Good Luck Gracie's Chinaman Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!  Each year I forget how much I truly enjoy this remembrance.  I got so caught up in Chinese New Year this February that I almost forgot how much I loved all the adorable, vintage Valentines of my youth and before.

It was while browsing and picking out some new ones to share this year, that I happened upon this crafter's blog called Creative Breathing.  I instantly liked the name of the blog, but this woman's felt dolls and anthropomorphic toys sent me reeling with delight.  I instantly decided to make a mini version of her New Year Chinaman.

She'd posted a pattern for her readers to make one for themselves and shared the story of how one of her readers had seen him and asked her to make one for her for her newly adopted children from China.   

The artist's husband traveled a lot and she spent her time, as I 

do, amusing herself with her creations, and filling her space with joyful things.  Sadly, her last post was in 2014, or I would have followed her religiously.  

With pipe cleaner legs, and wool felt, she created come-to-life vintage Valentines.  Her embroidered faces are divine and making Gracie a mini version of the New Year Chinaman, gave me further practice with this.  That pink clock is to die for!

Since I was making him up so close to Valentine's Day, I decided to create for him a heart banner instead of the New Year's one.

This also made him unique and special just for Gracie.  As you can see, he's about the same size as her Lucky Tiger.  About 4".  There was no indication in her blog posting how tall her Chinaman was, but I'd guess about 9" - 10", maybe a bit larger.  The pattern was free drawn and had no directions on how to make or assemble him, so once again, I was winging it.

The little Valentine Chinaman has pipe cleaner attaching his head to his body.  I folded the end of it up on the pipe cleaner stem for his arms.  His two black pipe cleaner legs are not locked so I can adjust them to help him stand.

He has a full body that's stuffed with fill, and his ears are sewn into the sides of his gently stuffed head.  

He "wears" red gloves.  The embroidered frog closure design has French knots on the ends. Since he's so small, I used only one thread to embroider his face.

I added a Chinese collar to the outfit.

Since the hat was so tiny, I added a pom-pom to the top instead of the frou-frou she added.

Not being able to see the back of her doll, I decided that his little head need a Chinese queue. 

The black pipe cleaner for the legs is bent at the bottom for his feet and poked through the top shoe piece with the bottom shoe piece finishing the feet.  I used a 2mm crafting hole punch to push the pipe cleaner through the wool felt.

Now Good Luck Gracie has two dolls to hold or display with.  As the year goes on, and other Chinese celebrations come along, I may make her more toys.  She can help me celebrate all year long.

I would like to explore making my own anthropomorphic felt dolls and may have to find a little Valentine clock to begin with!

Below are some favorite Valentines for this year.  The two with the pink floral back drop are ones I purchased for my collection.  Attached, also, is the Valentine display in Creative Breathing's room.  It's absolutely awesome!

Wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day!  My husband's kind of a stick-in-the-mud when it comes to Hallmark holidays, but I create my own fun and with the help of Creative Breathing this Valentine's Day was a joy!

Love, Melissa

 

Lantern Festival Cissy

Hello my lovely friends!  Just sitting here enjoying a comforting cup of jasmine tea in my pretty Year of the Tiger mug.  After it became apparent that the first shipment was never going to make it here, the seller overnighted a replacement for me.  Unfortunately, this all didn't commence until after February first, but I'm happily drinking cup after cup of "good luck" tea now.  Chinese New Year lasts fifteen days, and I've been enjoying scratching off a fortune each day from this pack of Chinese New Year fortune cards that I bought.  We make our own fun, and why not?  I could make a month-long celebration of any holiday or theme just by sewing something special for a doll!

After finishing Good Luck Gracie, I'd received four tiny crochet dolls (amigurumi) from the artist that makes them for me.  I'd asked her to make the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, along with Marley's ghost.  They weren't going to be done in time for last Christmas, so I asked her to 

take her time with them.  And, by the way, they came out adorable!  But she had asked me how my tiger came out.  Tiger?  What tiger?  It was then that I remembered that I asked her if she thought she could crochet me a Chinese New Year tiger.  Realizing he would be a skinny little doll, I thought best to needle felt him myself.  Then I got busy with Good Luck Gracie and forgot all about him!  So, when she asked how he turned out, guilt hit me, and I got my needle felting stuff out and made the tiny tiger.  He was the perfect size for Gracie, so I tucked him into her arms.  The story is, she received her cuddly toy from Grandmother at one of the dinner festivities.  Below you'll see a photo of Gracie with him and a close up of the tiger.  I did not make up this design.  It was inspired by a crochet pattern I found on Pinterest.  

Shortly after I finished the tiger, I'd been thinking about the Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th of the month.  It's the final celebration of Chinese New Year falling on the first full moon of the lunar year.  If I had not mentioned it, Chinese New 

Year's date is chosen by the date of the first new moon of the lunar new year. During this two-week cycle families still gather and there are observations of keeping taboos in check.  On the night of the Lantern Festival, streets and homes are decorated with colorful lanterns, often with riddles written on them.  People eat sweet rice balls called tangyuan, watch dragon and lion dances, and set off fireworks.

The festival can be traced back 2000 years, with Buddhist origins.  Ruling the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Hangmindi heard that some monks lit lanterns in their temples to show respect to Buddha on the 15th day of the first lunar month and respectfully followed suit. 

The lighting of lanterns symbolizes illuminating the future.  It is a way for people to pray for a smooth future and good luck for their families.  I think it's a beautiful custom.  There isn't much that doesn't intrigue me about the Chinese culture.  With this in mind, I chose one more doll to give a Chinese New Year outfit to.  I'm planning on sewing more for Cissy this year anyway, and I recalled this outfit on a vintage pattern that would be perfect

to make up.  I loved the illustration on the pattern front and decided to make it up just like the picture and follow the directions to a "t".  I may have to read them several times to figure it out, but this was definitely one of easier patterns to follow.  I'm grateful this Etsy seller made these vintage patterns available for us.

Cissy's Lantern Festival outfit is what they called pajamas back in the 50s.  To me, it's a hostess outfit to wear for a dinner party, and this year Cissy will host her own Lantern Festival dinner party.  The outfit is entirely made up from Shantung silk.  I even followed the directions for using bias tape for the trimming of the sleeve and neck edges, as well as making the frog closures.  However, I made my own bias tape from the red silk.  I had to try this.  Personally, I think real bias tape would be too chunky and large to work with, but out of silk it went very smoothly, although it was definitely a lot of fiddly work.

There are many ways to make frog closures and someday I'd like to try them with Chinese knots, in miniature of course.

What I loved about this pattern were the side slits at the hems of the pants and jacket.  Making this pattern taught me how to do this correctly and what I'd have to do when drafting my own pattern for something similar.

The tediously little frog closures were made by "opening" the bias tape, ironing it flat, sewing the edge 1/8" and turning the doggone thing inside out by attaching a thread and needle at one end.  With silk it was a breeze.  Out of study normal bias tape, it would have been a nightmare.  My tape was 1" wide.  

You cut a 3" piece, make a knot in the center of four pieces then slip stitch the ends together in the center.  Same for the unknotted pieces, but you leave a hole for the knot on the other side to go through.  I hand-stitched these eight pieces on, but it wasn't specified how you should sew them on.

Just the back view.  The jacket even has pockets which I love.

For Cissy's hair, I made little Chinese clip-ons.  Ruby Red Galleria makes these for their doll outfits and I love them.  Mine are not as elaborate, but I did order a ton of these very tiny hair clips back when I was first sewing for Peggy Sue and used them for bow clips.

Cissy's hair clips have "cherry blossoms" on them and three graduating chains ending in tiny pearls.

I made her a pair of red tassel earrings to go with the outfit since the tiny gold fortune cookie charms weren't going to arrive anytime soon. I loved this pattern and will most likely make a second one, maybe with full length pants in aqua and yellow silks.  We can make her the fortune cookie jewelry for that outfit.

Earlier I'd been looking for paper lantern crafts on Pinterest and found this image which led me to a website that had pdf files of tiger lanterns.  If you printed them out on A4 and in portrait, they'd be perfect for a doll.  I made one of the tiger ones (see final photo), but decided I was being lazy and I ought to get to work, so made up a cherry blossom lantern in the same manner.

Cissy's cherry blossom lantern was made from using the image of a paper or wallpaper, then folding and cutting the lantern shape as the tiger one was.  I added gold paper to the top and bottom and used it also for the handle.  For the dangling "charm", I found a Double Happiness image and glued it to a gold paper circle.  The charms are the same image back and front.  

So, the theme of Cissy's cherry blossom hair clips are continued with the lantern. I've enjoyed celebrating Chinese New Year with my dolls, and now Valentine's Day is coming up.  Rachel of the Virtual Doll Convention offered a Club Grace outfit for Valentine's Day that was pink with white polka-dots.  I might make Dolly Dingle a dress to go with it, but I'm not sure.  I do need to get both dolls out of their Christmas wear.  And the color theme would last through Easter if you think about it.  Decisions, decisions.  I have a big project I want to begin, so maybe I should do that first.

I hope you've enjoyed learning a little about Chinese New Year and some of the traditions.  I love that the Lantern Festival falls on the full moon.  I'm a moon watcher and this make it all the more special this year.  I 've attached some beautiful photos of Lantern Festival in China, and one of the "soup" with the sweet rice balls.  No, they are not eggs.  This is must have treat and the roundness of the balls symbolizes wholeness and completeness.  The sweet taste symbolizes a sweet and happy life.  How fun to eat special foods that are symbolic!

Wishing you all a happy Valentine's Day.  Is it any wonder that I also collect vintage Chinese Valentines, ephemera and New Year's cards?  Some are simply gorgeous!  Always inspirational.

Love, Melissa

 

Good Luck Gracie - Happy Lunar New Year - Year of the Tiger

Happy Lunar New Year!  2022 is the Year of the Tiger.  The tiger is known as the king of all beasts in China and is associated with bravery, confidence and strength.  Also known to be strong-willed, opinionated and stubborn, the tiger years are 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022, and 2034.

The tiger is associated with Yang (masculine, active) energy.  Tigers do things their own way and hate being told what to do.  This is not only the Year of the Tiger, it's the year of the Water Tiger.  Water years bring out our emotions more than any of the other elements.  Water Tigers are family-oriented and have wonderful interpersonal relationships.  They are extremely driven and selfless.

Not a tiger?  Strength, confidence and bravery are still yours to look forward to in 2022. 

I love Lunar New Year.  It is also Spring Festival in China, yet still winter.  I was visiting with a friend of mine recently and trying to remember when it was exactly, that I started celebrating the Lunar New Year.  The only thing that came to mind was falling in love with Asian dolls, Chinese dolls in particular.  And, when something like this strikes me, I absorb myself in reading up on the culture, practices, and celebrations.  So, when was it?  Maybe the first time I went to Chinatown in San Francisco as a child.  That far back.

This year was no exception, but I took decorating a little further and decided to make myself a Year of the Tiger doll.  I was thrilled when Ruby Red Galleria introduce Dawn (14") in their "Friends" line, followed shortly by Belinda (8") and Sophie (6.5") in Chinese New Year outfits.  (see photos below)  I actually bought two Dawns.  One to keep dressed, and one to dress on my own for Chinese celebrations and seasons.  Not knowing when any of these dolls would show up, I took matters 

into my own hands with a Robert Tonner Gracie.  I'm calling her Good Luck Gracie and she will remind me to be strong and brave and creative as the years unfolds.  

I'd been on Pinterest searching "2022 Year of the Tiger" for anything inspiring when I came upon this photo of a pretty little girl dressed in traditional winter New Year costuming, and knew I had to make this.  I'd been working on a winter outfit for Fancy Nancy and not getting anywhere very quickly since I kept having to order this and that to finish the project, so I set it aside with little time to spare to get Gracie dressed.  If the costuming is not incredibly detailed, poses a challenge, or a new opportunity to learn something, it's often not worth the effort to me.  So, I dug my heels in and pushed to get this done from pattern to finish in a week and a half. 

I discovered many things about this child's outfit as I went along.  It was all guesswork and study as I proceeded from the shoes to the 

final piece, the purse.  I did make the shoes first, but we'll talk about them in a bit. 

Good Luck Gracie's outfit consists of a pair of loose trousers, a white kimono sleeved blouse, a winter vest, winter hat and tiger purse.  This little outfit was also an opportunity for me to play with the mini teddy bear fur I'd worked with on Agatha Primrose's Red Riding Hood costume.  

The trousers are pale peach silk with an elastic waistband.  The vest is silk-lined silk with inset fur at the arm holes, fur trimmed on the bottom, and a fur circlet that hooks in the front at the top of the vest.

The white silk blouse with Chinese collar was made with closed kimono sleeves piped in red silk.  This was the first time I'd tried such a thing and had to carefully study the child's blouse.  The sleeve ends are not squared, but rounded, and I simply shaped and clipped until I had the look I wanted with them.  The closure on the blouse is 

the same as the closures on the vest.  Tiny Chinese knots or any knot wasn't going to do it, even though I've made frog closures before.  These were ornate and delicate.  I used a combination of gold beads and crocheted thread loops for them.

When it came time to decorate the vest with the elaborate Chinese tiger design, I was thinking that I'd have to embroider this.  But the child's vest, I discovered, was hand painted and so I followed suit.  Most likely it was done with silk screening the artwork on.  I had to free hand draw the design on with a white charcoal pencil, then paint the images as I saw them.  The artwork is not an exact replica, but this makes it unique for Gracie's little shape and size.

The critics will tell me the fur is not in scale to the original costume.  Duh.  I know this.  The only "fur" I can think of that may have come close to this look is silk velvet in white.  Think about it.  I studied a winter outfit Ruby Red Galleria did for a

convention and followed their direction.  

None of this was easy, and because I was winging it like always, I was tempted to toss the whole project at one point in frustration.  Yet, I learned a lot creating this vest and the next one I make will go a lot more smoothly.  Dawn is due to get something similar.  And, due to her larger size, I can create her something more elegant.  In the photos below you'll see another red jacket with tigers on the hem.  This was the first jacket I saw when searching for inspiration, and then I found this child's vest and accessories and felt it was best for Gracie.

There are many beautiful styles of these vests, jackets and coats and if I lived in China, I'd have a closet full of them.  Gorgeous!

In the photo of the back of the costume, you can see how the ears were sewn onto the hat.  It was the study of similar winter hats that tipped me off on how to do this.

And the shoes.  Little pale peach silk slippers embroidered with a baby tiger face.  This pattern, design, was one I picked up from a Year of the Tiger emblem on Pinterest.  Yes, the little ear was bent.  I did the embroidery work before assembling the slippers.  The soles are white linen like the shoes Ruby Red Galleria makes.  

Then the fun began.  The hat and the shoulder bag.  I can't tell you how many hours I studied the several photos of the little Chinese girl in this outfit.  There were possibly five on Pinterest showing the costume on her in different poses.  Again, I detected that the imagery, the artwork was hand painted on.  However, there was the addition of beading or knotting at the nostrils of the Chinese tiger design and tassels for whiskers.  How clever!  And the purse to match was done the same way.  The hat was made as the vest.  Silk-lined silk.  

The red leather shoulder bag, probably the cutest (hate that word, but) accessory of the outfit was hand painted as well, and the artwork was completely free hand painted as I couldn't draw on the leather.  If I used an ink pen and made a mistake, the bag would have been ruined.  So was the case in painting the vest and hat, but I was careful, slow and methodical in rendering the design.  

I will note that plain old Ceramcoat acrylic paint was best for all of this, but I did use fabric paint on the vest.  It was a mistake.  I mean, it looks fine, but the painting would have gone better using the bottled acrylic.  Fabric is not easy to paint on.  When an artist paints on canvas, the canvas is coated in Gesso.  This reduces the problems microscopic fibers that a fine, four ought brush catches on and can mess up a smooth line.

I'm simply enchanted by the Chinese Lunar New Year costuming the women and girls in China wear to festivals and parties.  One of the other and modern traditional outfits is a red dress in a skirted 50s style.  American Girl made one of these last autumn for their travel series.  I bought one for Blaire and decorated her hotel room for the season.  You can see a photo of her in it below.  

The Chinese, a warm and fun-loving people, also make New Year's winter costuming for their pets.  I had to chuckle at some of the hats and jackets, and to entertain you, I included a couple of photos below.  I surely wish I recall where I found that Chinese tiger bag below, because I'd buy one.  It may have been a kit, and that would have deterred me, but its precious.  Things like this, I hang on doorknobs.

If you wish to observe the Lunar New Year in a simpler way, go out to a Chinese restaurant or order in like Blaire did.  Buy a bag of fortune cookies to munch on and read the fortunes while watching television.  Make some jasmine tea with real tea leaves and when they settle, try to make up a fortune from them.  My sister and I used to do this.  A rather Rorschach thing.  

So Gung Hay Fat Choy!  Happy Chinese Lunar New Year!  Be strong and brave and let the tiger bring you good luck, prosperity and protection.

Love, Melissa

First jacket I saw.

I want!!!!

Hat I found the ear design on.

Dawn

Sophie

Belinda

Good Luck Gracie