Attack of the plushies!!!
dolls by Arli
Lain in the outfit she wears in the opening
Character: Lain (from Serial Experiments Lain)
I was really obsessed with Lain for awhile (in fact, I still am), and she's one of my favorite characters. Since I couldn't find any
satisfactory action figures or other dolls of her online, I decided to make my own. This was the first time I made a doll, so there was
a lot of trial and error involved (and also a lot of help from my Mom ^^;; ). I designed her hair myself, and really like how it turned out
(you don't know how annoying it was to get the little tie on her long piece to stay on!). The only thing I'm unhappy with is her eyes, since
they came out rather blurry. I used this picture for the eyes, which I scanned from my copy of the Omniprescence artbook.
The second outfit pictured is actually the first one I made. I did it really quickly, using scraps of fabric I got in the discount bin at the fabric
store where I bought all my materials. I just wanted something to put on her until I got around to sewing her bear costume. I designed the whole outfit
myself. The skirt is just a rectangular piece of fabric with velcro on it (I should have used elastic or something, because it always slips off if you move her
around a lot in it). The shirt was, once again, a series of trials and errors, as I attempted to make my pattern piece the right shape and size. The shirt is
made from red felt, and the straps and bow are ribbon. The skirt is made from sort of cotton blend, I believe.
The bear costume is also an original design. This one was really complicated! The doll pattern actually came with some patterns for clothes, but since I had modified
the size of the doll, I couldn't use those, and either way, none of the patterns were for a full body suit. What I did is use the pattern pieces for her body and fit
them together to make a full body suit. You can't see it, but the opening in the front ended up being too small, so it didn't overlap, so I had to add an extra piece onto
it and it doesn't look that good, but it's covered up when her suit is velcroed shut. Also, the pant legs are very small (like, almost the same size as her legs, since I used the
same pattern pieces), so it's a bit of a hassle to get this costume on and off her. This is part of the reason I usually just leave her in it (also cuz it's fuzzy and huggable ^^ ).
I used this picture, another scan from the Omniprescence artbook, as a reference. This costume is actually made out of felt, as well! But it's a speciall, furry kind of felt (a little more expensive, but perfect for the costume I think). The face and inside of the
bear ears are scraps of the skin colored felt, and the eyes are small black beads. I'm really really proud of how this costume came out, even with all the mess ups in it.
Character: Chii (from Chobits)
Chii wa chou kawaiii! Chii is just so darn cute, I had to make a plushie of her. The first thing everyone always asks me is "What's up with the ears?" I try to explain that she's a
persocon (a computer in human form), but I more often than not get weird looks. I'm so misunderstood ::sighs::
Anyway, Chii was easier to make than Lain, since I knew the best and easiest way to get her body together, and plus, I was working with my new sewing machine. I designed her "ears" myself,
and really like how they came out (it was really hard trying to explain them to my mom, even with pictures). I used this screenshot for her eyes, and I think they look
really pretty. I love the gradient of the iris. Her hair is made from yellow yarn, and this was the first doll I attempted to use yarn for her hair. It was interesting. Luckily, the doll pattern
came with instructions for making yarn hair, so that helped. I like how her side pieces of hair look. Her hair gets in the way sometimes when I'm moving her around and I always have to fix it, but I think it
came out well. It's actually all glued in place on her head, so only the long pieces can move around a lot.
Her dress is made out of plain white cotton material. I tried to make it look like the one she wears in the opening of the anime, and used this pic and this pic
as a guide. The little pattern around the collar (can't see it too well in the pictures >_< ) is a pre-programmed stitch that was in my new sewing machine; I mostly put it on to try out the different options on my new
machine. It's actually a good thing that her hair covers up the back of her dress, because I attempted to make it tapered by cutting the fabric in a triangular shape, but it didn't really work. So to make up for it I had
to cut the dress oddly and put the velcro at strange angles, so it looks rather messy. Whenever I find time, I'm going to make this outfit for her, using the same pattern I used to make Mahoro's dress.
Character: Mahoro (from Mahoromatic)
Alright, I don't really like Mahoro all that much; in fact, I don't even like the series that much either. I only finished watching it cuz it was by Gainax, and I love (most of) their stuff. However, Mahoro wears an extremely cute maid costume,
and I wanted to try to make it. I think it came out really really well! So cute ^___^
I made Mahoro at the same time as I made Chii; they're both robotic ppl, so it seemed fitting. I used this picture for her eyes (not without considerable cropping, resizing, and cleaning up first, tho >_< ). I used this pic and this pic
for reference while making her dress and designing her hair. Her hair is made out of felt, and it came out much better than I thought it would. I designed it all myself. The little triangles of hair that stick out to the side are two pieces of felt glued together and attached underneat the rest of her hair; when the glue dried, it actually made
the pieces curl slightly, which I didn't mean to happen, but I think it made them look more like her actual hairstyle. The back of her hair was interesting to do, since the hair goes on in the back in two pieces (i used the head pattern pieces to make the back of the hair for both Mahoro and Lain; the seam in the middle of head it supposed to be covered
up by the yarn of the hair). It looked weird, since Mahoro's hair is long. What I did to make the pony tail is to cut the felt that wasn't attached to the head into strips, so it looks kinda like strands of hair. Luckily, the ribbon tie for her pony tail covers up the top of the cuts, so you can't see them. I think this gives the hair a nice effect.
The only thing I'm annoyed with is that the ribbon is lopsided, since I used yellow felt to make it. It's hard to make it stay in place >_<
Her outfit is made from dark blue and white cotton fabric. The dress is actually made from a pattern that came with the doll body pattern, and fits the doll quite nicely even with the size changes. The pattern for the colar came with the dress one, too, so that wasn't that hard to make. I just added the
little white cuffs to the end of the sleeves. I wanted to make a petticoat for under the dress, like in this picture, but didn't have the time or pattern to make it. I designed the apron myself, in the same fasion that I made Lain's shirt.
I love how the ruffles look =^^= The red handkerchief under her neck was also designed by me, and it's made out of felt. The red button I got at a sewing store and used my metallic marker to give it the gold edging. In the end, for a character I don't even like that much, the doll came out very well.
