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hat_plays_dollsOkay so MONTHS ago I vague-posted about a project I had in the works, and, well, here it is!
So, okay, my enthusiasm for Monster High has not actually diminished despite the reboot and Mattel being... whatever it's being at the moment. There hasn't been a new special or webisode or news of a new special since the Howliday thing, my Target has approximately five dolls in stock, and Toys R Us is but a fond memory now. On the other hand, there are only four characters I don't have at least one version of (Zomby Gaga, Treesa Thornwillow, Ebbie Blue, and Howleen II), I can sew, and there are so many outfits Mattel didn't make.
These are the first.
I started with Scaris because it's one of my favorites... and because there are multiple really nice outfits in it that went unproduced. The Travel (Travel Light? Budget) Scaris looks for Heath and Clawd were the obvious starting point, because a) they're nice basic pattern pieces I can re-use or adapt as needed and b) I've already got the Scaris outfits for Frankie, Clawdeen, Rochelle, Jinafire, Skelita, Draculaura, Abbey, Deuce (I had to let the shorts out some), Cleo, Lagoona, Garrot, and technically Toralei (it's her Maul fashion pack).
Scaris came out before Heath even had a doll, which is exactly how frustrating it was to see him in his signature outfit, a budget outfit, and a fashion pack outfit (and, you know, a frilly purple party dress) all in one movie.
I only know how to hand-sew (which for tiny things isn't a real problem? I mean I COULD do this on machine but I strongly suspect I'd spend as much time switching thread and winding bobbins as I do hand-sewing, plus hand-done hems look nicer), so the binding around Heath's tank top there is all done by hand in buttonhole stitch. Which I actually didn't want to do, I wanted to bind it or rib it or something, but sadly, I didn't have any suitable fabrics in my stash for that... and honestly it's not like the stitching took MORE work than bindng with bias tape or figuring out ribbing.
And where did I get literally perfect fabric for these outfits? Spoonflower! Spoonflower is great. I have used my printer to make my own custom-printed fabric before, but the only fabric I have that's really suitable for that is silk (woven cotton won't really last if you don't treat it with something special to help the inkjet inks bond) and frankly, Spoonflower's fabric selection is fantastic. Plus, eight-by-eight inch swatches are five dollars no matter what kind of fabric you want, and that's actually a fair amount of fabric when you're working with really small dolls.
Ahem. Anyway, Heath's top is Performance Piqué. Polyester, which is not my favorite fabric to work with, but the colors are brilliant.
Working from screenshots was helpful with Heath's tank top, but I don't know why they put the skull on Heath's left leg and then kept his right leg downstage all the time. Heath's shorts are Basic Cotton Ultra.
Someday, I will be able to excuse buying a whole mess of that ultra-fine hook-and-loop tape like the factories use, but until then I make do with snaps like it's 1987.
I did draft my own patterns for these outfits, but I also worked from actual Monster High clothes as a starting point. There's a lot of Music Festival Clawd in Scaris Heath's look, but the tank top had to be changed kind of a lot-- a relaxed fit instead of a snug one, the straps needed widening, the neckline needed to be less daring, and boy oh boy did I have to adjust the armholes. The shorts were almost worse-- Mattel uses a really clever no-inseam pattern for pants now that avoids the 'four seams cross over at the point of highest stress' issue, but Heath's got a dang decoration on the outside of his leg, where the seam would go, so I had to sort of flip that inside out and figure out how to keep the really nice crotch seam and snug fitted waist.
Clawd, though, Clawd is where I really need more clothes.
See, I upgraded my Clawd to a Ken body (Texas A&M, wth very careful handswap) and literally none of his original clothes fit him anymore. Sure, I can improvise with Ken clothes, and I do, but Clawd has his own sense of style and deserves his wardrobe back.
His shirt, like Heath's, is Performance Piqué, and I used some of the white space around the swatch to make a T-shirt facing for him. I didn't manage to get the teal stripes onto the edges of the tee, and I feel like those would have added a lot? But also I'm not sure how I'd do that without either having to embroider (NOT my strong suit), buttonhole-stitch perfectly nice hemmed or faced edges (no), or add ribbing (and thus bulk).
I am never doing stitched-on pockets again. I tried to do a pretty chain stitch and the saving grace is that they're mostly hidden under the shirt. Too much work for not a good enough look, at this size I could sew FUNCTIONAL pockets that look better than this. Ahem. Clawd's shorts are in Organic Cotton Sateen Ultra, which gives them more body than Heath's. I probably wouldn't use this fabric for shorts for any doll smaller than a Ken, but for long pants or jackets? It gives a nice bit of scale-denim texture.
The back side of Clawd! If Clawd were still on a Classic or Reboot body, I could've gotten two pairs of shorts out of the shorts swatch. Instead I can only get one. Clawd's patterns were adapted from Ken clothes, and while the shirt fits great there are some adjustments I'd make to the shorts before using them again-- he can sit in them without popping the snap open, but I still feel like the back waistline could go up a bit.
Anyway, I'm terribly proud of these guys, I think they look fantastic. If you've got a stack of Monster High patterns sitting around, you can check out my Spoonflower shop and pick up some swatches of your own to play with-- orkeep an eye on my eBay sales, because I was able to get two Heath outfits out of my swatches and the spare goes on sale tomorrow night if you like Heath's outfit, I was able to get two of them out of my swatches, and listing is live now!
There will be more like this, and soon-- I REALLY want to sew right now for some reason-- but not until I get out to the fabric store and get a lot more snaps.
Like what I do and want to help me feed my cats, but don't need anything I have for sale on eBay? You can always support me on Patreon or throw some change in my tip jar.
So, okay, my enthusiasm for Monster High has not actually diminished despite the reboot and Mattel being... whatever it's being at the moment. There hasn't been a new special or webisode or news of a new special since the Howliday thing, my Target has approximately five dolls in stock, and Toys R Us is but a fond memory now. On the other hand, there are only four characters I don't have at least one version of (Zomby Gaga, Treesa Thornwillow, Ebbie Blue, and Howleen II), I can sew, and there are so many outfits Mattel didn't make.
These are the first.
I started with Scaris because it's one of my favorites... and because there are multiple really nice outfits in it that went unproduced. The Travel (Travel Light? Budget) Scaris looks for Heath and Clawd were the obvious starting point, because a) they're nice basic pattern pieces I can re-use or adapt as needed and b) I've already got the Scaris outfits for Frankie, Clawdeen, Rochelle, Jinafire, Skelita, Draculaura, Abbey, Deuce (I had to let the shorts out some), Cleo, Lagoona, Garrot, and technically Toralei (it's her Maul fashion pack).
Scaris came out before Heath even had a doll, which is exactly how frustrating it was to see him in his signature outfit, a budget outfit, and a fashion pack outfit (and, you know, a frilly purple party dress) all in one movie.
I only know how to hand-sew (which for tiny things isn't a real problem? I mean I COULD do this on machine but I strongly suspect I'd spend as much time switching thread and winding bobbins as I do hand-sewing, plus hand-done hems look nicer), so the binding around Heath's tank top there is all done by hand in buttonhole stitch. Which I actually didn't want to do, I wanted to bind it or rib it or something, but sadly, I didn't have any suitable fabrics in my stash for that... and honestly it's not like the stitching took MORE work than bindng with bias tape or figuring out ribbing.
And where did I get literally perfect fabric for these outfits? Spoonflower! Spoonflower is great. I have used my printer to make my own custom-printed fabric before, but the only fabric I have that's really suitable for that is silk (woven cotton won't really last if you don't treat it with something special to help the inkjet inks bond) and frankly, Spoonflower's fabric selection is fantastic. Plus, eight-by-eight inch swatches are five dollars no matter what kind of fabric you want, and that's actually a fair amount of fabric when you're working with really small dolls.
Ahem. Anyway, Heath's top is Performance Piqué. Polyester, which is not my favorite fabric to work with, but the colors are brilliant.
Working from screenshots was helpful with Heath's tank top, but I don't know why they put the skull on Heath's left leg and then kept his right leg downstage all the time. Heath's shorts are Basic Cotton Ultra.
Someday, I will be able to excuse buying a whole mess of that ultra-fine hook-and-loop tape like the factories use, but until then I make do with snaps like it's 1987.
I did draft my own patterns for these outfits, but I also worked from actual Monster High clothes as a starting point. There's a lot of Music Festival Clawd in Scaris Heath's look, but the tank top had to be changed kind of a lot-- a relaxed fit instead of a snug one, the straps needed widening, the neckline needed to be less daring, and boy oh boy did I have to adjust the armholes. The shorts were almost worse-- Mattel uses a really clever no-inseam pattern for pants now that avoids the 'four seams cross over at the point of highest stress' issue, but Heath's got a dang decoration on the outside of his leg, where the seam would go, so I had to sort of flip that inside out and figure out how to keep the really nice crotch seam and snug fitted waist.
Clawd, though, Clawd is where I really need more clothes.
See, I upgraded my Clawd to a Ken body (Texas A&M, wth very careful handswap) and literally none of his original clothes fit him anymore. Sure, I can improvise with Ken clothes, and I do, but Clawd has his own sense of style and deserves his wardrobe back.
His shirt, like Heath's, is Performance Piqué, and I used some of the white space around the swatch to make a T-shirt facing for him. I didn't manage to get the teal stripes onto the edges of the tee, and I feel like those would have added a lot? But also I'm not sure how I'd do that without either having to embroider (NOT my strong suit), buttonhole-stitch perfectly nice hemmed or faced edges (no), or add ribbing (and thus bulk).
I am never doing stitched-on pockets again. I tried to do a pretty chain stitch and the saving grace is that they're mostly hidden under the shirt. Too much work for not a good enough look, at this size I could sew FUNCTIONAL pockets that look better than this. Ahem. Clawd's shorts are in Organic Cotton Sateen Ultra, which gives them more body than Heath's. I probably wouldn't use this fabric for shorts for any doll smaller than a Ken, but for long pants or jackets? It gives a nice bit of scale-denim texture.
The back side of Clawd! If Clawd were still on a Classic or Reboot body, I could've gotten two pairs of shorts out of the shorts swatch. Instead I can only get one. Clawd's patterns were adapted from Ken clothes, and while the shirt fits great there are some adjustments I'd make to the shorts before using them again-- he can sit in them without popping the snap open, but I still feel like the back waistline could go up a bit.
Anyway, I'm terribly proud of these guys, I think they look fantastic. If you've got a stack of Monster High patterns sitting around, you can check out my Spoonflower shop and pick up some swatches of your own to play with-- or
There will be more like this, and soon-- I REALLY want to sew right now for some reason-- but not until I get out to the fabric store and get a lot more snaps.
Like what I do and want to help me feed my cats, but don't need anything I have for sale on eBay? You can always support me on Patreon or throw some change in my tip jar.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-15 09:17 pm (UTC)2. Have you looked at etsy.com/shop/DGRequiem ? They make lots of patterns in MH size.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-15 10:48 pm (UTC)I've seen Requiem Art's patterns! They're really great. I haven't bought any, for a couple of reasons (I've been drafting, re-scaling, and reverse-engineering my own patterns for doll clothes since the 90s and by now it's second nature, and also her historical patterns don't have enough historical construction details for the depth of my nerdery), but Requiem Art is pretty much the first place I'd direct anyone who was looking for Monster High patterns.