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Momma has not purchased many doll outfits, except from Dolls for a Cause auctions, since she began sewing doll clothes herself.

Sewing came to a screeching halt after the house fire and the destruction of Momma's serger and sewing machine. 

Then, just as she got a machine and started accumulating fabric and patterns again, she was stricken with neuropathy!

Her self-imposed moratorium on purchasing was Sorely Tested by this Cute Little Number by Jennifer at hudathotjewelry on Etsy. 

This is a simple Asian style dress. Have a tea party with your doll. The dress is a Mandarin style dress that is made with an Asian print fabric. The fabric is beige, black and brown color with Oriental writing and pictures. The dress snaps in the front. I made matching hair pins with brown beads attached to 2 stick pins. There is also a tiny tea cup and saucer that I added so you can have a tea party with your doll. Unique!  

Made with the Ming Lin pattern by Doll Tag Clothing at Pixie Faire, Momma was thrilled with the vintage Chinese newspaper fabric. She was also pleased that the neckline was the correct left-over-right neckline. 

The point of the intersection in the middle neckline encourages Chinese to be unprejudiced. It also forms a straight line on the middle of the clothes, which encourages the wearer to be an upright person.

(In Japan, kimonos always wrap left-over-right, male or female. Only the dead wear right-over-left.)

The outfit arrived safely and neatly wrapped. Jennifer finished all the seams with either zig-zag stitching or bias-tape. The pattern says the outfit closes with four snaps, but Jennifer used three. All three snaps will need to be moved slightly to accommodate My plumper Pleasant Company body. One armhole was a little hard to get the hand through, but it was doable. 

The outfit came with a lovely gold-toned Asian-inspired locket and two bejeweled hairpins. Both hairpins came with caps on the ends to prevent slipping or accidental sticks. 

Finally, a tiny cup and saucer were included! Historically teacups in China did not have handles, but the handle on this makes it easier for 18" Vinyl Americans like Me to hold and enjoy. 

Jennifer says her very favorite clothes to make are Steampunk clothes, so I'll definitely be keeping an eye on her. I think my only word of advice for Jennifer would be careful with scale and bulkiness. It is too easy to overwhelm 18" Vinyl Americans with big prints and bulky fabrics.

Thankfully, this outfit is perfect and a welcome addition to My Steampunk Wardrobe, although I think my pirate pal Madame Ching is going to steal it from Me!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/hudathotjewelry

Hubba boba!

One of the things I love about Winter is her generosity in sharing craft tutorials. Not only does she make the best dolly drinks I've found, but she shares how on her blog! 

http://fauxrealfood.com/2017/01/07/doll-drink-tutorial-american-girl-dolls/

Apparently her secret is two-step epoxy - not the acrylic water used by so many. 

We have some of Faux Real Foods milk, eggnog (complete with nutmug!), and boba tea and they are all beautiful, tasty ... and sturdy. 

Boba, or bubble tea, is a Taiwanese tea-based drink invented in Taichung in the 1980s. Most bubble tea recipes contain tea mixed with fruit, milk, tapioca balls, and/or fruit jelly.

Now, Momma and I both love tea, and Momma adores tapioca - but tapioca in tea?! No, thank you!

That said, Winter's boba tea is about the prettiest (and tastiest) we've ever seen. 

Don't forget, you can win a Faux Real Food meal - complete with eggnog! Read my post for more details: https://steampunkaddie.blogspot.com/2017/02/tell-me-story.html?m=1

Check out Winter's website at www.fauxrealfood.com. View tutorials, reviews, and sign up for the newsletter to receive special offers. Free shipping until March 15 with orders over $15. Use code FEBFREE17 at checkout.

Faux food, real quality

Momma and I love chatting online with Winter, owner of Faux Real Food. She's smart, funny, and compassionate - and LOVES custom requests.

Knowing this, we had to ask her some questions. 

Steampunk Addie: What is your favorite doll food to make? 

Faux Real Food: My favorite doll food to make is anything I haven't made before. I love my customers, they consistently request unique and fascinating menu items and accessories. I feel very fortunate to be able to do interesting work.

SA: What was your favorite (or most memorable) custom request?

FRF: My favorite custom request? This is a tough question, there are so many I've enjoyed. These leap immediately to mind; I had a great time making a complete menu for a Mexican food cart, very detailed and time consuming but so cool when finished. Corned beef and cabbage dinner was a terrific challenge, Caroline's fish and Lima bean dinners turned out very well. I did a series of giant cake cookies with different themes for each month, those made me hungry! There are so many others. 

My most memorable requests so far have been a squid shaped tumor in a tiny glass jar filled with moonshine, an everlasting gobstopper based on the early 1970s movie and an old-fashioned slop bucket. Some dolls have more interesting homes than I do! 

Ooh, Momma just told me she asked Winter to make my birthday cake! Whee! April 9th can't get here fast enough!!

Check out Winter's website at www.fauxrealfood.com. View tutorials, reviews, and sign up for the newsletter to receive special offers. Free shipping until March 15 with orders over $15. Use code FEBFREE17 at checkout.

Tell me a story

I'll continue to review some of the yummy foods from Faux Real Foods this week, but now I want to unveil the contest and the rule(s). 

What do you, My Gentle Reader, need to do to win this Most Excellent Repast?

Tell me a story. Don't worry! It can be a short story!! I just want your ideas tying this yummy ideas into one Cohesive Meal. 

Okay, so tell me why one would eat at one meal:

•A ham sandwich 

•Potato chips

•Eggnog

•A mummy pumpkin tart

•And a lemon pie, complete with bite marks - I couldn't resist trying it!

The contest deadline is in two weeks, by midnight on March 14, 2017.  Momma, My Big Sister, Winter (and I!) will read them all and the Best Short Story (heck, I'll take a Rough Draft) wins the pictured meal!

The winner (and your amazing story) will be announced on Wednesday, March 15, 2017. 

Submissions can be sent to me at either steampunkaddie (at) gmail dot com or through my Facebook page. 

Happy Writing!

She sells sushi

One of the items I proudly offer in my Tea-Key Room is Faux Real Food's sushi. 

Sushi has been served in Japan for hundreds of years. It originally had fermented rice and fish, but evolved into "modern" sushi about 100 years ago.

According to Wikipedia, the Oxford English Dictionary notes the earliest written mention of sushi in English in an 1893 book, A Japanese Interior, where it mentions sushi as "a roll of cold rice with fish, sea-weed, or some other flavoring." However, there is an earlier mention of sushi in an 1873 Japanese-English dictionary, angd an 1879 article on Japanese cookery in the journal, Notes and Queries.

Momma developed a love for sushi when she was in Taiwan, and my sushi is displayed on a miniature plate from the National Palace Museum.

Winter is spot-on in her sushi creations. Momma and I especially love the detail in the rice - something which at 1:3 scale is usually a textured white blob.

Now where is my wasabi and ginger? I bet that dratted kitten took it again....

Are you Faux Real?

It has been called to my attention that I have been Dreadfully Remiss and have not reviewed any of the items created by My Dear Friend Winter Boomershine of Faux Real Foods. 

Neither Momma nor I exactly remember when we first discovered her Etsy shop (https://www.etsy.com/shop/FauxRealFood), but I was hooked after my first meal. 

Winter makes some of the tastiest and most realistic doll food out there. 

Last year I got corned beef, cabbage and potatoes just in time for St. Patrick's Day. Both Momma and Grandmomma were squealing over the details in the tiny cabbage leaves. 

(Quick history: beef was fairly rare in most parts of Ireland. Corned (or salted) beef was a luxury item there - but cheap and easily found in the United States by Irish Immigrants fleeing the potato famine.)  

Thankfully, some of My corned beef dinner survived The Fire - although it is a bit smoky.  

How can I ever repay Winter for her kindness, generosity, and yummy food? By reviewing her foods all week AND by (belatedly!) awarding her my Gear of Approval. I'll also be hosting a giveaway of a sampling of Faux Real Foods at the end of the week! 

Details tomorrow!