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Short update for pattern making friends

I can’t believe how fast the last week passed by. Last week I designed my first top pattern for Francie and I was really nervous how this would turn out because the pattern form I got for Francie was very similar to the pattern I did for Barbie. Had I used the right measurements? I was so nervous that I didn’t want to start sewing it. This sounds strange, I know. Again I had the same problem like with the one for Barbie. My front middle part had too much fabric to fit in a perfect way. I had this while doing my Barbie top. After my first Francie top try I already knew where to modify the pattern. I think the next try will fit much better because of the modification. This time I tried to document what I did because I realized that I forgot a lot. Additionally I took the measure from my Vintage Skipper so that I can do patterns for her or Ricky too in the future. Maybe pattern making becomes easier the more often you do it. At least I hope so.

If you ask yourself why I suddenly started to do pattern making for Francie, well this is due to the fact that I was not 100% satisfied with the pattern I used for my “Let’s dance” Francie dress project . So I decided to try another approach and doing my own top to come as close to the original as possible. You know I’m a purist. If you’re not familiar with the topic, just watch the first part of my new video series.

I’m going to insert a pic of my first try here in the next days. I’m still sitting here and write this article.

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Designing Sewing Patterns for Barbie and the family

Greetings and welcome to my crazy Barbie world. You have not heard about any Barbie related stuff in the last weeks from me? Yep, that’s right. I was working on some new ideas and I do course after course to learn new things and improve my skills concerning Social Media.

That’s why you haven’t heard very much from me. Today I’m going to change this. I’ve been working on new sewing patterns for Francie, the cousin of Barbie doll. You may have heard from her?

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1966 Francie has finally got some clothes of her own. Pink Power #1762 from 1970 although she is left wondering what the heck happened to her pink stockings. They seemed to have been chopped into socks! ? #barbie #vintagebarbie #vintagebarbies #barbievintage #fortheloveofvintagebarbie #francie #pinkpower #vintage #vintagedolls #vintagetoys #barbiecollector #vintagebarbiecollector #vintagebarbieclothes

Ein Beitrag geteilt von For The Love Of Vintage Barbie (@fortheloveofvintagebarbie) am

Her size and proportions are a bit different from the measurements of Barbie and I created a sewing pattern for her. Since I’m not doing this every day it always lasts a while. While doing my draft I did a stupid mistake. It was the same one I did years before when I did my Barbie top. Nevertheless I wasn’t sure about my draft and asked someone who did many sewing patterns for Barbie and her family to have a look at my pattern. The answer was no. What should I expect? I’m long enough in the scene of collectors. You often have selfish persons.

You know it’s not for me about making money with the stuff. I simply want to do my own patterns in a correct way and become better in doing so. I’m convinced I can find someone who is willing to help me and understanding my own mistakes. You can only become better when you learn from your own mistakes.

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What happened in the last 14 days?

Is is possible that I really wrote nothing in the last 14 days? Yes, it is. It’s not because I was bored by Corona. Nope, that’s not the thing. I used my time. After getting some new impressions of how Pinterest and reddit work, I tried it myself with interesting results.

I also did a course in interior design that was very inspiring. My PC got new usb 3.0 ports for better access to my external hard disc with all the video stuff on it. It really needs its own external hard disk because it’s so much stuff to store. My PC came with several usb 2.0 ports but they are bit slow for copying big data. A sweet little 16 Barbie found her way to me. I used the Friday before Easter to clean my bike. Since we have no reliable public transportation at the moment and you need a way to get to the office at least once a week I needed to clean my bike which was very dirty after 3 years. Shame on me but my time is limited. Now the bike is clean again. My first couple of peanuts also showed some green. They grow very fast. It’s interesting to observe them while doing so.

We had brilliant weather in the last 3 weeks, almost no rain and used it on our little balcony. I tried Netflix to get some deeper insights in the toy worlds of the past. Quite interesting to learn about MLP, Hello Kitty, He-Man, Transformers and so on from “The toys that made us“. Hopefully there will be more new episode later this year. From the impressions there I developed lots of new ideas for new videos. I think I used the time very well. I hope you don’t mind when I use this blog a little bit to tell about what happens to me during this crisis.

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Ein Beitrag geteilt von Busy B from Germany (@busybfromgermany) am

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Can’t upload docuemtens on Facebook directly, so find it here

In the last days I had the idea to share with you some documents about Barbie hair and I wanted to upload the document on Facebook but it seems impossible since Facebook pages don’t support documents, only pics. What a bullshit… So let’s avoid the problem. I post it here and then you can get it from here. No problem.

I want to test the whole thing and see if you like my idea. For the start I’ve only done one doc. Let me know if you like the idea. I could also do it for other hair fibres than Kanekalon hair.


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How Corona has a positive effect on creativity

I haven’t expected it but I have the time to write a second blog article this week. I told last Monday that everything was very new, very insecure in Home Office for me. The strange this is that my boss found not the time to call me on Monday and Wednesday and I’m waiting to start my work again but the PCs in our office are shut down. So again time to wait. I don’t like to sit just in the corner and do nothing. Instead I try to use as much time as possible for my own projects.

Here’s what I’ve done this week with the unexpected time

I continued to read one of my books, did watch a lot of videos not all about topics I want to improve my skills in but I used some of my time to learn new things, to get better in things. I also found some time to do short videos sequences for new videos projects on youtube. I did some pics for my Instagram account. New ideas came into my mind this week and not only one but a lot of them. A bunch of colorful post it stripes are everywhere in my apartment at the moment.

That’s one of the pics I did in this week. I also cleaned my apartment during the time, removed the dust, cleaned the kitchen, did the laundry (almost time to do it again) but the worst thing is you never know how much time you have to do the private stuff.

In a way this week was very crazy but who says it’s prohibited to waste time? We only a limited access to it. You know me. I try to do the best out of every situation.

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Home office here I come

Monday morning, I’m at home waiting for the remote access to my office computer and nothing happens. The dream of a good Monday morning, right? Nobody is answering the phone in the office and I’m almost waiting for one hour now, installed everything but nothing happens. It’s eerie somehow. I want to work but I can’t.

On Friday I read by accident that the bus traffic is highly limited from today on. Of course I told my boss about the problem. He wants to solve it today but until now no sign of him. It’s a situation I really don’t like because I’m a workoholic and I don’t like to do nothing.

So I’m really surprised how my first day in home office will be.

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What’s going on behind the scenes?

Well, I have not posted the most fancy videos in the last time. That’s right but I’m working, working, working to present you more interesting and longer videos in the next weeks. Don’t worry, everything will be fine.

I’m still alive, still working at several new projects at the same time with less time after closing time than ever before, using my weekend just to cut videos. At the moment while lots of businesses are closing down I do overtime so that I can go home Friday noon. I like the perspective very much. Not bad, huh?

Schedule?

Yep, I have plans what to do with the time. Some of the time will go into videography, some in other things I have to do. One thing that really encourages my mind is that we have almost Thursday here and the weekend is not far away. I have enough tasks at work and I’m happy that I’m not yet forced to do home office. Don’t be afraid the crazy Barbie collector is soon back with new videos and crazy ideas.

By the way I don’t like the Corona virus panic at all. Why don’t we keep calm and see what’s gonna happen? Keep calm and drink tea …

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My goals for 2020, not just for Barbie dolls

I’m back for the moment. Yes, it’s the crazy Barbie collector again. This time I have no pics of new dolls at the moment because I found none in February. Sometimes this happens to a collectors and yes, it’s okay. It happens once or twice a year. So don’t worry. That’s no problems but it’s not that I haven’t tried to get some Barbie dolls. Call this real life. It’s okay with me but I used this month to find other little things for future works in February. Do you know where to buy these teeny tiny zippers and buttons Mattel used for Barbie clothes in the early days? I did not actually search for them but I found them in February.

I found out what else my goals are for 2020 beside the things I already told you. Maybe some of you have realized that I’m a lateral thinker. I question things if they don’t work out the way it want them to. I try to consider problems not just from one side but from all sides and then see solutions other people can’t or simply don’t want to see. It’s always been in my nature to try things out, see how they work, realize how I can change them or what can be done in a better way to improve them.

Combining hobby and professional work

This week was a very busy week at work and I was sitting in my bus to work when I saw it very clear. It’s not that my ride by bus is a very long one every day but the ray of sunlight I saw on Tuesday made it clear to me. I want to improve my skills, not just the ones to write here but also to do better videos, to cut better videos but also to gain more viewers so that I don’t have to fight with any stupid algorithms anymore. My plan?

I did it on Wednesday. I put my plan into reality and found a platform where can hopefully what I want. I’m very ambitious when it comes to learn something. The good thing is that I can not only use it for private stuff but also for my profession. I do all the Social Media stuff for my employer and he likes my ideas but I have to stick out from the mass to sell things. In my opinion from what I’ve learned and know so far little things make the difference but they are important. So what is better to combine areas of knowledge?

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It’s Friday and my post is gone

This week I was a little late when I started to write a new blog post and I wanted to finish it today. Now I realize my blog post was not saved … gee whiz I had so much work to do this week … I obviously forgot it but now that it’s Friday I wanted to post another blog post because 14 days passed by since my last post and I wanted to tell you about my updates. Instead of telling that new videos gonna come with delay I finally found some time to render new videos this week, actually my PC is just rendering at the moment and I have to wait for the video so I use my time to blog. Last weekend I started to work with Silicone for one of my next videos. I also want to work with Epoxide resin but I need time for it. I don’t want to make any mistakes because the stuff is very expensive I think it’s gonna be a big project, not the longest video but the things around. I already made several calls to be sure with the Silicone. I also did one for the Epoxide idea but it’s not the last one. The only problem is the working time of my contact persons. I only can call them in the morning. That causes problems when you are working full time because you’re also working but nevertheless I find a way to do it. I’ve done at least 400 – 500 phone calls this week. After closing time I felt not like doing much private phone calls.

Using the weekend to relax?

No, I’m the wrong person you should talk to when it comes to see somebody laying on a sofa. I’m almost always busy … preparing this … doing that but I try at least to stop my work at 8 p.m. in the evening because you have to stop at least once a day for a rest and a good night’s sleep. I also try to read at least 3 pages per day in a book. The good news is that I can sleep very well at the moment and I feel relaxed after waking up.

Ideas I had for almost one year

At the moment I work on a project that came into my mind last year but I had difficulties to put it into reality because the material I used was not the right one. It has to do with the blue chunk you saw in my “projects for 2020” video. So I really thought for a long time how I could do it. In February I found a solution during a conversation with other crazy “makers”. I suddenly had a new starting point and it became much easier. That’s the video series I’m working on at the moment. I know my solution is not perfect but it will be good enough for a demonstration of my ideas. Maybe a chemist will come along and help me a little bit with knowledge???

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Delayed new videos …

Do you know the following situation? You plan to do something and then somebody or something crosses out your plan? Well, that’s what happened to my plans in the last weeks. I had it so often in the last weeks that I planned the new videos, wanted to start and realized something was missing. Last week I had the problem with an infrared thermometer that I forgot to order. I needed it to demonstrate a difference in temperatures… so what was better than to use a thermometer? No device I know so far … maybe you know one?

Efficient use of the weekend

Now that I have only the weekend for making videos I have to plan everything in advance because I feel often tired after work. My sinusitis is on its way to disappear but sometimes I still have problems to sleep the whole night…. very unpleasant I can tell you. Last weekend I visited a friend to get myself an advice for one of my next videos, related with the blue chunk I showed you in my ” New projects for 2020” video . For a very long time I postponed my idea because I started but I had no idea how to continue. I found a solution in the meantime but the material I need is not here at the moment. That’s what I have almost every week but nevertheless I can do phone calls from work and it helps me a lot because some contact persons have strange working hours and I can only reach them while I’m at work.

Ideas vs. time

Do you know the situation in which you think that you don’t have enough time? That’s what I have had for five weeks now. When I come home it’s not late but time is running away literally… I can’t describe it. The day is over faster than I ever thought. Maybe a better time management could solve the problem?

Unexpected breaks and parcels on my way home

This week my smartphone suddenly started new again and again like being captured in a boot loop. Not planned but it happened. So what else to do that to reboot and reinstall everything? Time left for videos? Nope… The next time consuming thing thing is that not every parcel can’t be delivered to my doorstep. We have some unreliable parcel services here that deliver only in the morning when nobody is at home (at least not when you are working) I really wish that not so many sellers would use these services just because they are cheap. I’d rather like to choose the parcel service with which it is delivered. Then you won’t have detours on your way home. What should I say? I need the stuff in the parcel for new videos. If you have any solutions for my time problems, please let me know. I don’t give up.