Maggie Iacono's 6" Alice's Amended Wardrobe

Sometimes I get in between big projects and just have to do a little Alice dressing.   I know.  Each time I say I'm done doing Alice, I do it again.  Alice is more than the story to me.  She represents one of the purest forms a fantasy and escapism.  This is why so many artists over time, have tried their hand at illustrating the books.  This is why so many doll artists  have created their own version.  Maggie Iacono has done a few, but none took me by surprise as this little 6" Alice in her own display.

Maggie's 6" Alice came out over a year ago, and probably just before the summer's UFDC convention.  I cannot recall exactly when I was introduced to her, but I do believe it was my friend, Betsy, who told me about her.  Upon seeing her, I had to have one.  So I wrote to Maggie's husband, Tony, and asked if there were any unspoken for and he gave me a one year layaway.

Knowing the doll would be on layaway a year, I quickly forgot about her.  This past summer, Betsy and I were discussing Maggie's new dolls and asked me when I was getting my Alice.  Oops!  I really had forgotten about her!  So I wrote to Tony asking him where we were at, and how much I still owed.  It was such a minimal amount, I asked him to bill me the balance and send the doll.  But, he didn't.  Maggie needed a holiday after convention, and by the time they were settled back home, it was already September.  So I waited, and she finally arrived around the time I was beginning to downsize my doll collection.  Believe it or, I almost sold her the minute she arrived.  What was I thinking?!  The set sat in the box for a week.  I took it out again and put it on my dresser and tried to convince myself I deserved to have something this beautiful.  I guess it worked.  I kept her.  And, there she sat.

While I was making the Godey children and Louise's friend's Halloween costumes, I had an idea.  I'd been studying the little outfits Maggie made for this display and decided to try my hand at making a few.  Not that she really needed more dresses, but the task would be a good change from vintage Halloween costuming.  Something different.  From silks and velvets to wool felt sheets.  From bringing illustrations to life, to making something up, completely unique and one-of-a-kind.  A challenge.

So I took out my large bag of wool sheets from The Felt Pod and looked for sheets matching the pinks Maggie used in her clothing.  I had the blue color from the blue Alice dress, and I had the dark pink from the bunny shirt.  Maggie's whimsical creations inspired me greatly.  I studied her pattern, the edge stitching she did, how she made the faux pleats on the polka dot dress, even the details on the blue dress's apron.  I could do this.  Most of it was done with punches and machine stitching.  The design on the bottom of the skirt with the pink bunny top was all machine embroidery - although my machine does not have that stitch.  But, it did have heart stitches.  I regret it not having spades, clubs and diamonds, but oh well.  I couldn't believe it didn't have a diamond stitch, but there you go.  Its still a nice machine.

So the first dress I made would be out of the dark pink.  I had to make a pattern from the blue dress first and created one that folds at the shoulder, so its all one piece.  This truly is a wonderful little pattern and Maggie used it for each of the outfits she made.  Maggie simply cut a second one, shorter and with a curved hemline and made it into a top.  This adorable little white skirt she has, is bunny Swiss lace with a waistband of peach wool felt.  Simplicity.  I don't really do "simplicity" well, but here was my opportunity to try.

The dark pink dress is what I will refer to as the Queen Alice dress.  I machine embroidered little black hearts at the hemline, then made an apron of white with black hearts.  The pinner style apron has a large black heart at the bib, with a pink embroidered heart at its center.  The ties were top stitched the same way Maggie top stitched the ties on the blue Alice dress pinafore.  I made a little felt crown.  I was on a roll.

Next, I wanted to do a card dress.  This one would require me to make a couple of tiny wool cards that would be appliqued on the dress.  I chose this peach wool I had for the dress.  The cards were not easy to do, and they did require some dexterity.  And, some learning about how to use my machine for special embroidery techniques.  When you chose a stitch, it goes in one direction, and I wanted the pink hearts to go one on top of the other.  This is where learned where the first stitch begins helps, and how much edge you need to have under the foot.  It is also very helpful to use the line guides on the plate beneath the foot.  Making two embroidered cards took me a couple of hours to get them almost "just right".

Maggie had done some interesting edge work on the blue dress's apron.  She used light pink embroidery thread and overcast stitched it on to the edge.  Brilliant.  The cards were too tiny to do this, so I did it by had with a blanket stitch and black embroidery thread.  For the peach dress, I made a long embroidered stitch of outlined hearts on the wool, and did a top stitch above them, then cut out the "ribbon" to applique on the hemline and neckline.  So what do you do about curves?  Wool felt can be stretched and manipulated!  I really like this dress.

Finally, I decided to try a top.  I was tired of pink by now, and wanted to try adding a spot of a different color in there.  I thought about a light green, but chose a light yellow instead.  I was becoming more experimental as I went along.  This time I grabbed a pair of my scallop scissors and made some "lace".  I'd also made a few hole punch "roses" to applique on the dress.  Maggie used a slightly smaller hole punch for hers, but I didn't want to go out and try to buy one.  I have so much.  I need to use what I have on hand.  The roses were done by edging them with one of those wonderful alcohol pens.  Was this the method Maggie used?  I will never know, and would never ask, because she would never tell me anyway.  Following suit, and to keep in the theme of a mix and match wardrobe, I followed her design of the leaves with a single strand of black embroidery thread.

Oh yes!  The hat!  Almost forgot.  It was actually the first piece I made.  I wanted an outfit that would be "tea party" themed, and thought a top hat like the Mad Hatter's would be fun to try. This puppy took me a couple of days to figure out.  I fully intended to make a card with "In this style 10/6" on it, like the Hatter's, but was working on a teapot applique for the dress.  Well, the teapot with the flower looked really cute on the hat, so it stayed.  And, it also served to make a second hat (to Maggie's White Rabbit hat), that would go with the blue dress.

And, that's all there was to this little project.  Almost.  I had to put them in the display somehow.  I have a spool of this clear, stretchy vinyl jewelry "thread", and made a clothes line from one notch to the other (where the clothing is hung on hangers), and painted two little wooden clothes pins black, and pinned up two pieces.  Rather a tight fit, but it worked.  This set is just adorable and I got to play with it by making a few little pieces to go in it.

Next?  Time to begin my big holiday project!  Hope you all enjoy the rest of this Halloween month and do and little Trick-or Treating in the mix.

Love,
Melissa

Louise's Grand Hallowe'en Party Guests

What could possibly be more fun than playing a fortune telling game during a Hallowe'en party?  When did these marvelously made up traditions cease?  It could be that they were played only at adult Hallowe'en masquerade parties.  This might make sense, since they all seemed to have the similar theme of predicting one's future in matters of the heart.

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

 

 

 

 

 

Louise Godey's Halloween Party

Happy October!  Happy autumn!  Happy everything.  It feels so good to be back in my studio, and it feels even better to be sitting here and sharing with you.  I miss writing, but I've missed even more, that energized feeling of so many ideas and too little time.  It just feels good to feel good.  Once again.


Blame it on the puppy - who is almost five months old now.  Blame it on the autumn leaves.  Blue skies, cool nights, rain is great, too.  It feels amazing to have just finished something wonderful.  Well, I like it anyway.


Towards the end of September I was getting restless.  I'd just spent six weeks downsizing my doll collection, primarily of old dolls with trunks and wardrobes, that had been sitting un-played with for years.  Unloved?  Never.  But, if someone else can enjoy them anew, this is best.  While I was packing and running to the post office several times a week, I began thinking about my favorite time of year.  Halloween.  Yes, I like Christmas, but it has that let down feeling at the end, and Halloween is just the beginning of three months of fun.

One of the collections I was considering selling was my Gene collection.  I did sell some of it, but could not part with most of it, and especially the Halloween costumes the actors wore to the Monolithic Studio party.  So I dressed them all up, moving dolls around, and created a permanent Halloween display.  Then I did another with Tonner dolls.  Suddenly I wanted to make costumes for Louise, Lawrence and Laura.

Oh, the magic and fun of looking through all those fabulous vintage Halloween postcards!  At first I was a little skeptical that the Three L's would even attend such an event as a Halloween party, but a book on Halloween Merrymaking, indicated that they'd fit right in.  "...from its early popular incarnations in the 1870's to the early 1930's...".  The latter years of this period was considered the Golden Age of Halloween, and from the turn of the century to the early 1930's, the postcards were incredible.  If you have any doubt, Google up "vintage Halloween postcards Raphael Tuck".

I'm not sure I've ever come across a Halloween postcard dated prior to the 1900's, but I don't need much of a push to allow a little wiggle room in the years and sew some costumes for the Three L's.  My dolls.  I'll play with them my way.  (Even if I squinch my own face and know that my Victorian children didn't stay forever young in later decades.)  Enough of that.  But, that's my excuse.  

So I started going through all my Halloween books, Googling images, looking on Ebay, and of course, Pinterest.  I've seen this image of the fortune teller so many times, but it never sparked much in my imagination to do anything with until now.  I also chose images for Laura and Lawrence's costumes, although it was difficult with Lawrence, because the boys are usually shown in knickers and street clothes.  If the images includes a child, its usually a little girl dressed as a cute witch, and most of them feature young ladies elegantly sitting on a moon, or old cackling witches.  Love it all.  There was something that just clicked in my mind that this costume would look great on Louise, and so I began.  

I must note that I have something special in mind for Christmas, too, although it will involve that Maggie Iacono doll my friend, Betsy, gave to me.  So I am in a  happy hurry to get Laura and Lawrence's costumes made so that I can begin that one.  Still, I write.  A lot.  So Louise's costume is getting her own blogged journaling this time around.

For once, I did not have to buy any fabrics or notions or wools or threads or anything to begin with hers.  No waiting time, so I jumped right in. 

What do I love about this card?  There's so much going on in it.  So many details.  This little miss looks to be a fortune teller, wearing a hat that could be a magician's or a witch's, with a buckled band and a moon.  Her gown has a sliver moon, stars, and bats decorating it.  She wears a cape of green lined in red, and a fancy gold collar that we will discuss shortly.  An owl is perched on her shoulder, playing cards in hand, a magic wand in the other, and on her table rests a magic lantern.  Oh boy.  And, then there's those shoes!  Great shoes with curling toes and gold pom-poms.

So I pulled out all my silks and found this silver one in a beautiful low slub dupioni.  I made a pattern for an empire waist dress as the base of this costume.  I just happened to have little gold lame stuffed stars that I'd bought for no other reason than that I wanted them on hand.  I had to create a stuffed moon applique, and while I was at "moon", covered a paper moon with gold silk for the hat.  I haven't created a costume like this since my Lettie Lane and Daisy days, but as the brain is always searching for pattern recognition, it all came back rather quickly.  The bats, I made from black micro-suede by simply using the illustration's bats as my pattern.  There were these "black lines" on the hem of the dress, so I ran a large black machine stitch, twice, at the hemline to create the effect. I also added a wee bit of lace to the ends of the three-quarter length sleeves.  Its delicate, emulates that little bit of white, and is very Louise.

Next, I worked on a cape pattern.  A cape with a collar.  We just may be in "cape mode" after making that red cape for the Iacono I did last August.  Its nice to have this pattern as Laura will be getting a cape, too.  A simple hook and eye closes it a the neck.  I studied the collar she's wearing in the illustration, under my magnifying lamp.  There was definitely a wide gold collar similar to an Egyptian one, and the white above it was anybody's guess.  Could have been a thin Elizabethan collar, or a bit of fur.  I chose a "bit of fur".  It seemed a little more "wizard" like.  The collar is made from gold wool felt from The Felt Pod.  (They have all kinds of new stuff!  Check them out sometime.  I ordered a bunch of the new stuff for my Christmas project.)  The edge of the gold collar has faux fur attached to it, and closes in the back with a hook and eye. 

It was time to work on the hat.  I do love making hats even though they are super tedious to do.  This hat pattern was enlarged from the costume I made for Illustrated Alice.  Remember the blue dress, black apron and witch's hat?  Illustrated Alice is indeed dressed up for Halloween, too, right now.  Louise's hat is red silk covering that lovely stiff buckram I enjoy using.  One nice thing I discovered after all this silly time, is that to make a hat band on a conical hat, you simply use the crown pattern itself, but just an inch of it.  I don't know why I never considered doing that before.  With the ends cut a little longer, the band is a perfect fit.  I didn't have a gold buckle, but I did have a large silver one, and I used a gold Sharpie pen to color over it.  I didn't think it would work, much less stick, but it did.  Its just a gold Sharpie permanent ink pen.  Then I added the gold silk moon I'd made earlier.  The hat is lined in the green silk of the cape.

The shoes!  The shoes are my favorite part of this costume.  I'd made a similar pair for Illustrated Alice's Halloween in Wonderland costume, so I simply took one of her shoes off, studied it, and remade the pattern a bit larger.  Louise's curly toed shoes are similar, I guess, to Moroccan slippers.  A careful magnified study of the postcard indicated there were gold pom-poms on the shoes, so I had to figure out how to do that.  I had some 1/2" yellow craft pom-poms, and with Aileen's Clear Tacky Glue and gold glitter, I made the pom-poms.  Note: It was the only glue that worked.  The glitter stuck, and the pom-poms were soft enough to sew to the tongue of the shoe.  

Louise's fortune teller costume is completed with a little magic star wand.  This was made from a large toothpick painted black, and paper cut out stars covered in the same gold glitter as the pom-poms.  A deck of Darice cards, a Hoppy Vanderbear genie lamp, and finally, the owl that perches on her shoulder, that I needle felted this morning.  I wasn't even sure I'd make the owl, but of course I had to.  I simply cannot cut corners.  Beneath it all, nice black stockings.

No time to delay!  Lawrence and Laura are wondering where their costumes are.  I'd love to have both done by the end of this week so I can enjoy them most of month.  Most likely they'll wear them through November.  Maybe beyond.  Believe it or not, they were still wearing the Nutcracker costumes from last Christmas. 

Enjoy this wonderful Indian Summer weather if you're experiencing it.  If its cold and leaves are swirling, go crunch in them when the rains stops and the winds dry them up.  You know where I'll be.  Busy in my studio when I'm not being a slave to Brighton.  He's growing up so fast.  He's a wonderful little boy now.

Love,

Melissa