Ava the Hula Dancer and Summer Fling II

From mermaids to beach themes, pirates to hula dancers, I'm in a continuous state of Pacific Island day dreaming.  This isn't unusual for me this time of year, but the upcoming Dolly and Me By the Sea UFDC convention, beginning July 19th, has certainly parted the waters for me.  

First, I was doggedly pursuing the opportunity, and final win, of a Robert Tonner Tia Dalma, from his Pirates of the Caribbean line of dolls.  The offers, the hassles, the waiting and watching became a near obsession.  I get obsessed about dolls.  True collects do!  When I read up on her and discovered she was the earthbound sea goddess Calypso, that tipped the scales for me.  Part gypsy, mystic, earthbound sea goddess...what's not to love?  Plus, she's a gorgeous doll.  I thought winning her would sate my appetite for the summer, then I spotted the 19" Tonner American Model, Hawaii, and went nuts again.  (see below in photos)  Did I even try for her?  No.  Why?  Because I knew I was going to pay a fortune for Tia Dalma if I did win her...and I did. 

I was looking at auctions a bit later and saw Tonner's Ava, and that did the trick.  I'd make my own Hawaiian hula girl!  I don't know Ava's story, but she was nude, the right skin tone, and gorgeous, long black hair.  Hula girl!  The odd thing was that her hair had been up in a pulled back knot for so many years, and I'm still trying to wet it straight.  With the other locks smoothed over the "bumps", it gives her hair a bit more volume.  I can't be too picky!  Can I?

Prior to that, the new Club Grace outfit debuted, and it was called Road Trip.  No Thelma and Louise here, she had a leather jacket and was a biker.  This just didn't sit well with me and I certainly couldn't turn Dolly Dingle into a motorcycle chick, so I did something else with Dolly.  That's Part II of this journaling.  Nothing wrong with ladies who love bikes!  Its not me.  But, before we get into Dolly and Grace, let's go to the tropics.

When we think of Hawaii, often the first thing that comes to mind besides sandy beaches and tropical breezes, are lovely hula dancers wearing grass skirts with fragrant leis circling their necks.  Grass skirts were introduced to Hawaii from the Gilbert Islands around 1870.  Its likely hula dancers began wearing them during vaudeville shows, traditional skirts were made of ti leaves, which were not available on the mainland.  By mid century, dancers were wearing grass skirts in both Hawaii and the mainland.

From the late 19th century through WWII, grass skirts in Polynesia became a powerful symbol of South Seas sexuality.  Sailors would purchase them as souvenirs, and as men returned home from the war, Polynesian culture began to take root in the U.S.  Tiki culture continued and was spurred on by Hawaii's statehood in 1959, and by Elvis Presley's movie Blue Hawaii in 1961.

Although you are most likely to see hula dancers in yellow grass skirts today, green grass skirts were the rave when I was a child.

Who, if you're old enough, wouldn't remember the 1965 Barbie in Hawaii costume set?  Today, in good condition, the prices can be competitive.  It was this very outfit that inspired the one I made for Ava.  Perhaps I should have given her a new name, but Ava is a rather old fashioned name, so suitable for the theme.  

Can you imagine the delight of little girls in the 1960's receiving this gorgeous pink and white striped box with an adorable little grass skirt, lei and anklet, pineapple, and matching top and bottoms?  Even Ken had an attractive Hawaiian costume consisting of a straw hat decked with a flower wreath, a yellow straw lei, a blue manly sarong, sandals and a ukulele.

I did my homework.  I looked up "How to make a grass skirt for a doll", and found mostly how to make grass skirts in general.  Someone had even made one for an infant girl, for a party, and it was adorable.  The mother called it her Teeny Weeny Wahine.  All used raffia straw, and I was lucky to find green on Amazon.  I felt like I was off and running now.

First, I made Ava a bra top that knots in the center and ties around the neck.  She also wears a matching pair of shorts to go under the grass skirt.  This pretty blue retro print was something I think I purchased last summer for Peggy Sue.  Maybe.  But, I had it in my stash, and couldn't find a hibiscus mini print online.  Its also a soft fabric with a gentle hand, so it was nice to work with for Ava.  

There's really not a lot to this outfit, but that's the point!

Tutorials on grass skirts made with raffia would tell you to soak the raffia first to straighten it, as it comes folded several times in a pack.  It was even suggested to soak it in hot water.  I test a few strands in cool water and that seemed to go well, so I dumped the rest in the kitchen sink and added very warm to hot water.  Yes.  You guessed it.  The green dye began to run out of the raffia.  So...don't try it.  In fact, don't soak it at all.  

When I laid all this nice, wet raffia on a towel and took it outdoors to dry, it curled up into long strands of "twig grass".  I knew this didn't look right, but I had to try at least one skirt with the raffia like this.  It was tight and difficult to loop knot over the string that would tie the skirt around the waist/hips.  So I purchased another package of green raffia and used it straight out of the bag.

It was easier to work with and I like the look much better.  Its fuller.  The skirt was not made the way Barbie's was, but since I didn't have one, and I knew elastic was involved, I made it the 

easiest way I could.  Most likely, this one is made more traditionally or authentically.  

One of the coolest things about studying Barbie's vintage set, was that I noticed that the lei and anklet were made from Forget-Me-Knot vintage hat flowers.  Well, I had plenty, so I removed their stamens and stems and strung them on two strands of brown embroidery thread, tying the ends together.  I made Ava a lei, a head wreath, one anklet and two wrist garlands.

I had no idea what to do for her feet since hula dancers traditionally went bare foot.  A girl after my own heart!  Anyone who owns a Tonner fashion doll knows that the doll will wobble on her stand shoeless (a hula dance?), before toppling over, so I added sand colored wool felt, in layers beneath the feet, to the stand's base.  I also purchased her a pair of Gene-style sandals from DebsAdorables on Ebay, but whether or not they'll fit remains to be seen until they arrive.  I like her barefoot.

And, now we come to Summer Fling II, or Summer Fling Revisted.  What a happy and productive time that was for me in sewing for Grace.  Well, Diana Vining had drawn Dolly Dingle in at least one Summer Fling outfit, and that was a red and white polka-dot, two piece, ruffle skirted swimsuit.  Since I wasn't going to be making a leather jacket for Dolly Dingle, I thought and thought about what I could do.  Given my seaside stream of thought, I recalled the jointed paper toy doll she made for the Summer Fling Virtual Doll Convention.  Grace already had a red and white polka-dot swimsuit and Dolly could have a matching one.

This swimsuit was something I made earlier on, prior to Ava's hula girl costume.  It wasn't easy.  That funny little, chubby body of hers provides design challenges, especially when it comes to fitted pieces like a two-piece swimsuit.  Still, determined as ever, I forged ahead.

What happened to Alice in white?  I need color right now.  Sewing with color is making me feel good, so that's where I'm going.  I will make her.

What's kind of neat, is that Diana drew Dolly Dingle in all these amazing little outfits, so when I'm stumped for something to do, I can turn back to those.  Yet, since I display the two dolls together, its nice when you can make Dolly one to match Grace's.

This little top is lined.  And, somehow I hand-sewed in the butterfly sleeves.  The bottoms are lined as well.  Adding the ruffled skirt to the raw edges of the waist of both the lining and swimsuit bottoms was done with a very narrow band of bias cut from the fabric to finish it.

Not a lot to this costume either.  Another pair of red leather sandals.  These were meant to be flip flops with bows at the toe junction, but since Dolly doesn't have separate toes, its just a band over the top with the bow positioned for the look.

Here's the darling Jointed Dolly Dingle from the 2020 Summer Fling VDC.  Wish I could have found her a pair of red heart sunglasses, and I almost made a pair from cardboard, but.

In one of the stickers Diana drew of Dolly in the swimsuit, she had a bandeau with a bow in her hair of the same fabric.  I made a headband to give her the look and called it a day.

I feel good that I was able to do something fun with the two of them this month.  Its likely they'll be dressed this way until I return from Baltimore and I'm happy with that.  

I was looking for pineapples for Ava, to maybe have one to hold when she's not dancing, and remembered the pineapple bags I made for Grace earlier this year.  I made one for Rachel, and one to keep.  I need to go find it and drape it over her shoulder.

Convention isn't until the 19th of July, but for the next couple of weeks I intend on just doing small things like I've done with Ava and Dolly.  Summer, for me, is a time to hang out.  If I can't hang out on a beach under a palm tree, I'm going to disappear into my books.  I just picked up a copy of the classic Treasure Island.  I've never read it.  It is a classic, even if it was intended for boys, but after watching Dead Man's Chest - Pirates of the Caribbean, to see the actress portray Tia Dalma, I'm interested in pirate adventures.  I'll give it a try.

Below, I have some lovely Hawaii inspired images.  I hope the sexuality, nudity doesn't offend anyone.  I think the artist, Phil Roberts, painted such beautiful, colorful, tropical exotic images.

I wish you a lovely end to the first days of summer and a wonderful July to come.  In my next post, I'll be sharing the events of Dolly and Me By the Sea.  Until then, have some fun in the sun!

Love, Melissa   

Tonner's 19" Hawaiian Girl

 

Belinda Under the Sea

How many grown up little girls remember diving to the bottom of the pool and keeping their legs tightly together pretending to be mermaids?  Or hosting pretend mermaid tea parties under the water?  We'd pour the invisible tea from the invisible pot and hold our invisible cups and saucers and sip before we ran out of breath, rising to the surface glorious mermaids all!

The fascination and enchantment with mermaids, these sirens of the sea, goes back hundreds of years. Mermaids are one of the oldest mythological creatures.  The first known story of a mermaid dates back to 1000 B.C.  when Assyrian goddess Atargatis, ashamed at having killed a mortal man that she loved, tried to conceal herself in a lake.  When waters failed to hide her, she turned herself into a creature, half woman, half fish.

Mermaids have made appearances in fiction and fairytales, and are especially popular in areas surrounded by water, such as  

Ireland and the islands of the Caribbean Sea.  Mermaids waver between being trapped, and being dangerous.  But, the most consistent portrayal of mermaids is certain superiority to mortals. In love, they are vulnerable, so often falling for gruff sailors or fisherman.  Or they are bewitching, enchanting said men to their watery demise.  

Poets such as Alfred Lord Tennyson and Shakespeare have written poetry about mermaids.  J. M. Barrie has Peter Pan introduce Wendy to mermaids.  "Oh," cried Wendy, "to see a mermaid!" (1904) 

Statues have been erected to these mythological sirens.  Most famous is The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, Denmark. From Bonita Springs, Florida to San Francisco, from Greece to Rome to Hawaii, mermaids grace fountains, gardens and beaches.

Every summer I get on my mermaid kick.  This year it began 

much earlier, but in truth, if you're a mermaid lover, you are always looking for the next gracious image of a mermaid.  I've lost myself for hours on Pinterest saving off vintage and contemporary images-artworks, and with the advent of my new printer, I've been making stickers of them to decorate my daily journal.  The more I look, the more I find, and just recently purchased two more books off Amazon of mermaid lore and history.  While I don't, yet, have a favorite volume, my first was Varla Ventura's Among the Mermaids (2013), and this I purchased years ago.  Its the perfect beach read.  And, if a beach is not near, the pool, the patio, right before bed for dreams of under the sea enchantment.

Last month my husband gifted me a trip to Baltimore in July, to attend the UFDC's Dolly and Me By the Sea convention.  I had to go.  As I love everything nautical, this will be such a treat.  While not necessary, its a joy to bring along a pocket doll, and I chose Belinda, my Ruby Red Galleria 8" dolly. 

Surely I could have packed her a little bag with some nautically themed RRG outfits (she's the same size as Ten Ping), but the idea of bringing her as a mermaid with a couple changes of tails seemed more fun an idea.

Both Belinda and Ten Ping have been accessorized by RRG with these darling little soft cloth dollies, and I would make one based off the "thinnest" one in the collection, as a mermaid dolly for Belinda.  

I've been working on these three costumes for a long time.  Just researching the right fabrics took effort, and then to decorate the costumes was even more effort.  I heavily invested in no less than eight different metallic lycra fabrics for this project.  With most sellers, you cannot purchase less than one yard of 60" fabric, so you can just imagine what I have left over.  There are also fabrics that were simply unsuitable.  And sewing on these fabrics was a pretty miserable experience.  I used a jersey needle,

however, I'm not sure that was the best choice.  Maybe I should have looked up what needle would be best to use, but there you go.  I didn't.  Some fabric was just too thick, like pleather.

Finding little seashells and charms was another matter.  Its not that there aren't a billion possibilities and selections, its just that I didn't know what I was doing or wanted to do.  So I often just sat dumbfounded, and would return to Pinterest to look at more mermaids - which is currently, my favorite pastime.  Mermaids and beach scenes.

Like a true collector, I had to buy a couple of mermaid dolls as well.  They're out there.  Whether they're vintage bathtub toys like Sea Wees and TNT's vinyl offerings, or the highly articulated Eledoll, they're great.  Its nice to have a proper selection.  There's a lady on Etsy that makes OOAK Barbie mermaids, and I had to have one of those, too.  She makes incredible resin stands for them that allow the doll to appear as if she's swimming.

So its not like I didn't have lots of references, but I still found creating my own a distinct challenge.

The first outfit I made for Belinda was with this "mini" scale metallic mermaid fabric.  Most scale fabrics are designed for human costumes, and the green was the only one I could find with a small enough scale.

Mermaids love jewelry. Pearl strands and gemstones.  For Belinda's first "tail", her little top is fastened with pearl straps that come together with a barrel clasp.  Her hair comb is decorated with sparkle frou-frou from the edges of the metallic fabric.  The fins are of the same edging. 

I found a seller that had nicely drilled tiny shells and added a few to both her hair comb and her costume.  I also used decorative fish net to drape her tail with, which allowed me to hang little charms and drilled shells off of.

Another investment was in sea spray.  Sea vegetation works beautifully to enhance the costume further.  I will attribute both the fish net and sea spray to a lovely Etsy seller who made hair jewelry with these items.  She was generously instrumental in helping me find these add-ons as well.  Some people like to remain anonymous on Etsy, but I thanked her profusely.

The second costume I made was supposed to represent a Koi or goldfish.  Finding orange was not meant to be.  This fabric was actually called "copper", but its more of an orange-red.  Both this and the final costume's fabric is considered sequin dot fabric.  So not individually sewn on sequins, but stamped on mirrored dots.  All these have two or four way stretch, which is essential for a good tail fit.

I didn't take as many photos of the green tail, and too many of the others, but I like how her dolly came out in the goldfish photos.  

Let's talk about Belinda's mermaid dolly.

In one of the dressed doll Belinda's, she came with a little rag doll in a lace dress.  Ruby Red Galleria actually made this lace dress with a snap, so I undressed her and sketched a rough outline of the doll on paper.  This was my pattern.  I had three similar dolly rag dolls by RRG and this one was the thinnest, although I feel that all of the tiny rag dolls are slightly different in dimension depending on how the seamstress sewed them up and stuffed them.  That's my opinion anyway, so this little one is on target as unique.  I also used their basic embroidered face format for her features.  I intended to have the DCM thread hair bundled up like Belinda's, but that's not really "rag doll" style.

So I twisted the sides and sewed them down for a more dramatic look, then decorated her thread tresses with shells, jewels and a connecting chain.  These are permanent adornments.  Perhaps I should have made the dolly's hair a bit longer, but the length is okay.

Dolly would get a matching tail for each of Belinda's.  The first two are from the same pattern, and the third is simpler, but unique.

For Belinda's hair piece, I used the style of mini clip I chose for all the bows while dressing Peggy Sue.  I have a lifetime's worth of them.  You can't purchase them here.  Only in China, and I haven't seen a seller on Etsy selling quantities of 10, 20 etc.  Yet.

Making this tiny hair jewelry without damaging Belinda's mohair wig was near impossible.  Her wig is actually brushed up, ponytailed, then the ends curled.  I would never in a million years try to undo it and smooth it up again.  Mohair is  terribly unforgiving.

That said, each hair ornament had to be made in such a way as to do as little damage to her "do" when putting it in and taking it off.  

I took a close up of this one to share a bit how I made it.  The natural seashells were colored with alcohol markers.  I let them dry an entire day, although alcohol markers dry instantly - typically.  There was some reaction on the shell's surface that made the color just a little sticky.  Almost used the word "tacky", but I don't want you to think my work is "tacky".  LOL  I also colored white paper roses, and sewed those on as well.  There's a brass seahorse included in the dangling charms.

Belinda's necklace is one long strand of chain with glass leaf beads and other jewels at the ends.  When wrapped around her neck several times, the necklace stays on, I don't have to fiddle with clasps.  The ends can hang down her back, front or one on each side.

Both the green scales and the Koi (let's call it that), tails are for daytime wear.  But, for the evening, and when, and if, I attend any dinner events at convention, Belinda will need to dress up, so the last tail I made her would be for this purpose.  I'm calling it Breakfast at Belinda's after Breakfast at Tiffany's.  

You have to admit that its a rather "Audrey Hepburn" look.

Once again, I used a sequin dot metallic stretch fabric, but this one in silver with what they call "holo" dots.  Hologram dots that sparkle like a rainbow.  Very fishy.  What ocean fish has silver scales?  I don't know.  Salmon have silver scales with pink flesh, but that would make this a mermaid of the lake costume.  Overthinking things here.

I used the same format in the pattern by making the fins the edge fabric.  It is also run through with sparkle threads.  You could call this the selvage, but there's so much of it, maybe six inches, that I just consider it fabric.  However, instead of a bra top on young Belinda's child chest, I brought the length up high for a strapless gown look.  

Just having a little photo fun with sea spray and fish netting.  Belinda is upheld by a vintage Barbie stand.  They work so perfectly for a swimming look!

The main difference with the evening tails is that I added little back fins to both Belinda's costume and her dolly's.  This was made from a see-through metallic stretch fabric.  One of the mistakes I'd purchased not realizing how see-through it was.  Or perhaps thinking I'd use it for fins, but alas, her feet would show through!

I folded a piece, then cut a wavy shape on the edge and hand sewed it to the back.  If you look at real fish, their fins are translucent.  But, mermaid costumes must hide little pink feet. 

I was surprised this came out so well, and the tiny costume was made in the exact same way.

I played a bit more in decorating this evening tail as well.  I had to invest in some silver chain, and had some fun looking for silver sea shell-nautical themed charms.  Natural shells would not do for glam.  They also needed to be light enough, that once sewn on, they would not pull the costume down off her body.  

I did find a seller with a mixed selection of shells and sea critters and used these to dangle from her draped chain the runs from under her arm and across to the beginning of her fins.  There's a silver conch shell, a seahorse, a star fish and a turtle.  And, this is where it got fun.  I added a little silver tea cup and saucer with a pearl inside the cup, to the end of the chain.  Mermaids like to collect treasures from sunken ships, and why not have Belinda find a charming tea service?  A mermaid would think this an unusual item, but pretty!

For her head piece, I used the stingray charm from this set and made a little crown with pearls and long silver beads with tapered ends.  I purchased some silver jewelry wire to assemble it.  I chose the stingray because he has a jewelry loop on one end, and his tail acted as the other loop for the wire.  A close up of the crown can be seen in the portrait photo at the start of this journal post.

While I'm finished with Belinda's mermaid wardrobe, I'll continue to enjoy the quiet time of looking for artwork images I've never seen before, and will continue enjoying the old and new books on mermaid lore and history.  Back in the early 80's, I collected greeting cards with beautiful mermaid images, and scrapbooked them in an album along with other themed cards.  Mermaids have been a lifetime enchantment and curiosity to me.  The stories, poems and historical anecdotes only enhance my enjoyment of mermaid pursuit.  

I'll leave you now with a close up of Belinda's dolly, and her wrap chain necklace with a little fish bead on one end, capped pearl on the other.

I've included several of my favorite mermaid images below for you to enjoy.  Of note, are the works by Claire Fletcher from Hastings in the U.K.  I just discovered her work recently, and have saved off everything I could find that she painted mermaid related.  I'm also overly tickled by the vintage ads for Fairy Soap.  One has a poem and I hope you'll enjoy it as well.  Remember that you can click on any photo to see it close up.  Helps when reading a poem!

The unofficial first day of summer is here, and I hope you've been enjoying beautiful weather and maybe a barbeque or two.  For us in California, it is already too hot to be out past noon.  Wherever you are, I hope you'll enjoy being outdoors in nature, and perhaps near water during these soft and balmy days.  Let me know if you spot a mermaid!

Love, Melissa 

Michael Parks

Claire Fletcher

Claire Fletcher

Claire Fletcher

Claire Fletcher

Image used on cover of Among the Mermaids