Big Boys Again!

 

Just in case you've forgotten, here are my big boys.  Most of my dudes can wear standard Ken clothes, and these two can wear some of that, but they usually end up in my homemade stuff.  Here Maui is wearing one of my Ugly Work Shirts and Hagrid is in Sock Sweatpants.

After my previous post about dressing these boys, I got some requests for patterns or tutorials.  There is a previous post, from way a long time ago, but I do have materials to work with.  So here we go!

I bought these cute Halloween socks but they are not stretchy enough.  I don't have particularly big calves, but I suffer from edema.  (And can't take them water pills because my sodium bottoms out.)

I got this for Christmas and done wore it so much it's falling apart.  It may be too thin to even make an Ugly Work Shirt, but we'll give it a try for demonstration purposes. I use T-shirts and socks because the fabric is stretchy and does not fray much, if at all.

First we stick them in sleeping bag style and measure where the ankles are.  Hagrid needs to pull his up over the belly, so his line is under the stripes and Maui's is over the stripes.  Note that and see if you can catch my error.

Cut up to the groin, leaving the top of the sock to be the waistband. Hagrid's stopped at the pumpkins, Maui's at the stars.  Usually, I just go with Hagrid's measurements so the boys can share.  Turn them inside out and stitch the seams closed to create legs!  Easy, if not particularly attractive.

Did you see my mistake?  I cut both pair above the stripes, leaving Hagrid with highwaters!

For the work shirts, I like to have some kind of design.  Usually I use part of whatever the human size shirt has, but this one was incoherent in doll size.  Most of the shirt ends up as cleaning rags.  This time I saved the sleeves to make the Ugly Work Shirt.

I just trace around the pattern and sew up the sides, making sure to leave the arm holes open.  Since I do all this by hand, my seam allowance wavers.  

Hagrid in pink!  Maui's seams ripped when I was trying to put the shirt on over them big shoulders.  Not sure if it was a seam allowance problem or a worn fabric problem.  

Maybe I should just stick to the relatively square cut.  They look and fit much better.

Hmmm.  I wonder if my sock scraps could be turned into ugly work shirts?

After sacrificing the purple sloth scraps to that attempt, I noticed a possibility.  Removing the heel and toe leaves me with two tubes, one of which is too small for a shirt. Can we make shoulders/sleeves out of the shorter tubes? 

 

Not sure how I feel about these shirts, but I'll let my big boys wear them to the dollhouse Halloween party.  The pants are, as usual, good to go.

Anyway... that's how I make Sock Sweatpants and Ugly Work Shirts. 

TMNT

 I went to Walmart today to get headlight bulbs for my truck and maybe do a bit of Christmas shopping.  Of course, being me, I had to cruise down the Clearance aisle.  And what to my wondering eye should appear... 

He's about the size of my kindergarteners.  For less than ten bucks, I figure if they don't get a new friend outta the deal, they at least get a Halloween costume.

Apparently there's a whole set!  

Here he is out of the box.  I love the TMNT pillowcase for his loot!  

Grabbed a kindergartener for comparison.  My kindergarteners are Kelly/Chelsea noggins on bodies from the Zoe doll sold by 5 Below. His lumberjack costume is from Dollar Tree.

Anyway... Tommy is a bit taller than Leo and Leo is pretty buff for a child.  Leo's mask is stuck to his face and shoes are painted on, but he's all kinds of articulated! Tommy might be a tad jealous.

Now for the moment of truth. Leo's mask elastic is cleverly added to his hair, but I can live with that if he has a face at all.  I don't want him running around in the mask 24/7/365 because I wanna store the whole costume together.

 The head popped off during mask removal, but it's a simple job to pop it back on.  Not that I'm going to keep this noggin.  Leo looks like someone assassinated the "Are you my mummy?" kid from Dr Who.

The mask fits about as well as any Ben Cooper mask ever did.

Poked holes with a needle and added elastic.  

Tommy's going back to the party in a whole new costume!

Big Ole Deck

 

This is what my dollhouse looked like when I started today's project.  I have two goals: A better view out the back windows and doing something about the room/deck/room/deck situation on the third floor.

This is the existing view.  Three large garden flags, barely large enough to cover the area and not lining up very well.  

Why are these balloons so close to my window?  Why are they colliding? 

The new view is a conifer forest in the fog.  Or the snow.  My love of the Smokies may have influenced my choice here.  This is a shower curtain.

The pass-through created between the kitchen and library doesn't work if I properly align the two house. Add that to the project goals. 

The joining works okay on the second floor because there's only a cut out in one of the involved walls.

I removed the room from between decks, making one large deck.  I want to keep the houses separate for ease of moving it around (if needed) so can't just throw some contact paper on there, at least not without the gap that was already bothering me.

My bricks are too big one way and too small the other way.

My other bricks are just too small altogether.

Fake grass looks promising.  

Nope.  It sags where the "stairwell" gap is and doesn't want to let anything stand up.

Cardboard covered with contact paper works well.  At least until I can get some more cooperative grass.

Time for scenery.  

Kitchen side of the defunct pass-through.  Note the back window view visible behind the tie-dye bear.

Both library windows have views of a conifer forest. 

I stuck a My Life As backdrop bit outside the dining room side window just so they didn't have to look at the stacked up folding playsets.  This one is not a conifer. 

One bedroom has been removed and another turned into a nursery/sewing room.  They're down to four bedrooms for whatever family I finally decide on to live here.

And I did it with minimal disruption of the Halloween party.  Some of the rooms have been moved around, obviously, and I'm thinking of replacing my soap opera with something akin to a sitcom.  Recurring cast, but using dolls I can age up if needed.  Like Fred could become the succession of Harry Potters if the story goes on long enough. 

My intended replacement only got as far as a Shirley Jackson story and the "pilot" of a sequel to Friends, about the original cast's kids.  I don't want to continue either of those because I don't wanna play in someone else's sandbox with my stories! 

 

Big Boys

 Big boys Big boys

What cha gonna do 

What cha gonna do 

When I dress up you

I got Maui!  He's a Target Exclusive, or so I was told.  I found him on Amazon.  

He's bendy at the knees, hips, elbows, shoulders, and neck.

He's also a big boy like Hagrid.

WARNING

  NEKKID DOLLS AHEAD

DON'T LOOK, ETHEL!

This is the backdrop from his box.  I hope to salvage it cuz it's so pretty.

Hagrid is mostly a normal Ken type, but with a (butter)beer belly.  Maui is just huge and tattooed.

Either way, hard to shop for.

Except for the britches, they can't even wear each other's included outfits.

Shirts I know fit Hagrid

But first, britches.

Maui is wearing stretched out shorts that have no identifiers.  I think they were on a stuffed animal at some point, but won't swear to that.

Hagrid is wearing sweatpants made from an old sock.  He can't keep the shorts up over the belly.

Maui in the Flavas outfit that I use for a pattern for my ugly work shirts. 

The wine bottle sweater goes onto Maui much easier because he's beardless.  He's happy he'll get to dress for Christmas.

I saw some folks online got this hoodie onto Maui.  Like the wine bottle sweater, his lack of beard made it easier.  Unlike the wine bottle sweater, the fabric didn't stretch well over the big muscles.

Here they model my home-made ugly work shirts.  Since I'm not the best seamstress, my seam allowance wavers.  Hagrid's about popping his seams but Maui is comfy.

They're made from my old T-shirts.  These two are from shirts that have the big design on the back and a smaller one on the front. Maui is advertising Huck Finn's in the Smokies and Hagrid's says "Whoa dude I am so high.  Up on this mountain."  Also Smokies related - it says Clingman's Dome under the beard.

Hagrid: Our wardrobe is some slim pickings.

Maui: Jeanie needs to get on the ball.

Kid Kraft Modern Luxury Dollhouse

 

Got another project.

Picture from Internet 

This is the Modern Luxury dollhouse by Kid Kraft.  

Mine looks like this.

  That silver thing is what's left of the elevator.

It's got stickers and scribbles.

 

Side views for the sake of completion.

The back is blank except for an unhelpful manufacturer sticker.

Third floor has a serious sag issue and a stain.  

This isn't an issue for my plans., since it's not mold or mildew.

Second floor has a sag issue beside the elevator shaft.

On the work table for cleaning.

Yes, most of the third floor is gone now.

Contact paper for cinderblock walls.

Elevator shaft covered with strong cardboard.

Push pins and duct tape solve the sag problem. 

A bit of the ugly "linoleum" floor is visible.

And I forgot my camera existed.

One side of the first floor is papered with assorted scraps.

I left the pink side as it was.

My "bleachers" went on top.

It solved more of my storage issues than I expected. 

The classroom's bin and the playroom shelf are now free.

I need a few more desks for my classroom.

And some educational wall decor.

First floor is now a playroom.

Two playrooms if you wanna get technical.

All told, not bad for trash picking and an afternoon's work.

Clean up might take longer than the actual project did!