Anne Plays Cinderella and Ellowyne On Carnaby Street

Gosh, it's good to be back writing my journal!  Where have I been?  On the lake kayaking.  On the patio in the mornings with my tea, writing and reading.  Talking with friends, working with friends, preparing for the UFDC convention July 23 - 27th.  Oh, and knocking myself out making things for it!

Idle?  Never!  After my last posting, I've been working with a dear friend, making a special gift for the presenter of the event we are both attending.  And, making a gift for one of the special friends I chum around with when I attend these conventions.  Yup.  You guessed it.  It's all a big secret.  Gifts are just that until they are given, and in this world of social media and the Internet, you cannot let even one photo slip through the cracks. 

However, once home, I'll share all of these and more.  And I can't wait to do so!

In the meantime, I caught Ellowyne fever again.  I have a lovely and incredible vintage Ellowyne collection, and when these dolls came out for their second debut through the Virtual Doll Collection, I purchased one, but I didn't bond with her.  I know.  Stick in the mud.  I loved what I had of old Ellowyne and Rufus and was much too busy with Grace and Dolly to go there.  

It's not so much a matter of changing one's mind but falling in love all over again.  And the Cleveland Regional did it for me.  No, I didn't go, but I saw the collaboration set of garments that Robert and Rachel had made for it, and that did it.  Mod 60's outfits.  With shoes in each pack!  Purchased the three costumes from a UFDC regional director, and the Chasing Rainbows Ellowyne, at great cost on Ebay, and took off on a new adventure.  Trust me.  I needed this.  After what I'd been through at the beginning of the year, I was fully ready for some new fun.

And summer is always a time when I become sentimental for the British Invasion both in fashion and music.  It's light, it's fun, it takes one back to an exciting time in the 20th century.  I was just a child, but I absorbed everything around me and couldn't wait to grow up to enjoy what these girls were doing.  However, by the time I was old enough, that era had ended, and I was stuck in the stinkin' 70's.  They weren't all that bad, but growing up in them was challenging for me.  So, I wax sweet on the 60's.

I intended this set of three outfits to take me through the summer, but it lacked something yellow.  Mellow Yellow.  Sunshine yellow!  And the introduction of the go-go boots that the VDC offered recently, set me on the track to make an outfit to go with them. 

I might also mention that I was purchasing wigs for this doll as well.  I fell in love with the flip wig in red, which is so reminiscent of Ginger from Gilligan's Island.  This is her 60's wig and while dressing in the style of this era, it stays on her head.

So, let's talk about Carnaby Street.  While rich in history, by the 1960's Carnaby Street was popular with followers of the mod, hippie and peacock revolution.  Many independent fashion designers like Mary Quant, had premises on the street.  Various underground music bars opened in the surrounding streets to provide hot entertainment in the evenings.  Bands like The Rolling Stones and The Who appeared in the area to shop and socialize, so it became one of the coolest destinations associated with the 1960's Swinging London scene.  So I named this outfit, Carnaby Street.

Starting with one of Tamara Casey's patterns as a sloper, I created an A-line dress in yellow and white checks.  When I purchased the fabric, I though the checks would be much larger, but that's just the way it goes when you cannot hand select fabrics at a store.  Still, it's a fun pattern and works well for this outfit.

I saw the boots, conceived the outfit, and began sewing prior to the sale of the shoes, in the hopes of snagging a pair of the yellow ones.  Colors on your computer screen are never reliable.  I did my best to get a good color match but considering that the green shoes that go with the green and white checked daisy dress from the collaboration, my favorite, are a shade different, I felt okay with pairing the outfit and the boots.

The A-line dress sports a sewn-in belt that runs through four belt loops.  This was a very popular style in the 60's.  But just the dress wasn't enough.  We needed a hat.

Newsboy caps were popular in this fashion era, so I made a pattern to create this hat.  It had to be sized larger due to Ellowyne's wig as its slightly teased in the up-do style, ending in a great flip.  

I added a covered button to the top, and Ellowyne's off to shop and socialize on Carnaby Street.

 I was lucky enough to purchase these great boots that fit like a dream, in black and red as well.  I fully intended on making a couple more outfits from the 60's for Ellowyne as summer carries on.

I also intend on making a purse or two, but these are time consuming, and I had Anne's first costume to consider.

Around the same time, the VDC released Anne Fitzpatrick.  Grace's little sister.  She's a 12 1/4" doll with high articulation, and not even close to Tonner's Marley, who was Tyler Wentworth's little sister.  She's completely different.  

As I'm writing this, I've become aware that I forgot to include a photo of the Anne doll I purchased which has a removable wig in a long brunette style with bangs.  She came with a pair of white sneakers, and I'm not a "sneakers" person, so I made her orange espadrilles to go with her dress.  (I just added a photo to the bottom of this posting.  The blog site doesn't like you messing with the photos once you arrange them and begin writing.)  That would be the first thing I made for Anne.

But one of the greatest things about purchasing an Anne doll, was that you received a pdf file of Anne paper dolls that Diana Vining drew!  I was a goner.  

Some of you might remember that Diana had done a Grace paper doll set that was all in tropical prints for summer.  This was the reason I purchased a Grace doll.  Just to make all those costumes, which I did.  It took me the summer to do so, but I had a great time finding fabrics and bringing Diana's artwork to life.  Why not do it with Anne?  No darts!  That's why I love dressing child dolls.  No darts.

When I first saw the paper dolls, I was naturally motivated to create the Alice dress on this page.  But then Club Grace's final subscription box was a Cinderella costume with PVC glass slippers.  I'm done crying that I had to cancel my Grace subscription, but it was what I had to do at the time.  This was a very traumatic time for me in my marriage, and since then, we've come to terms and are somewhat back on track.  That said, I felt crushed once again, that I would not receive the Cinderella box for Grace.  Dolly would have been dressed as the fairy godmother.  Remmie Lou?  A coachman?

However, I have Robert's Cinderella and Prince dolls, and doggone it, we can't have everything, can we.  BUT!  Diana drew Anne a Cinderella costume to compliment Grace's, and I would make it.  First.  I'd get to play Cinderella with the VDC after all.

Rachel offered the Cinderella wigs, which we were told fit Anne's head.  And she offered the necklace for Grace as well as a mini Cinderella book in a hard case.  With these pieces, I had a nice start.

Grace's gown is gorgeous and its perfect for enjoying Grace as a Cinderella princess.  But what of a child's costume?  Well, it would be different.  It's a dress-up trunk, pretend costume, so naturally would be made with a child in mind.

With very little time to spend looking for perfect fabrics and very little money since I'm now shopping for all three dolls, I selected a light blue cotton sateen from Farmhouse Fabrics.  And a light blue sparkle tulle from Etsy.  While these were on their way to me, I was finishing up Ellowyne's Carnaby Street outfit.

I also purchased a pattern from Tamara to use as a sloper to create the costume.  One of the difficulties in using thicker fabrics is that you can't create the volume you might wish, as the gathers at the waist need to fit onto the width of the bodice.  

There was also the addition of the little skirted waist that had to be included in the bodice.  I probably could have used two layers of 

tulle, but it was a tight fit at that.  And it's a little girl's costume.

Diana likes flutter sleeves on her paper dolls.  They're a nuisance to make, but that's what I do.  Fiddly work.  

I created a little tiara after her illustration as well.  This was made from stiffened gold metallic leather and trimmed with teeny tiny rhinestones.

Here's a view of the side-back.

Shoes were next.  I actually have some PVC clear fabric in two weights coming, to see if I can attempt making "glass slippers".  I do not think I'll be successful with this.  My guess is that heat is involved.  Like warming up the plastic to mold around the foot.  If it works, I'll post on it and the process.  

So instead, I did the next best thing and made her silver shoes with little rhinestones on them.  A child would love them.

And I did a little reading on the story and the inception of the glass slippers.  Glass slippers were not introduced until Frenchman, Charles Perrault wrote his version of the fairytale.  The original Cinderella had fur slippers.  It's a common misperception that when Perrault's version was translated to English, the word vair (fur) was mistaken for verre (glass).  Not true.  There's an entire head banging write up on all of this that would dismay many a Disney purist, but the bottom line is that the story is older than dirt and originated in China, or rather it's the oldest known story of Cinderella,

Add to that, Cinderella was first aided by her dead mother, who reappeared as a domestic animal, typically a cow or goat rather than a fairy godmother.  She also makes three visits to a ball, festival or church, and her true identity is revealed by a ring that will fit no other.  The story we love and know best has its origins with Charles Perrault.

Finally, Diana drew a little pumpkin and mouse to accessorize the Cinderella paper doll dress.  These I did in needle felting.  Sometimes accessories like this take as much if not more time than an actual costume.  Perhaps I should have spent a little more time structuring the mouse, but this is a very tiny needle felt character, and it's a toy, so if he resembles something other than a mouse, give me a pass!

If you've gotten this far, thank you for staying the course and reading this lengthy posting, journaling.  It's been a long time for me since I've written a blog and there were two outfits and two new dolls to cover!  This has been fun.  Rachel has been keeping us in dolls, doll clothing, accessories and excitement, and things to look forward to!  Many thanks go out to this fabulous entrepreneur.

Summer.  Let's make this the best summer ever!

Love,

Melissa