From My Little Hole in the Wall: Grace Rings in a New Year!

December the thirtieth. The day before New Year's Eve. How did we reach it so quickly? Christmas was a quiet, but lovely day. I managed to make a perfect beef tenderloin with cognac peppercorn cream sauce. I think this is the fourth year I've made it, and I've got it down. Finally. Even I enjoyed the tender roasted meat with the decadently rich sauce. Its the only thing my husband asks for Christmas each year, and Christmas is a time to indulge. In everything!

I bought way to many Christmas dolls this year. It was unintentional, as it usually is, but Ruby Red Galleria did more than temp me this season. They came out with two Fashion Friends for the holidays, the limited edition of one called Perihelia, and if that wasn't enough, the dolls I pre-ordered last summer from the Girls of the Orient, both arrived two days ago.

I learned that one of the Fashion Friend dolls just happens to be a Dianna Effner scuplt, too! No wonder I love them.

As the quiet days after Christmas rolled by, I got to thinking that I really had not done a "masterpiece" collection like I used to do in the past for Louise, Lawrence and Laura. Or even a special one of kind doll that would take three weeks to work on. Perhaps I was feeling like I just hadn't pushed myself to the limits this year. And, who needs the pressure anyway, right?

But, then I thought about flapper Kitty, and the work I've done on Grace, and began to feel satisfied. Peggy Sue was a JOY. Just pure 1950's joy to work on. And, through all the, let's call it what is was, crap, that occurred this year, these dolls carried me aloft and I haven't one single complaint to make. Life is going to bring about the death of pets, the sickness of friends, struggles in other parts of our life, but if we continue to return to the things we love, and those that bring us joy and serenity, its not so bad after all. It was with this thought that I decided to do one more outfit for Grace in celebration of the New Year.

This past December, the catalog company called Olive and Cocoa, would send a new issue every week, promoting their products, and each cover was a different and brilliant illustration. I saved them. I may just remove the covers, but there are illustrations inside, too, that reminded me of outfits a doll like Grace could easily wear. This one in particular, showing "Olive and Cocoa" radiant in holiday gowns, inspired me to create one of them for Grace's New Year's Eve gala.

I used only existing silks and was pleased that I had just the right ones. The while skirting is that sumptuous 100% Duchess silk satin that I purchased at Farmhouse Fabrics. I loved it so much, that I bought the remaining remnant for future projects. Once gone, that's it. The other two silks are Shantung and lovely to work with as well.

I spent a couple of days designing the bodice for the gown. I also did a couple mock ups, and probably could have done a third. The thing is, I now make mock ups from the fabric I'm going to use due to the varying thicknesses and drape. Muslin is great for the first shot, but to get it just right, its best, for me, to use the chosen fabric

I love the huge bows on this gown. As a person who mainly enjoys sewing for child dolls, I've discovered, in myself, a bit of latitude when it comes to Grace. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm certain it came from Diana Vining's joyful paper dolls of Grace.

I've been in touch with one of my favorite porcelain doll artists, and after the first of the year - ok, end of next week - we're going to talk about her making me a Dolly Dingle from a Googlie mold she had. I'd really enjoy dressing a doll like that from Diana's illustrations. My hope is that she has a mold that would make a doll to compliment Grace in size. Like a little friend. Which for the Virtual Doll Convention, she is.

After finishing the gown, I made Grace a pair of star earrings. I'd made maybe sixty or more pairs of earrings, including stars, for Rachel to put in the goody bags she sends with purchases. I haven't seen any dolls wearing them, nor did I ever see people share them with the loot they'd post. pft! Won't do that again. But, I did them to pass the time in between projects.

Lastly, I wanted to make something for her head. A little Happy New Year hairband would have been fun. Its was last night's afterthought, and I really didn't know where to start. I wanted it to look like the party headbands women like to wear on New Year's Eve or other holiday occasions.

I went to Michael's this morning, and all the Christmas stuff was gone, and there wasn't a lick of New Year's anything. So I purchased a gold glitter piece of scrapbooking paper and cut out a semi-circle for the headband with spikes. I drew and cut out stars in two sizes and little party horns to affix to it. I did try to cut out the letters for "Happy New Year", but each tiny letter needed to be linked to the next letter and the paper started to fall apart. I considered "2021" with stars, but then I'd be stuck with a headband I couldn't use again. I will think on this and may try the letters again. I wanted to purchase gold foil alphabet letters and adhere then to a clear piece of plastic, but there were none to be found - except on Amazon, and I hadn't the time to order them. I will try though later this month.

Prior to getting that last bit of umph to sew again before the end of this year, I set to the task of making costume boxes for Peggy Sue's winter holiday fashions. Her poor little trunk was over stuffed with garments and these little boxes that you could buy on Etsy - digital downloads - were exactly the right size for one outfit. The downloads were copied from vintage cookie and ornament boxes, but I do think they were perfected in a photoshop type program because they're gorgeous.

I also remade one for the Halloween costume since my husband bought me a new printer that turns out beautiful color saturation in printing. And, one more for Peggy Sue's birthday dress, that was originally a birthday candle box. While the other boxes were made for cellophane windows, I had to cut away much of the illustration in the candle box to create a space for the window. It turned out darling!

Late in November, I had approached the artist that knits the mini dolls, the amigurumi, for me. I asked her to make a Grinch and Cindy Lou Who, and also Father Time and the New Year's Baby. Unbeknownst to me, she was eight months pregnant and had back up orders as well. But, even through all her maternity preparations and giving birth to a baby girl, she managed to come through for me. I was thrilled!

The mini knit dolls arrived shortly before Christmas so the Grinch and Cindy Lou Who got displayed with my Little Darlings. I almost couldn't wait for Christmas to be over so I could change the girls and have them hold Father Time and the New Year's Baby. I'm sharing a couple of photos of them below.

2020 had its challenges, but, through all of it, I kept sewing for my dolls and living by motto to make each day count.

Tomorrow the tree will come down and that will take all day. It will be New Year's Eve, and I never bring the old into the new, so Christmas will be well put away. In spite of everything, I really enjoyed this holiday season, and have no intention of allowing that good feeling to pass.

So, Happy New Year! May the new year be kind to you, and your winter a beautiful one.

Love, Melissa