When to say no and synthetics VS natural.
I always saw myself as a perfectionist.
With time and age I found out that there is no such things. One can thrive to perfection but at what cost?
When I work on the dolls fashions I try to make the best fashion I can possibly make.
Being that the price tag for my fashion is not low, I will do my best to produce the best outfit . I pay attention to the fit of the garment, the way it lies on the dolls body , the sewing and the finishing of the garment.
Looking at videos of fashion houses you see a crew of twenty or more people working on an outfit. Not to mention the various machines that are at their disposal.
I am a one man band, using one sewing machine and my know how only.
I would have loved to have some special machinery that the doll factories have at their hand in order to get a fine outfits.
I don't.
So bearing this in mind, at times I get to the limit of what I can produce.
It's easier with my designs.
I design the fashion bearing in mind on how it will be produced and if I have the ability to produce it in the best way.
If I try and the result is not as good as I wanted it to be, I throw it away, rework the kinks, learn what not to do, fix the pattern or change it so I get the result I wanted. If it still does not meet my criteria, I ceremoniously put it in the garbage and move on.
Alas, when I get a commission to produce an outfit, it's a whole different story.
The client has an image in their head on how they want the outfit to look, and since they are not making it, they at times fail to realize that the scale and the fabric they want to use will not recreate the look that they are after.
I stay away in general from synthetic fabrics or blends.
Especially when its a fitted tailored look. The way a natural fabric behaves is different than the mix or synthetic one, especially when you work for the 12" dolls.
There is only so much ironing you can do before the fabric gets this sheen and still will not do the crisp detail that you are after.
Natural fibers are more forgiving and in general will iron better since the fibers are more flexible and tend to not 'spring' back to their original state.
So with this in mind at some point I have to say no to a client. It is not worth it to me to work on a men's jacket for 6 or 7 hours and still not get the right look that the client had in mind.
At this point I have to decline the work, even if I need the work.
At this point I am making the outfit with my fabrics.
The shirt is made of handkerchief linen and the pattern was readjusted and I used light pink linen to make it.
The pants fit nicely but I still will make it with my fabric using worsted wool in dark olive green.
Results in the next blog unless I screw it up badly and it that case we will all forget about it, it will never be mentioned again.
Till next time leave long and prosper.
By the way this doll is the 13" Phicen doll.
Ayal
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