A Portrait of Huguette Clark and Her Favorite Doll Suzette

Just after finishing Cissy in Aqua, I launched into a project that would test my "slipping" skill set after joyfully using someone else's patterns, and on a much larger doll.  But, it was simply something that I had to do as a gift for a special friend.  Creating Huguette Clark as a portrait doll was pure inspiration at the onset.

Back in December I learned about this upcoming auction through Theriault's of Annapolis, Maryland, that would offer to the world, for the first time, the doll collection of Huguette Clark, the copper heiress.  It would be held in Santa Barbara, California, the home of the Clark's summer home.  My friend, Heather, would be attending this come hell or highwater, and it was through this she had to go to get there.  She'd had some health issues that threatened to prevent her from attending, but I know she would have crawled there if it was the only option.  Not wishing to interfere or be a pest, I did not offer to take her there, and only found out after that she had hoped I'd offer!

She did attend, and by the end of the auction, she would become known as the Queen of Bleuette, for having won a bidding war with a Japanese collector bidding online, for Huguette's Bleuette.  She also won a gorgeous Rosette, both dolls complete with trousseaus, and I was thrilled to pieces for her.  Heather is one of the foremost collectors of Bleuette dolls and owns one of every mold, antiques all.  And, now she owns the prized Bleuette doll once owned by Huguette Clark.

During this time, I'd picked up the book Empty Mansions that was written by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newall, Jr., a biography on W.A. Clark, Huguette's father, and "the mysterious life of Huguette Clark and spending the great American fortune".  The book was wonderfully entertaining and followed W.A.'s rags to riches story that began in the late 1800's.  I won't spoil it for you should you like to read it.  I typically don't read non-fiction, but I was enthralled by the story.  And, utterly charmed by the life story of Huguette Clark, a sensitive and artistically talented child born in

Paris, France, on June 9, 1906.  She took on a very private, and very reclusive life in later years, and died on May 24, 2011.  It was my inspiration and task to treat Heather to a portrait doll of Huguette and her favorite Jumeau doll (which was also sold at auction), to commemorate the auction event, her wins, and celebrate the life of a dear little girl who loved dolls.

I spent a good deal of time researching Huguette (pronounced hew-get), and photographs of her, and chose to work from what may now be the most famous one, at least among doll collectors, of the child and her doll Suzette.  I had a 12" Wendy Lawton Prim and Proper in my stash with a brown wig and pink eyes, and one of the two remaining 2 1/2" mini Bleuettes that an acquaintance made for me what seems like a millennium ago.  That was about the only luck I had in creating the doll.

The first task was to see if I could made a doll close in resemblance.  The only saving grace was that this was a gift and not a commission, so if the doll didn't come out "perfect", so what.  Right?  This is just one of the reasons I don't sell my work.  Paying patrons can be a real pain in the popo.  If its free, why complain?  And, I only do this kind of work for friends.  

The first piece I attempted to make was the blouse.  I'd been studying this portrait of Huguette daily.  At first glance, a person sees a white blouse and striped jumper on a blonde girl with her hair pulled back.  Sounds easy?  Well the blouse is actually a dolman sleeved blouse with a winged collar.  Try looking that one up for examples.  None to be found.  Lots of dolman sleeved garments, but no blouses like this.  I also half suspect that this may have been a dress with the bodice of the blouse attached at the hem of the bodice.  This was my take on it, and I was going to try this, but after a week or two of trying to make this garment, I chose to make them separately.

The blouse pattern took me no less than a week to design with several mock ups.  I simply could not figure it out after the easy peasy days of patterns for Cissy.  I was terribly frustrated, but still determined and pushed through it.

There were a lot of "sleep on it" moments, then I tried a collar that would have a facing that ran down the front of the blouse.  I'd studied patterns of just collars, but they were mostly for men's shirts.  At any rate, I designed a one piece dolman sleeve pattern, a collar that attaches to the neckline, then a long collar pattern for the facing that is cut on the fold.  The other thing is that when you line the blouse with the facing on a pattern such as this, you have extra width in the back.  I solved this by sewing in one long fold-over pleat down the back.  It could have been split and sewn, but this was neater.

The next task was to create the jumper.  I purchased no less than six different striped fabrics in royal blue and white, and navy blue and white.  The best stripe was not 1/2" or 1/4", but something in between and not quite 3/8".  This fabric was also whispery, probably rayon, and was difficult to work with.  I was also pained by the color.  A portrait like Huguette's was done in oils.  When you look at it, you see the color cream.  Was this the true color for both her dress and the doll's?  Who knows?  Paintings are also sealed and this sealer often yellows.  Not only that, but the artist may have painted with the "warmth of the sun" in reflection that would also make the colors not so stark, but softer, creamier in color.  I had to wing it.  Interpret it.


The bodice is a two piece band that the little straps are set into both in the front and back.  They needed to be positioned and sewn in between the two pieces.  This was frustrating in both length of strap and positioning and many seams were undone and resewn in the process.  Interpreting this dress again, the bodice does not come down to the natural waist, but is almost "empire".

The skirt then needed to be attached with the opening in front.  One of these days I will try this entire pattern again and see if I can attach the blouse where the skirt attaches to the bodice, but that's for another day, and another doll.  All this attaching wasn't a problem, but the length of the bodice kept needing to be shortened to get the empire look, and the skirt was often too wide, too many gathers and pouf (another Cissy setback), an the length needed to be correct. (While the photos don't really show this, the skirt does come mid knee.)

I can't tell you how many times I've had to do something over because the skirt was too short.  So I made it a little longer to be on the safe side.  I also did something I don't normally do, and that was not lining the skirt.  I hand hemmed it.  With nice, neat tiny stitches.  And, guess what?  The skirt was too long.  Back to photos of Huguette and the length of her dresses!  Just below or to mid knee.  So I carefully pulled all the stitches out and discovered that rayon runs.  There were three distinct runs, like pantyhose runs, in the fabric.  Once a needle goes into fabric, its there forever.  So off the skirt came, and the second one got lined with a thin, white batiste.

It may not be readily noticeable, but I did get the arrow point at the center of the bodice in there.  I also had some prized vintage teeny tiny mother of pearl shank buttons that I sacrificed for this project.  They have been used on Louise Godey's costuming and I think the sleeves of Alice Liddell.  I still have some left, so that's nice.  They're terribly hard to come by.  Buttons.  Well they sure do look blue in the painting, don't they?  They are not.  That is the reflection of the sky in mother of pearl.  Or color picked up for the blue in the dress, shadow and light.  Mother of pearl also has its own rainbows in the shell.   If I were not a painter, I would not know these things, so it is helpful.

Huguette's human hair wig was restyled.  The bangs were trimmed and the hair was pulled back in two sections.  At the top and lower at the neck.  I like to use the tiny clear rubberbands to begin with, then use sewing thread to tightly wrap the hair in place.  Rubberbands disintegrate over time and thread lasts.  He hair is then topped with a silk satin white bow.  I made her little black shoes with cotton ribbon bows.  I would have liked to have made them from patent leather, but its hugely expensive per hide if you can find it.

The tiny doll, Suzette, was dressed in white batiste, as close to the doll's dress worn in the Theriault's photo as possible.  Dress pleats and lace.  White leather shoes and socks.  Even wee bloomers.  She was wigged with blonde mohair.  I haven't dressed a miniature in quite awhile and would like not to have to do this anytime soon again.  But, it went well and only took a day.

I was tickled to pieces that the doll arrived on Heather's doorstep much earlier today than expected.  I think she's pleased.

Below are some lovely photos I found of Huguette Clark and also with her sister Andree (hyphen over the first e).  Isn't it fun that they had sister dresses?  There are two photos with Huguette and her father, W.A. Clark.  Rather "Mark Twain" looking!  And, one of the doll Suzette, from which I worked.  My favorite photograph is that of Huguette with her daddy, wearing the indian headdress.  I was so very tempted to do this one.

Now, back to sewing some Hitty doll garment pieces for another friend of mine.  We shall return to Cissy soon!

Love,
Melissa

Cissy Goes Shopping in Aqua

Wow.  Finally the birdcage veil netting arrived!  Took me all of five minutes to cut a piece, gather and attach it!  I've had this outfit done for two weeks (or so it seems), and was awfully tempted to blow off attaching a veil, but I'm glad I waited.  That doesn't sound like a very patient person does it?  Patience.  Well, I think we all have patience for most things.  Its the little irks we have no control over that make us lose it.

One of Cissy's colors is aqua.  So many beautiful outfits were made for her in this soothing and delightful color.  Its was very popular in the mid to late fifties, too.  And flamingo pink.  No surprise there.

Did I mention that I found that I was able to begin watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime Video?  I am smitten with this show.  For awhile I'd watch one episode a day - cutting into sewing time, but hey! I'm studying the fashions, too!  What an addicting show.  Currently I'm caught up on season two, episode seven.  One more episode and then its on to  season three, then I have to wait like everyone else for more.

I can hardly believe the work of the head designer for this show!  I've been pausing and sketching and making notes, and perusing fabric like nobody's business these days.  I have plans!  My favorite episodes so far were those of Midge's family vacation in the Catskills.  Play clothes!  I adore play and everyday wear for my dolls.  I don't walk around dressed to the nines, and neither should they.

Anyway, with all my fabric hunting, I found this gorgeous Liberty Tana Lawn fabric that has stolen my sewing heart.  Thirty-one dollars a yard, but oh the hand!  Its like angel fluff and sews better than silk.  Gathers tight as silk, too, so Cissy's dresses can be even fuller.  Fabric.com is now my favorite place to shop.  The selection and how you select is a shopping dream.  I've actually checked their prices against those on Ebay for some of this fabric, and their prices are best.  That's my shopping tip for the day.

Cissy is wearing the Liberty Tana Lawn "Betsy" fabric in aqua.  It also came in other colors, and I'm so tempted, but I do hate to be boring and repeat fabrics.  I might do it anyway.  Her coat is aqua silk taffeta and is lined in the dress fabric.  This is where sewing gets fun.  Color! and design.  The more I study the fashions of the fifties, the more a fan I am.

Okay, let's get this out of the way.  I did not make the Madame Alexander hat box.  There's a seller on Ebay that makes these reproductions, and does it quite well.  She also has a logo that can be printed on the boxes.  It has left me wondering if MA minds?  Okay, let's not go there.  I asked her very politely if she thought it might be fun to make real shopping bags with the logo on them.  At first she was excited, but two weeks later when I asked about them, she said they were too difficult to make.  uh-huh  Really???  'Scuse me, but they'd sell like hot cakes and you can get free patterns for "bags" of all kinds on the Internet.  Print, cut, fold and glue.  What's so hard about that?  So Cissy is carrying a hat box that might be large enough to hold a fascinator, or a least a sandwich.  But, its cute.  Just venting.  I was pretty disappointed.

With this outfit I was able to play with existing patterns I had.  The coat.  After seeing Mrs. Maisel's coat that she wore to court in the first season, I had to try to make something similar.  So I took one of the simple coat patterns and increased it in the back on the fold and added a wonderful pleat for style and fullness.  I also made my own sleeve for the coat.  This is a three-quarter, puff sleeve, pleated at the elbow then banded.

Cissy's fairy light dress is the same pattern as dress done in salmon with white and black daisies.  To make it different, I included a belt of the same fabric and embellished the neckline with rhinestones.  In my vintage Cissy research, I noticed MA had done this a couple of times, and so did the designer for Mrs. Maisel's wardrobe.  I was concerned that adding jewelry would interrupt the look, or distract, but it doesn't.  These are tiny sew-on rhinestones.  I almost tried the ones with the prong fixtures that go on the underside, but putting that kind of hole in $31 a yard fabric seemed shameful.  The rhinestones for those were also a bit larger.

I bought a couple of purse frames from Catspaw Online and made Cissy a gold leather purse.  These are nice little frames with the kiss locks.  I've never been able to buy them before because I didn't have a doll large enough to use them.  I may buy a few more and play with interesting shapes.  I love purses!  The gloves she is wearing were made by a professional seamstress that an Ebay seller for Cissy had in her shop.  I bought them in every color she had.  The seamstress has passed away since she made these, so knowing that no more would be made, I had to have them.  I admire this kind of work.  I will have to look into making fingered gloves again.  I did make one pair for Louise Godey early on, but with Cissy's larger hands, they might be fun.  Work.  Maybe.

Lastly I had to make the hat.  A pill box hat isn't terribly difficult to make, but my hats, of course, are lined.  The new thing about this was the padding I included in the process.  I have this "baby blanket" sort of padding that I sewed to the buckram and once covered with the silk, it was perfect.  Yes, they really made the hats this way.  There are a ton of Youtubes on making fifties hats.  This was also where I learned how to attach a veil to the hat.  It was in one of the videos that I spied the pleated bow on a pill box hat.  I also added feathers.  The whole nine yards.  I don't usually get this fancy with my work, but such styles seem to require it!  The feather embellishments are "stripped coque feathers" and "dyed goose biots".  How's that for some new terminology?  I have no idea what "coque" and "biot" means, but it may have to do with the birds themselves.  A quick search didn't turn up the meanings.  Anyone know?

And, of course, I had to make her some costume jewelry to match.  A girl simply can't go out on the town without her jewelry.  This outfit was a joy to make.  I can't wait to get started on the next one.

Its already spring here where I live.  We all shake our heads and worry about a drought year, but its hard to argue with beautiful, sunny days.  I think I'll keep Cissy in this outfit for awhile.  She does enjoy shopping.

Love,
Melissa

The Marvelous Miss Alexander

The other day I was visiting with Betsy on the phone when we got to talking about television shows.  She was asking me if I was watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.  I haven't been.  I can't.  We don't have high speed Internet or Netflix.  It sucks living in an unincorporated rural area - at least when it comes to TV shows.  She was telling me how fabulous the 1950's costuming was, and how Midge, the main character, is always dressed up like a big Cissy doll.  Well I had to look her up.  Wow.  What a fun show this would be to enjoy.  Sadly the only DVD versions are from the U.K.  Why do they do that to us?  But, I can assure you I'll be saving off some images of the Midge's costuming for ideas for Cissy.  There's one in particular that comes to mind.  Its a halter top with wrap skirt over green bathing bottoms.

I can't believe how much fun I'm having with this doll.  She, of course, has a story all of her own.  On rainy days she goes to the bookstore and shops for books on etiquette and travel.  As I write, a miniature version of a travel book is on its way here.

For a short while, we were having some rainy days, and beautiful, fun rain wear has always been a staple in my dolls' wardrobes.  So Cissy needed one.  Especially since Madame Alexander never thought to make her one.  Imagine!  I loved rainy days as a child and used to watch my mother get into some elaborate gear to go out.  Of this wardrobe was a fold up rain bonnet and these clear rubber boots that your shoed foot would go into.  It even had a little heel.  These boots intrigued me solely for the high heel portion.  I guess every heel would have to fit in that space, and since my shoes did not have heels, I was stuck with galoshes.

I've been going nuts buying fabric lately.  Seriously bad ass fabric shopping. There was this particular wisteria colored floral cameo print fabric at Farmhouse Fabrics, that I'd been eye balling for a year and could never seem to click into my cart.  It was less than a yard and the programming didn't like that.  I finally wrote to Customer Care and they fixed it for me.  So I sat down and created Wisteria Rain for Cissy.

I also had this lovely wisteria colored silk taffeta on hand and knew right away that this would make a gorgeous rain coat.  Its the illusion we're chasing after all.  Slick and shiny, but classy.  All I needed was the right pattern.  If Cissy planned on spending this rainy day in taxis going to the bookstore and out to lunch, the last thing she'd be wearing is a cocktail or summer dress.  I wanted something demure, and a proper day dress.  So I did what I normally do and made the bodice pattern myself.  No easy task as I used a vintage pattern to start from for proportions.  You cannot just mix and match pattern pieces from different pattern sets.  And, I really love the long waisted look.  So I spent a couple of days messing with paper towels (some to cry into!  not really), and got the look I wanted.  I included a white Peter Pan collar and matching cuff bands on the three-quarter semi puffed sleeves.

The next task was the coat and I did use a vintage pattern for this, but the pattern was not proportioned to be lined.  Even though I measured it on the doll, and added length to the coat and sleeve hems, they were still a bit short.  This was very disappointing as I normally would have just remade the whole doggone thing, but I didn't have enough silk left to make another.  And, the yardage was no longer available for purchase.  So I took the coat apart and added lined cuffs to the ends of the sleeves.  I also found that the sleeves were very narrow as the pattern was for a dress coat to go over a sleeveless cocktail dress.  I will make this coat again, and when I do, I will redo the armholes, sleeves and add a generous 2" to the hem length.

The next thing she needed was a rain bonnet, so I went to Pinterest to see what I could find.  I didn't want a sea captain's hat, although they were featured.  And, I didn't want a rain bonnet in the shape of those fold up ones, but it was a consideration.  And, then I found this advertisement from a 1950's London magazine.  Wow!  This was perfect!  Here we go again with my love of hooded capes.  But, this one was an adorable little capelet and I could imagine the designer creating this so rain wouldn't trickle down the back of her neck.  I think people were expected just to make their own draft from this drawing, but I did something else.  I enlarged it on a copier.  The interesting thing is that people's patterns are proportional to the human form, whereas dolls have larger heads.  They do.  Especially when they have thick wigs.  The hood needed about a 20% more enlargement than the cape - if you'd like to copy this and try it.

I did not line the hooded capelet.  I felt that this would be more in line with a true rain bonnet.  The coat is lined with a pretty white cotton with little violet flowers on it.  A photo of the lining can be seen at the end of this journal posting.

Cissy needed an umbrella.  No proper girl should go out tin the rain without one.  I recalled that I had this adorable black salesman sample umbrella that up to this point, no doll I owned was large enough for.  It was the perfect size.  I'm not only a doll collector, but in the past, I used to collect pretty umbrellas.  I also used to be a shoe hound.  Love shoes!  Now that I don't go out much, my dolls benefit from my collecting pursuits.

I was also toying with the idea of lucite purses.  There's a couple of Ebay artisans who make these from plastic click-lock boxes.  Believe it or not, I couldn't find any of these boxes on Amazon or anywhere.  So I put my thinking cap on and did some research.  I have some darling ones made, which I'll share another time, but for this outfit, I emptied a straight pin box and used it.   Also, the handles on their purses were simple ribbons or picot trims.  I wanted a more authentic look.  So I looked up how to drill holes in plastic boxes.  There's a YouTube on this, and the fellow uses a miniature soldering iron.  These get very hot and have pointy tips.  All you need to do is gentle poke the plastic box and "instant hole"!  Proceed with your jewelry making skills for the handles.  I was very pleased with this technique, but it does take some care to create.

Lastly I just had to make Cissy a pair of those rubber boots.  I did some extensive research on PVC sheeting and wasn't happy with any of it.  It would not be thin enough to create little boots from.  Also, you need a special chemical (HH-88 or something like that), to glue PVC to PVC, plastic to plastic.  I did not want to mess with that, at least yet.

Then I came up with the idea to cut up a shower curtain.  Its made from PVC and is very thin.  No kidding.  A shower curtain, or what some may call a shower curtain liner.  You could probably get a five hundred pairs out of a single curtain.  But we won't do that.

I spent untold hours and pattern styles trying to make this little bootie.  It had to be sewn since I wasn't about to start messing with big cans of chemicals.  I must have made fifteen patterns before drafting one that I was satisfied with.  After all, it needed that little heel.  In retrospect, a heavier cloth would be wonderful, but I'm not sure you could turn it inside out after seaming.  The boots close with little mother of pearl buttons and a slash button hole on the other flap.  I'm tickled to pieces that I could make these.  I may go back and try to improve on these at some point, but after fifteen or so different tries, these will do.

Finding these marvelous photo advertisements is one of the neatest things.  I love Pinterest for research and ideas.  People put everything and anything up there from every era and interest imaginable.

The lucite purses Madame Alexander featured and the ones the Ebay artisans list, always have flowers in them.  What lady puts flowers in her purse?  I know they make contemporary lucite purses now, and I was sorely tempted to buy one for the novelty of it, but who wants everyone to see what kind of crap you keep in your purse?  I find this idea a little puzzling, but love the novelty of it nonetheless.

So what I did was start looking for things like fans and combs (Madame Alexander had a comb in one of hers), and found a little vintage pink plastic comb, and with that added some vintage flowers - maybe because its expected.

Well, this is a long journal post, but we're not done yet.  Before I began Wisteria Rain, I was playing with another pattern from the vintage sets.  This dress sported a natural waistline on the bodice, and an interesting way to not include darts.  Gathers under the bustline do the trick in this two piece bodice style.  I'm calling this outfit Peachy Keen. I just came up with that today.  And, I also looked up the term.  You might think its a relatively contemporary slang term, but it initiated in 1948.  I didn't read beyond that, but at least it could be appropriate for the fifties, even if I add an endearing quality to it.  

I bought this salmon or peach fabric at JoAnn's.  I don't normally shop for good fabric there, but I was looking for netting at the time to include beneath the skirt for volume.  After I tried this, I never did it again.  You can't get enough gather with the extra layer thin as netting is.  So, yes, I bought this pretty fabric at JoAnn's.  I love hues of orange and found the white daisy's with dark grey centers interesting.  Different.

Poking around Michael's for jewelry bits, and netting on ribbon rolls for hats, I found this flocked white netting with black dots.  I'm an impulsive shopper.  I'm impulsive about a lot of things, but when I find something interesting, I don't pass it up.  I just figure I'll be able to use it at some point.  How often I have arrived back home wishing I'd picked this or that up after all.  

It was never my intention to include ribbon on the dress.  In fact, I liked it plain.  And, that has always been a problem with me artistically.  Some people bomb their project with so much frou-frou that a garment beneath is almost undetectable.  I have the opposite problem and it stems from the fear of having to use the seam ripper.  But, I did something I'm learning to do, and that's read the doggone pattern.  This is where I discovered that it called for ribbon trim and even little bows, but I dismissed the bows.  Would dark gray ribbon have looked better?  I fussed with this a great deal before added black silk-satin ribbon trim to this dress.  I had anxiety over whether or not I ruined the dress after sewing it on.  The centers of the daisies are a dark gray, not black.  Would the black ribbon detract or upset the overall look?  So what to do in this case?  Play up the theme.

I'd purchased some reproduction shoes with elastic to match the dress in both white and black bases.  Using the ones with black heels would compliment the black ribbon.  But it wasn't enough.  And, for some reason I was determined to use that flocked netting on a hat for this dress.  It is busy.  A bit wild, and definitely out of my comfort zone, and that's exactly what I wanted.  I've been sewing French Fashion and period costumes for so long that I don't know how to play with color and prints.

I would add a white hat and decorate it to pull the outfit together.  While waiting for my PNB order of hat straw, I decided to make Cissy a straw bag from some leftover white straw that I had.  I love making purses.  I love making accessories, and probably spent three days on this little purse.  I made one similar to it for Daisy quite a few years ago.  It was just a matter of recalling what I did and pushing through.

This little purse is very fine.  Its a lovely straw bag with all the details. It is lined with the fabric from Cissy's dress, which will make it unique to the dress alone.  I made a straw flower with a black center to add to the front of it.  It closes with a gold bead and gold thread loop on the other half.  It is large enough for a pink comb, but I'm not sure Cissy sunglasses would fit.  It also boasts a braided straw purse handle on findings.  I spent a good deal of time shopping jewelry findings to make the handle.  Etsy is a good choice for that.  I like it.  Can you tell I used to collected purses, too?  Shoes, umbrellas, purses.

Finally when dressing up the hat, I added that flocked netting and remade three white millinery daisy flowers with black pom-pom centers, and stitched them on.  

My only regret is that I did not take photos of this outfit with Cissy wearing white gloves.  That would have finished the look nicely.  But, then she couldn't wear her pearl ring.  I do have a couple of lovely reproduction gloves made by an Ebay seamstress.  Speaking of pearls, I also made her two pairs of pearl earrings, a stretchy pearl bracelet, and a lovely classic pearl necklace.

Cissy now has three complete outfits, and I have a couple of other projects in the hopper that I must begin.  But, honestly, I could keep sewing for The Marvelous Miss Alexander throughout the entire year ahead of us.  And, I may just to that after these other two projects are complete.  I'm just getting started and beginning to understand her wardrobe, dart and bodice design.

Thank you to the two readers who posted in comments recently.  I love hearing from you.

Cissy's such a fun doll to dress!

Love,
Melissa

  

Dressing Cissy

When I was a little girl, my mother used to take me shopping in downtown Sunnyvale.  It was an exciting day as she'd order a taxi to come pick us up, and I was so glad to be able to go somewhere far from home and see lots of new things.  Yes, my world was very small, but I had a wonderful imagination.

One of the special treats during these few shopping excursions, was taking the elevator to the third floor where there would be a diner, and we'd sit and order a cup of coffee for her and a soda for me.  We'd sit on tiny chairs at tiny round tables, and I'd watch the people behind the counter bring out wonderful plates of delicious food to customers.

Once in awhile, a stylish woman would enter on high heels with her skirts swirling about her, a charming handbag swinging from her wrist, and she sit, alone, at a table and order something like a BLT.  Oh, how I wanted to be her, and have that BLT grown up style.  I was one of those children that observes everything around them, and sometimes, I'm sure, to the point of staring.  (This was also when I learned that a "nice" sandwich should be cut diagonally.)  But, it was their life and a fantasy of what I imagined it to be that enthralled me. Most likely the young woman worked at the store and was simply taking her break, but to me she was a gracious and elegant woman with freedoms and shiny high heels that clacked when she walked, and the ability to order a diagonally sliced BLT and never drop a crumb.  Now, I'll admit that this was in the very early 1960's, but not much had really changed from the late 1950's...yet.  It was still the age of June Cleaver in her pearls and heels, doing housework throughout the day with never a hair out of place, and perfectly applied lipstick.  It was something to aspire to!  Who wouldn't want a kind and handsome man coming home in the evenings wearing a finely pressed suit, for whom I could fix a cocktail.

Cocktails were another obsession with me.  I was fixated on those neon signs over the doors of bars that looked like a martini with a plump green olive in them.  And, motels had these neon signs of an elegant woman diving into a swimming pool.  I longed to check into one of those motels just to use the pool like the plastic bathing capped woman in the neon sign.  So when I got the Cissy bug, all these memories came flooding back to me.  (And, let's not forget the Tao Tao Chinese Restaurant with its dark interior, red lights, and beaded curtain to the bar!  Early bling.)

Shortly prior to finishing my last project of the year, I'd been on Ebay looking for something.  I can't even recall what, but the Cissy's European Vacation trunk set was up for bid.  And, I wanted it.  I once had both Yardley Cissys from the 1990's and the two trunk sets that were sold in those years.  I did not have the dolls long because I didn't feel they fit into my collection, and off to another collector everything went.  And, for some reason, I now just had to have a Cissy and do it all over again.  Only this time I would sew for her myself.  I was seeing this doll as if for the first time, and in a new brand new light.  Moreover, she was a stunning "20 - 21 inch" doll.  She would require dresses sewn with darts and yards of fabric for those gorgeous swirling skirts.

Tempting fate, I bought patterns for her.  These would be reproductions of original Simplicity patterns for Cissy and similar sized dolls.  They'd be printed on large sheets of paper at a copy center and would have some patterns copied out onto several sheets of paper that you'd have to piece together.  Ugh.  But, seeing as how this was new territory for me, I gave it try.  What I wanted for my Cissy was "Casual Elegance".  I wanted a coat for winter and a lovely cocktail dress that could also be worn to dinners or to the theater.  I had this lovely olive silk dupioni with "few slubs" and built the outfit around this.

My first attempt at the dress was a disaster.  As you know, reading directions is not my forte, and this proved to be my downfall with the first dress.  I wasn't sure that 72" of fabric was really needed for these skirts, and how could all that gathering fit onto that small bodice?  So I took the circle skirt from one pattern and attached it to this bodice and the affect was awful.  Not only that, but the bands in front of the bodice were in the wrong spot.  The pattern indicated to place them between the dots and sew them into the darts.  It took me an hour to figure this out and when I was done attaching the skirt, I shook my head and hung it up for the day.  Its that sinking feeling of failure, and knowing you'll have to start all over again.  But, I did.  And, when I did, I made the dress in one day.

I'd purchased a couple of dresses for my doll off Ebay from Cissy seamstresses, to have a look at their construction.  You might laugh, but I measured those skirts seven times to verify the width of them.  72" by 8".  That's a lot of gathering.  And as I line my dresses, that's also a lot of Swiss Pima Batiste!  Worth it all though.

I'm actually going backwards here, as I made the coat first, but let's talk about the dress's accessories first.  I wanted to make a matching purse to go with this, and shoe bobs.  Remember those?  The counter tops of shoe stores would carry a box or basket with these clip-on decorations for shoes.  Since I haven't found out where to acquire the Cissy shoe bases yet (Ebay sellers are keeping this a closed secret), I had to find a way to make the shoes go with the outfit.  Shoe bobs.  But, it was the purse I made first.  I haven't made a purse like this in eons so it took me all day to figure it out.  It is an elegant little bag, is hand sewn at the gussets, snaps to close under the flap, and of course, is lined.  The shoe bobs were rounds of buckram covered in silk.  Then I beaded gold beads around the edges.  I glued this to a black wool felt backing, then attached a tiny black hook from a hook and eye set.  As I worked with this, it occurred to me that you could use decorated buckles this way as well.  I have some tiny mother of pearl ones...

The coat.  The coat was created from the same pattern set as the dress.  This coat was meant to be a fur coat, but until I can get a Walking Foot for my sewing machine, I'll stick to other fabrics.  This little swing coat is made with a beautiful oatmeal colored fine wool , and is lined in light mocha taffeta.  I had some issues with this pattern, too.

I got the sleeves attached incorrectly thinking, "Oh no problem!  I've made coats before!"  And, out all the stitches came.  Back to the instructions.  Its also a good idea when making other people's patterns to mark the carrots by either cutting out the little triangles or marking the fabric with chalk.  I have no idea what I did to get the sleeve in wrong, but I got it all sorted out and was able to use that marvelous Magalie Dawson "lining a dress or coat" method.

What I did do that was a little bit of "me", was make two hats.  The large brimmed hat was a pattern for a summer hat to be fashioned from cotton with a bow tied in the middle.  The bandeau was created from studying the work of other Cissy milliners.

The nice thing about these swing coats is that they accommodate all that skirt fabric beautifully.  What a novel idea!  Was this why they were designed in the first place?  Seems likely.  I've owned swing coats in my adulthood, and they never go out of fashion.  To me.

One of things that's new for me, too, is adding bling.  Cissy seems to have lovely hats and accessories decorated with little rhinestones.  Rhinestones and lots of tulle.  I've been studying the fashions in the book Cissy!  Reference, Rarities, Restoration, by Kiley Ruwe Shaw.  This is a marvelous volume with gorgeous dolls, featuring every outfit that was ever produced for Cissy by Madame Alexander from the 1950's.  It does not include the contempory Cissy fashions or dolls from the last twenty years.  Apparently Cissy went out of fashion when a smaller model came on the scene.  Barbie.  However, this book is perfect for the study of the fashions, the hats, the shoes, and also the wig styles.  Well, it has everything.  Thank you, Ms. Ruwe Shaw!

I've been focusing on Cissy since the start of the new year and expect to sew for her throughout the year.  I do have other projects in the hopper, but this is fun.  Different can be good.  I love this doll's size, and she has a wonderful personality.  I do not see myself purchasing a vintage Cissy's since their hair is usually a disaster.  Even though this book details the restoration and restyling of the wigs, there isn't enough information.  There may be Youtubes on this, but I'd rather simply sew and create accessories for this contemporary Cissy that I bought.  She has the "kiss" face, which was what the original Cissy's had.  If any of you are Cissy fans and wish to share some information, I'd be so grateful.

In the meantime, while I tried to carefully photograph this doll, she does have red stains under her arms from the gown she came in.  Research suggests acne cream will take care of this.  Its the Benzoyle Peroxide in the cream that bleaches out the stain.  However, Kiley suggests that if you don't have to treat the doll, don't bother.  I will.  I will try this in a tiny spot to see how her vinyl reacts.  I do wish to make her sleeveless dresses and possibly one of those sun suits or "cabana outfits".  And, heck!  If the acne cream works, I have Tonner dolls that could use a little stain clean up.

I've been buying fabrics to suit my tastes, but it is so very tempting to try and make reproductions of the original dresses.  I think as long as I stay with the authentic 1950's patterns, and try to purchase fabrics with a retro feel, Cissy will be quite content and find herself a fashionable young lady.  Studying the fashions of the 50's has led me down the dangerous road of studying the times as well.  I was only a toddler at the end of the 50's, but I have long has a love affair with the fashions.  I collected the entire Tonner 17" original DeeAnna Denton collection, and 18" Kitty Collier has long held a place of honor on one of my doll shelves.  And, let's not forget American Girl Maryellen!  Even though she's a child, her stories, furniture and accessories, are divine.

I already have Cissy's next outfit planned, and the one after that.  A very nice seller on Ebay who makes these fabulous reproduction shoes, gave me a warning.  "Cissy is addicting!"  And, she is.

Love,
Melissa
(P.s. Check out her earrings.  I made those, too.  Now I get to make jewelry to match all these outfits, as well.  Pearls are next!)