot Dress

I found this fabric - Swiss Dots - about a month ago in a fabric stash I've been hauling around for 20 years. Seriously. Too small to make anything for full-size humans, I finally found a perfect use for it.

I think Stella looks a little "out of it" lately. She's the one I *always* have to keep my eye on...

Spring Collection part 2

Spring Collection part 1

HOUSE OF PINKU dress

We got our very first House of Pinku dress in the mail today! Thanks Julie! Stella got to wear it first because she's the oldest.

New Project Runway Project

I don't know what's up with Season 6. Last I read it was supposed to be starting next month, but I don't see any evidence of that.

So. A N Y W A Y I got a gift certificate to B&N for Christmas this year. So what did I order? PROJECT RUNWAY the ENTIRE first season on DVD! Yay!

So maybe I'll start up with the challenges/blog thing again on my own, kind of like an independent study....

Batik Babydoll 3

Red Roses

I fell in love with this fabric, although the scale is a little large for Blythe clothes. It really is that red.

More Mod

New Additions

This is the second of the vintage fabric dresses, a lot of hand-sewing on this one, and a dilemma about whether to close the back of the skirt. I opted not to, as closing the skirt "tamed" the petticoat, and I like how it looks.

This one was SO FUN to make! I am so pleased with how it turned out, especially the buttons as embellishment. She looks like she's ready for an Austin Powers set.
How could I possibly resist this fabric? Another classic party dress. I'm considering doing a "series" of black and white clothing, for some reason I've been drawn to that color palette lately.

Skull Dress

Found this great print at Hancock Fabrics...

Vintage Linen Dress

I finally dug into my vintage linen/lace stash to make the girls a dress. This is vintage linen, tea-dyed. I'm not sure what the original piece was, as I only had an end and a corner to work with. It is embellished by a single vintage mother-of-pearl button. I also made a petticoat to go with it, and used some vintage tape as a sash, although that got a bit bulky around the waist. It's the first of what I hope are many OOAK dresses from vintage linen/fabric.

Cupcake Hats for All

I've been playing around with a crochet pattern for "cupcake hats," which I think are about the cutest things ever. I'm working towards a variation that I like, so far I favor the new girl's version (left), which I actually didn't do correctly (according to the pattern).

Root Beer Barrel Polka redux

New Dress for the New Girl

Blythe Scrabble Tile Pendants

These were so fun to make except for getting that &$^*& bubbles out of the resin...

YouTube - Old Blythe Commercial

Batik Babydoll

I really like how these batik-style fabrics look when used for small dresses, the patterns become a whole new design element. I had a hard time deciding how to embellish this because the pattern is so prominent. Finally, while looking through my beads I found a tiny glass flower with a slightly blue tint. Perfect. Available on Etsy.

Circle Game

Isn't Max stunning in this? I remember singing "The Circle Game" by Joni Mitchell when I was in high school. The Women's Chorale had to wear high-waisted uniforms that remind me of babydoll dresses, although they were some weird wrap-dress-huge-collar seventies thingies...

Available on Etsy :)

Back to the Shop

I'm back to stocking up the Etsy shop. Here's the first two in a series of babydoll dresses. Although I altered the Skipper pattern for this dress, I'm not entirely happy with it, I just don't like this bodice. I may have to use the bodice for another dress and just shorten it to give me a better result.

Yay! Leanne Wins!

I was totally cheering for Leanne over the past few weeks!

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't too impressed with her work during the first few challenges. But she won me over during the course of the season, and when she was announced as the winner of season 5 I got a little choked up. I think she is remarkable for her personality (as being rather subdued, serious, and not egomaniacal) as well as for her designs.

And she has an Etsy shop! Leanimal. Even though I'm sure she won't need Etsy as a venue any longer, I hope she keeps it up and running at least a little, the Etsy community deserves to have its "star."

So, I didn't finish the season on time here at Project Blythe, but I will continue to work on the challenges until I do, just because I want to. I am currently working on challenge number 11 - design a look inspired by a musical genre. Max's genre is Gothic Bluegrass. ;)

Challenge 10 results!

Here is my outfit for Project Runway challenge 10, in which the designers were asked to design professional looks for young college graduates.

One of my favorite "work" outfits is a two-piece suit from Chico's with frayed edges on the jacket. So I decided to do a "frayed edge" outfit -- the top is a two-layer crumpled silk blouse with the neck and hemline frayed with pinking shears, the neckline is asymmetrical and intentionally "messy" looking. The vest/tunic also has frayed edges and the seams are on the outside. I stayed conservative (hems) with the gingham checked flared pants.

Full size photos available for viewing at my Flickr account.