long sleeves

White Christmas Dress with Red or Blue Candy Cane Striped Sleeves and Santa Hat

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Click for larger version (PNG):red stripes, blue stripes; click for PDF version: red stripes, blue stripes. Click here for the list of dolls.

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it! To those of you who don’t, I hope you can bear with three days of Christmas-themed stuff. If the candy cane stripes are just too much to bear, I think this wintery blue version is rather sweet, too.

Actually, this dress started life as a princess gown that had three layers right down to the floor, but the first two were too long compared to the third, and the proportions bothered me; then, I thought that the candy-cane striped sleeves looked kind of cartoony for a formal ballgown, but just perfect with a sassy above-the-knee circle skirt and a Santa hat! When I was sketching this gown out, I was thinking of the collectible holiday Barbie dolls of my youth: I don’t believe I ever had any, but I appreciated them. (That would explain the extra-puffed sleeves: I was a kid of the ’80s.)

Because of the placement of the skirt and sleeves, if you were to cut this out, you’d have to cut a space for the hand inside the skirt, just under the sleeves. If anyone attempts it, please let me know how it goes.

Whenever I put up two colors of something, I always have to ask…

poll by twiigs.com

Gloranthan Woman’s Dress in Blue and Sea Green from King of Dragon Pass

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Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

One Valentine’s Day a decade ago when I was in college, my boyfriend gave me a computer game called King of Dragon Pass. I may have looked a little askance at a Valentine’s gift that didn’t come in a heart-shaped red box, but after playing a bit, it became clear that this guy had an excellent sense of what made me happy. (Reader, I married him.)

King of Dragon Pass is a strategy game where you manage every aspect of an clan, making decisions such as which gods to sacrifice to, which of your neighbors to ally with and which to attack, how to amass wealth and respect and how peaceful (or otherwise) your clan is, all while solving day-to-day problems with the help of your clan’s council. It’s set in a fantasy world called Glorantha, which I gather has a long history as a setting for board games and role-playing games, so there’s a whole pantheon of gods and customs to learn about while you pay attention to things like setting up trade routes and training warriors. I love games like that, with so much that needs paying attention to, and I also like that there are so many different events and things to find that even I haven’t seen all of them. (And I loved that game to little tiny pieces, let me tell you.)

Somehow, I always ended up playing the same way: my clan winds up as a fairly peaceful and prosperous bunch of Ernalda (earth mother) worshippers. When I try to be all warlike and propitiate Humakt (death god) and bully my neighbors, I never really get anywhere. Even still, there’s always so many things to take care of and new situations that it never gets old to me. Plus, I love the art: the game itself is text-based, but each event has a beautifully drawn image to go with it. (You can buy some of the original art, although I think all things considered, I’d rather not be hanging that particular chaos monstrosity on my walls.) If you like simulation or strategy games at all, I really recommend it – it’s got a steep learning curve, but with patience, it’s a very rewarding game.

King of Dragon Pass has been on my mind because, more than a decade after it was released, the developers are working on versions for the iPhone, iPod Touch and possibly the iPad! Now, I own none of these devices, but I’m excited anyways, because I love this game and I’d be really happy to see it get popular on those platforms.

Sadly, I haven’t played King of Dragon Pass for many years now, since I haven’t been able to find the CD even though I’ve looked everywhere for it. I think the last time I saw it was three or four apartments ago, and every so often I will have an overwhelming desire to manage cattle and I’ll look for it… I can’t imagine that we got rid of it, even accidentally, but we don’t really have too much stuff… I dropped some hints (on the order of “Hey, you should get this for me, OK?”) to Brian that I wanted the Mac version for Christmas, so he ordered it for me, but hasn’t heard back from anyone yet. I hope I get it soon!

The women generally wear long dresses with a different-colored tunic, belted at the waist, although there’s a fairly good selection of outfits, since women can take on a lot of jobs including trading, hunting and fighting. This is just a generic outfit that’s not really based on anything in particular.

Halloween ’10 Day 6: Blue and White Ghost Costume with Red Ribbon

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Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

For today, we just have a generic ghost costume. Although, to be sure, no ghost thinks of itself as generic, as you have to have a rather elevated opinion of your own unique grievances to bind yourself to the waking world in such a way. Sketch on a pair of wings, too, and throw away the red ribbon, and voilà! our ghostly friend gains redemption, and perhaps a second year of Halloween usage, as an angel costume.

Would you look at that? I do believe that’s a whole week of nicely colored costumes, plus the robes from the first. I think for now I can call my slump over, don’t you agree?

It is starting to look like we’ll be seeing an outfit from the Good Queen’s heyday, but I can’t help but be a little glad that at the moment fourteen percent of you are as morbid as I am…

poll by twiigs.com

Prismacolors used: French Grey 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, 90%, Cloud Blue, Blue Violet Lake, Tuscan Red, Crimson Lake, Verithin Dark Brown, colorless blender

Halloween ’10 Day 2: Evil Sorceress’ Black Gown with Full Skirt and Black Ribbon

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Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

Someone once told me they liked my darker dresses more than the conventionally pretty ones; the truth is, I do too, but conventionally pretty is easier to knock out when it’s 7:30 PM, I haven’t even started to think about what to draw (always much harder than the actual drawing) and I still have to make dinner too. But I resolved to do some darker dresses this Halloween, so we shall see how I do.

I’m not the only one who has a hard time breaking free of conventionally pretty clothes. The owner of this dress — sorceress? evil queen? both, actually, as she had an unconventional career trajectory — has deeply buried attachments to such dresses from her days as a beautiful princess, as good and uninteresting as the day was long, and she never quite lost her taste for some of the elements: the tight bodices, the poofy skirts, the splashes of color and lace. Now, a dress like this she couldn’t wear in front of fellow evildoers and retain her self-respect, as there’s just a touch too much fragility in the bow at the waist, too much domestic modesty in the long sleeves, too much girlishness in the full skirt and not even a creepy pattern in the fabric of the underskirt. It could be saved by a dramatic collar that jutted out inches past her shoulders and soared to her ears, but she just can’t bring herself to put it on and ruin the neckline. So she wears it in the privacy of her own chambers, although I cannot say she does anything so sentimental as reflect on her past life — I cannot say if she can still remember her princess days, to be precise — and if she suspects a henchman of giggling at her, she guts him like a fish.

You will hear more about her later in the month, if all goes well, and see some of the clothes in her wardrobe that better fit her twisted crown. But practice your poker face in the meantime, so she doesn’t think we’re making fun of her.

Prismacolors used: Warm Grey 20%, 50%, 70% and 90%, Black, Scarlet Lake, Tuscan Red, Greyed Lavender, Imperial Violet and Black Grape