I ended up faking the buttons. It really does up with press-studs but I thought the buttons looked nice so sewed them over where the press-studs are sewn on.
Two weeks ago was the Giant Baby's first birthday party. I was expecting a simple family lunch but his Dad had other ideas. There ended up being quite a few guests, goody bags, and photo boards, and more food than most families would eat in a week! I would have preferred not to go all out for a baby, not out of meanness but because he's a baby. He too young to enjoy parties, he just got annoyed because his routine had been interrupted and followed me around demanding food and hugs, then got stressed because he was tired but there was too much going on for him to sleep. I think this picture sums up how we were both feeling by the end of the day
Sadly that's the only photo I have of his cake. I agonised for weeks, scoured pinterest and my Mum's old cook books to learn the theory of using fondant icing. Unfortunately I decided not to bother doing a practice run and while the finished product was ok, I really wasn't satisfied with it.
Before I move on to my next project I have to make shoes for the Giant Baby. Not because I want to. Because I don't have much choice. He's just started walking and he really needs something to protect his feet. He's not ready for hard soled shoes but pre-walkers and first walkers are all too small for him. We tried buying him a pair of those ultra-fashionable baby moccasins sized for a 2-3 year old. They are lovely, and beautifully made and fit really nicely BUT they're made of extremely fine leather, almost like a chamois, and after a week of crawling around on the sandpapery concrete of our yard, he'd already worn holes in them! I will also say I don't think the shoes were at fault here, they're clearly better suited to sitting in a pram at a cafe than the punishment we subjected them to. Long story short, baby needs a hardy foot covering that isn't going to damage his feet, and it looks like I'm going to have to make them.
Meanwhile I'm trying to decide what I want to do next. There are so many things that I want to do and narrowing down the options is hard.
I want to finish my dollhouse. It's mostly done. And given the amount of money and time I've invested in it, it really seems important to finish it. Also there are boxes of dollhouse furniture waiting to go into it, and once it's finished and the furniture is in, that will free up some storage space. But it's hard finding a safe place to use a hot glue gun (you need one to attach the roof tiles) with a ridiculously tall one year old stumbling around the place.
I have a Dollmore Zihu, that I wanted to make into Claudia from Interview with a vampire. Her face-up is done but I haven't finished her body blushing or made any clothes for her yet. But first I'm going to have to work out how to spray her with Mr Super Clear to fix the colours without doing permanent damage to the baby's lungs.
I have a Luts doll put away that I wanted to make into the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain, as a child. And this presents the same Mr Super Clear problem.
My newest Kish doll is only half dressed. I made her a skirt but never made a top to go with it. I really need to fix that.
I have a Living Dead doll put away who had half of her face paint removed in order to change it and she needs a dress. . . but I'm not actually one hundred per cent sure where she is.
I have a Wilde Imagination Patience as Glinda who I really want to make clothes for because I really, really do not like the Glinda oufit but I can't decide what to make for her. I keep considering making her a Little Women era outfit, then she could match in with my Patience as Alice, but then just as I decide to do that, I change my mind and think that would make them too matchy-matchy.
I want to dress up my Kish dolls as characters from Little House on the Prairie. This idea interested me so much about a year and a half ago that I've got sketches of the outfits I was going to make for Mary, Laura and Carrie, and I think I even have fabric put aside for this. But then I always try to start planning something for a Nellie to wear and get a sort of writer's block.
I want to make a entire Edwardian wardrobe for one of my Kish dolls. Her name is Sugar Plum Wren but I call her Emily because she reminds me of the character in the book "Emily of New Moon." And I can't look at her without thinking what a fantastic Edwardian child she would make.
In particular I want to make this dress. I have loved this dress since I first found it in one of my father's books, when I was nine. But I'm not sure that I'm technically up to the construction, also as the Kish dolls are more or less waistless, I'm not sure I could get it to look right. I've got some ideas on how to put it together but I'm definitely not confident.
So, at the end of the day, I have too many ideas (at least ten times as man as I've put down here) and so far whenever I try to settle on any individual project my brain suddenly becomes completely unwilling to come up with ideas for that project, but is happy to concoct three or four new ones. So, I'm going back to making these horrible baby shoes, because I have to, and to think about what my next project will be.
