The Year in Review

It's that time of year again.  A time when I feel December slipping by quickly, and the old year fading away.  For me this was a long year.  Now how can any year be longer than another?  Well, some just go slowly by.  I think it was because I was busy trying new things.  I stepped out of my comfort zone and experimented with fashions and soft sculpture in new ways.  Soft sculpture?  Yes, the displays and toys made from wool felt sheets.

As I gathered these photos together last night, I was bowled over by just how much I accomplished.  I will readily admit that not all the projects were so detailed or challenging, that they took long to complete.  However, what I can detect is that I'm creating things more quickly.  Even if I'm laboring over something, it doesn't take the weeks it once did that I remember from years in the past.  In a way that tells me that I've either grown in my skills or I need to do something a 

bit more challenging.  And I think 2023 will see some of that.  I have a project sitting on my table that's been there for close to a year because I knew I would suffer to create it.  Still, I want to do it!  I have never really come across a project, that without a certain amount of focus, I couldn't accomplish.  Whether it's good or not is another matter.  The important thing to remember is that this is a journey and we're bound to make mistakes.  Or simply not be successful to the degree we hoped.

Sometimes it's just fun to see "all of it together", and so I've included something from every project I worked on this past year.  So grab a cup of tea or cocoa (if you're a Hallmark Christmas show enthusiast!), and let's take a look together.

In the last days of December 2021, I created Cissy's New Year's Eve Gala gown.  I felt like starting with this since I made it for January of this year.

Agatha Primrose as Red was inspired by a paper doll page by Diana Vining.  Agatha was just perfect for this!  And I loved making the tiny leather wolf paw print on her red corduroy dress.  It was also my first chance to experiment with teddy bear fur.

January also saw Good Luck Gracie, a tribute to Year of the Tiger.  This one was very difficult to create, and the tiger hat, leather purse, and vest were hand painted.  I love her cute little tiger toy inspired by one I saw on Pinterest for Lunar New Year.

Cissy got in on the act and received Cissy's Lantern Festival outfit with tassel earrings, in February.

I was simply infatuated with Elizabeth Andrus's Creative Breathing blog and all the felt figures she created.  So Good Luck Gracie got the Valentine Chinaman in miniature.  I never found out what happened to Elizabeth, and I don't care to speculate, but she left a body of artwork to be admired for years to come.

March was a shocking month as Russia declared war on Ukraine.  I won't elaborate for those sensitive to the subject, but tiny Esme got a sunflower dress in support of Ukraine.

I discovered that sewing machine stitches into the petals (the veins) allowed the petals to be formed.

March also saw me give a go at something similar to what Elizabeth Andrus made.  She'd used vintage planters and fill them with whimsical felt dolls.  The pig is a symbol of "plenty" and was used by the Victorians during New Years as well.

This project gave me an opportunity to work with embroidering faces.

One more for March while I was going strong.  I'd always enjoyed the colorful, whimsical work of Eulalie in The Bumper Book, and created the Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat in a gingham dog planter.  

This project was one of the most detailed and involved I've ever tried.

April arrives and Easter is calling.  I'd purchased these pre-felted egg shapes the prior year and decided to do something with them.  

The scenic eggs were inspired once again by Eulalie and The Bumper Book.

The peep eggs were just fun to do!   Maybe I'll try this again as April 2023 approaches.

The chick egg in a vintage ducky planter.

May.  Time to subscribe to Club Grace.  Diana Vining designs an outfit she wore as a teacher's assistant for Grace, and Dolly dresses up for the registration booth.

May is also a time for Mother's Day and the gifting of roses.  As spring's green paints the hillsides, Esme blooms under the petals of two roses.

Designing a flower costume takes a little trial and error.  I enjoyed the way her hat came out.

About this time, I was becoming interested in Tonner's Toni dolls under his Effanbee label.  I decided Toni looked like she could be Cissy's little sister and created sister dress for both of them with the theme of Day at the Fair.

Toni is not shown as I think this was a one-time deal.  What I tried with Cissy's costume, was decorative beading in flower shapes that mimicked the roses in her dress.  I also beaded her name on her bag.  I enjoy beading like this and will have to do it again in the future.

Ruby Red Galleria did something wonderful for Mother's Day and offered a Ten Ping in their Ruby Red Fashion Friends Siblies size, a 10" doll.  

The doll was costumed in a copy of a dress Ruby's mother made her for school in the 50s.  I created a more traditional Chinese look for her.  I created this in June.

Later in the year, they'd offer Gigi in this size.  Ten Ping's best friend.  I've yet to do something for the two of them but want to.

The hot days of June had me thinking of fabrics like voiles.  I finally decided to make something for my 1470, Lillian.  This is a doll sized version of a catalog dress from the year 1920.  

Now that I think back on this, I had to dye the fabric and that was something else again.

Only one costume was made in July.  I can't recall what kept me busy with other things, but Cissy got a summer frock like one of the original Madame Alexander dresses for Cissy.  I love stripes.

I must have been a roll, as I created an entire summer Cabana Cissy wardrobe.  I have so many beautiful fabrics and designing a trousseau for her was very Mrs. Maisel.

Green Stripes with paired with green vines.  Fresh and cool.

This little shorts set was paired with a full skirt in the black polka-dot.  Lounging to lunch.

Cissy by the sea.  Or on the lake.  This little seaside outfit has a cropped jacket for the cooling winds,.

Chrysanthemums.

I really wanted a bathing costume for Cissy and created this one in the same style as the originals Madame Alexander made for the doll.

Cissy's cycling outfit.  The bike is American Girl and was borrowed for the photo.

Still in August, I called this Summer Clubbing with Grace Marie.  Rachel had Ruby Red Galleria make a one-shoulder summer gown for a concert.  

Dolly received her own gown for the summer evening.  The cut-out flower shoes made the outfit!

Rachel seems partial to the one-shoulder outfits and had Ruby Red make Grace Marie a bathing costume in this color with one-shoulder.  Diana Vining drew an accompanying paper doll outfit of a onesie and the theme throughout was mini pink pom-poms.  

So, I made Grace Marie the shorts onesie and Dolly a matching bikini.

The September Club Grace had Grace in the Big Apple.  I'm not partial to animal print either but created a go-together outfit for Dolly so I could play with the group.  

Septermber is my birthday month, and I was eager to do another Gracie project.  I must have five Gracie's now!  Since I was born in the Year of the Rooster, I created a Year of the Rooster Gracie doll. 

She comes with a little rooster kite to fly and a Chinese hat decorated with pom-poms.

Not everything is a hit and this was definitely a miss.  One of September's flowers is the aster, and I did my best to create an aster costume for Esme.  Oh well.

But I had a lot more success creating the Virgo doll from one of my 16" Maggie Iacono dolls.  The painting I created this from, I never learned who the artist was.  The apron is embroidered with birds and vines.

This is how this doll will remain.  I always wanted to make a Virgo doll.

October rolls around and with it a Club Grace Rock n Roll 50s style outfit.  Diana Vining illustrated little paper masks for the party and this turned the box into a fun Halloween theme.

Dolly got her own poodle skirt and pink saddle shoes.  I made hula hoops for Dolly and Remmie Lou from pipe cleaners.

Peggy Sue has been my little Halloween costume model for a couple of years and I wanted to make her something this year, too.  After some consideration, I chose to make her a Wendy and Casper costume this year.  Unexpected and super fun.

I've been interested in creating some of the Mary Engelbreit paper doll costumes and gave one a go for one of my Gracie dolls.  This was actually the costume for a Halloween Gracie paper doll page by Mary.

Why stop there?  Mignonette didn't have a Halloween costume, so I played with silk and star dusted tulle to create a cute little witch costume for her.

Was October really that long, or was I just sewing faster?  With time to spare, I made Cissy this silk and star tulle party gown.  Wow.  Was this a challenge!  She wore it until a few days before Christmas.

November was making gifts month.  So while I did not post, I was still busy in my studio.  This pink confection with separate collar, was made for Betsy's Iacono play doll, and I purchased, rewigged and dressed a little Esme as a doll for her doll.

I started falling in love with Connie Lowes BJDs this fall and really wanted to dress one after seeing what others did for their dolls.  Heather shipped her Pearl to me to play with and I created a fairytale play set for the doll for Christmas.

The outfit's offset and different sized pockets hold a frog prince and a castle tower made in felt.

November's Club Grace gave us a red skirt and sweater for Grace Marie like the one Kate Middleton wore.  Queen Elizabeth had passed in September, and I remembered the darling video made of her a Paddington Bear having tea together.  I also saw photos of Kate with Paddington, so Dolly got a Paddington Bear outfit. 

Club Grace pulled out the stops with both a fabulous red Santa's Helper outfit for Grace Marie, and add-on Winter Princess gowns.  This gown was also one worn by Kate Middleton and was so popular, it sold out quickly.  Its gorgeous.

I made Dolly her own Winter Princess gown to go Grace Marie's.

 

This gorgeous red dress with fur trim was inspired by the gowns worn in White Christmas.  I paired Grace's with a green fur muff.

I made Dolly a Christmas tree costume to go with this, and Remmie Lou got dressed up as Rudolph.

Finally, Cissy got the new Christmas outfit I'd hoped to make earlier in the month.  It was the last week before Christmas, and I had not even planned to sew after completing Dolly's Christmas tree costume.

However, I love the way it came out and between the wolf jacket for Agatha and the fur pieces for Cissy, I'm pretty comfortable working with the teddy bear fur.  It's so soft and so pretty.

I was thinking last night as I pulled these photos together, if there was a favorite amongst them.  There is.  The Christmas tree costume.  I worked so hard on it, and it came out better than I'd hoped.

This has been a very prolific year for me, and I cannot predict what will come in the new year.  All I know is that when I get a roll, its hard to stop.  I love doing this, and as long as I'm capable, I will continue.

So, with no further ado, Happy New Year!  And I hope you enjoyed this year's creative journey with me.

Cissy's Rosy Christmas 2022

Its Christmas Eve and Santa is packing his sleigh for his big, annual flight tonight.  I've been a good girl this year.  Sort of.  It's all a matter of perspective, I'm sure.   Santa stopped delivering gifts under my tree many years ago, but that doesn't mean they don't arrive in the mail for perhaps like yourself, I'm an enthusiastic doll collector.  In fact, Santa just delivered one to my doorstep this morning.  The postal carriers are working round the clock today.  What was it?  Well, I'm a fan of the Let's Play Dolls line that Robin Woods designed for Madame Alexander in the 90s.  I never got Vasilissa, and I picked her up for a ridiculous $13.25.  Robin's storybook series was gorgeous.  And for $13.25 I have a package to open tomorrow morning.  Well, two or three at least!

I went nuts on Integrity this month, and won aPoppy Parker Galaxy Girl, and fell in love with their Evelyn Weaverton.  Evelyn's fashions are from the 50's so how 

could I resist?  Thank you to all the Ebay sellers that break up the collections just to sell the clothing!  She's wonderfully glamourous and is another haughty looking doll like Violaine Perrin.  These ladies smack of wealth and glamour, and they're everything I am not.  I just adore their fashions and tiny, perfect accessories.

Earlier in December I posted to my Facebook friends, asking if they thought I should make something new for Cissy this Christmas.  All it took was one positive response, and I felt the challenge.  Of course, the month got swept away with gifts and Club Grace costuming for Dolly Dingle, but after a two-day breather, and some necessary housekeeping, I decided, why not?  I had time, and even if I didn't, the gown would work well for New Year's Eve and beyond.  

I started doing my normal search on Pinterest, and this was the first image I saw.  I loved the pink, and I adored the bolero.  However, Cissy did not have a fur jacket and I really wanted to try one.  So, I sat down and began designing one.  It took me longer than I hoped, but I took a deep breath and 

tried to remember to relax.  

Throughout this last week, the crowds and traffic have been crazy.  There is nothing you can do about it, if you need to be out in the mess, but relax and enjoy the moment.  I'm the lady who strikes up a fun conversation with you in the grocery line.  That's me.  It makes the line go faster, and everyone feels good by the time they hit the parking lot.  And this principle of relaxing into what I'm doing is something I practice when under self-imposed pressure.

The pattern was drafted, and I was ready to begin sewing at 10am on Friday.  However, things kept coming up that kept me from even starting it until 3pm.  I worked until 8pm then called up a Hallmark movie and relaxed in front of the fire.  A fur headband and muff were added late into the night and a belt was made this morning.  The rest of this day will be spent doing absolutely nothing!  Oh!  But enjoying Christmas, of course!

Cissy's gown is a pinky-rose colored high quality dupioni.  I would have enjoyed making this up in a lighter pink, but this is what I had on hand in the quantity of yardage I needed.

The fur is that awesome teddy bear fur.  It sews up so beautifully, too.  

Pretty Cissy steps out for a Christmas Eve party.

A back view of this wonderful little three-quarter sleeve jacket.  It's a pattern I know I'll be able to use again and modify as desired.

Cissy's fur headband with a sprig of holly.

And her pretty muff to keep her hands warm from car to front door and back.

By the way, I've found that pipe cleaners are wonderful for forming hats.  The hat wire I was using in the past, meant for human chapeaus, was just too strong. Pipe cleaners are fun to work with if you don't need a doll hat that will survive a nuclear explosion.  

One more pretty gown down for Cissy!  I always try to do something new or different when designing for her and working with fur for this ensemble was that challenge.  

I hope you'll enjoy the few vintage Christmas images from the 50s that I selected.  And I hope you have a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Whatever you do, however you spend it, whether you're fighting the flu, or skiing down mountainsides, remember to relax and breath into the moment.  

Merry Christmas!  Melissa

A favorite from The Bumper Book.

Thank you, Santa!

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

And a Happy New Year!

 

Christmas 2022

Just seven days to Christmas!  Six if you don't count today since its rather late in the day anyway.  I've been going full steam ahead since Thanksgiving and it feels marvelous to sit and write once again.  I can only hope that some of you are still following me since I'm pretty sure you're not receiving these posts, but again, I'm sorry, and please follow me on Facebook under Melissa Hoover.  I will always post a link to the blog when I share new work and have written about it.

I just vacuumed half the house cleaning up everything brought in from outdoors, and tons of glitter and clippings in my studio.  In an attempt, at some point, to clean off my work surface, I must have hand swept my favorite needle card into the trash along with the above mentioned.  Dang.  I've never done that before.  You can always buy more needles!  Not a problem.  But having tidied up a bit, I feel comfortable sitting down to write a long story of December.  

One of the reasons I had not posted is that I was working on Christmas gifts for two of my closest friends.  Betsy requested a silk dress for her Iacono play doll, and I was happy to make one for her.  She loves pink, and I found this delicious plaid that seemed to fit the bill.  

I'd bought her an Esme at a rather good price earlier this fall, to turn into a doll for her doll, and that was part of the box I sent to her as well.  I used my Virgo doll as a model and that's why you see the grape leaves in her braids.  

The dress is a puffed sleeve confection with a separate collar.  The dress can therefore be worn with or without it.  Talking with Betsy last night, she told me she found a sweater that fit her doll, so for winter, the doll with wear this dress with a sweater over it.  Nice!

Here's little Esme transformed.  I removed her red mohair wig and gave her a little brunette wig and sewed the braids up in a Carl Larsson child style.  This also helps in dressing the doll because mohair styles don't hold up to lots of play.

The little doll got a pair of pink stocking and black shoes like her 16" mama.

The nice thing about this is that when I make new dresses for Betsy's doll, I'll make a matching one for Maggie's dolly.

Here's the dress with collar and large sash to tie in a bow around her waist.

It's a little luxury!

My friend, Heather, had just received her Connie Lowe Pearl doll and I went nuts for it.  I've really become enamored of these dolls and hope beyond hope that someday I'll own one.  People selling them second hand want three times the price and I simply cannot, will not, do that.

So, Heather offered to send Pearl to me to play with, and I asked her if she'd like me to make Pearl something for Christmas.  So, I made what I'm referring to as a fairytale play set.  This came about as I went along.

The dolls I saw posted on the groups on Facebook were wearing very artful creations and I wanted to do something similar.  There's a clothing company called Unlogical Poem and they carry artful clothing like this.  They were my inspiration as well.

I made the overalls with different sized offset pockets and knew something would have to go inside of them.  This is when I decided to make a little frog prince and castle tower out of felt.  I may have spent just as much 

time making them as I spent on the outfit.

The overalls are a striped linen, and the blouse is muslin with a large spotted collar.  The Connie Lowe dolls are dressed in what I'll call shabby chic, so I don't expect to see one dressed in silk.  They are extremely fun play dolls and pose incredibly well.  

Here's Pearl with her fairytale toys wearing the paper crown I made for her.

I learned a lot about making crowns from scrapbooking paper or scrapbooking card stock.  This was the third try.  I had a beautiful shiny gold, but it was mylar ironed to card stock and the gold ripped away at the edges as my scissors turned.  It also refused to bend into a crown shape and developed creases.  pft!  The second attempt was from a glittery cardstock and it just didn't look right.  

Again, more time is spent in perfecting a finished set than sometimes hoped for.

I'd love to sew for this doll again, and maybe next time, I'll have one of my own.

Mid December arrives and the Club Grace box arrives.  When Rachel previewed the box via YouTube, there were add-ons galore and one of them was this Winter Princess gown for Grace Marie Fitzpatrick.  Kate Middleton, or Catherine Princess of Wales, wore this gown to an event in South America, if I recall correctly.  Ruby Red Galleria did a phenomenal job on it, and they sold out immediately.  

These dresses also fit Tonner's new Ellowyne, so Ruby Red Galleria made them in light blue, red and lilac as well.  I loved the dress so much I bought two more.  One in the red and one in lilac.  

Of course, Dolly Dingle couldn't be left out of getting a Winter Princess outfit, so I set to the task of making her one.

Tulle is interesting.  I don't like sewing with it, but I learned a lot about working with it this time around.  I have sewn with it before, but the tulle I used was a drapey nylon mesh and easy to work with.  Sellers don't mention what kind of tulle they're selling so I know to ask next time.  

Dolly's glitter tulle was the stiff kind.  Good heavens!  There is nothing that will turn you into a Grinch faster than working with this stuff.  I managed though to create a similar look, yet unique for little Dolly.

There's a tulle layer that is trimmed into points and upon these ends I added crystals.  I also added a scattering of the crystals to her bodice.

I did, at the last moment, decide to try and make the gathered trim for the neckline.  I knew it would be good for me to try to this since what I was going to attempt for her next costume would require such patience.

I gave her silver slippers.

Side view to show the tier at the waist.

Pretty from behind as well.

Both Grace Marie and Dolly got tiaras.  The ones I'd purchased had big combs attached to them and I carefully removed the comb and added jewelry elastic to keep the tiaras on their heads.  Tonner used this technique with many of the hats he made for his creations.

I had a crown on hand, and Remmie Lou was happy to wear it, referring to herself as Her Majesty.

The Club Grace box for December was called Santa's Helper and Grace's dress was a shorter version of the kind worn by the actresses in White Christmas.  I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do for Dolly until I started looking on Pinterest.  I am continually inspired by what I find there.

As I was looking and searching for ideas, I found these children's Christmas tree costumes.  I went nuts!  I'm sure I saw them before, but what could be more perfect than a Christmas tree costume for Dolly?!

So, I bought more tulle, and this time got lucky with the soft drapey glitter tulle.  When I get a chance, I'm going to write to this seller and ask her exactly what kind this is as opposed to the stiffer, more common kind.  I don't want to make the mistake again of purchasing the stiff stuff.

I'm actually amazed that this little Christmas tree costume came out so well.  I literally agonized over making it.  How to do it puzzled me no end.

The tulle was 60" wide, and each ruffle is exactly that length.  Do those three times and sew in the gathering stitches (I use two) and that's a lot of thread.  I also added silk ribbon to the edges and that was a lot of work in itself.  I think once I got going, and got into the rhythm of it, it went along fairly nicely.  

Attaching all this to the bodice was another question.  I was referring often to the Pinterest image of the two little girls in their costumes, to figure out the construction.  If I'm correct, their costumes have a onsie beneath them.  How you'd attach this mess to a onsie without the top edge showing befuddled me, so I went back to plan A and made it into a dress.  

Adorable costumes for little girls!

Close up of tulle and the shoes I made to go with the costume, similar to the ones the little girls are wearing.

The tights were dark nude and the shoes needed to match somewhat.  I had a small piece of pigskin in this "flesh" color and used it.  The silk ribbons are part of shoe and glued beneath the body of the shoe before the sole is glued on.

And she needed her tree top hat.  

This went along rather quickly as I'm pretty confident in my ability to make conical hats.  The ruffles which resemble the top branches are machine sewn directly on.  The hat base is covered in both the silk and tulle and topped with a shiny gold star.

Yesterday I went to Michael's looking for beads for ornaments on the tree costume, and easily spotted these pearlized plastic ones and used them for the decorations.  They came in three sizes, and I used the mid-sized for the dress and the smallest for the hat.

The back view.

Let's not forget Remmie Lou!  Remmie Lou joined the Santa's Helper fun with antlers made from pipe cleaners and a jolly red Rudolph nose pom-pom.

She wears a silk ribbon with bells sewn on that ties in a bow behind her head.

Diana Vining had included a Christmas paper sheet of Rachel's two dogs and I reduced it in size and made up Christmas gifts from it.

I really had more fun than expected creating Dolly's Christmas tree costume and as I finished this costume today, I feel I can now take a deep breath and enjoy a week of more Hallmark movies and do some very necessary housework.  

There are always things I need to do, but its Christmas and I'm planning on just having fun.  There's no rain or snow in the forecast, but with recent winter storms we were able to go cross-country skiing three times, the next day after each new snowfall.  It's been a wonderful December and I'm ready to put my feet up and let the carols play.

Happy Holidays to one and all!

Love, Melissa

Diana Vining's artwork for Club Grace