While they are more difficult to find than others, the vintage postcards illustrating the fortune telling games often featured the spell, or instruction, on how to play the games. The postcards were sometimes shown with a beautiful blind-folded Gibson Girl holding a mirror, or dipping her hand in bowls of water to tell her fate. There were even postcards illustrating Lucky Cakes. Lucky Cakes were baked with trinkets inside. If, for instance, you received a piece of cake with a ring in it, this predicted you would wed. There was even a postcard that showed a woman cracking eggs into a bowl to imitate the baking of a Lucky Cake. Some images showed gourd pixies slicing up chocolate Lucky Cakes. And, one postcard (as seen in the book Halloween, Romantic Art and Customs of Yesteryear) showed a gourd pixie with a smoking coal shovel. This intrigued me so I read the chapter where it resided, Prophesies of "Nutcrack Night".
Of course, while entertaining myself with Halloween trivia, I was looking for a costume with which to dress Lawrence, Louise's brother. As I mentioned in my last post, costume ideas for young boys is difficult to find when using the vintage postcards as your inspiration. The boys are typically attired in knickers and shirts, running from ghosts or enchanted pumpkins, or engaged in some sort of Halloween hijinks. Then the images go directly to gentlemen kissing the fortunate Gibson Girl who put her hand in the correct bowl of water. So, why not? I decided that Lawrence would make a wonderful gourd pixie from Nutcrack Nite. 
As with apples, nuts were also abundant at harvest time, and their perceived ability to provide guidance pertaining to matters of the heart was highly respected in the north of England. People there long referred to Halloween as Nutcrack Night. One traditional divination was circling a walnut tree and chanting "Let s(he) that is my true love bring me some walnuts." Candles were set in empty walnut shells, creating little boats that people would be set afloat to see which boats "met" or "turned from one another". In Lawrence's case, the nut of choice was hazelnuts.
Hazelnuts set upon hot coals would tell the fate of lovers. Should a nut burst, that lover would prove unfaithful. A nut that burns instead with a steady glow until it turns to ashes denotes a lover who be loving and true. If two nuts are set to the coals and burn steadily, the inquirer's heart will be torn between the two. There were also "trial by fire" tests for chestnuts. I find these old games and traditions enchanting and inspirational to read about. Wouldn't it be fun to try one of them some Halloween night?
So Lawrence was destined to become the Gourd Pixie of Nutcrack Night.
His costume was a fairly simple affair beginning with some orange and black striped jersey. I'd bought some women's tights in orange and black stripes, but the stripes were too wide and going horizontally. I wondered if I could simply cut the tights in the other direction and still have the stretch I needed. Yet, the stripes were truly too wide It was a stroke of luck to find this jersey of rusty orange and black in vertical stripes in an auction on Ebay. Where the stripes may be thinner than those shown in the illustration, I gave myself some artistic license because I really wanted to make this costume.
The pattern for his tights was simply elongated and tapered to a point at the toe. His hat was a pattern I made starting with an elongated square, and drew an angled line from the base to just below the end of the slant to give it a jaunty point. In other words, it is not a triangle. Cut on a fold and sewn, it fits snuggly over his head and is stuffed with a bit of batting above the crown of his head to keep the shape.
His one-piece romper is made from dark green silk velvet, which was a new fabric for me. I do need to find a walking foot for my machine, which would make sewing this fabric much easier. His collar is orange silk taffeta, and his belt is gold silk dupioni. His little coal shovel is a miniature shovel painted a dark grey with metallic silver mixed in. The coal, my husband helped me find in the yard. Its tiny pieces of quarry gravel. The nutmegs are little unground spice seeds from a jar of pickling spices. The smoke, a bit of felting wool. 
Then next, and last costume was for lovely Laura Peterson, Louise's best friend. A friend of mine suggested that I could not top Louise's costume, so I did not try. Louise is our main character anyhow, so she should always have the "center stage" costume. However, Laura will always be dressed with equal attention to detail and charm. And truth be told, I often think I like best what I've done for her.
So back to hunting through vintage postcards to find a suitable costume for her. I wanted to make her a witch costume that would compliment the others I made in color, richness and texture. Many of the witches depicted have these marvelous black hats criss-crossed with red ribbons. Even some of the old, grey haired hag witches have these beribboned hats. If you recall my Alice in Halloween Land, she wore a hat like this with green ribbons, and it was from this pattern, enlarged, that I fashioned Laura's hat. After hunting through so many images, I chose this one because the young miss looked to be about the same age as Laura (if not a few years older). It was also sweet and charming. And, once again, I'd have an opportunity to work with capes. This one would be hooded.
I have to mention this because I'd just finished Lawrence's costume, and I was on a roll. Last week, Tuesday night, all Halloween costume making was put on indefinite hold while PG&E interrupted our power in what the papers are calling an historic black out. We were without power for three and half days, and that included hot water because we have a tankless water heater. I was not happy camper. This black out affected, what I'm now reading, as over 1.2 million customers. Anyway, without a sewing machine and having to spend most of the days just trying find ice and get by, I wasn't thinking too clearly. Finally, on Friday, I decided I could not lose, or waste, days like this any longer, and decided to begin Laura's outfit sewing by hand. So I started with her red stockings and did tiny blanket stitches on the edges to bind the seams together. After all, women sewed by hand long before sewing machines were even a consideration. Why not me? I could do this. When the stockings were done, I began her shoes.
Her shoes were made with red leather using the same pattern I created for Louise and Lawrence's Polichinelle costumes featuring narrowed square toes. The difference is that I shortened the toe length some, and made a strap that weaves through the buckle and tucks under the base of the foot. One of the things I had to do was top-stitch by hand, the edges of the shoe. This required the thinnest needle forced through the top layer of the leather, then coming back through, I'd have to make a hole with the needle from the top, then bring the needle through the bottom to the top. Why? Because leather has a soft under-layer and the needle has trouble getting through this layer in a direct path. All of this takes considerable time, but I had nothing better to do and it kept me from going crazy. After that top stitch is done, you go back through the holes you made, stitching in the opposite direction to complete a machined look. Saturday morning around 10am, the power came back on. And so did my sewing machine.
So, I pulled off her stockings and sewed the seams one more time with an overcast stitch. The second pair of shoes got top-stitched on the machine and all was right in my world again. We were back in business!
Laura's dress was made from the same pattern as Louise's, only the sleeve edges are plain, and the skirt is fuller. I used this beautiful silk taffeta that I recently purchased, in a rich burgundy-brown. Its an absolutely gorgeous color and I know I'll use it again soon for something else. Her cape, or cloak, as I mentioned, boasts a hood this time. Again I used the same cape pattern I drafted for Louise's costume, but lengthened it and added a full hood. It is made from a thin cotton velveteen and is line in red silk.
Laura's hat was a bit of a challenge. I don't know why this proved to be more difficult than Louise's, but it was. I used the same pattern for Louise's hat, but instead of cropping the point off, this was a true witch's hat. I used a buckram base, and the hat is made from black silk taffeta. It also has a much wider brim than Louise's magic hat. The ribbons were tacked on with sewing thread at the points where the cross or overlap. A wider silk ribbon was sewn to the back and tied in a large bow.
Finally, the last piece to make was the black cat she's cuddling. In the illustration, the poor cat does not look too happy. The challenge was to make the cat in the pose of hanging from her folded arms. Of course my doll cannot fold her arms in such a manner, but the cat is still upheld in her hands. I needle felted the black cat in a few hours. He does have wire armature for posing. When I'd gone to the store to purchase a pumpkin for Laura to sit upon, I did not take the doll, so the pumpkin is a bit smaller. Oh well. For Laura, this would have been an unusually large pumpkin anyhow.
I really enjoyed making these costumes, and am so glad I did. They came together much quicker than I had anticipated, but I wanted them on my shelf to enjoy for most of the month. The party goers will probably wear these costumes through the month of November, too. I think of all the dolls I've sewn for, these three 14" dolls have provided me the most fun since I can create stories around them.
Wishing everyone a colorful autumn and Happy Hallowe'en!
Love, Melissa
So perfectly wonderful! Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAmazing and awesome!
ReplyDeleteThank you both! Its wonderful to hear from both Bleue and Paula!
ReplyDelete