Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Clothes Review

Hello, everyone!

Today we'll take a look at some Azone outfits!

These 4 outfits are all the same size, and made for the S or M Pure Neemo body.

Below, from left to right, we have a L, M, S and XS body type!


Here is the XS (extra small) body.
As you can see, the shirt is a bit baggy... and the sleeves a bit long, but still super cute!
The skirt fits quite nicely.
We'll talk about the boots on all of these outfits in a bit :)


This is the S (small) body.
 The shirt fits nicely, still a little loose, but the sleeves are the right length.
The shirt only looks lumpy in this picture because I didn't pull it down, doh!
The skirt fits wonderfully!


This is the M (medium) body.
In my opinion, the turtleneck fits the M body the best.
The skirt also fits perfectly too :)
So cute!!


This is the L (large) body.
On this body the turtleneck sleeves are a little short,
but it still fits pretty nicely.
The skirt fits well and is cute!

 
Now let's talk about the boots!
(A note on the socks, they're all for S or M sized girls, and they all fit all sizes just fine)
 
**HELPFUL TIP**
I *highly* recommend putting socks on your Neemos if you're going to put their feet in boots.
Often, when you try to take boots off a Neemo, their feet come off too.
If you have socks on your girls, then you can hold onto them while you pull the boots off,
and keep the feet on. :)

This pair is is called "Lace Up Plain Short Boots Camel"
Now, compared to the other three pairs in the first photo,
these might seem like the better boot.
They are more well made, with laces that don't need laced (the laces do not loosen or tighten),
but the foot can still slip in and out easily,
and they have the nice looking molded shoe bottom with heal...

but the truth is, if you're not going to be using a stand,
the foam bottom boots you'll see next are actually better to get the Neemos to stand!

Still, a girl can still stand in these boots...
and they sure are a sexy pair of boots, aren't they? :)
They fit all Azone sizes perfectly!
 

This next pair is called "Short Boots Milk"
I personally think the foam bottoms aren't as suave looking as the molded plastic ones,
but in terms of posing, it's way easier for the girls to stand in the foam bottomed ones.

Another difference with these is that the laces do tighten the boots,
so I'm always worried about tugging too hard, (even though I've never broken a pair)
on the laces... since the lace holes don't seem to be reinforced.
They fit all Azone sizes perfectly!

These are the "Short Boots Dark Brown"
They work just like the "Short Boots Milk" :)
They fit all Azone sizes perfectly!

Sorry... I forgot to take a picture of the "Short Boots in Camel" color, close up...
but they're exactly the same as the Dark Brown and Milk ones, just a different color!
I really love how Azone offers varying shades of brown boots. :)

Now let's get to the important part...
are these clothes practical for everyday Neemo activities?
Well... let's ask the Neemos...
Girls, what do you say?

 
Neemos: YAAAAAAAY! These outfits are great!
Me: YIKES!! Be careful, girls!


Oh my, what are they doing?
These girls are going to give me a heart attack. XD

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Knitty & Purrrl



 I got to do a photo shoot recently of some items that are now available
for the Grand Opening of Knitty & Purrrl!


Knitty & Purrrl is run by GothicKDM,
who creates lovely dolly sized knitwear.

If you want to see the other sweaters that will be available on Grand Opening day,
check out
Sahra: I'm not wearing any pants! ///0_0///
Raili: Hello!
Raili: Ah, hah hah... uh, please don't come any closer!
Raili: I have a cold!


Monday, March 10, 2014

Murasaki.me SALE! Hurry up, there are only a few!!!

Murasaki.me has some of her leftover shirts from e4 
available on her website at a discounted 40% off!

©murasaki.me

Hurry up and grab some before they're gone!!!
(First come, first serve basis)

Friday, March 7, 2014

Friday Azone Update Part 2!

They tricked me!
This info wasn't up on the website when I went to bed!!!

2 new forest gals!
(well, ok, they're both Mia, but they're different enough that I'm counting them as 2)

HOW CUTE ARE THESE?????


Spring Rabbit Mia
(Normal Version)
 
Price: ¥ 12,000 (roughly $120 USD)
Preorder Date: March 18, 2014
©Azone


Spring Rabbit Mia
(Limited Version)
 
Price: ¥ 12,000 (roughly $120 USD)
Preorder Date: March 18, 2014 
 
©Azone
 
And if you happen to be lucky enough to live in Japan,
you might be able to pick up a pair of these for your gal:
 
©Azone
Seriously... I WANT THEM ALL!!!!!

©Azone
©Azone

Azone Friday Update


  Time for Friday's Azone Update!
 
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New Pure Neemo Girls!

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Pure Neemo (1/6 scale)
 
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It's finally time for Alisa to join the other Sahra a la Mode gals as a waitress in what must be the world's cutest cafe!

Sahra a la Mode / Chocolate Parfait Alisa
 (Limited Version)
 
©Azone
Price: ¥ 12,000 (roughly $120 USD)
Preorder Date: March 11, 2014
©Azone
 
©Azone
Sahra a la Mode / Marron (Chestnut) Parfait Alisa
 (Regular Version)
 
©Azone
Price: ¥ 12,000 (roughly $120 USD)
Preorder Date: March 11, 2014
 
 
©Azone
©Azone
©Azone


Thursday, March 6, 2014

Murasaki.me T-shirt Giveaway!

Welcome to Day 3
of a Murasaki.me extravaganza!

Today is Day 3, you know what that means... GIVEAWAY!!!
Here's a little review, with links, for you to check out:
Day 3: GIVEAWAY!!!! (It's so cute I don't want to give it away ;_; )
You can find more from Kuraikawai on Facebook:
and on flickr:

 Momo: Hi! It's me again! Today is the most exciting day yet!!
It's GIVEAWAY day!
Well... ok, it's more like Giveaway month... but still... pretty darn cool.
So, what are we giving away?

 Momo: This!! THE CUTEST SHIRT EVER!
This shirt is made for 1/3 scale dolls, like Volks Dollfie Dreams (although I'm sure it will fit Azone 1/3 scale, and probably even quite a few resin 1/3 scale... heck, it might even be cute on an MSD scale doll... I have no idea. I just know it would fit *ME* perfectly!! Hehe!)
 Momo: If this shirt were mine, I would love it and hug it and squeeze it and wear it all the time!
  Momo: I don't *really* have to give it away, do I, Heather?
 Heather: Oh crap... I might have created a monster!!!

(haha, and yes, I will be ordering her one of her very own... 
no worries, she *WILL* be giving this one away!)

You can enter the giveaway through March 28th, 2014
(Michigan Time)

So how do you enter for this?

Enter via the Rafflecopter below!
You can't just click the "leave a comment" box but not actually leave a comment.
I actually check these things, and all your entries
are voided if you don't do the mandatory comment entry!!

Here are some icons for the giveaway for you to use!




Regarding how the shirt fits an Azone 50cm body:

Still a great fit!
As you can see, the sleeves are longer on her, as is the shirt, itself...
but it still looks great, and fits quite nicely too. :)

The Azone 50cm is overall shorter and slimmer in the torso and shoulders, when compared to the DD body I had the shirt on before.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Interview with Kuraikawai from Murasaki.me!

Welcome to Day 2
of a Murasaki.me extravaganza!

We are going to partake in 3 days of fun!
Day 2: Interview with Kuraikawai, the talent behind Murasaki.me
Day 3: GIVEAWAY!!!! (It's so cute I don't want to give it away ;_; )
Today is the interview!!!

You can find more from Kuraikawai on Facebook:

and on flickr:

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Here's a little background info on her, and her website, first:

Who is Kuraikawai?
I’m a cheerful Spanish girl born in Croatia, that loves everything related to Japan xD. Kuraikawai is a nickname I have been using for a long time now. At first I started with Kurai only. I took it from a character that appeared in a manga called “Angel Sactuary”, but I found out that when I tried to subscribe to web pages it was taken in many occasions, so I added “kawai”.

Why Murasaki.me?
I didn’t have to think too much about the name of this blog, I love purple color, and I like how ” murasaki” (?) sounds (purple in japanese). Unfortunately the domain .com was taken, and I randomly chose .me ( me ? means eyes),  which turned out perfect for the meaning “purple eyes”. So this is why its called Murasaki.me :)

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©murasaki.me
1. Are Dollfie Dreams the only dolls you collect? I also collect PVC figures, but regarding dolls I only collect DD for now. I have one Azone and one Pullip, but don't plan to collect more.
2. Your father made your cosplay? That's so cool, is he a tailor?
My father is skilled in many things related with handicrafts, hehe, so he knows how to sew and he made all my cosplays when I was younger. Now I think I would make them myself, but never tried!

©murasaki.me
3. What inspires the clothes you create? I always get inspired when I see a lolita style dress, I love them! frills everywhere, cute skirts, ribbons. I have a lot of projects in mind and on paper, but didn't make them yet.
©murasaki.me
 4. What inspires you, in general? 
I like to get references from anime, I pay attention specially to cute dresses and seifuku (a seifuku is a school uniform).

©murasaki.me
 5. Who inspires you?
My first inspiration was Chun-san! I saw Danny Choo's Aoi wearing a knitted jersey by her and I rushed to youtube to learn how to knit xD.

©murasaki.me
6. Any advice for folks interested in sewing their own doll clothes?
My advice is to be constant and patient, sewing requires a lot of testing, and you can get frustrated easily... but don't give up!

 
©murasaki.me
7. Do you have any tips on product photography?
I think product photography has to show the product as good as possible, front, back, details, I recommend to use always a clear background... so potential buyers can see it from all sides. 

8. What do you do for a living when you aren't making doll clothes or tending to your website? I work in a laboratory. I majored in Biology and finished my PhD last year. 
©murasaki.me
 9. What does your workspace look like?
hm...messy? :p haha. I have a desk with two sewing machines, one normal, and one overlock. I have a headless/naked DD near to try the dress I am sewing and I use the ironing table to cut the fabric. The room is small, so it gets messy really fast xD.

10. What is your daily routine like (for dolly stuff).
When I make shirts, I make them in bulk (3-5), then I take pictures for the web site or for reference and prepare them for shipment. If it's a dress then, it takes more time, so bit by bit, I usually start with the top as it is more complicated :)

©murasaki.me
 11. What are your goals for the future, for Murasaki.me?
I would like make more dresses and have them in stock, so have like a real store, not only make one, and sell. I wish I could make enough to work only at Murasaki.me ^^.

 
©murasaki.me
 12. What do you enjoy most about creating doll clothes?
What I like the most is to plan a dress, create it, I enjoy picking up fabrics and details for the design. When I finish it I feel very satisfied, but a bit sad at the same time, the end feeling is always, "it was fun!"


©murasaki.me
13. What do you enjoy most about the doll hobby?
Apart from making their clothes, to enjoy how cute they are! take pictures in different places and hang out with friends with the same hobby.


©murasaki.me
14. What is your favorite material to use? For me, the best fabric to sew is cotton poppelin type fabric, behaves really well under the sewing machine.

©murasaki.me
15. What are some sources that have helped you hone your skill? 
 Google is your friend! there are a lot of tutorials, patterns, videos around, you just have to adjust the size of it for the doll. My father also gives me good advice :)

Another great resource is Kuraikawai's own Tutorial Page!!
16. How do you get such awesome collaborations? (puppy52, Danny Choo, charuca) Ah! I feel very lucky about it!
First collaboration was Charuca, I mailed her about my project and she was very excited about it, so she gave me permission to use her designs. Puppy52 also let me use her cute puppy on my t-shirts, she made some for her dolls before and I always thought it was a perfect design for tees! And as for Danny Choo, I thought about logo tees with his corporative colors and sent him some samples. Looks like he liked them! Now I'l will be making the tees that Smart Doll Mirai will be wearing when released. I am very happy about this opportunity :). He also gave me permission to make Moekana tees :). I will also make My Littel Pony tees soon in collaboration with an artist I met at Deviantart :)

 
(Kuraikawai is in the middle, Charuca is on the right, the lovely lady on the left is in charge of the cake shop!)
©murasaki.me
 Kuraikawai just put up an awesome blog post about her work on Mirai and meeting up with Danny Choo!
Go HERE to check it out!
17. Do you have a "business plan" for the year, or do you just plan as you go? I try to make a bussiness plan, like, seasonal clothes, long /short sleeves depending on the season too :). I like to release special things for events like Xmas, Valentine's or Easter.

©murasaki.me
18. What is your favorite thing to make? I love to make lolita kimonos!

©murasaki.me
19. What was the first item you ever attempted to sew for your girls?
Was it a success?
I still keep it! I was a top and pleated skirt I hand sewed. It didn't look bad for the first time, but with room for improvement hahaha.
 (just a note, this is just a photo of one of her pleated skirts, not *the* pleated skirt! XD)
©murasaki.me
 20. What is your dream project? 
 Design clothes for a Doll company! dreaming is free, right? xD
©murasaki.me
 21. How long  have you been running your website and sewing for DD girls? 
 I started when I got Nia in 2009, and opened the blog in April 2010.
©murasaki.me
 22. Do you have any equipment recommendations for beginners?  
Sewing machines, tools, etc? I think it's important to know how to sew without a machine first, and then practice bit by bit with a sewing machine, just making straight lines, draw a circle and try to follow it, etc.. As for brands, I really don't know much which one is better, I started with an ELNA, now I use a ALFA electronic machine. Overlock I think it's BERNINA.
©murasaki.me
 23. Do you have any advice for folks looking to learn how to sew for their dolls? 
Start with a small bust xD. Then adjust the pattern to bigger ones once you mastered the smaller one. Elastic fabrics (not 100% lycra) like cotton ones with some % of lycra or elastane, are maybe easier to work with in the sense that the fit doesn't have to be 100% accurate, you can stretch it a bit if it doesn't fit. 100% cotton fabric that doesn't stretch will wrinkle if the fit is not good, which means the pattern has to be very well adjusted.
©murasaki.me
 24. Do you have any advice for folks looking to create a great blog? 
 I think what readers like the most is looking at pictures. I like to spread the text in between them so it's not very boring. A good picture always draws more attention!
©murasaki.me