2025 in Review

Winter Solstice has arrived. It marks the official beginning of winter and symbolizes renewal and hope for the lengthening days ahead.  For myself, the winter solstice tells me that the 'bers have ended, the final celebration of the year is four days away, and it's time to look forward to a new year.  As the seeds sleep beneath the wet and sometimes frozen soil, as certain animals hibernate, some carrying new life that will give birth just as spring begins the thaw, it's time for me to tuck in and quietly plan and dream of what I wish to do in the new year.

Part of what helps me plan is to reflect on what has been, what I learned from it, and what brings me the most joy.  Just last night I made a silly "jolly holly reindeer headband" for Ellowyne just so she could channel a little holiday spirit while she tucked in at home and watched the Hallmark movie, Single on the 25th.  For Ellowyne, who will timelessly endure, even revel in her ennui and singlehood, the movie was the perfect choice.  But do you know what my favorite part of planning this vignette was?  

The chunky gray socks.  Comfy wear for watching TV on a damp winter's night.  This is what I wear, sans the party dress.  But that's Ellowyne.  Vintagely, fashionably chic through her dismissal of anything appealing or exciting.

Some people write a Christmas letter.  I did this for a few years.  I even tried writing a Christmas letter to all my friends on Facebook last year.  But it didn't have photos, and I like photos.  My life is primarily one of quiet walks with my dog, cooking good meals for my husband, and working on projects that will continue to grow and inspire me.  And collecting dolls! So, this year, I'm writing this blog as the official Christmas letter and year in review.  And it might be fun to see how I jumped from one thing to the next.

January was time to celebrate Chinese New Year.  Now that Anne is the doll to display with Grace, and not Dolly Dingle, I made Anne a special Chinese New Year dress to compliment Grace's from the VDC.  The pets got their own masks and paper lanterns were made.

Do remember that you can click on each photo to see them enlarged.

Still in January, I'd discovered Jan Brett's Alice in a Winter Wonderland book.  Oh my.  Me and Alice.  So, I had to make Alice Illustrated the outfit and needle felt her card penguin.  She is still dressed in this a year later, so I really loved this one.  Mini bear fur is not easy to sew into clothing, and the boots came out wonderful.

My breath catches when I come to Little Stella.  She was a gift and one that has sustained my joy throughout the year.  And still does.  I didn't know what to do with her, so I bought the Connie Lowe book and printed out the paper doll page from a UFDC article.  Since making paper doll clothes is something I like to do, I dressed her in the paper doll outfit.  

In the book, there's a section called Stella Gets a Puppy.  When Connie was in Prague at a doll show, she traded a doll for a box of old animal toys.  Then set up a story on the streets of Prague where Stella finds and puppy and begs to bring him home.  The dog was named Prague after the city.  This touched my heart so deeply that I needle felted Maisie one.

My friend's birthday was on April 2nd, so I made her doll a birthday dress and party hat.

Then I found the Barbie's New Dream House I'd been looking for.  One that was newly assembled with many pages still not punched out and ready to put together.  I love this doll house and will keep it as minty as it arrived.

May arrives, and I'm sewing another outfit for Eloise, my friend's Little Stella.  The Alice was a request, and I continued to try and get the feel of how true costume designers of Connie Lowe's dolls operate.  Basically, its trash bin clothes that turn out so adorable! It's hard not to be the A type designer I am, and I often wonder if I really need to push myself outside the box like they do.  Yet, this one was a winner, and I needle felted the pig baby to go with it.

Now, Piggy and Prague and part of Eloise's adventures.

May was also the month that our Beach Basic Gwendolyn dolls came out.  I love the vintage 60's look, especially of Poppy Parker dolls, so Gwendolyn was a shoo-in for me.

She needed a beach hat to go with her two-piece swimsuit and when I spotted this vintage advertisement for kooky beach hats, I had to give this one a try.  I had a lot of fun making it.

In June, my friend, Betsy, sent me three little Gail Wilson folk dolls to do something with.  She wanted one of them dressed for herself, so I started looking at folk toys since Gail's dolls always came with their own folk toys.  I happened upon this artist that made litte wooden toys and that would be the inspiration for a folk Alice and White Rabbit.

Unfortunately, she wanted long sleeves on the dress, and I may at some point ask for the doll back to redo the sleeves.  Alice always had short, puffed sleeves to me.   

Around the same time, Rachel Hoffman announced that Robert Tonner was making a Sybil reboot.  And Rachel put out a challenge for us to create our version of new Sybil and send it in.  We'd get a lovely credit voucher for future purchases, so I was on board.

Sybil is supposed to be a grumpy cat, so I needle felted one.  This project fell flat, too.  Other people were making crafty cat representations and people went wild for them, and my poor little kitty got lost in the shuffle.

Come July when the UFDC convention was happening and I was sitting this one out, a request came for an Abigail Vampire Ballerina costume for Eloise.  I worked like crazy to make a beautiful costume for a vampire child, and I think this one fell flat, too.  I should have just made it like a dress with a pair of tights. 

This little doll is not easy to dress and for me, even more of a challenge.

With the heat of August and missing the warm sands of beaches, I decided to try making something for Lacie.  She was wearing all the Journey Through Time costumes made for the Grace subscription boxes.

I'd just bought the book Sporting Fashion, that a few of the Journey outfits had been designed from.  I decided to try the 1930's Beach Pyjamas.  I enjoyed making this but had a seriously difficult time finding a fabric that matched well to the illustration.  Still, it came out light, airy, and summery.

Right after that, I made one for Kitty Hudson, and added a sailboat beach umbrella.

The espadrilles took most of the time, and came out delightful.

September is birthday month, and I always like to make something special for myself.  I chose the 1950's Touring outfit from the Sporting Fashions book, to make for Lacie.  

The peasant blouse was a real challenge as its not made like a normal peasant blouse with elastic at the neck and sleeves.  This was an embellished and embroidered work of art for a fashionable tourist.

The skirt.  Oh my. Well, there's an entire blog on this for September.  It was a journey.  The skirt is heavily embellished with tiny sequins as was the original.

I'd also commissioned the "saddle bag".  A latigo tooled leather delight.  Let's not forget the espadrilles.

And straight into October from there for Lacie's Sporting Fashion, Hunting 1840's outfit.  It was all about the game bag.  With the darling little fox on it, embellished with the tiniest Italian glass beads imaginable.  Beads the size of non-pariels requiring a very special needle.

November began the time of making Christmas gifts, and a Nightmare Before Christmas, Sally outfit was due for Eloise.  This one came together so quickly that I didn't even draft a pattern.  Fun!

And Noelle, an 8" Maggie Iacono redressed as one of Santa's Elves with wooden pull toys from the artist that made the folk rabbit for the folk Alice.

Next, a true little folk doll, Anja.  Another one of Gail Wilson's early porcelain, stuffed body.  She was inspired by the book A Christmas Wish about a Swedish child named Anja and the animal friends she made.

Last, but done before Noelle and Anja, was the Grinch costume for Eloise.  I learned a new way of embroidering on clothing when you cannot transfer a pattern or draw on the cloth.  With Sally and Grinch, I finally felt myself stepping a toe outside the box.

You might have a favorite, or perhaps none at all.  But this year I felt like I was bouncing around from doll shape and size, and from strict boundaries to playful sewing.  All of it was serious.  I am never not serious when I sit down to create something, but the freedom I felt with Sally was delightful.

However, when considering all I accomplished over the last year, Lacie's Hunting 1840's stands out as a favorite.  I'd purchased a second Lacie to be a model and ended up with an art doll.  One that won't be undressed and played with.  She is who she is.  And the game bag, not to mention the hat, will always be a reminder of what I can do when I put my mind to it.

What's in store for the New Year?  At least three more Sporting Fashion ensembles.  And I'd really love to finish the doll representing the child from the book Sister Bear.  It's good to plan.  Having a goal is important to sustain purpose in our lives. And I'm open to any new challenges coming my way.  This is how I grow and learn as a costume designer for dolls.

As I close on this year in review, I close some doors and open new ones. January first is always a fresh start for me.  I'm already sad that the ornaments will soon be put away and the tree retired for another year. But the day is still young, Christmas is just counting hours away now, and there's always hope for snow.  Thank you for taking this journey with me.  Wishing you a Merry Christmas and an especially fine new year!