Round 3 Commentary

I kind of like the idea that mine is always first in the list....just because it makes it easy for me to review in order! heheh

The pictures for this round seem a little fuzzy or something. Perhaps it is the huge ammounts of congestion compressing my poor eyeballs, but the Ellowyne pics seemed much easier to see.

Mine - Well, the first comment directly about my dress on the yahoo chat said she liked the RED pleats. Sigh! It is a bright hot magenta. It still looks nice, but is a bit more subdued. On my digital camera I always have to add a bit of blue to get hte colors to match on my monitor. I wonder if the person who wins it on eBay will be surprised by the color. :) Each round there are competitors whose designs are challenged by the pictures taken of them....my complaint for this one is small, but I did send Ted an email about the pictures last week saying that the ONLY thing that was possible to misconstrue on my dress is that the color beads in the jewelry should be on the same side as the pleats. Sigh! Other than that, well the straps look like they are falling off in a few of the pics, but I would like to point out that it is a fine fine fit if a dress can stay up sans straps! hehehehe The shoes have the heel and sole painted a matching hot pink.....as per "Lucky Magazine" the month before(?) Project Dollway started. I was impressed by many of the shoe solutions. Barbie shoes are too small to do much with in my opinion. :)

Mario and Gianni - I saw the lace on the bottom and guessed this one! hehehe I was sort of tongue in cheek when I said it to myself, but there you have it. It is so hard to see the bodice and construction details on all the pics. Sigh! That was one of my issues through out. Maybe all of us should publish desaturated pics of our designs so we can pick out the details....black evening fabrics simply do not show off well. The fit is great on this.

Debbie - My first thought was that the color was good....surprised me, as I don't care for this color normally, but it works very well in the context. The hat is excellent. A good cocktail hat evokes so much more from a dress. (I should have done a hat!) I like the buttons down the back too. I think I probably would have left the black off the wrap though....

Karen - I love the cut of the skirt and wish I could see more of the fabric detail. Ah, the challenge of pictures! I also love the color of the sash. I was sad to see that the interesting necklace (if I am seeing correctly) wasn't shown on a doll with an updo....unless it is on backwards, which is equally bad. Sigh! Lovely dress. (I am not sure about a braod brimmed hat for cocktail wear....)

Judith - The green again (Debbie used it too.) The effect is similar here as well however. With black dominant, you need to choose a color that is BOLD. With the first pic, I decided that this one is my choice for the winner. I don't like it as much without the jacket, but I was so struck by the look, that I am sticking with my vote. :) The shoes are great. (I thought that about many of the solutions.)

Brenda - Looking at my notes that I made, and then thinking about the information from Brenda's blog, I can see that MUCH of what I was pondering was picture problem. :) The bubble skirt in the back is a very interesting idea, and I would be interested to see the construction of this design. Much of what is great about all these designs will only ever be seen by people who actually have the pieces in HAND. I think I would have liked to see the headband in an even lighter weight fabric, as it looks a bit bulky to my eye. Of course, so much is dependent on what one has to hand etc.

Leigh - Okay, here goes. Just kidding. Leigh is always telling me via email that I am going to grill him "on this next one." Actually, I was sad to read about the upside down wrap etc. I would be interested to see it properly done. My actual thought on this entry was: 3 great ideas are too many! hehehehe I love the petal wrap (even upsidedown) but think it would be better suited to a super-slim dress line. (Of course, looking at mine, you know where I went with that.) The big shoulder line and the big skirt line don't have enough room on a tiny doll. The floaty skirt would, of course, look floatier if pressed, but then the cat would eat it again. The shoes were also lovely, but I think they warred for attention with the wrap. So there, Leigh, what do you think?

Safina - The sheer midriff is very current. (I was thinking about all the sheer cut-outs shown in the Neiman-Marcus(?) email that floated about this round) My initial thought is that you should have gone with a bolder color choice, considering the edgy bodice...but then I thought back to the "Color" commentary on the first design and am not sure which way to jump. I hated having to guess what people wanted on these rounds. :)

Brandon - I really like this one alot, and this might have been my choice if I could see it in person. I suspect there is a lot mroe going on than meets the eye. The color choice is nice. The hem is an interesting idea, but I think it needs to be either MORE dramatic or straight across. At first, I wondered if it was sagging...which I why I say it should be more. On this small scale it is harder to tell if you mean it! It would be fun to see the dangling hem down to mid-calf. (Just my opinion of course.)

Jose' - The shape is really interesting on this one, and Ted was on and on about silhouette this round, so this would meet that expectation. I still don't think I would use a broad brimmed hat for cocktail though. I always think of hats like this for day wear...to keep the sun off.

Andrea - The neckline on this is very interesting and combines very well with the jewelry. The fabric looks a bit bulky to me.....even small scale velvet is trouble in this size doll. I am impressed that this is a first effort on the small gals. I have a sneaking suspicion that this may have taken top honors as well. Bravo! (And I am glad to note that I was not the only one who had to change horses mid-stream!)

The designs are all lovely and intresting, but I am struck by the fact that this challenge was not as exciing to view as teh Ellowyne Challenge for me. Perhaps I was impacted too much by the slight grainy quality on the pics....or maybe all the black without being able to see the details....or maybe it was just my own frustrations from this round coming back to haunt me, Of course, Silkstone is also not heavily in my customer base, so that could be it too. I am glad that the "viewers" on chat are pleased with the results though. In the end, I suppose it is the public opinion that matters.

In case you were wondering, the monitor has still not been repaired and I have been making Hula costumes for Senneth this week.

The next round is an interesting one, and not just from an "Inside my head" perspective. I am looking forward to seeing what the other designers did with what was challenged....and I am curious to hear what they "wanted" to do as well.