Challenge 2

Wow, only two episodes and I'm already behind!

Challenge 2 is: make a maternity chic look for a supermodel.

It's going to be a real giggle trying to make one of my girls look pregnant...

Challenge 1

(Create a red carpet look showing innovation and your point of view as a designer)

And Lindsay Lohan is watching...

That Ari got knocked off right away was no surprise to me, I had her tagged as "auf" the minute she said "I don't do sketches" and went to stand on her head in the workroom. OTOH, I wasn't all that enamoured of the dress that did win, I liked the red flowing thing that Johnny did better than Christopher's textured poof-fest.

All Star Challenge Post-Mortem

OK, so I was glad to see the arrogant team, Jeffrey and Santino, knocked out of the competition right off the bat. Of the remaining four, my sentimental favorite was Sweet P. I also happen to think that she had the best of the four collections. I had no real opinion about the winner, Daniel V. (which is telling), but I was most disappointed with Kortu's lack of professionalism in her whining about coming in second "again." Get over yourself, Kortu.

Project Runway 6 -The All-Star Challenge

Create a three piece mini-collection showing your evolution as a designer...LOL...theme and variation on a party dress? Why not? And one of the looks must be "red carpet ready." Wondering what kind of red-carpet event a Blythe doll would attend...oh, and one last look with "unconventional materials..." I was going to have to make four anyway...this is a picture of the girls on premiere night watching the show from the Project Blythe workroom.

Pre-Premier Favorite

After looking at the previews on Lifetime, I'm initially throwing my support to Louise Black, who resembles the soon-to-be-released "Punkaholic People" Blythe. Not that Louise is punk, she's more Goth with a taste for vintage clothes and repurposing vintage embellishments. Check out her glove-top dress (in the casting section video.)

Play along with Project Runway

Here's your chance to play "Project Runway" with your girls!

Beginning on Thursday, August 20th at 8pm ET & PT, 7pm CT, Season 6 of Project Runway kicks off with an All-Star Challenge followed by the first episode.

You're invited to play along - each week I'll post the current challenge to this blog (http://projectblythe.blogspot.com) the night of the airing, and you can create and add your interpretation of the challenge for your girl(s). Work on one challenge, work on them all, work on them in any order...

I've started a Flickr group where you can post your creations: http://www.flickr.com/groups/projectblythe. (if you don't belong to Flickr, consider joining - there is a free account option, otherwise post links to your images in a comment to the challenge)

No deadlines, not a whole lot of rules, it's meant to be fun!

Any questions, leave them in a comment to this post, and I'll get right back to you.

Introducing "Siriana"

My newest girl: Siriana (Night Flower). Siriana's debut is pretty special in that it is right before season 6 of Project Runway on August 20th. Siriana is named after my favorite-project-runway-designer-of-all-time, Christian Siriano (Season 4 winner). (Somehow the name "Crissy" just didn't make the cut.) This season, she will be both a designer and model on Project Blythe, although she will have to share the stage with the other girls, especially Thistle, who hasn't participated in Project Blythe before.

In these photos, Siriana is wearing the evening version of the "Lipstick Jungle" day-to-evening challenge in Season 5.

Fashion Show on Bravo

I tried to get into "Fashion Show," but didn't really grab onto it. I kept forgetting to watch it (I would NEVER do that with Project Runway), so I've really only caught three or four of the episodes.

I don't think Isaac Mizrahi or Kelly Rowland have the personality factor (i.e. Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn) that made Project Runway so fun to watch. Fern Mallis, who always gives good, spot-on critiques that reflect the real world, just wasn't enough to engage me in a significant way. I also cringe at their toss-off lines: "we're just not buying it," and "buh bye darling."

Bravo also didn't air the episodes often enough during the week so that I could keep up. And, although they do make the episodes available online, I don't like watching TV on my computer screen, it's not the same and I can't position my desk top to the couch. On top of that, I am really getting sick of the erotic angst of the upper class UNREAL HOUSEWIVES of New Jersey, New York, Orange County. Every time I turned to Bravo to see if there was a repeat airing of Fashion Show I got re-runs and marathons of the housewives.

(In fact I don't watch the housewife shows at all, I'm just irritated to see them on the schedule night after night. Then it's going to be Top Chef for crying out loud. I don't watch that either. I do wish I had some of their problems though, if I could exchange my financial situation for those problems. Anyway...that's another rant.)

Fashion Show seemed like a conglomeration of other creative-challenge-reality shows -- I saw a little of the "model" series and the "interior design" series, but didn't see anything all that new to grab my attention. I did like the mini-challenges at the beginning of each episode, however, which is one of the things I like about one of the interior design series. I don't watch the "cooking" shows, and I'm wondering if there aren't some aspects of those in there as well. I didn't see enough of the workroom setting, and I can do without the "audience" voting -- there's too much of an "unknown" factor there. It seemed like they really wanted to NOT include anything that even vaguely resembled Project Runway and went way too far.

Some may say that I shouldn't compare Fashion Show to Project Runway, but of course I do. I was disappointed that Bravo didn't get to hang onto Project Runway, and eagerly awaited their new fashion designer competition. Hopefully Bravo will be able to hone some of the things about Fashion Show that work, and get rid of the things that don't.

Nevertheless, I'm going to try and watch the finale, and at least see the final fashion show on the the internet. I'm rooting for Danielle.

Thistle Models a Custom Order

Purple Paisley

I was wanting to try out both the pattern and the purple paisley, I kind of love it!

Finally, Something New

It seems like forever since I've done a doll dress, having been busy with writing and art-making.

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.