Secret Snarker Gift 2018

I got my Secret Snarker gift from the American Girl Collectors Swap from Thyme.
My gift came all the way from the United Kingdom!
I am so excited and I love everything. I have LOTS of pictures.
Side note: I tried really hard to get the best pictures I could, but I have room to improve. It's just so dark this time of year.

Here are Anne, Kanani and Melody waiting impatiently to open the box

Here is the box itself! everything is so nicely packaged and each package is labelled with a doll's name! I am ashamed that I did not do this in my package for agate13.

Hogwarts Gryffindor uniform

I had so much fun making a Ravenclaw uniform that I made a Gryffindor robe as well.

It was fun to make and it will make a little girl very happy!

Samantha's Bicycle Outfit

I got Samantha's bicycle outfit, so here are a few pictures.

These were the best pictures I could get now. I will take some outside when it is nice.

I actually like her other bicycle outfit more. The embroidery and style of the top reminds me of some of Julie's 1970s clothes, specifically the Peasant Top Outfit.

Still, this is bright and cheerful and it was on sale. It made me smile and hope for spring.

Her spats are my least favorite part. They look cheaply made and fake.

I enjoyed having a new outfit for Samantha, though!

Patio Furniture

I am so excited with my new doll patio furniture set!

I have had the table for a couple of years. I got it at Hobby Lobby. It is collapsible and lies flat for storage, which is awesome.

I went to look at the doll stuff at a Wal-Mart in the nearest large town to me, because a friend wants the Wal-Mart exclusive African-American rock climber Barbie.

I did not find the Barbie (no one seems to be able to actually find it in store) but I did find the My Life As Adirondack chairs!

They were $7 each, and a lovely shade of blue that matched the table I already had!
So naturally I had to have them. They had three there, and I bought two. Now I am questioning whether I should have gotten the third as well. They stack for storage, which is great.

The chairs seem very sturdy, and the price is great.

Jess and Saige enjoyed the set up!

Here is a close-up of Saige.

For some reason, I was having more trouble posing Jess than Saige to look natural in the chairs.

I look forward to using this a LOT to get good doll photographs as the weather gets nicer!

Secret Snarker 2018 Part Four

The last part of what I created for agate13 is paper crafting.

I have to give Windstar a big shout out, as none of this would be possible without her fabulous patterns.

You can find some of her paper crafting patterns for free on her blog, Jinjia Mixed Goods.

Other patterns are also found on her etsy, which is also called Jinjia Mixed Goods.

Using her patterns, I made a complete set of all seven Harry Potter books.
They have the original British book covers, which is so interesting.

You can find Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone here.

I also made two issues of the Quibbler, and catalogs for Burgins and Burkes and Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

Here is a direct link to the patterns for some of these items.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I made for Secret Snarker this year!

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You can see what I made for Secret Snarker in 2016 and in 2017 in older blog posts.

Secret Snarker 2018 Part Three

I decided to make another skirt for agate13's Kanani.

This is a blue skirt (Ravenclaw colors!) with a Golden Snitch appliqued on it.

I got this idea directly from Pieces by Polly.

I just wanted to make a basic skirt pattern, so I used Simplicity 1244 by the Dollies' Dressmaker.

It appears that this pattern is now retired. I better be careful not to lose any of those tiny pattern pieces!

I appliqued on a Golden Snitch, using a pattern from Pieces by Polly, and adding stitching to look like the Snitch's flight pattern.

The result looks a bit like a 1950s Poodle Skirt.

What I had in mind was a skirt that Kanani could wear to a Quidditch match to show support for her team.

Anyway, it's definitely a unique addition to Kanani's wardrobe!

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You can see what I made for Secret Snarker in 2016 and in 2017 in older blog posts.

Inspiring Women Barbies

My friend who collects Legos wrote a blog post about a Barbie line based on famous women. 
I am like, how did you know about this before me? 



Here is his blog post.

I think they are fabulous and I want Frida Kahlo and Katherine Johnson.



Here is an article about it on CNN.

It's weird though, because the article says these were created because mothers want better role models for their daughters, but on the Barbie pre-order page, it says that they are for adult collectors.

That seems like a mistake somewhere.

Secret Snarker 2018 Part Two

Making doll quilts is something that I really enjoy, and it's not something that everyone knows how to do.

So, I like to make a doll quilt as well as an outfit for my swap partner.

I made a Ravenclaw quilt for agate13's Kanani. I used the Ravenclaw colors from the book, not the movie, which are blue and gold.

It is an Irish chain quilt with an appliqued Snitch. The Irish chain is a nod to agate13's Kanani’s half-Irish origins.

Also, it's a quilt that is easy to make in miniature and still looks great!

I did the quilting on the quilt to look like the Snitch’s flight path.

The back of the quilt is perfect for a Hogwarts quilt- it shows star constellations and it glows in the dark.

I was so excited when I found this fabric in my stash! Even the colors were perfect for this quilt.

I don’t know if Kanani comes from a Muggle family or a family of witches. The story I told in my head is that her grandma is an Irish witch and made the quilt for her to take to Hogwarts, and bewitched it so the Snitch can fly around the surface of the quilt.  

I was inspired to make this quilt in part by the Ravenclaw quilt made by Pieces by Polly, but then I went off and did my own thing. Our quilts are very different and unique.

Here is a bonus picture of Jess with the quilt!

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You can see part one of this year's swap here.

You can see what I made for Secret Snarker in 2016 and in 2017 in older blog posts.

Hearts for Hearts dolls update

Hearts for Hearts dolls announced on Facebook that they are re-releasing Shola and Mosi.



This is nice news. I do love Shola, but I already have her.

Mosi is cute, but it is weird and uncomfortable how they first planned to make her Navajo with permission from the tribe (which is illegal) and when this was pointed out to her she was marketed as generic Native American.

But the news I reaaaally want to hear is about Aya, the really adorable Syrian doll they showed at Toy Fair in 2017.

Here is the blog post I wrote about her last year.

She is adorable, her story is great, and I want two, one to be Aya and one to be her twin.

Hearts for Hearts said at one point that she would be released in February 2018... which did not happen.

I have not been able to find any pictures of her at the 2018 Toy Fair.

Where is Aya? I want her!

I would also be extremely happy to hear that Surjan has been scheduled for re-release. She's probably the top one I want among the dolls that have already been released.

Secret Snarker 2018 Part One

I always look forward to Secret Snarker each year. It really sparks my creativity to design a gift for someone else's doll.

This year I was very excited, because I was assigned agate13. She wanted gifts for her Kanani, who attends Hogwarts and is a member of Ravenclaw.

I love Harry Potter, but had not used this as inspiration to sew doll clothes before.

It was pretty obvious and straightforward to make a doll-sized Ravenclaw uniform.

I used the pattern from Read Creations to make a Hogwarts robe. This pattern is free, which I greatly appreciated!

I did need to read the directions for the robe at times, but it was pretty straightforward to make.

I made the robe lined in blue for Ravenclaw, of course.

I used the Luna Lovegood uniform made by Kate Lauren Designs as inspiration. It's not so easy to get a good look at the Ravenclaw uniforms, as they are not always front and center in the movie.
I really appreciated having this as a resource.

I used the Button Up Shirt pattern by Liberty Jane.
I thought that the sleeves were more detailed than I needed. I really just wanted a basic pattern, since I had so many pieces to sew. There are days when I appreciate detailed patterns, and days when I just want to sew as basic a wardrobe staple as possible.

Also, the collar was 7/8 of an inch too short. I had to draft a new collar piece to get it to work.
So yeah, this was not my favorite pattern.

For the gray pleated skirt, I used Forever 18 Inches Timeless Schoolgirl Skirt. I was inspired by the Luna Lovegood uniform made by Kate Lauren Designs to use this rather than a more classic pleated skirt.

There are plenty of the other kind of grey pleated skirts out there, and this one was worn by Luna, so that makes it special.

I did not follow the directions to make the skirt. I thought it made sense to hem the bottom of the skirt before I pleated it, so I did.

So, there is a classic Harry Potter uniform! Kanani should be pleased.

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You can view Part two of the swap here.

You can see what I made for Secret Snarker in 2016 and in 2017 in older blog posts.