a bit anxious about posting this, but i wanted to show off my meeshell mermaid custom that i just finished!
i loved her design in the show, and was really dissapointed when the actual doll looked nothing like her, so i made my own !!
i also think mattel had a missed opportunity in giving meeshell a wheelchair instead of just having her magically able to walk on land even though she hadn't gone through her story yet!
more info about what i used/more rambling under the cut!
-i was not a big fan of the later ever after high face molds, so i used a legacy day ashlynn ella as a base! she had really similar eye makeup to meeshell, so it worked out great :)
-her face repaint just includes the stars around her eyes with glitter, purple eyebrows and a slightly bigger lip in that same color.
-i made her earrings and hair piece with floral wire and beads i got at michaels and a shell i had lying around.
-her hair is rerooted with a mix of 10mm curly blossom, ballet pink, and pink & silver tinsel from The Doll Planet Hair on etsy! i brushed it out a bit and cut it to length.
-her outfit is from the original meeshell doll with the top repainted with acrylic mixed with fabric medium. and for the little details painted on the plastic parts of her outfit, i used acrylic and some glitter paint.
-i made the mermaid fin using this no sew tutorial by TheDollBoy on youtube.
-her wheelchair is a barbie wheelchair with a shell pattern felt sheet and starfish that i got from michaels glued to the inside of the wheels.
-her hands are actually an extra pair of g1 lagoona blue hands that i had lying around, painted to match her skin tone! i also used a glitter topcoat over her face and body.
-the stand in the bottom middle picture is from the deluxe little mermaid halle bailey doll !
Dolltavia has a blast at MomoCon 2024. She enjoyed all of the compliments she received from the various congoers, especially from the people behind Helluva Boss who were there. Vivzie was fascinated by her. We also learned that Lizzie Freeman (the voice of Pomni from The Amazing Digital Circus) is also a doll collector and customizer. She loved Dolltavia and the Pomni and Ragatha dolls I made and showed her. She showed me the Pomni doll she had been working on. Dolltavia also got to be showcased on Sailor Geek Cosplay's Instagram. We got a group photo together which I provided. As a bonus picture, I found some purple hydrangeas while on my walk the day before the con started. Since those were the flowers Via was posing with in the recent Shark Robot merch drop, I thought it would only make sense to pose her with them (even if they are wilting a little).
Where can I find patterns for making Fashion Doll Clothes?
A friend and I were chatting tonight about doll clothes, and it occurred to me that if you've never dabbled in making doll clothes before, you may not know where to find patterns for them. So I'm sharing a list with you guys of every resource I know of.
Paid-For Patterns:
Requiem Arts: https://raddollclothes.com/
This is one of the big go-to's of the community. Requiem Arts has patterns for so many different fashion dolls, from Monster High (G1 and G3) to Rainbow High, to a number of BJDs, to Barbies, and even several for the boy dolls. I've gone to them for many a Descendants pattern since not a lot of places offer them. Her blog also features a number of great posts on size differences between dolls, fixing articulation, and more.
If you need Monster High and Ever After High patterns with easy to follow instructions, this is the place to go! Dollightful only has a handful of patterns up, but her instructions are super easy to follow. They're just as enjoyable as her YouTube videos.
This artist has an interesting mix of patterns for fashion dolls, once again it's a lot of Monster High, but also a little bit of Rainbow High. I have her two pattern books, and they've got some wonderful picture instructions that put into perspective how to follow along. I hadn't realized until making this post that she's released a couple of individual patterns from her YouTube videos, that's really cool!
Enchanterium: https://www.enchanterium.com/shop
The Enchanterium sisters are a delight, and their patterns for MH, EAH, and Smart Dolls encompass a wide variety of genres. They even have some 3D printing files for shoes and accessories.
Cosmomoore is great if you need patterns for Rainbow High, Barbie, or G3 Monster High. All of the G3 patterns are under the Creepy Class tag. I've tried their skirt pattern for G3 Draculaura, it was a breeze to put together when you know a few basic stitches.
Enchanterium offers a number of freebies at this link! Most of them are patterns from their older YouTube videos, so there's those as a resource to follow along with.
Once again, this artist has a number of freebies, but they don't have a specific tag.
Poulpe en Ciel's Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1lkI6inme4K6wxw0IqTSGGju2bIQMln_A
This artist is known for having some truly extravagant patterns for Monster High and Cave Club dolls. And she offers them in both English and French! Highly recommend checking out Poulpe on Instagram, her dolls are absolutely to die for, and she puts so much heart into making her stuff accessible for the wider community.
Chellywood: https://chellywood.com/
Chellywood's website is a diamond in the rough. If you're looking for a doll pattern for a doll most people don't make patterns for, Chelly probably has it. Her website is organized by size and goes into individualized pages for each doll line. It's fantastic. And on top of that, she has YouTube videos!
Barbie lovers rejoice, this is your kingdom! While there's no tagging system here, Toya has patterns for everything, from mermaid tails to cute easy dresses, this is a great place to go. Her YouTube channel is also an endless resource of creativity.
If you have any resources for patterns, or for places to buy doll clothing, feel free to reblog! I'd love to include more people from our lovely doll community so people know about them!
so i made. my new favourite custom ever. Kian Stone from Blood in the Bayou :’D repurposed my Todd Ingram custom for him
all the clothes are hand painted, and hand sewn (fuck sewing machines,,) from scratch (except for the pants, which were an EAH pair altered to be flared/boot cut). I’m so unbelievably happy with him like you wouldn’t believe 😭 my little rockstar…….
I love Legend of Zelda and I was super inspired to make Zelda’s white prayer dress from Breath of the Wild. It turned out really cute but wow it was difficult drafting my own pattern for it!
Out of all my ooak customs so far, my husband loves this one the best. I love her faceup; Zelda’s expression turned out perfectly wistful and Goldielocks from Ever After High was a perfect base.
You guys remember the WIP post of that curvy Ever After High body from a while ago? Well, it belonged to none other than Emberlynn Pinkle from 'Helluva Boss'! 🔥
I know she is supposed to be cringe but she is cute, okay? CUTE. 💖
Twilight Princess Link!! I actually finished this doll last summer?? I think?? I'm so lazy with posting.... but here he is finally!! Pictures are taken again by my lovely friend @ minnikuvaa on instagram<3333
I used Ever After High Hunter doll for the base and sculpted etc on top of it!!! His clothes were sooo fun to make :3 The sword, armor and shield are made from worbla and milliput!!!
A new sculpture! Finally... I feel like I never sculpt anymore since I'm always sick or have some 500 other things going on or projects to finish, but I'm trying to schedule time to do it more often this year hopefully..! Just a generic fantasy creature as usual, but did try making the eyes a little more sparkly this time.. hrmm..
I finally got my second EAH doll. I found her on a local reselling site for 20 euros. They lost her cape and she had major glue seepage but I got to work and fixed her up!
Here is how she arrived, her bun was practically cemented in its shape
There are many methods for dealing with glue seepage. I don't have access to Oxi Clean and Goo Gone (I'm not sure they're available in my country) so I use my own method.
First, I lather the gluey parts in oil (hair or cooking oil, same thing) since oil helps dissolve glue. Learned this trick when my mom saved a neighborhood stray cat from a glue trap by soaking the poor baby in oil (she got adopted, don't worry).
Then I wash the hair with dish soap a couple times and the next step I learned from xcanadensis on YT if I remember correctly which is to mix baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and boiling water in a mug and let the hair soak for a couple hours. I did that once and her hair is now grease free.
And yeah, the glue is still inside the head but that's a problem for future me. I've done this method on a couple dolls back in 2020/2021 and the hair is still not greasy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Then I curled the ends in a random pattern to match the show design
I painted the accessories with gel polish. Again, I've heard nail polish damages plastic but I've had no bad experiences with gel polish. I made her a pair of earrings and a necklace from an old bracelet.
Finally, I made the cape using farbric from an old scarf with a floral design on one side and a plain beige side. I added (some pretty uneven) stitching in a criss cross pattern like the stock photo, kinda, and some white beads. Ignore that one bead that's in the wrong place, I just realized 😩
Then I crocheted the border with the same thread I used for stitching and crocheted a gold border on the sides and bottom. I also added some beading at the bottom since it was a bit too short for my liking. The closure across the chest is made out of bows from that red ribbon, thread, white beads and it closes with a clasp on her right shoulder.
Here she is next to Darling who is also customized ♥️🩵
I might do a doll collection video and post it on YT if anyone would be interested so let me know. I have less than 60 dolls (I think) but they all have unique stories and sentimental value to me ✨