The Gift of Loulotte

There is nothing like a surprise package in the mail.  And, this is what happened on July 9th.  Going about my day, never minding my own business, I went to check the mail and found a box from my friend, Heather.  I thought to myself, "What did she do now?", and excitedly sat down on the floor to carefully open the box and pull out its contents.

Inside was a letter of introduction from Kitty's mother, telling the story of how they'd come upon this little waif in Paris, who just happened to be handy and quick with a needle and thread, and bought her a ticket to the U.S. to assist me with my couture business.  I opened the box and the most adorable little doll looked up at me, and I cried.  It was a Loulotte from Bravot of France.  I could hardly believe how this little doll, and gesture, touched my heart. 

Earlier in the year I'd been asking Heather about the Loulotte dolls and she gave me a brief history on the doll, which I promptly filed away for future use and lost.  So when this little charmer showed up on my doorstep, I was swept away with curiosity once again.  Its not that I hadn't worked with the idea of Loulotte before, but at the time, there was no such doll to dress and play with.  A comic book had been published in France called La Petite Princesse, which was a Becassine story of Loulotte.  Loulotte being a charge of Becassine's, as Becassine was a nanny. 

Back then I was making the miniature marionette theaters, and I can't tell you what year this was, but it was before I had a photo tent to photograph my work in, and must have been when I first got a digital camera or these photos would not be on my computer.  Either way, I did "Loulotte" for a time.  Today I rather wish I hadn't sold the Loulotte theater.  It was inspired by the artwork in the Gaultier-Langereau books of Becassine, and the relationship between Loulotte and her nanny.  I do believe I included the book with the miniature theater, and was grateful that I'd had the presence of mind to copy the pages on my scanner for future reference.  This was all during the time I was still collecting for, and playing with Bleuette. 

So who is Loulotte?  She was the daughter of the publisher of the books of Becassine.  A real child.  In the photo of sepia tones, you can see her wearing a Scottish inspired outfit.  Heather had given me minute, but richer history of the child and a couple more photos like these, but I'll be darned if my Yahoo mail will cough them up.  What I do recall is that the parents were terribly strict with the child and never spared the rod.  How she grew up and who she became later in life would be interesting to learn.  But, today we have her as a doll to play with.

Although many little 6 1/2" dolls have been called "Loulotte", there is only one true one, and you can purchase one from Sylvie Bravot.  Sylvie paid for licensing rights to produce both Becassine and the Loulotte doll.  And, a fine job she did!

You may recall me telling you, I had a dry spell of creativity for awhile, and it was when Loulotte showed up.  And, to be honest, I didn't know what to do with her, how to dress her.  There were so many things I could have done with her.  Heather told me she looked like a mini Kitty.  And, she does!  So one of the ideas was to make her into the child Kitty would have been.  But, in reality she would have needed to be dressed like Lettie Lane, in Edwardian style dress.  Nope.  I wanted to dress her in the styles of the 1920's.  I couldn't keep the idea of her being a penniless orphan coming to work for Madame Hoover, because I don't like "poor" dolls.  I don't want to feel sorry for them.  It was suggested that she could be a cousin or little sister of Kitty's.  Didn't want to do that either.  But, I was certain that I wanted to dress her in the American child styles from that wonderful green book.  So she is simply Loulotte in the Roaring Twenties.  If you recall, Huguette Clark was born in France, then raised in New York.  So goes the story of my Loulotte.

July 9th might not seem a long time ago to some, but to me it  does.  So much has happened since then and all under the cloud of a deadly virus, and changing lifestyles.  Thank goodness for dollies to dress and Virtual Doll Conventions!  I even registered for the NIADA VDC just to have peek.  I do enjoy the surreal and whimsy in art dolls.

I will have to also add in here that I'd purchased maybe half a dozen patterns for this doll from Stephanie Ehmen.   However, they bothered me.  Something was just not right about them.  I was told that many were simply reduced sized Bleuette patterns, but not a single one of them shouted 1920s! to me.  So I bagged that idea, and started from scratch.  Back to the green book I went.  Again, this book is called Flapper Era Fashions From the Roaring 20's, by Tina Skinner and Lindy McCord.  Its fabulous.  Several pages were dedicated to children's fashions, which is where I found my inspiration.  The pages I used are shown below this journaling. 

Earlier I had purchased this gorgeous viscose in green with small wildflowers, blackberries and raspberries.  It is so soft and drapes beautifully.  I wanted to create an outfit that would work for summer as well as fall, so purchased a second yard in the corresponding burgundy color of the same print.  I love working with fabrics this way.  I did this with France's beach outfit in aqua and yellow.

Loulotte's little play dress comes with knee length bloomers and a decorative short dress over it.  You can see in the pages of the green book that this was a popular style for children.  One dress stood out among the other images and was made up in navy with a printed border on the hem and neckline.  See below.  I wanted this look, and achieved something similar by piecing the fabrics together.  The high bodice was done in the green print, and the body of the dress was done in the burgundy.  I copied out a scallop design and sewed a scallop border to attach at the hem to further create the look.  The bloomers are green as well as the sleeve cuffs, and the sleeves pick up the burgundy of the body of the dress.

The scallops were very well done, if I say so myself, and I could have left it there, but I decided to play with covered medallions and topped each point of the scallops with one.  Each has its own little flower in the center.  This idea could have also been done with buttons, but I was fussing with fiddly detail work.  I also made the medallions work as buttons on the back of the dress and to close the shorts in back.  I flipped the colors so the green button closes the dress on the burgundy and the opposite for the top back of the dress.  Just fun stuff.

I made her a pair of red t-strap shoes, and a cloche hat in felted wool.  There was so many darling hat styles to chose from, but I fell in love with the wildflower embroidery on the green hat shown in the image. I didn't have an exact matching wool felt in green, but this shade worked well after all.  With the added embroidery, it ties nicely in with the play dress.

I like my dolls to hold something, have an accessory, so I quickly put together a book of Grimm's fairytales for her this morning.  I used the McLoughlin Bros. front plate from 1890, so this book could have been passed down to her, as books like this should be.  My mother had carried to California my grandmother's Red Book of Fairytales, and Blue Book of Fairytales.  My sister has them now,  but the illustrations were in the style of Arthur Rackham.  Lovely!

Loulotte is now dressed and sitting in her tree house reading her Grimm's book of fairytales to a variety of stuffed animals and dolls.  Thank you for this precious doll, Heather!

Next, I'll be working on a wardrobe for Peggy Sue, and creating the interior of her display case.  Something bright and pleasant to do as summer carries on. There are too many not so pleasant things going on beyond my doorstep, so I'll stay indoors and play dolls and read to my heart's content.  I hope you find the perfect way to enjoy the rest of this sunny season.

Love,
Melissa

Playsets

My inspiration

Hat and Coats

I can fly!

Summer's UFDC Online Event and The Virtual Doll Convention, Summer Fling

What a wild and fabulous month July was!  Okay.  So I went into a creative dive for awhile, but there were other things to fill my time and keep me busy.  Books mainly.  I read them like eating popcorn.  And, I've started becoming a little more creative in the kitchen.  Instead of continuing to make the same meals at the same speed as I usually do, I've been trying new recipes and simply taking my time.  Why not?  The continuing pandemic has certainly clipped my wings, but I still scratch and peck plenty in my cage.

July would normally be the time when doll collectors from all over the world would be flying out to a U.S. location, checking into their hotel rooms, greeting friends they haven't seen in a year, and preparing for a super week of nothing but dolls, dolls, dolls at the UFDC convention.  Not this year.  But!  The UFDC pulled off an Online Event that lasted a week, which was primarily shopping both what they would have offered at convention, and a host of online doll shops.  This was all done through Ruby Lane, and after a few glitches, seemed to work pretty well.  They also provided Youtube presentations, that I didn't watch, as they were on scheduled times.  What I found out later, was that each of the scheduled workshop and event presenters were asked if they wanted to make Youtubes of their presentations and classes, and no one wanted to do this!   This is so sad, because it would have made this Online Event spectacular.  So I mainly shopped. 

There was an "album" strictly offering dolls and workshop kits from the UFDC identified by the symbol of the Unity doll.  There was also an album dedicated to Ruby Red Galleria and this was the one I spent the first hour of online shopping in.  I'd been looking forward to shopping with them since I'd learned of their new introductions.  One of the items I picked up in the Unity album was a Bleuette workshop kit by Boneka.  Memories of sitting in the presence of my favorite seamstress and designer pulled at my heart and purse strings.  I learned to sew studying Rosemarie Ionker's work.  And I would learn some new things when this kit arrived.  Let's explore this first.

Memories of the First Year of School is an adorable collection of fall clothing that easily takes a child through the classroom to the cold snaps sure to come.  The kit contained a wool felt cape with a hood, a smocked red dress with puffed sleeves, and a striped jumper with white blouse beneath and a Peter Pan collar.  Much of these pieces were 85% sewn, and the workshop had you hem the dresses, finish the linings, make a ton of thread loops, sew on buttons, learn to make a frog closure and finish the end of a belt.  All the little details.  This is all the fiddly hand sewing that takes hours, and can be started in a class setting.  Were I at the convention, I would have done this in my room at night or when I needed quiet time.

The frog closure was the neat thing I learned.  Rosemarie made it by sewing three daisy petal embroidered stitches, then making a crocheted chain for the loop.  I don't crochet, so I did this by making a thread loop.  In the future, I can see myself making wee thread loops, then fastening them with one stitch at the tip of the petal to secure them, followed by the button loop.  It would be "braided", have substance then, instead of just looking decorative and functional.

I also learned something new with the pleated jumper.  Starting at the waist and down about and inch, stitches were made to the pleat folds.  This produced an almost blouson appearance to the bodice area of the jumper and a skirt to the length.  I loved this detail.  It cinched the waist and prepared it for the belt that buttoned around the jumper.  There are three buttons on the belt.  About 1 3/8" from the end, two buttons are sewn back to back so that the thread loops on the ends secure the belt as it laps over.  Thread loops at the sides of the waist keep the belt on.  I do this anyway, but it was fun to see described.  I was also amazed at the pattern of the cape and will refer to it in the future for dressing other dolls, as long as I'm using wool felt.  And, now Bernie has some bright, new school garments!

But, the real reason I waited by my computer for the minute the shopping hour began, was to purchase one of the new Girls Of the Orient by Ruby Red Galleria.  I bought two.  They didn't offer any extra outfits this year, so I'll probably try to sell the doll (nude) that was dressed in white and yellow.  The one I wanted was the girl dressed in pink.  I was certain she'd sell out in seconds.  She didn't, but I got her!  Earlier this summer, I'd put in an order for little Sophie (seen in the upper right).  She's an American cousin to Ten Ping and is precious.  You could buy a separate outfit for her, and I did that, too, when I placed my order.

But the girl in this lavish, frothy pink confection is gorgeous!  I can't wait to get her.

Of course I perused the offerings of the antique and vintage doll dealers, but nothing caught my attention.  Not one whisper of anything vintage Barbie, either.  That was a disappointment, seeing as how I've been enjoying the Dream House I put together.  I even found a near mint Patio Swing the other day, and when that arrived I put it together to sit on the side of the house.  I've really enjoyed playing vintage Barbie this summer.

Then I spotted R. John Wright's Space Man.  It was selling for $550, and I said, "No way."  I just don't drop that kind of money on dolls.  But, I did.  This adorable little fellow stands 6 1/2" tall.  I wish he'd been larger, but he is sweet.  I grew up loving The Jetsons, Lost in Space, Star Trek, and all the Twilight Zones episodes that dealt with astronauts.  I had to have him.  Sadly, the workmanship was not stellar, but I can forgive this because I don't want to deal with disappointment.  Primarily, the bronze paint around the helmet is tacky, sticky.  Did they rush the process?  Did it deteriorate in the hot summer shipping houses?  Who knows?  And, the helmet doesn't sit square on his shoulders.  Also there's a bit of scratches near the inside bottom of the helmet on one side.  For $550. I do get to be a critic, thank you very much.  He now resides with my Tonner Martian family.

What's a convention without a souvenir doll?  First of all, I have two Little Darlings.  I really didn't need a third and thought the price was a bit steep for Peggy Sue.  Its amazing how our minds can convince us we "need" a new doll.  Alice Leverette had created a pattern set for Peggy Sue.  That did it for me.  I bought the pattern set and a week later, the Peggy Sue after she showed up in the UFDC shop.  Why not?  This will be a perfect fall project to keep me busy sewing.  Alice had made the outfits and a display trunk for the doll, and auctioned as a Helper on Ebay.  The thing sold for $800.  I wasn't too keen on the fabric colors and choices she made, but I loved the idea.  So I searched online and bought Peggy Sue a display case for me to decorate and create as a place to hold her outfits once sewn.  Its deep enough that she can fit in it at an angle.  I loved the pink and aqua 50's color.  So far, as of this journaling, I have all the stuff I need to decorate and finish the display trunk.  And, I had a few fabrics that I was going to use for Cissy, that will work, and ordered some others.  All bright and cheery.

Right on the heels of the UFDC Online Event, came The Virtual Doll Convention hosted by Rachel Hoffman and Michael Canadas and David Robinson of the Carmel Doll Shop and Grovian Doll Museum.  They had an earlier VDC that I didn't pay too much attention to, but this one was fabulous!

The theme was Summer Fling and it just got better and better each day.  Diana Vining, a paper doll artist that I've loved for years, illustrated so many fun and lovely things that you could print out from pdf files, and they were all FREE!  The first was a Dolly Dingle, who seems to be their mascot for these VDC's.  I printed her out, cut her out and assembled her with mini brads.  The idea was that they provided you plenty to play with as the days went along.

There was a door hanger just like the kind you'd find on your hotel door.  Coloring books and pages, kites to cut out, shopping bags to cut out and assemble, paper dolls to play with!  I dutifully printed out everything and have a binder I will put this all in as a souvenir of the event.  Diana Vining's talent and generosity could not have been more appreciated, and the VDC wouldn't have been half as much fun without these special toys.  Examples of some of these things are below.

Tonner introduced his new Grace Marie Fitzpatrick, on the RTB101 body for the VDC.  I fell in love with her.  Artists made outfits for the doll that you could buy.  Marcia Friend had shoes made for her, and other accessories.  Another artist made luggage for her.  Well, I had to have her, too.  It was the paper dolls that Diana drew of her that prompted the purchase more than anything, and I intend to make my Grace the wardrobe Diana illustrated for her.  Diana even made a paper doll of Rachel, so you can imagine how much fun she was having.  To satisfy the French Fashion crowd, she drew a maze puzzle of a Huret to while the hours away with.

Each day there were Youtubes to watch and these were archived so that you could watch them anytime in the future.  Daily email updates were made by Rachel, so you'd never miss a thing.  There was a luncheon created by David Robinson and recipes were provided. They took you on doll tours and spectacularly entertained us for a week.  These folks put more than untold hours into this, they put their hearts into it.  I'm eternally grateful to them.  All for the cost of $25.  You sign up through Facebook.  I hope you'll think about joining in on the fun come the holiday season.  There's my plug.  It wasn't meant to be one, but I had so much fun with this, and hope you'll give it a try.  All from the comfort of your favorite chair in front of your computer.

The best news of all, after the VDC was over, was that they intend to do it again for Christmas!  I cannot wait!

Now, I'm going to share something with you that causes me concern.  My blog site is "upgrading".  Why can't they leave well enough alone?  Don't fix what's not broken!  When I went to write this, the new program came up and I spent two hours trying to make it work and was frustrated beyond imagining.  This old format is going away come September and I'm going to spend some time trying to learn how to make it work for me, for us.  As it was, I had to completely start over fives times, then discovered that just for August I could revert back to the good old format before the change.  I hope we can continue to share this journey of creating together, but it may take awhile to learn the new programming.  So the blogs may look weird or be really short for awhile.  I'm not sure.  I'll try.  And, there is a helpline, so I'll be using it. 

And, I just wanted to say that I love hearing from you.  It helps me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing and sharing, and I love hearing what you're doing for your dolls, too.  Let's enjoy the rest of summer together.  I'm doing my best to slow time down, but the seasons have a mind of their own.  Sending my best wishes to you all!

Love,
Melissa

Royal Princess Doll, France, A Gift to Elizabeth and Margaret Rose From the Children of France

Oh, how long ago was it?  March?  I seem to be blocking out chunks of time these days.  Do you ever do that?  But, I believe it was my friend, Kathy Singleton, who told me about these wonderful 16" dolls that Stephanie Ehmen was making.  They were reproductions (in miniature) of the dolls that Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose were given as a gift from the children of France during a state visit in 1938.

These lovely Jumeau dolls were 2' 10" (86.2 cm) in height, having identical bisque heads on composition jointed bodies.  France was a blonde with brown eyes, and Marianne was a brunette with blue eyes.  Human hair wigs for the dolls were made by the coiffeur, Valentin, who made wigs for humans.  The dolls' vast and exquisite wardrobe and accessories were created by the finest couturiers of Paris.  Luggage by Vuitton, handbags by Hermes, jewelry by Cartier, as well as dresses by Lanvin are to name but a few of the houses that contributed to their collection.  The dolls were even outfitted with two miniature Citroen sports cars - which happen to be my favorite items in this extraordinary collection.  Perhaps the excitement of seeing such a novelty inspired me to contact Stephanie to make me one of the reproductions.  I chose France.

Other collectors have asked for the darker Marianne, and I do think how she is dressed and featured in Faith Eaton's book, Dolls for the Princesses, The Story of France and Marianne, has a bit to do with it.  We see, and therefore we want.  However, the wardrobe created for these dolls could be worn by either doll, and it was strictly up to the photographers and museum directors as to which outfits they would wear on display.  Something lovely catches on quickly, and once in awhile the appeal sparks my curiosity and interest.

The dolls were presented to the newly crowned King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during their memorable state visit prior to WWII.  The diplomatic significance was appreciated by all.  Crowds poured out to see the vast collection of shoes, hats, gowns and other miniature accessories.  Within a year, war broke out and the dolls were packed and shipped off to Canada to begin a lengthy excursion of raising funds for refugees (and perhaps for safety?).  Dolls like Rose Percy would travel the U.S. for the Red Cross to raise such funds during another war time.  By the time the dolls returned to England, the royal princesses had grown up and the role of the two "ambassadresses" had been forgotten.  Sixty years later the dolls went back on display at Windsor Castle and can now be enjoyed by visitors to the museum.

What is sad is that it is doubtful the princesses ever got to play with them.  They were photographed with them for public interest, but state gifts are seldom enjoyed by the recipients and are strictly diplomatic gestures of goodwill.

I would be amiss not to mention at this point that upon seeing these fabulous beauties, every little girl wanted a France and Marianne of their very own.  Jumeau would go on to re-create the dolls in two sizes.  One was 18" tall, and the other was 35 1/2" tall.  I believe they were sold as dressed dolls.  Still, many young girls would never be able to afford such an extravagance, so paper dolls were dutifully created.  And, of course, I love creating fashions from paper dolls, so I do have a reproduction of the Whitman Publishing Co.'s version from 1940.  I would imagine that the few original re-creations of these dolls are extremely hard to come by on the antique doll market, but wouldn't it be amazing to find one?

So that's why doll artists like Stephanie Ehmen are in such demand.  Her work is lovely and I feel so fortunate to have one of her dolls to dress and display.  Upon contacting her, she asked if I wanted a doll with "flirty" eyes.  Apparently the originals were set with mobile eyes, mechanisms that allowed the doll to look left and right.  These are very delicate mechanisms and I didn't wish to risk the eyes sticking at some point or breaking in transit, so France's are stable.  And, when I dress my dolls, I do play with them.  They go through the rigors of being both mannequin and model.  After much searching for a more authentic looking wig, I chose the Daisy wig, which comes in various sizes through Dollspart.  My France is wearing the dark blonde.  I also gave her thinner, softer eyelashes.  And, well, hey, if I ever have to have a Marianne, I'll change her eyes to blue and the wig to brown!

So here I was newly finished with Heather's Kitty's trousseau.  It took me three weeks to settle into a new routine and during that time, I flirted with the idea of making something new for Cissy.  I was going to try a cabana outfit of bathing costume and wrap skirt, hat, etc.  But going from a delicate 14" lady doll to a huge 21" model wasn't settling well.  France had been sitting on a table either naked, or wrapped in a garble of leopard faux fur fabric for the few months while I worked on Kitty.  So I tried taking her out to play.  There is a leopard coat from the reproduction paper dolls that I've been anxious to make, yet she'd require a dress beneath.  So I began a dress and wasn't happy with the silk I'd chosen.  Then I began working on a special gown and was equally unhappy with the fabric I chose.  One of the problems with the state of our country right now, is prompt shipping from fabric stores.  With one of my favorite stores, it takes three weeks to a month for them to ship.  So there I sat, dumbfounded and disappointed that I couldn't move forward on a new project.

I needed something to ease me into a new project.  I generally insist on making my own patterns, however, I had purchased the set of France and Marianne patterns Stephanie created, and thought to myself, Well, why not try one?  Maybe the challenge is not only in creating something, but enabling myself to patiently follow instructions.  I was further challenged this way when the Barbie Dream House arrived, and now that I'd been successful with that, I was encouraged to continue with "someone else's pattern".  I also needed to select something that felt good, made me happy, and the right fabric will do that.  Make the beach dress and coat!  Its summer, I love bright summery colors, and off I took.

Earlier I had purchased this patterned fabric in aqua and yellow viscose and intended them for a Lawton doll I would make into a Flapper.  After still much more thought, making this fabric up into a fashionable summer boardwalk set seemed the right thing to do.  I'd purchased some nautical fabrics that might have worked, but nothing I had made me feel good.  I buy way too much fabric on impulse! 

As you can see, the original was made up in pink and green polka dot cotton.  It was tempting to try and replicate this, and maybe 1/2" polka dots would have worked, but then I'd be on the hunt for the just the right color, and the right size polka dot, and I was already frustrated with hunting and buying fabrics.  Stephanie's example was made up in nautical navy and white.  (see photo of pattern cover below)  Like the couturiers from Paris, I had to decide whether to make this a "juvenile" costume, or one for a young lady.  I chose the latter.  I had the vision of seeing France strolling the boardwalk, sitting in an open cafe with an ice cream, removing her shoes for a walk near the water's edge with her skirts gently fluttering in the breeze.  So this is what I came up with.

I began with the dress.  I almost stopped in my tracks thinking the fabric was too thin, but I forced myself to persevere through this if not just to get a mock up done.  I had plenty of extra fabric to work with.  I wanted a belt to go with it.  I wanted this entire outfit to look as if it had been purchased on the whole and not pieced together, from tip to toe.  I'd already had a lovely variety of leathers to select from to make her a matching pair of shoes.  I'd purchased one of every color available in the lambskins I used for Kitty's shoes.  Stephanie provided a pattern for espadrilles, which could be made up in cloth.  I had plenty of materials on hand to work with.

Making up someone else's pattern doesn't inspire me to go into how I put something together.  The fact that I was easily able to follow her instructions is a minor blessing.  She did a wonderful job.  There were only a couple of areas I had trouble figuring out, but I've done enough of this stuff to not be curtailed by the minimal setbacks.  I am confident that each pattern I try that she's created will be a treat to make up.

So what did I do differently?  First of all, the pattern called for adding lengths of ribbon to the skirt and bodice, which I omitted.  I didn't want to have to go out and try to find ribbon to match, and what ribbon I did lay on the fabric took away from the effect I was trying to achieve.  Matching markings for pleats was a bit problematic, then having them accurately fit the width of the bodice took a little fudging.  I know the pattern calls for 1/4 seams, but these seemed huge to me.  The closest marking on my machine indicates .7 which when measured is about 1/4".  Very hard to line up and follow on curves.  But, as always, I was determined.  The mind works better when a rhythm is established and I had to let it flow. 

The bodice is fully lined so I felt I was onto something. The construction was the same as I do mine.  There was joy in knowing that I wasn't just making all this stuff up.  And, I learned some cool stuff along the way for my own pattern making in the future.  The dress is finished with little mother of pearl buttons up the back with hidden snaps.  I knew this wasn't going to cut it for the coat and was miserable thinking about constructing the coat, only to have my machine eat it when I tried a machined button hole.  So it took me two days to ponder over that.  This was just about the time the Barbie Dream House showed up.  Working through that gave me a bit more confidence. 

I ended up making my own buttonholes by hand.  I was thankful that I had the wherewithal to look up how to do them (again) on the Internet.  That handy iron on interfacing did the trick to stabilize the fabric for the buttonholes.  I've stayed away from buttonholes since the tiny ones I did for Gay Event's corset.  And, I think I did a couple of tiny ones on a blouse once.  I was nervous the entire time.  One can really make a mess of buttonholes if not done correctly.  But, I measured and remeasured and drew the lines, cut a slit in the fabric and blanket stitched around the hole.  What I will not do next time is use embroidery thread.  At least not on thin fabric.  Instead of taking out the first one, which looked ghastly to me, I plodded on and did the next two similarly for consistency of appearance.  I was mortified by how they turned out, but once buttoned, the coat looked okay in the front. 

Another area that required ribbon, was this kite shaped pocket on the coat.  In order or continue the look I wanted, I made a "ribbon" of the yellow fabric to decorate the pocket.  I also made the pocket "pillow case" style for ease of working with.  I had to hand sew this on, which was fine.  Now I had a belt of blue and a ribbon of yellow, so the two pieces, the coat and the dress, looked like they belonged together.

The hat Stephanie proposed making, was a bit different from the original, and I liked the original for its pointy peak.  You'll notice in the sepia photograph of the dolls admiring their chest of clothing, that Marianne is wearing a fur hat with a pointy peak.  I'm new to the fashions of the late 1930's, but apparently this was the height of chapeau fashion.  I call them Hershey's Kiss hats.  Anyway, I added two extra rows of hat braid to the Riviera hat.  These hats were very large brimmed back then.  And, used her crown pattern as a sloper to create a multicolored hat like the original was, elongating the top portion a tad.  After sewing the fabric crown to the braid brim - and I just barely had enough braid to make this - I added a grosgrain ribbon to the inside to neaten it up.  I also had just enough hat braid left to make a tiny beach bag to match.  Just big enough for a movie ticket or a few sea shells.

Then onto the shoes.  For some obnoxious reason, I couldn't get this lambskin to behave under my needle for top stitching.  I use a jeans needle to sew my leather, and it has always worked before.  But the leather simply wanted to travel in every direction than what I wanted.  I finally used stitch and tear paper beneath it, but it still wasn't much use.  My guess is that my machine needs a tune up and some calibrating.  I've been putting it off because it means not having the machine handy, but seems very necessary at this point.  I bought a walking foot, but have yet to learn how to use it.  That may have helped.

So I used the pattern for the espadrilles, but made them out of leather and with a back loop and buckled strap for the ankles.  I've been wanting to use more of that banana colored leather since making Kitty's luggage, and was delighted to work with it again.

I'm so happy France is finally outfitted with something to wear for summer.  I love this doll.  Her 16" body is delightful to sew for.  She's also sturdily strung, so can pose wonderfully.  I took some photos of her with an AG cafe chair to illustrate this.  Now I have to find a spot on a shelf to display her.  I also wanted to share this stand that I got for her.  An Ebay seller makes these with two saddle styles.  The one with the hourglass saddle fits her beautifully.  All you need to do is ask for this particular style of saddle. 

Wishing you days of sunshine and happiness, leafy trees and soft green lawns as we continue through the precious months of summer.  France will get her school dress next, but for the time being, she can enjoy the salty breezes and many cones of ice cream.

Love,
Melissa

A Royal Advertisement

Stephanie Ehmen's Pattern

Wooden Stand With Hourglass Saddle

France Sitting Pretty

From A Sidewalk Cafe

My Favorite of the Doll's Accessories

Let's Play Barbie! Barbie's Dream House (1962)

Its summer!  And, each summer, no matter what's going on in the world, in my life, I get, not just a touch of nostalgia, but sometimes a heap load of it.  I'm in grade school again, and summer is precious because the days are warm, its a  holiday from school rooms, and all there is do all day is play.  I can roller skate around the block, I can play with my troll doll and troll doll house in the grass under a shade tree (more authentic that way).  I can read, I can draw, go swimming at the community park.  And, I can play Barbie.

The good memories of these days, these summers, all led up to September when I could begin the new school year and my birthday was right around the corner.  I think one of my favorite birthdays was the year I got the first Skipper doll.  I was over the moon.  But, my first Barbie is the faded and fuzzy memory of a five year old.  I begged my mother to buy me one.  I was relentless and she was not too happy about it.  The doll had breasts.  She was indecent in the eyes of the church.  But, I wore her down and she bought me the blonde ponytail Barbie with poodle bangs and the red swimsuit. (Didn't I want the brunette since I had brown hair?  No.)  She sat down with a pattern and made me two outfits from the remnants of clothing she'd made for herself.  I believe the shoes and swimsuit were lost within a couple of days.  I can't imagine how they got lost.  Maybe I ate them.  But, now that I think about it, five years old might have been too young for a doll with tiny things that could go missing so easily.

So with the summer here and nostalgia nipping at my heels again, my heart would skip a beat when my friend, Becca, kept telling me about her reproduction Barbie Dream House that she had no room to set up and display, but loved it anyway.  She had one as a child.  After a few weeks of her mentioning this several times, I went on Ebay to see what the big deal was, and see if I could find one - MIB, of course.  I saw one listed by a seller in Southern California, so I knew it wouldn't have to travel across the country.  I thought about it.  I deliberated about it.  Do I really need a Barbie Dream House?  I think it took all of an hour of serious consideration before I hit the Buy It Now.  Then I had to tell Becca what I did.  Did you know that Mattel only made one hundred of these reproductions?  That made it all the more special to me.  When it arrived, I couldn't wait to unbox it.

It was heavy!  Very sturdy, and came with huge cardboard printed sheets of furniture that you could assemble by punching them out of the sheets, then follow a booklet of instructions on how to build each piece.  Well, I must tell you that I have been following instructions lately, and this will be in my next blog, and this was one more chance to see how patient I could be.  I was determined to take it step by step, even if I had to read the instruction several times before it made sense to me. 

I started at the beginning and only punched out the pieces of the item they referred to.  It was the blue ottoman.  My mind started wandering to the ageless tradition of paper toys and paper doll houses.  This is nothing new.  Paper toys were printed in magazines for French Fashion dolls.  McLoughlin Bros. printed cardboard doll houses and furniture sheets for children to play with in the early and prior part of the 20th century.  There was Daisy's Doll House in the Women's Home Journal.  And, Alice Leverette made paper toy sheets for two very special dolls she designed (and for), during her years at Vogue Doll Company.  Just Me and Marie Terese.  But, this reproduction house was brilliant.  It was Mad Men, Tonner's Monica Merrill, Barefoot in the Park.  It was the 1960's in all its trendy modernization.  You don't have to remember it.  You don't have to like it or want your own home to look like it.  Its history, its nostalgia, and its Barbie from 1962.

The next pieces went along rather nicely, and I could see how they were setting up the progression of difficulty.  Frankly, I do not believe a child could assemble these pieces, but the child could do this with the assistance of an adult.  I was thinking that if I'd been old enough and if we'd had the means to buy me one of these, my brother would have assembled this for me and I would have been in awe.

The designer at Mattel that created Barbie's Dream House had pure genius.

Now it was time to assemble the big kahuna of the operation.  The wardrobe.  All the other items were pieces of furniture and a console with a phonograph inside, in the middle, with a folding flap on top for a door. One of the neatest pieces in this collection is this cylindrical lamp.  I don't recall whether these were bamboo or burlap-type shades, but they were the height of fashion.  I knew the main piece, the wardrobe with bookshelves and a vanity in the center would be tricky.  So I assembled it over a couple of days.  So far there were no "extra" pieces.  I was on a roll.  A slow role, but steadily making progress.  I guess I haven't mentioned that Barbie's Dream House was my "not going to convention this year" toy.  I intend to have it set up and play with it all summer.  I can't keep it displayed long term, but its my treat for summer.

The only tricky part was fixing in place the "key locks with retainers".  It felt like the key locks were not long enough to go through the cardboard walls, but I was determined and a gentle pressing of the walls enabled me to get them latched.  When folded up and stored, the wardrobe is attached and the furniture and accessories can be stored in front of it.  The Dream House even has a handle for carrying around.  Oh, how I would have loved this as a child.  But, I love it now as an adult and that's what counts.

When Mattel began making early 1960's reproduction Barbie items, I collected everything I could.  These were the things I missed out on as a child.  I also collected some of the vintage clothing sets in as mint condition as I could.  I bought two tall black Barbie cases, and one of the short trunk style ones.  I bought the mini (keychain?) vinyl trunk with a zipper, and other miniatures that were available.  When it came time to set up the furniture and start making it a home for Barbie, I decided to only include reproduction clothing in the closet because the house was a reproduction.  But, I have added the pink dog from her negligee to the bed.

I also collected the vintage Barbie Easy Readers.  Simple, sweet stories of Barbie adventures.  I don't know how many there were, but I was able to purchase three in excellent condition.  All of this seemed to have been waiting for the eventuality of my buying the Barbie Dream House, for back then, I simply collected for the enjoyment and "chase" of it, then stored it all. 

As a little girl I can remember going grocery shopping with my mother at the local grocer's, Griso's Market, in Sunnyvale.  I'd spend the time in the toy department while my mother pushed her cart around filling it up for the week's meals.  There was one dress that fascinated me and I used to look at it on the shelf in its square striped packaging and dream.  It was the green and blue tulle gown with the green shoes and gold purse.  So when I set this up today, I made sure to include it displayed in the Dream House on a lovely Barbie mannequin that I didn't even remember collecting.  I steamed out the tulle and its lovely and fluffy once again.

I guess I forgot to mention that a Barbie doll came with this reproduction Dream House.  Below are photos of the house before and after I accessorized it.  Thank you, Becca, for introducing me to this fabulous big toy!

I hope you'll find your very own enchantment this summer.

Love,
Melissa