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

Halloween and Birthday fashion boxes

Little Darlings with Father Time and New Year's Baby

She even made a scythe for Father Time!

Two of my favorite ornaments

Toy Soldier Sara and Holiday Stella, Fashion Friends

A new favorite illustrator, Alida Akers

Grace rings in the New Year!

 

Grace's Red Christmas Dress

When I was a little girl, my grandmother loved to dress me in red.  She lived with us for a period of several years, and in that time, sewed our dresses for school and special holidays.  She used to call out, as I left to go to school, "There goes my little red bird!"  Well, you can imagine how embarrassing this was, but all the same, if you think about it, it was endearing.  

My mother used to say, "I love red no matter what color it is!"  She loved the red cardinals although living in California, you'd never see one.  She was a dreamer like myself and Christmas was a favorite time of year in our home as children.  Spots of red would show up everywhere.  Little red felt elves in the tree, holly berries, red stockings she somehow hung from that brick fireplace.  Red cheeked Santas in red coats - cardboard die cuts that were taped in our front room window.

I love red, too, and there is no better time of year for the color to shine, than at Christmas.

Back in late November, as Rachel Hoffman was gearing us up for the Virtual Doll Convention Christmas Pageant, she put some of Diana Vining's original artwork in her gift shop, for sale.  When I saw the painting of Grace in this red gown, I popped it into my cart and purchased it.  This image just sang to me!  And, somewhere along the line, either by my dreamful imagination, or osmosis, I thought Robert Tonner was going to offer a Grace doll wearing this dress.  I was excited.  She was definitely going in my cart!  But, it wasn't meant to be.

The funny thing is that prior to this pipe dream, I'd purchased fabrics and roses to make the dress.  Then of course I didn't, because I thought Robert was coming to the rescue.  Nope.  Didn't happen.  Of course, we weren't even sure what he was going to offer us through the VDC until the Christmas Pageant began, and I made Grace the Partridge in a Pear tree gown.  At least she had an "official" Christmas gown and a memento from the Christmas Pageant.

Pageant over, doll not offered, Peggy Sue needed her red coat and bonnet, so I worked on getting her dressed for Christmas.  There sat the fabric, in a plastic bag for posterity.  I suppose I'd always intended to make it anyway, but did I really want to?  Well, that's the very reason I started sewing in the first place.  Right?  To be able to have something no one made and couldn't be purchased.

I'd bought two different kinds of red glitter tulle.  One from the U.S. and one from the U.K.  Both were the fine netting tulle.  Pretty as can be.  I bought miniature artificial roses.  You couldn't purchase just one, so I have lots left over.  And, a yard of red jersey knit, hoping it would all match nicely.  It did.  The jersey knit was nice, too, which surprised me.

So a few days ago, I caved, and started "Grace's Christmas Dress", as Diana called it.  I used the pattern I made for her Halloween Venus gown and altered it with Tamara Casey's t-shirt pattern.  Drawing them up together to get the bodice wasn't too difficult.  The sleeves needed to be taken in quite a bit for a snug fit, and the under bust to hips portion was already designed in the Venus pattern.  As with everything I do, this was a go-for-it moment, and I surely did not expect it to come out well - even come out at all.

The jersey bodice ends below her fanny where the ruffles begin.  Looking back on this, I probably could have shortened the length of the bodice some, but I was focused on designing the ruffled skirting at the time.  I wasn't sure how I was going to do this.  I haven't done layered ruffles in ages, and really had to give this some thought.  And, also, was it going to work for this gown?

One thing I noticed and was glad I caught, was the the middle ruffle is longer than the others.  These ruffles are not sewn on top of the fabric, but sewn into pieces.  The way I created the fullness was to lengthen each layer, then gather that once the tulle ruffle was attached to the top edge.  

Again with paper doll clothing, for me its all a matter of how to create something to look like the image.  In the painting, I envisioned tulle.  Sparkly tulle.  But, it could have been opaque fabric with sparkles.  That would have done the trick, but where does one find something like that?  I had the fabrics I'd purchased, and used them.

The layers that attach to the jersey bodice are red Shantung silk.  Its what I had on hand.  I fussed and fussed over the skirting, and even gave up a snow day skiing yesterday to have a whole day to concentrate and get this done.  Which is alright.  There will be more snow, and both my husband and I needed some alone time.  He looked so disappointed when I said I wanted to go.  He wanted to do a hard cross-country climb, and some exploring.  So I stayed home and tore my hair out trying to create this gown.

Grace is wearing the red shoes with bows from Marcia Friend's website.  Perfect match.  I fashioned her a wreath of mini roses since I could not locate my miniature holly garland.  I attached pearls and glass bead leaves to the wired wreath.  Her wig is the new one I purchased from the Christmas Pageant, and I pinned it up for the occasion.  She's wearing the red earrings from Robert's Holiday Wishes sequined outfit.

Grace, or my other Grace, is now ready for the fireside holiday festivities with her friend, Dolly Dingle.  I am done sewing for the remainder of the days to Christmas.  I have at least twenty must-see Christmas movies to watch, and will catch The Nutcracker on a Youtube.  The 1993 NYC Ballet Nutcracker is a treat.  There's one from the Royal Ballet coming, but you have to buy a ticket and stream it.  I'm not sure we can do that on my computer.  I'll ask.  Now that we have TMobile, maybe it can be watched on our television!  

Its been a lovely Christmas season, and Rachel and Diana played a huge part in making it special.  Six days to go!  And, they go so quickly.  I love red no matter what color it is, too, so I'll share some Christmas Red with you below.  

Wishing you a lovely Christmastime!  The joy is in the little things that sparkle!

Love, Melissa

Maybe I'll make this for next year!

 

We're finally having some Christmassy weather today.  It has been dry, blue and clear for several weeks now.  Which has been great for my husband who is relandscaping the backyard after we had our three beautiful birch trees removed last summer.  They were threatening to consume the house, and were, yes, a fire harzard.  Sad though.  On the flip side, they dropped something on the patio and whatever was out there, throughout the year.  Even sticky stuff from a pest that eats the leaves.  And, that was the worst of all.  

But, it is raining today and a fire's been warming the house in the fireplace since last night.  We so need the rain, but to me, its a gift that keeps giving.  And, maybe there will be snow in the Sierras to go cross country skiing in this week!  If there's enough snow around 5000 ft., we'll go.

And, Peggy Sue's Christmas wish came true early.

I knew I wanted to make her a coat.  I would love to make her some snow play clothing, too, but this will have to wait until after the New Year.  Alice Leverette did not give us a pattern for a jacket or coat, much less a bonnet to go with them, so I put this off as long as I could.  Am I getting lazy in designing patterns?  Maybe a little.  Only because I have two other projects on the table and have been caring for a puppy that just had major surgery when a piece of rubber got stuck in his small intestine.  Good grief.  What next? 

And, I've been decorating the house in bits and pieces.  The main decorations, which were minimal this year, have been added to slowly as the spirit and inspiration hit me.  Maybe this is okay.  A little Christmas every day.  Its feeling very Christmassy and cheery around here now, and dolls have been getting redressed for the holiday as well.  Even little trees for the dolls are getting decorated, both pine and tinsel.

When I was browsing for coat ideas for Peggy Sue, I spotted this darling retro Christmas card, and the decision had been made there and then, that I would do something like this for her.

The swing coat in the illustration shows a peep of a star print dress beneath it.  I thought I might make a dress like this to go with it, but I'd already made a similar one that was the backdrop for the half apron with the white Merry Christmas embroidery on it.  If I spent less time making up the Winter Holiday wardrobe, the coat and bonnet made up for it in effort.  Velveteen is such a beautiful fabric, but it is such a bear to sew on.

So I put to the task of making up a pattern for a swing coat and bonnet to fit Peggy Sue.  If you think this looks familiar, you're correct!  Skipper got something similar in the early 1960's.  In fact, my Barbie Dream House is decorated for Christmas now, and Skipper has joined Barbie and Ken to watch them decorate with lights.  What Skipper's coat did not have was chunky red buttons and a bonnet lined in silk.  I don't think the fashions really began to change so much until the mid 1960's.  Full skirts and dresses were still the fashion and I remember my mother swishing around the house in them.  Even June Clever was seen dressed to the nines when ironing and cooking!  But, I digress as usual...

I chose the thinnest cotton velveteen in a bright red for the coat.  This fabric came from the U.K.  I don't know if you've tried purchasing expensive cotton velveteen before, but it can be a variety of thicknesses and only the thinnest works for small dolls.  The coat has then been lined in a fabric called Duchess Silk Satin.  Its thick and luxurious and seemed appropriate for the coat and bonnet.

I was a little hesitant to try attaching a bodice to the circle skirt of the coat, but then I realized how many times I've done something similar with hats and hat bands, and other garments.  Fabric does allow itself to be manipulated.  You just need a good degree of patience.  If I haven't mentioned this in awhile, I'll do so again as a tip to sewing velveteen and lining it as well.  Alternate the direction of your long silk pins when pinning the pieces together.  Its keeps the fabrics from pushing against each other in the feed dog and separating.  I did get a walking foot, but have yet to try using it because I have to read directions and try something new, and we all know how I am with directions.  Hopeless.

But through this all, I managed to make Peggy Sue a fancy and luxurious Christmas coat and bonnet set.  I had to use fine silk ribbon for the ties on the hat because I couldn't find the silk satin ribbon in my stash.  At this time of year, arrivals of orders have slowed down to a near stand still.  I can always redo the ties later, but the thin silk tucks nicely under the pointed collar. 

This, for now, concludes my sewing for the young lady.  I have countless items I've made for her since summer and enjoyed making every single one of them.  And, now I must somehow make them all fit in the aqua display case I bought her several months ago.  

Peggy Sue is packed and ready to travel with her family to her grandparent's home in the country for the holidays.  There will be skating on the pond, a sledge pulled by grandfather's large work horses to ride on, grandmother's wonderful candied ham for Christmas dinner, and best of all, loads of presents under the tree.

I hope you'll enjoy some of the 1950's ephemera shown below.  The first image the bonnet that inspired Peggy Sue's.

Wishing you the best of the season while Christmas approaches!

Melissa

My parents did this!

New image, but so pretty!