sequins

Masquerade Gown with Rainbow Ruffles and Black Rainbow Sequins

No comments
Share

A masquerade gown with a black bodice, covered with sparkling sequins which subtly shine in blue, red, green, purple and yellow. The neckline is off the shoulders and slightly V-shaped, and is trimmed with a line of white ribbon. The sleeves are three-quarter, and their edges are trimmed with more white ribbon. There are long ruffles attached to the edges of the sleeves, and they are a gradient of green to blue, decorated with a pattern of mist and stars. The bodice extends over the top of the skirt and is gathered at one hip, decorated with a white bow. From the bow, four rows of ruffles fall towards the base of the skirt like a waterfall. The ruffles form a rainbow gradient, and are decorated with a pattern of mist and stars. The skirt is black, and falls to the floor. It is patterned with abstract swirls of glowing dots, some of which subtly sparkle with rainbow colors.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

There we have it: ten days of digital coloring! I’ve learned a great deal, and I’m ready to start doing some different things next week. I’m going to shoot for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Luckily, my husband, parents and even my baby are all quite cooperative. Milo recently started letting me put him down for naps in his crib, instead of requiring hours of rocking while he snoozed. So if you’re happy to see me back, thank that little baby!

After ten days of digital coloring, I have basically nothing to say, except for that I’m enjoying myself very much. I have a lot of plans for cool things I want to try, such as making my own patterns (thanks to Julie’s repeating pattern tutorial).

Anyways, I have a site redesign in the works so I’ll have a better link to this at some point, but in the meantime please consider liking my page on Facebook or following me on Twitter. I haven’t quite gotten in the habit of using these things effectively, but I have plans for them. Oh yes. Plans…

For now, which masquerade gown was your favorite?

poll by twiigs.com

Masquerade Gown in White Lace and Blue Sequins with Light Blue Ruffles and Coral Ribbon

5 comments
Share

A masquerade gown with a bodice patterned with white lace. The neckline is off the shoulders and slightly V-shaped, and is trimmed with a line of sparkling blue ribbon. The sleeves are three-quarter, and their edges are trimmed with more sparkling blue ribbon. There are long ruffles attached to the edges of the sleeves, and they are colored in a gradient from dark blue to light blue, nearly white, at the edges. They are decorated with a light water pattern. The bodice extends over the top of the skirt and is gathered at one hip, decorated with a bright coral-colored bow. From the bow, four rows of ruffles fall towards the base of the skirt like a waterfall. Each one is colored from dark blue to light blue at the edge, and each one is decorated with a light water pattern. The skirt is royal blue, deeply pleated, and patterned with sequins, so that at the top of each pleat they catch the light and sparkle vividly. The skirt is long, and falls to the floor.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

When I selected this gown and started working on it, the purple sparkly dress was ahead in the poll, so I thought, sure, I can take a hint. This week is now Sparkle Week, because I’d like to practice making things sparkle. I really like how the skirt turned out on this one, but hey, there’s always room for improvement. It is all a matter of getting the brushes right… I have a lot of sparkly brushes to play with thanks to Obsidian Dawn, and the lace pattern is also one of theirs.

Let’s have a new contest!
Milo has received so many beautiful, handmade blankets from family members and friends that I probably could have started a baby blanket shop. Recently, though, one of them has become the favorite blankie. He likes to have it in his crib with him at night, and he wraps it around his shoulders and walks around with it like he’s the emperor of the house. (Which he is, but…) It has three colors in it. What are those three colors? The winner gets to tell me how to color this week’s gown!
Hint: I’m not being picky about color names. It’s not like you have to say royal blue, crimson and lemon yellow (for example), I just want the basic color names here.
One entry per new post per day, please. Update: Sarah guessed. I thought that would take longer than it did! It’s white, blue and green.

Also, I’ve set up a Facebook fan page and a separate Twitter account. I’ll use both of these for announcing new posts, but also I’ll try to put up some new content, like special recolored dresses and contests, and I’ll also post some links to paperdoll and fashion related things I like. So please like my page or follow me, depending on your choice of social media!

1930s Evening Gown in Sparkly Purple

3 comments
Share

A 1930's style evening gown. It is sleeveless, and has a deep V neck with ruching at the shoulders and chest. It has a peplum around the hips and a long, fitted skirt that flares out slightly at the ankles. It is a warm, dark purple and is covered with sequins, making it sparkle brilliantly all over.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

After several hours of dinking around with brushes and layer styles, I finally have a method of doing sparkles like this. I suspect you’ll see many more sparkly outfits in the future, because I’d really like to get it right. It’s one thing I couldn’t do as well with colored pencils: this sparkly dress came out really well, but I still remember the hand pain. The brushes I used to create the sparkly effect came from Obsidian Dawn.

Don’t forget I’ve got a contest going on!
What is Milo’s favorite food?
The first person to answer correctly gets to tell me how I should color this 1930s black and white gown. (I’m going to color other ones eventually, but for now I want to practice on this one.) One entry only please, and you can enter even if you’ve won a contest before. No one got it last time, so if you guessed yesterday, you can guess again today. (Well, technically only one person even guessed… I really have been away for too long!)

I’m going to try to do a new recoloring every day this week, so let’s have a poll to help me decide what to try next…

poll by twiigs.com

Black and Blue Assassin Princess Gown

36 comments
Share

A dramatic ball gown with a black sequined bodice and long sleeves, puffed blue sleeves at the shoulder and a full, shiny blue skirt with a black sequined hem. There's a wide purple satin sash around the waist and purple satin at the wrists.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

A few weeks ago, there was a thread on Metafilter written by a woman who works as a party princess, talking about what her job is like. That is, she gets dressed up as Cinderella, Rapunzel or so on, then arrives at the birthday girl’s house to direct games, tell stories and otherwise let the good times roll. Her tales of how much the little girls love princesses are hilarious, and they’re accompanied by some adorable, funny illustrations. (They’ve also made me wonder why I haven’t found a good way to make millions off my paperdolls. The dresses seem to be a major selling point with this whole princess adoration thing.) They’re posted on the Something Awful forums, so you can’t easily read through them all at once, but here are links to the ones currently available. one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Since I’ve been enjoying these stories so much I thought I’d make a paperdoll for them, based off the name she uses on Twitter, Assassin Princess. What kind of outfit might an assassin princess wear? I imagine she is going to the ball not to win Prince Charming’s heart but to stab it. In such a lovely dark gown, snatching the prince’s attention away from a simpering beauty in pink is hardly a challenge. A few dances later, they are standing on a secluded balcony, making small talk about the moon and stars, and he leans in for a kiss… Unfortunately the poofy skirt hides several pockets, one of which holds a dagger. As he’s laying on the ground, the last thing he sees is the *sparklesparkle* of the sequins on the swishy hem of her skirt.

poll by twiigs.com