My Favorite Place(s) in the World...

I live in Metro LA, which means I'm a half hour's drive from the second largest city in the United States and all that brings with it.

I'd been wanting to make a trek into the Fashion District for some time, and a week ago Saturday, I did so. It was an easy drive down the 210 to the 605 to the 60, and then closer to Los Angeles the 60 is marked as three other numbered freeways simultaneously -- the 10, the 101, and the 5 (yes, it can be confusing-- you're on four freeways at the same time. That's why overthinking in LA traffic is never recommended although for some, thinking at all is a definite struggle based on the way they drive!). A short distance later, and literally three blocks off the freeway is the Fashion District. Parking is $3 for fifteen minutes, with a cap of $5 a day, so it's not especially expensive, and it's quite plentiful (I was pleasantly surprised, considering I went on a Saturday afternoon).

It is a mecca of sorts for those who live, love, breathe, or otherwise enjoy fashion. Small shops and vendor stands line the streets, and there's too much to literally see in one trip. Which is why I'll no doubt go back again and again and again.

But for this first trip, my destination was Michael Levine's The Loft store, which is across the street from the main Michael Levine store (web URL: http://lowpricefabric.com/). In that part of the store (which is above the home decor area), ALL fabrics are $2.49 a pound. They're rather jumbled into bins, but that's part of the fun. It's like digging for treasure. You don't know what you're going to find, from the cheapest of knits to perhaps something that was originally $60 a yard.

The fabric pictured here (on my Instagram)-- http://instagram.com/p/pBHUd3FbkO/-- will eventually be turned into a doll abaya. I believe it's the size of a fat quarter (see here for a great explanation-- What's a Fat Quarter of Fabric?), but it may be slightly larger. I picked up roughly 7.5 more pounds of fabric, mostly (if not all) knit. There's a navy and teal striped fabric I can see turning into a nice, nautical inspired version of Butterick 5606 (again, see my Instagram-- The Most Awesome Pattern in the World!), there's a slightly funkier and heavier matte jersey, there's a lilac sparkly knit that's also "begging" to be turned into a doll abaya. For what's the most redundant linking, once again, see my Instagram-- Shades of Purple.

Purple/lilac and shades thereof happen to be my favorite color(s), for the record. Followed by deep, rich jewel tones, and "colors found in nature", most especially those of a California sunrise or sunset.

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I do intend to conduct a "sweepstakes" of sorts once I have a few doll abayas sewn up. Not sure of specifics yet, but it'll likely be one a week during the month of Ramadan (which begins on June 28th). I will have some guidelines, but not many. And it'll be open to the whole world, not just the United States. 

Hijab & Abaya for 18" Dolls

One thing I've wanted to do for awhile is create an Islamic outfit for 18"-20" dolls like American Girl (http://www.americangirl.com), Maplelea (http://www.maplelea.com), Australian Girl (http://www.australiangirldoll.com.au/), among others.

The maker of American Girl has had two Jewish themed products, the first "Doll of the Year", Lindsey Bergman, as well as historical character Rebecca Rubin. Not completely a surprise, since the owner of American Girl is Mattel, which was originally founded by Ruth (creator of Barbie as well as a successful line of mastectomy products) and Elliot Handler, a Jewish couple. The Christian religion is heavily implied, with many Christmas themed outfits.

Yet Islam is completely ignored by this and most other mainstream doll companies. Only ONE major doll line/toy company in the US, the Hearts for Hearts dolls made by Playmates Toys, (http://playmatestoys.com/brands/hearts-for-hearts-girls), have had a "Muslim" doll. That being their current Shola doll, who is marketed as being from Afghanistan. See About Hearts for Hearts Dolls for more info. You can find some Islamic style clothing on eBay, like this listing (which links to others)-- Afghan Doll Dress Project -- but for the most part, it's an ignored market.

Islam is one of the fastest growing religions around the world. There are over a billion Muslims throughout the world, and roughly 3 million Muslims in the United States. Only a very small percentage of this faith is engaged in terrorist acts against the West, yet they are the ones that get most of the attention.

I can only imagine how difficult it must be for Muslim American Girls. They don't see Muslimah role models portrayed in any (positive) media, there isn't much in the realm of play (outside of the Fulla doll) that shows them "proper" Islamic dress while allowing them to explore it in their own lives, and they're no doubt bombarded with more negative aspects of American culture that discourage them from wearing hijab or following their faith in other ways.

I'm in the process of creating a hijab scarf and abaya for 18" dolls. The hijab part of it is easy; there's an awesome pattern from Frugal Abundance here-- Hijab Pattern for 18" dolls-- and I have in the past created a version of it that doesn't use that pattern that also works. A 6" by 8" or 8" by 10" rectangle folded in half, then sewn along the edges works as an "underscarf", or half of a two piece Al Amira-style hijab. The abaya is a bit harder, but I've been using Urban Hijab's Aaisha abaya as a pictorial starting point-- Urban Hijab's Aaisha abaya-- then using my own original attempt (picture below). Yes, that's me hiding behind my "model" doll (Kailey, Doll of the Year from 2003-2004)

In this attempt, I used a fat quarter, with the following layout (see below illustration). 

See correction below...

Making the hijab is easier; there's the aforementioned Frugal Abundance pattern, and making a one-piece Al Amira style hijab is also pretty easy. A rectangular piece of knit fabric, approximately 4 inches by 18 inches, sewn together with a piece 8 inches by 18 inches, then folded in half and sewn with a very slim, 1/5 inch margin seam, and voila, an Al Amira hijab. 

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For the record, I'm Catholic. I've been married to a wonderful (Maronite) Catholic man for a little over a year now (our anniversary is April 20, 2013). But one thing I firmly believe in is interfaith cooperation, interfaith dialogue, and diversity in play. 

Since there's literally nothing out there in mainstream toy land to represent Islam, I've been determined to come up with something... anything... that accomplishes that. Hopefully this does it. I'm sure I'll be tweaking the pattern from time to time, and won't ever be fully satisfied, but such is life when you're Type A and creative. 

CORRECTION TO LAYOUT: A standard quarter yard of fabric is wayyyyyyyy too "skinny". It would create a tunic, or basically half of a salwar kameez set.  So to create the "fat quarter", buy a half yard of fabric, and have them cut it in half for you (most places will). A great place to start is Joann Fabrics' Red-Tag Clearance fabrics, or watch their sales-- they routinely have knit fabrics on sale 40% off (or more).

Here in Los Angeles, one "must go" is LA's Fashion District. There are a plethora of shops with fabric as cheap as $1 a yard, but my favorite place there is Michael Levine and their related Loft store (across the street from the main store). Everything in the Loft store is $2.49 a pound... on my last trip, I came home with nearly eight pounds of fabric.