UFDC Peggy Sue's Woolworth's Halloween Trick-or-Treat Costume

Its that time!  My favorite time of year.  Autumn.  Leaves turning gold and red and brown.  Pumpkins making their way to front porches.  Shops decorated with flying witches, spooky skeletons, and draping ghostly figures.  Candy.  There's always candy, but Halloween candy is a lot more fun since it goes into a big bowl for Trick-or-Treaters. 

Did  you think that my Halloween costuming would end with Grace?  No way.  Not that I'd planned on any others, but when I started my poking around on Pinterest for more Woolworth ads, this one popped up!  Jolly, jolly Halloween!  It was from the 1950's, too, so I knew right away that it was meant to be.  

Who remembers Woolworth's department store?  F.W. Woolworth was one of the first five and dime department stores in the U.S.  Frank Winfield Woolworth opened his first five and dime in Utica, NY on February 22, 1879.  It was not a successful start, but a friend suggested opening one in Lancaster, PA, and the idea took off.  Frank went into business with his brother, and Woolworth's became a great success.

The concept of the five and dime became an anchor in American merchandizing through the 50's and 60's.  I remember going there as a child as a part of the weekly shopping.  You could buy just about anything at a Woolworth's, as they became known.  Gardening tools, back to school supplies, hosiery and make up, kitchen and cooking utensils and table cloths, candy and cake mixes - well, truly just about anything.  It was a variety store, and the prices were kept competitive for middle to lower income households.

Big, bright and cheery displays could be found announcing every holiday season, and Halloween was no exception.  One of the most fun times remembered as a child, was shopping (but not buying) during the weeks before Halloween.  Dazzling costumes with plastic molded masks could be found hanging or boxed for a child's delight.  My mother never steered me away from the aisle for my endless fascination, but we could not afford to buy, and I was cautious never to ask.

But, my mother loved Halloween.  Each October she would decorate the windows in the front of the house with Beistle cardboard die cuts.  Inside, she hung skeletons and witches with honeycomb crepe paper limbs.  There was a cardboard pop-up haunted house with little doors and windows that opened.  The detail work in this pop-up was incredible, and I used to play with it for hours like a doll house.  I did love my miniatures.  I took Skipper's tiny plastic Barbie and put her in one of the top windows with her arms hanging out, to hold her up.  It was the perfect sized "doll house" for that tiny Barbie.

But, my fondest memory was the Trick-or-Treat bag she bought me one year.  If I am correct, it was this one of the witch holding her own bag, the image getting tinier and tinier into infinity.  I found this on Ebay a couple of days ago and bought it.  After seeing a couple of them listed, I think they were promotional bags that were given out by department stores.  That would make sense since, again, because money was tight. 

However, Peggy Sue is pretty spoiled and gets anything I can think up to give her.  So we discussed the Woolworth's ad I found and she and I went shopping for her official Woolworth's Trick-or-Treat costume.  That I would have to make, but she doesn't know that and we won't tell.  I'm pretty sure you could call this a witch's costume, although its a far stretch.  

Upon first observations, I thought the illustration featured a child wearing a hooded cape with the silhouettes decorating the front ends.  Somethings only become apparent when you begin recreating, or bringing something to life like an illustration.  One concept leads to another as you begin the design following construction.

I began with the cape, the hardest thing, the most detailed piece (like a bodice), but for this journal, we'll begin with the dress.  As I look on it, this costume could have been derived from a shepherdess dress from a storybook, with paniers.  Simplified for a child's inexpensive costume, of course.

I used a plain white batiste for the bodice of the dress.  It was tempting to make it sleeveless, or even with long sleeves, but short sleeves won out.  Why?  Because its a costume.  Normal clothing was typically worn beneath these costumes, especially on cold October nights, so they were loose and easy to wear over sweaters and pants.

Earlier, I'd purchased this harlequin print for a party dress.  It is quilting cotton called Cozy Christmas by Lori Holt for Riley Blake.  While I could have hunted down a better match, I wanted to use what I had on hand.  And, that included solids of which I only had in silk.  Okay, so silk actually, kind of, has that look of a polyester costume if you make it up into one.   Play along with me...it really does.  Silk has the feel and the shine.  They do make polyester "silk" though.  Why am I making excuses?  The cape and hood are made with black silk taffeta, and the overskirt, or un-paniered panier is kelly green silk taffeta.  Keeping in theme, and for authenticity, Peggy Sue's Woolworth costume closes in the back with ties. 

As I mentioned earlier, I started with the cape.  I had this wonderful little pattern made up, and made a mock up of the "hooded cape" in muslin.  It wasn't until I started contemplating the black and yellow "road striping" that I noticed the collar on the cape.  Nope.  It was not a hooded cape, but a stand alone cape with a matching hood.  All of a sudden the fog cleared, and I knew I was in for a big job ahead.  And, I noticed that both were edged in red.

So you're laughing about my "road stripe" comment.  Well it does look like that!  Now if this had been made today, I'll bet the yellow would have been reflective or glow in the dark.

I started looking for a black and yellow stripe and gave up.  I'd be at this all month just waiting for fabric to arrive that wouldn't be quite right, so I made it.  I cut a length of the black silk and sewed yellow silk ribbon stripes on it on a slant.  Thirty-six of them.  Took an afternoon to do this, but got the effect I was after.  Its okay.  I've made "fabric" before.

The red is silk as well, cut on a bias, and painstakingly edged on the cape.  Sewn to the top edge, turned under, then under again and hand hemmed to the back.  I wasn't going to do that again.  I had to find a better way to do this.  I wasn't making a French Fashion costume, it was a Woolworth's costume, and I needed to keep reminding myself of that.  Then it came to me.  I simply folded the red silk strips in half and overedge machine stitched them to the area around the face.  This became a bit more challenging on the neck of the hood since I had to gather the ends to fit around her neck.  I was so proud of myself.  LOL  I mean it!  Professional designers for doll costumes do this all the time.  That's one of the reasons this blog is so important to me.  I've been teaching myself to sew for nine years now and I learn new things all the time.

For the ties on the hood and the neckline of the cape, I used red silk satin ribbon.  At first I tried to make ties, but they were too chunky.  And, the ribbon ties follow suit for a Woolworth costume as well.

Most of the work went into the decorations on the cape.

There was no way I was going to find the image on the illustration, although I looked.  I even tried to enlarge the image to see if I could simply print it out on printer fabric and use it that way, but the ad was of poor resolution and pixel'd apart.  I began looking for ephemera online, and also in a very old Jean Nordquist doll Halloween workbook package.  This is where I found the witch on the moon, and the pumpkin.  That cat came from an online search and I cut it out with a bit of edge so it would stand out.  Both images were done on printer fabric and fabric glued to the costume.  I did try to use fusible webbing on a sample of silk, but it wouldn't stick.  

For the cat, I cut about a 2mm border edge around him, and colored it yellow with one of the alcohol markers.  I was still troubling over what to do with the pumpkin, and then I remembered my old Trick-or-Treat bag!  So I made smaller and smaller pumpkins ascending toward the night sky.  I made a complete mess of my work table cutting out scraps and trying this and that before I got a design I was happy with. 

I was about to take photos of Peggy Sue in her costume when I realized something was missing.  A Trick-or-Treat bag.  So back to Pinterest and Bing images looking for something suitable for a vintage bag.  Nothing.  Nothing felt quite right.  So I tackled Ebay looking for actual vintage bags, and this is when I found the promotional bag, that I still believe was the one I had that year as a child.  I've never seen anything like it again, but I could be wrong.  The one I had may have been different, but I've romanticized the notion into believing it was "better", magical in some way.  It was.  To me.  Back then.  And, still is!

But, I also found these vintage treat bags for parties.  Its hard to tell when a seller posts something as vintage, as to whether is truly is, or a contemporary appeal, a reproduction, to people who love the vintage look.  I went back and forth with the seller trying to get her to change her auction to add Priority Mail as an option, and she couldn't do it.  After a good night's sleep and a hike with my dogs, it occurred to me that I could simply buy two sets of 10 and she could use the money for the shipping, sending me only one set.  As I was about to pose this to her, she'd written telling me she was going to ship them Priority just for me.  Whoa!  Bonus!  How kind and thoughtful.  I was and am, truly appreciative.

But, I was having "a day".  In truth, I had not had a good night's sleep and the day was feeling wasted.  Around 4pm I decided to give the bag a try by cropping and doing a fine rotate on the image.  I printed it on a light card stock, which is all that will go through my printer, and mapped out a bag around the image.  After cutting this out, I trimmed the top portion with a mini scallop pair of sheers.  The handles are delicate cotton grosgrain ribbon.  When the shipped bags arrive, I may try it again and hope the color saturation will be better. 

I added a pair of black classic Mary Janes that just came in from Debs Adorables, and the costume was complete.  I might add that the silly pumpkin in the photos was one sent to me from Rachel Hoffman, bless her heart, for some goody bag items I made for her to give out this holiday season.

I've been going nuts for the 1950's illustrations for days now, and some of the most charming were those by illustrators for Jack and Jill, a child's magazine from this era.  In an age when everything you could possibly dream of is online or for sale on Etsy or Ebay, its a glorious time to be a collector.  I hope you'll enjoy some of the images I saved off, below.

I dedicate this post to my dearest friend, Jean Nordquist, who inspires me endlessly, and encourages my joy in vintage ephemera.  Besides.  She loves Peggy Sue and Halloween, too!

Happy Halloween!

Love,

Melissa

 

Grace Marie Attends the VDC Halloween Party

So soon?  Well, yes.  When the inspiration hits, I run with it.  And, I have been enjoying this Grace Marie doll.  Whatever doll I'm sewing for at the time becomes my favorite.  I live and breathe her form and features, and find a personality blossoming as I create something new for her.  And, yes, I'll get back to Peggy Sue next.  No darts.  No big rubber bottom to fit outfits over.

Here I had just finished up with Grace Marie's Summer Fling Fashions, and was contemplating an ooak, made up entirely from my imagination, when Rachel posts this fabulous Happy Halloween imagery on Facebook.  I had been hoping she'd have more of the Dolly Dingle as a witch, in black and orange, stickers made up.  They were awfully cute and I wanted one to put on my VDC binder.  Then suddenly this bright and joyful little image of Grace and Dolly Dingle pops up in a post from the VDC, and my eyes did the cartoon "boing!"  This was so adorable.  And, that's the genius of Diana Vining.  This woman can draw.  I can't imagine having such a talent to draw anything my heart desires, but I can bring it from 2D to 3D. 

So even though I needed to clean my poor, neglected house, and maybe even start decorating it for Halloween, I just had to try and make this costume for Grace.

So what are we looking at?  That's always my first question when I begin to bring an image to life.  Earlier there were collectors who had bought the red haired "wigged" doll.  One of them thought she looked like Ariel from The Little Mermaid, and photographed her coming from the sea, or even on a half shell.  I could be mixing it up, and there may have been two collectors doing this, but I think Diana caught onto this idea and followed suit.  However, I see Grace in white gown.  And, from this image I formed in my head came the idea that it was a Venus costume - half shell and all, only shells covering her bosom on the gown.  Who says "bosom"?  Bustline.  Better.  So I fixed this image in my head and began.

First I made her a VDC Halloween convention bag, or VDC Trick-or-Treat bag.  At VDC parties, you get gobs of loot and candy, too.  By the way, for those of you who have forgotten the name of Ariel's little friend, its Flounder.  Yes, I loved the Disney animated musical, too.  I kind of wish there was a real Dolly Dingle doll like this to be Grace's friend.  A small Googlie doll head with forward looking eyes on a body the size of the little French doll I dressed a couple of months ago, would be fun to have.  I digress.

Anyway, so I made another little convention bag the same way I did the Summer Fling one.  Only I did not have orange quilting cotton for the handles, so I used silk.  I have tons of silk in solids, but only since sewing for Peggy Sue have I begun to collect, yes collect!, lovely cottons, but seldom solids.

I loaded the bag with goodies that came from Rachel when you make a purchase.  They're perfect for Trick-or-Treats.

I dug into my jersey sack for a shiny white costume jersey.  I have so, so much on hand of all kinds of fabrics, that the first place I go now is to the fabric stash piles.  I don't recall what I first used this shiny costume jersey for, but I had plenty to work with.

I worked off the pattern I'd made for the Rio De Janeiro Blue bathing costume with the lace cover-up.  I lengthened it and cut a bathing suit back and sleeveless bodice at the top.  Its less fitted than a tube dress so it has drape at the hem.  I learned that you cannot iron this jersey without melting it.  Hah!  I guess a little steam is all you need.  Live and learn.  So this really only took two tries to get it the way I wanted.

The work is always in the bodice detail and for this I used the soft sculpture technique for the shells.  My husband doesn't understand why I don't get bored in my studio.  How can I when each thing I do is completely different, and takes all my creative brain power to figure out?

The shells were done in one piece and the edges were randomly sewed in a scallop design.  Fitting I would say!  These would be markers as well for the top stitching, although a bit more was done.  The piece was then turned inside out and lightly stuffed with batting, the bottom hand stitched, then the top stitching done for the shells' ribbing. To make the coloration, I used a watercolor pen from Arteza, then took a small paint brush with water and "washed" the line.  I tried this on scraps of the jersey first, and the effect was perfect.  I also did this for the smaller shell that is her hair piece.

In a moment of clarity, I ran to Michael's and looked for lumpy yarn that would work as seaweed, and sort of pinched and sewed loops of it for the bodice draping seaweed.  The hair piece's greenery is cut from hat flower leaves.  Then I strung pearls in three different sized loops, sewing them directly to the hair piece.  Straps were added to the dress after the soft shell bustier was sewn on.

The back is closed with five hooks and thread loops.  A lot of the designers for Tonner dolls use zippers, but I'm not comfortable with them.  I guess it would depend on what I was sewing, too.

This costume was an awful lot of fun to make.  Thanking Diana Vining once again for the inspiration!  This will be the only costume I make this year.  If I have time, the Three L's will get dressed up in last year's creations.  They are still in their Twelve Days of Christmas costumes by Gennedy Spirin.  Where did this year go?!  Happy Halloween!

Love,

Melissa

It always best to start at the beginning.  Even if the beginning was in July.  It was summer.  It was quiet.  It was hot, and I was stuck at home.  Two events were taking place and I was definitely not going to miss out.  If I have to have my fun virtually, let the party begin!

The UFDC was having their Online Event, which was in a virtual doll convention format.  Many of us were relieved and delighted that the convention didn't just go away, but the truth is that is was merely a shopping trip to Ruby Lane, and eventually the UFDC's website shop.  This was their first whack at it, so I'll give them a thumbs up.  And, of course, my delightful Peggy Sue was purchased, and I've been having a ball with her.

Following two weeks later was the Virtual Doll Convention, produced by Rachel Hoffman.  For me it was the event of the year.  Each day provided endless entertainment from Michael and David of the Grovian Doll Museum and Carmel Doll Shop, and the wonderfully energetic, Rachel.  The event was called Summer Fling and while the entertainment and doll education was phenomenal, the free downloads from artist, Diana E. Vining were the  highlight for me.  I love paper dolls, and paper toys.  We all know that.  So when I spotted the Summer Fling paper dolls she drew of Grace Marie Fitzpatrick, Tonner's new fashion doll that debuted last winter, I went nuts.  Of course I had to purchase a Grace and make her paper doll wardrobe.  She became more than just a souvenir of the summer event, but a treasured doll to dress and play with. 

I had to wait for my doll to arrive to begin sewing for her, and during this time I was dressing Peggy Sue.  I wanted the brunette doll so that she would look like the paper doll, but she had darker and more dramatic coloring.  I was nervous at first that I wouldn't like her as much, but now that I've spent the last few weeks with her, I'm delighted with her.

Let's look at Diana's beautiful paper dolls. The cover image was Grace in a darling swim dress, heading towards the beach from a wooden boardwalk.  Oh, how I miss the ocean!  This fantasy was right up my alley, and a perfect format to send me virtually to tropical shores. 

You'll notice that there is a blonde wig and a red wig.  When Tonner introduced his three new Grace dolls, two were "wigged", meaning their wigs could be changed, and Showtime Grace, the one I purchased, had rooted hair.  I did end up buying a blonde "wigged" Grace as well, but the brunette Grace would be my Summer Fling model.

Diana gave her a Summer Fling beach and convention bag on the first page, and three summery outfits against a back drop of warm sandy beach and gentle waves lapping the shoreline.  

The second page, with the same back drop, gave us four more outfits with plenty of challenge ahead for me.  Naturally, I'd have to make them all.  

I did purchase this red luggage that a lady in Australia made.  One of the reasons I did this, was because Diana drew the luggage in a advertisement for the Grace Boutique, where Grace is trying on new shoes provided by Marcia Friend from Facets By Marcia.  The other item I purchased was the swim dress in the yellow and peach mosaic print.  The seamstress used a light peach color to trim the suit, and this would have to come off to emulate the drawing Diana did, where the trim was done in a richer color - persimmon?

So this was my first task.  To retrim this swim dress.  It came with a pair of shorts beneath it.  I also made the bandeau for the hair and found a pair of heart shaped sunglasses on Ebay.  These were for Barbie, but who cares?  They fit, could be larger, but mainly Grace holds them in her photos.  You can spot the heart shaped glasses in the middle of the paper doll page.  Rachel wore heart shaped sunglasses for the Summer Fling VDC and they seemed to be an icon for the event.  Grace definitely needed a pair.

As I awaited the shipment of the dolls from the factory and their eventual trip to Colorado, where Rachel's Turn of the Century doll shop and home are, I shopped for fabrics.  For days and days I shopped Etsy, Ebay, Fabrics.com and  Farmhouse Fabrics and dug through my own stash for matches to Diana's drawings.  There were no hats or accessories to bring to life, so it was mainly the right fabrics that I hunted for.  

I also bought a few pairs of shoes from Facets to go with the outfits.  Showtime Grace came in a gown (I'm not really into glamour gowns), so her shoes were not appropriate for the Summer Fling Set.  Well, I do my best.  At some point I'll try to redo the red shoes I purchased and turn them into sandals with a wide red band.  If I can make Kitty little shoes, certainly I can take a pair apart and remake them.  Right?  I hope.  I will try.

Let it be known, also, that of this writing, the new blog formatting is up and running.  I've already restarted this three times, so forgive the weird formatting if it doesn't turn out well.  We knew this was coming.  The other option was to stop writing From My Little Hole In the Wall.  Not an option for me.

So the next thing I did was make Grace a Summer Fling beach bag.  A convention bag.  I cropped the image from the paper doll page and printed it out on printer fabric for inkjet printers.  Made handles from the "persimmon" trim fabric and added a couple of mini fold over prints of Rachel's faux VDC magazine.  She's really having fun with this, and its wonderful to see such creativity and enthusiasm - both for her VDC, but also for Grace.  The bag came out pretty cute, and would make a nice prop for the fashion photos

 

The first outfit I would try was the purple floral wrap dress.  Well, its not really a wrap dress, but it drapes in front like one.  This gave me a lot of trouble because I tried to make a wrap dress with straps, when what I needed was a split drape front dress with a cinched bodice, and of course one very fitted to Grace's voluptuous curves.  

The first dress came out too short, which was fine, because as will all of these, there were many tries.  I had to design the patterns, make mock ups, and finally the outfits.  The lace straps were very difficult because there isn't anything just like them.  I searched for Venice lace to cut up and sew the flowers together from, and this was a little wonky.  I kept looking.  I finally found something that would work.

In her hair is a felt flower I made multiple petal layers for.  Getting it to stay in her hair with a pin wouldn't work, so I found teeny tiny claw clips to hot glue the flower to.  Grace arrives at the hotel with her luggage in tow and begins her holiday.

The second outfit was this hibiscus dress with a side slit.  In Diana's drawing, the dress is blue with white hibiscus flowers.  I was lucky just to find this fabric with suitably sized flowers.  I'd like to add that the quality and thickness of the fabrics were not always what I would have chosen to dress the doll in, but we were bringing paper doll outfits to life, and to me, sometimes the print is everything.  

This dress gave me a real indication of how hippy she is.  Wow.  I am NOT used to dressing fashion dolls, much less ones with an hourglass figure.  I worked off Tamara Casey's patterns for some of these, but only as slopers.  You will not be able to make these outfits direct from her patterns.  I did a lot of designing, but the basic torso shape made for great sloper starts.  

This dress has a band at the top of the bodice that hooks in back like a halter dress.  The thickness of the fabric made the design difficult, but I WET it and folded it and pinned it, then dried it.  That's how I achieved this look.  The luggage did not come with dragonfly charms, but Diana drew them on her rendition of the luggage, so I added them via a charms seller on Etsy. 

The third dress is probably not a favorite, but had to be done.  I called this Beautiful Shells (I was naming the outfits now), since Grace went shopping for beautiful shells for her home, as souvenirs.  I've always had trouble purchasing yellow fabric in the right shade.  Especially in silk.  I had this yellow on hand and decided to use it.  Its a bit lighter than Diana's drawing so let's say I gave myself artistic license.  Its lemony.  

There is a band going up the front, in white, edged in rose pink.  This I applied to the top of the dress and sewed the appropriate number of buttons on.  The pockets are a rose print, and one I had from an Ultimate Alice dress I made a long, long time ago.

The shoes Grace is wearing are the sandals that came with the basic blonde "wigged" doll.  Tonner has made better shoes.  Did he lose the company that used to make the clothing, too?  Yes, I'm picky.

Then I came to my favorite outfit.  The one that had to be made.  This little romper has delightful sailboats on it, and I adored the design.  It was a nightmare to make.  I made no less than seven tries at it.  And, still, I could do it one more time, I think, to get it perfect.  And, might.

The fabric came from the U.K.  I bought it in both pink sailboats, and purple sailboats.  The illustration is of black line sail boats on a pink or mauve background.  I chose the pink.  The problem is that the sail boat print doesn't show up as vibrantly.  So here's what I'm thinking to do.  Take the purple print and wash it with a new red shirt.  Then you'd have the striking sailboats against as pale pink background.  

If  you're wondering why I didn't do this and make this romper an eighth time, its because my goal was to finish this wardrobe by the end of summer - or at most, the end of September, and I began on the 10th..  

One of the issues with making an outfit like this is Grace's RTB101.  The torso connects into a literal "rubber bottom" just under the belly button.  Shorts and swimsuits must be moderately high waisted.

In this photo she is holding two Victorian postcards that were downloads from the VDC.

Ah!  And, now to Rio De Janeiro Blue.  I love this one.  I was listening to Randy Crawford's song while making this, and the name fit perfectly.  It really came out nicely.  Its a knit bathing costume beneath a lace cover up.  In reality its like a long fitted, sleeveless t-shirt with bathing suit bottoms.  

I bought a baby's dress in aqua and white striped knit, and cut it up for the outfit.  It had plenty of sold aqua trim that I could use to edge the armholes and neckline.  It was an exercise in making t-shirts.  

The bottoms were another matter.  Its knit, and it had to fit.  So I used the tape method.  I tore off little bits of tape and taped them to her body in the form of the bottoms I needed.  I gently pulled this off and stuck it to a paper towel, then added width for seams and turning under.  I overedge stitched the edges, then  turned them under by hand stitching.  They pull on and off just like swimsuit bottoms.  They have a very nice fit.  

The lace fabric!  I was so lucky to have this on hand.  I'd bought it for a dress for France (remember her?), and was going to dye it bone.  It was pure luck that I had it.  The lace fabric made up quite nicely into a lacey cover-up.  There is a good quantity of angel sleeve-flutter sleeve there, but the photo just doesn't show this.

Next I tried the "convertible" set.  While I'm just not into sporty looks, this seemed appropriate for a drive around the island.  It does have a charm of its own.  I call this one Castaway, because it looks like something Mary Ann would have worn on Gilligan's Island.  Remember that show?  I loved it as a kid.  

We have a pair of red shorts that open in front like jean's pants.  I was very nervous about making these, and I'm not even sure I did it right, but the look is there, they fit, and they're cute.  I used a red cotton sateen for them since it had a good "jean's" weight to it for a doll.  The cuffs are in blue gingham, and the top is in the blue gingham as well.

I agonized over how to design this top.  Tamara's Summer blouse was used for the sloper, but the front folds over to make the collar.  I designed that.  The ties at the waist befuddled me.  Again, its not a wrap top, but it looks like one.  Its just has ties that tie in front.  So I added in ties at the waistline seams.  

I made her a pair of gold tropical leaf earrings for this set.  I guess I haven't mentioned this, but I've been making earrings to go with these outfits.  There's a coral pair, a turquoise pair, and the gold leaves.  She also has a pearl bracelet.  Jewelry can't be too glamourous when you're on a tropical holiday.

And, finally, we came to the red polka dot swim dress.  Four days to the end of the month and I was determined.  You would think that after designing these patterns, making several mock ups for each, then a final piece, that I would have sewing for this body shape down.  Not really.  Each outfit provided its own challenges because of their unique designs.

At least I had a swimsuit bottom pattern to work from for this one.  And, had edged the yellow and peach mosaic swim dress at the start.  This one was different though with the addition of the reverse color polka dot bustline.  

The bathing suit bottoms pattern is the same, but I added width to it, for seams, and split the back.  The bottoms needed to open at the back since they wouldn't stretch like the knit.  I studied the bathing suit bottoms of Poppy Parker dolls for this.  Its not perfect, but it fit and looks nice.  If I did them again, I'd widen the butt and maybe use a couple of darts at the top.

These costumes were full of darts.  I gained a fine appreciation of darts and how to use them.  This was also evident in making the top for Castaway.

While making this, I decided to make her some shell jewelry.  I had a collection of lovely mini shells and chose two similar ones, then hand drilled holes in them for the jump rings.  I use a pin vise with a micro drill bit, and each shell took about 10 minutes of twisting to eventually get a hole drilled into it.  Shell is very hard.  Don't be fooled by these fragile mini shells.  I love the look though, and made her a hair comb with shells on it, too.

I really enjoyed this Summer Fling.  It was my vacation.  I got to play tropical paradise with a beautiful doll and design her some fun clothing for her Summer Fling, and I owe it all to Diana Vining and Rachel Hoffman, and of course, Robert.

Below is some of Diana's wonderful artwork for the Summer Fling.  I've always loved her work, but if I could possibly enjoy it more, I do now!  I can't wait for the Christmas Pageant VDC, and I HOPE Diana makes us Grace paper dolls for it!  Thank you Diana and Rachel!

Love,

Melissa

 

UFDC's Peggy Sue Goes Back to School

School is well underway, and Peggy Sue goes to the head of the class.  She's smart, reads well in front of the class, practices perfect decorum, and can run a projector when the class watches films.  Is it any wonder that Peggy Sue is the teacher's pet?

Back in the 1950's, lessons were written in chalk on a black board.  Paper was punched manually with three-hole-punches to put into binders.  Children stood at the beginning of class and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. 

When lunchtime came, students stood up row by row to leave the classroom single file to go to the cafeteria.  Schools were run with tight discipline since there were so many children to each classroom - often 30 to 40.  This was a result of the Baby Boom and well behaved children were expected. 

There was one teacher to a classroom and he or she would teach all subjects.  Occasionally a different teacher would come to the class to teach a different subject, but in general, you and your teacher got to know each other real well over the school year.  There were two recess breaks, and two bathroom breaks.  The bathroom breaks were taken by the whole class, and the children lined up to take their turn.

Students studied almost the same courses that they study now, except there were civics classes, state history, handwriting, spelling, singing and art classes.  Some schools had classes in citizenship or how to be a good citizen.  Class ended around 3:00 - 3:30, and students went home the same way they had arrived, by walking, bicycle or bus.  One thing is certain.  Peggy Sue was always dressed beautifully.

I've been buying fabric like nobody's business these days.  When I can't sleep, when I need a quite moment to rest my mind, anytime I need a small meditation, I look up fabric on Etsy.  I love Riley Blake, and Lori Holt for Riley Blake.  These fabric colors and patterns are rich and bright and delightful.  I have quite a few little 1/2 yard packages arriving soon.  Some will work.  Some won't.  Even when the fabric has a ruler on it, I'm often surprised when the print is too large.  More surprised when its perfect, but its such a joy to shop fabrics!

The first dress I made Peggy Sue for her autumn school days, was this tan and white plaid affair with a Peter Pan collar and belt.  The pattern has a pieced bodice, which was a perfect choice for playing with the plaid.  The top half is horizontal, and the lower half is on the bias.  A white cotton collar and white sleeves give the look of a jumper and blouse, but this is all one dress.  This was a popular style in the 1950's.  I added a same fabric belt to finish the look.  I was so happy with how this turned out, that I posted it on FB right away.  The more I sew for Peggy Sue, the bolder I become with design. 

For her hair, I made a matching hair band.  Looking for a medium that would hold a curve, I used some of the aluminum sheeting that was purchased for making Kitty's high heels.  Fabric glues beautifully to it, and you can fold it over or double it up for a firmer headband.

For the second school dress, I chose a peppermint green stripe.  This beautiful vintage stripe was a fabric that I bought years ago and never used because there wasn't much of a piece to work with.  If I recall, I was going to use it for one of Daisy's dresses, but it was too small a stripe.

Alice Leverette made a dress with a large white border and I wanted to try the look.  Again, I played with bias cuts for the bodice and horizontal stripes for the sleeves and skirt.  The idea is to make each dress uniquely different, but also choose colors and patterns that will work beautifully in a dress display in her case.  The bias on the bodice creates a chevron look.  These dresses all have darts, and I can't figure out why, since Little Darlings are barely budding. 

The Swiss lace down the front of her bodice is a delicate batiste with three black buttons.  The collar and cuffs are white to balance out the large white border on the skirt.  This was a fun dress to make and I secretly called it "creme de menthe".

To top off Peggy's pretty red hair, I made her a bow from the green stripe.  The bow that came with Peggy Sue was on a very tiny hair clip.  I found some on Etsy, coming from China, of course, and when they arrive, I'll sew all the bows I've made to the hair clips and she'll have some proper hair accessories.

Encouraged, and really have fun by now, I started the blue gingham dress.  I'd purchased several colors in the 1/8" gingham check and the blue seemed to pick up the color in her eyes perfectly.  As I was designing this, and I should note that I'm using Alice's patterns as slopers now to create unique pieces, I recalled this lovely trim that I'd purchased some time ago.  Do click on a photo for a close up.  Its a Swiss batiste insertion?? lace with blue embroidery dots on it.  It was very expensive if I remember, and I had about three yards of it.  Sometimes its hard to use the expensive stuff, but I went for it and wasn't sorry.

Again we have a Peter Pan collar and I lined the bodice fully.  This meant pulling the whole bodice with collar through the shoulder area, then applying the trim later.  A lot of people wouldn't do it this way, preferring to finish the armholes with bias binding, but I've been doing this for years and I love the results.

As you'll note, the bodice was cut on the bias once again for style.  This gingham also gathers like a dream and all these dresses have a skirt of 24".  I added a bow to the front of the dress as I chose to make another head band, also cut on the bias. 

Finally, although there may be more school dresses or outfits to come, the gingham plaid in red-orange and purple arrived just as I was finishing the blue.  I'd been wanting to somewhat replicate AG MaryEllen's first purple plaid school dress.  But, different, of course.  I had quite a time trying to make this on a bodice pattern that is all one piece (no shoulder seams), and failed miserably.  It happens.  But, it gave me some experience in what to do and what not to do.  No time is ever wasted if you're learning something.  And, no fabric was wasted, not really, when I had plenty to work with.  So I slept on it, and started again.

This time I made a bib edged in black piping, then hand sewed it to the bodice with a ladder stitch.  The result speaks for itself.  Whatever it takes to get the look - get the job done. The collar was redrawn to have points instead of rounded edges, which is hard to detect from the photos.  Three little black buttons are sewn down the front, and black cotton grosgrain ribbon was applied to the hem and waistline.  This is a perfect look for fall and I love the colors.  A little grosgrain ribbon bow is tacked just under the collar.  It as applied to the top of the collar with the "creme de menthe" dress, so there's the difference there.

Any finally a little bow was made for her hair.  The saddle shoes work well for school and truth be told, as a child, I was only purchased one pair of shoes for the school year.  I usually convinced my mother to buy me an impractical pair for spring, and I'm sure my fashion sense as a child was complete lacking.  Does anyone remember the t-strap "tennis shoes"? 

In writing this blog, I noticed that the team is still allowing us to revert back to the old format, so I'm happy.  I was dreading learning a new formatting process.  phew!  I found this adorable advertisement from Woolworths's for school supplies and wanted to share it.  I adore the rocket ship pencil caddy!  I'd love to find a vintage one just to have.  If I were a retro toy manufacturer, I'd replicate so many joys from the past!

By the way, I've slowly started putting the display case in order.  I added mini 45 records as buttons with a thread for winding close, on the front of the case.  I added pink poodle stickers to the inside and am toying with more ideas.  I will share the case completed when done.  Also, the pink dress with rick rack is getting tossed.  The rick rack I used was kind of chunky and I found the regular mini red rick rack a couple of weeks ago.  I'll probably make the dress with sleeves, too, but later.  It was the first one I made, and I know I can do better now.  Its the only dress I made with the square collar, so I do want to make it.

Enjoy the turn of the leaves and change of season.  Remember that every day is precious and there is no time to waste.  No regrets.  Play!

Love,
Melissa