Its December! That wonderful month where magic seems to fall in sprinkles from the wintering skies. And there is no prettier sprinkle than that of snowflakes. I love the snow. This is not new information. I've loved the snow since I was child. It snowed once in Sunnyvale, California. I'm serious! I was about six years old and my brother and I scraped up every bit of it from the front lawn to make a rather dirty snowman. The climate in the Bay Area is not conducive to snow, so this was a complete anomaly.
When there was a weekend that my father didn't have to work to keep up with the bills, we'd drive to Sonora which took all day to drive, down old highways and back roads. It was high enough in elevation to accumulate snow, and I suppose we knew of any snowpack from the newspaper that would arrive each morning. We'd be so excited to get to the snow!
Of course, with my innocence and jolly luck, I was wiped out
by a kid on a toboggan that ran right over the top of me, knocking me in the head. It's a memory, and I don't think there was any permanent damage - or maybe there was! - but I never stopped loving the magic of snow. And ice. Growing up watching ice skaters in movies was second only to watching ballet dancers. Later in life I learned how to skate, and while never a downhill skier - scares me to death - I do cross-country ski. Honestly, I just love to sit in a cozy cabin and watch the snow fall. I love to stomp through it. I love the fresh crisp air on my face. I love how snow improves everything it falls upon. I even at Snowballs by Hostess as a kid.
While contemplating my next project, I knew I wanted to make something for Cissy. When asked, What's your favorite doll?, I really couldn't tell you. But it you asked me which doll is my favorite to sew for, it would be Cissy. Cissy is a great big, beautiful young lady and I adore the
fashions of the 1950's.
I'd been wanting to make her some hiking clothes and knew the boots would be an issue. After studying boots platform, or flat based boots for Ellowyne Wilde, and Gene (in her ski outfit), I took on the challenge. I was able to procure a couple pairs of espadrilles style sandal bases from a seller on Etsy to work from. You know, vintage Barbie had cork platforms, too. Just thought of that. But time and tide and I never got around to making hiking boots for Cissy.
Then as winter and a new ski season approached this year, I knew I just had to make Cissy a ski outfit. Much more exciting than a hiking outfit. For now. The boots would be the one thing most important to make. Oh sure. She could have been Apres Ski Cissy wearing her standard heels, maybe with some fur on them?
But no. It was ski boots and the whole nine yards or nothing at all.
I started looking up vintage images of women's ski wear on Pinterest, and found a ton from the 30's and 40's, but not so many in the 50's. My mother's old photo album showed some pictures of her and my father before they were married, with a church group, I presume, who went up to Badger Pass in Yosemite and skied. The fashions were primarily wool pants and a wool jacket, then assorted knitted wear for your hands and head. The boots? Well, hard to say. My mother had a pair of old Redwing boots that she told me were her ski boots. They were made of burgundy colored, very thick leather, and had a smooth base. I never saw what my father wore, but his old wooden skis were stored in the attic for an eternity. What happened to them, I'll never know, but I would have loved to have them today. I dream of owning a cabin in the Sierras with a old pair of wooden skis hung on the wall. Not going to happen.
Back to the fashions. These two images were my inspiration for the design I made for Cissy. Someday I might try to make the gold coat with the separate hood in brown and gold. I love how the little cape covers the shoulders, so no snow gets down your collar. Clearly this is from the 1940's, which is why I passed on it. The styles in the second image are probably from the late 40's or very early 50's, and it's the pants that I was most interested in.
The detail that inspired me the most from these two selected fashion plates were the colors. I really love the gold color and it's about as vintage as it gets. Old gold. So, with all these things in mind, I set off to make the boots. If I could make a pair of ski boots for Cissy, I would make the outfit.
I hunted and hunted for a photo of 1950's women's ski boots. They are non-existent. Sort of. Which is probably why my mother wore Redwings. They were most likely advertised as snow worthy boots but were not "ski" boots.
I found this pair of black boots on an engine search. Were these ever worn? Doesn't look like it, but they are women's ski boots from the 1950's. You'll notice that they have a smooth, hard sole which would fit into the wooden ski's bindings.
I'm hopeless at metal grommets. I've tried several times over the years to make eyelets in leather shoes and have never been successful. I need a machine or punch that will snap them into the leather. The thing is, they don't make them this tiny! That's something doll clothing
manufacturers in China must have. Anyway, you can pound them with a little mallet, but even with that, the metal pulls away from the leather if you don't do it correctly. Maybe someday I'll get lucky and find someone expert at this to show me the ropes.
So, I set off on making the boot pattern to cover the resin platform bases for a high heeled foot. I think it took me well over a week at get all of this correct. What happens when I set out to do something like this, is that I get scared, nervous, that I'll fail, and at some point, I just push forward and take the risk.
I had dark raspberry leather to work with, but barely enough to make these and had to work carefully after making a mock-up pair. I used Gene's ski boots as my model and carefully studied their construction as I moved forward.
They were not easy to make, but I'm sure if I ever make a pair of hiking boots, it will go a lot smoother. I have to use the doll's foot as the "last", so it's tricky work. I finished the base of the boot with a thin rubber pad.
Go for the gold!
Next I designed a sweater for her to wear under the jacket. I had this gold and white striped knit from some leftover project and made Cissy a mock turtleneck sweater. Cissy has a very short neck, so while barely noticeable, the high collar is there.
I was looking up the history of turtleneck sweaters to see if they were worn in the 1950's. As it turns out, turtlenecks have been around for centuries. They just weren't called "turtlenecks". For example, knights wore high collars under their chain mail armor.
Next, I made the pants. I really needed to use wool from my stash, and had this gorgeous pine green wool, but it was Melton, which is very thick. Its soft and beautiful, but in another world, you would never use it for a small pair of doll pants, which is WHY I love sewing for Cissy. She's big enough that you can get away with issues like this.
The pants are high waisted with pleats, and full in the seating for ease of skiing, tapering at the ankles. I lined only the waist and used a silk to create the facing, so her sweater would tuck in nicely and smoothly.
Before I stitched up the inside of the legs, I made two rows of top stitching over the bulk of the outside seams. Melton wool doesn't press easily, but the stitching keeps the inside seam flat, and it looks like real pants.
Oh! How I love these apres ski images from the 1950's!
After a long, exciting day on the slopes, these young adults gather by the fireside in a lodge to talk about their day on the slopes and enjoy the delights of a cozy ski lodge.
I put Cissy's hair in a ponytail like the young woman wears in the front.
Madame Alexander never expected people to play with a doll's hair, so their hair is cut unevenly just to make the style if you take the hair down. Someday I'd like to have her hair rerooted, all one length. It's the giving her up and sending her off that deters me.
I chose an Italian wool felt for Cissy's ski jacket. This jacket took me more time, a lot more time to make than the ski boots. Why? I had to make the pattern and I wasn't sure how I wanted to do it. Again, I also had very little of this beautiful red wool left. I'd purchased more, but it wasn't as nice. When you buy wool online, you really don't know what you're getting. The yardage I'd purchased was not as finely felted and what I had left of the red I'd used, would have to be carefully cut for no mistakes.
Because wool of this nature is thick, I chose a pattern with no shoulder seams. The hood has darts at the neckline which I trimmed once sewn so it would not be so thick to sew to the neckline of the jacket.
I worried over the waistline of the jacket as well. You really couldn't gather it and sew it into a waistband, but I wanted the look.
I finally decided that elastic would do the trick, but I had to line the jacket first to get a backing to make the channel to insert the elastic through. How I did all of this is too detailed to explain. I'm positive that there was an easier way to do all of this but figuring it out so that I didn't make a mistake was unnerving and took a lot of thought and time.
The ski jacket is fully lined in silk, and I hand-sewed fur around the opening of the hood. This is the same fur I used to make Cissy's Christmas jacket out of last year.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I was awaiting buttons, so I decided to make Cissy some fingered mittens. I like the blue since it sets off the other colors in the costume nicely. I probably should have used a synthetic costume stretch fabric, but I seriously need to use what I have on hand. I think they came out cute and fit her little fingers nicely.
I was tempted to embroider on them, but that will be another pair of gloves another time. I like the clean lines of the look. The buttons are silver stamped with thistles. Very Nordic in design. They are just 1/2".
I troubled over making hand-sewn buttonholes, but I didn't plan in advance for this, and an iron-on backing to the silk would be required. I tried on a scrap of wool lined with the silk and the silk edges pulled through the stitching.
That's okay. I prefer snaps and the illusion of buttons. It's a doll coat.
You can see the darts made at the neck edge of the hood. They're classy and pretty.
And Cissy needed skis. Two months ago, I found an artist in the U.K., in Surrey, who made miniature wooden skis. I asked her if she ever did commissions and she said yes. Alison, of
idealwoodengifts, on Etsy, was a treasure to work with. She told me she'd made skis for bears in the past and asked for measurements on the doll for both the ski and the pole lengths. The skis arrived just a couple of days ago and I was so relieved, and impressed as well, with the beautiful craftsmanship. Alison was joy to work with and knows how to work wonderfully with customers.
Boots, sweater, pants, jacket, gloves, skis and poles. The last two details were giving her a pair of sunglasses to wear and making her a pair of silver earrings with tiny pinecone charms. Cissy's ready to hit the slopes in 1950's style!
Cissy's beautiful ski outfit.
I might add, just as an aside, that when I purchased my photo tent, it was for photographing miniatures and small dolls. Cissy is a challenge to photograph in that tent, at 20". If I don't crop the picture dramatically, the Velcro tabs can sometimes be seen. Maybe I should look into a bigger photo tent for her. Just one more big thing to store. Until I get fed up and buy a bigger one, please forgive the little tabs sometimes seen in the corners.
In the meantime, I pulled out my American Girl snow play backdrop and took a few last photos with it.
The selection of photos below are some of my favorite vintage ski and snow images. I love the old ski posters and I chose a few that were strictly in the U.S. as Cissy is an all-American girl. The women skiing are just as delightful for the excitement of movement the artist was able to portray. There's a fun one from the 60's which is noted for its space age illustrative design.
It took me awhile to find a vintage poster from California in the 1950's. Squaw Valley was one of the pre-eminent ski resorts dating back to the 1940's, also the time frame the poster was drawn. Today, it is no longer called Squaw Valley, but instead, Palisades Tahoe. It was changed out of sensitivity to Native Americans. This is why it did not show up on Pinterest.
And what of the rest of December? How shall I fill my time? I'm sure there'll be a Club Grace costume to make for Dolly Dingle. I'm considering another outfit for Cissy. A new holiday dress? Last year's was awfully pretty but a girl can never have too many gowns. And Cissy will be wearing this ski outfit for a couple of months once the snow starts accumulating in the Sierras. I also have Christmas gifts to complete, wrap and send off. And my own skiing to do when and if we get any snow! So different from last year.
I am never bored. I have chic lit Christmas books to read. By the way, Anita Hughe's Christmas at the Chalet is great! I have Hallmark Christmas movies to watch. The start of a new year will have me preparing my new journal with scrapbooking.
I didn't over decorate this year, but it will probably take just as much time to take it all down as it did putting it up. I can't help myself. I keep bringing more decorations out as the days go by! I love Christmas!
Until the next time, have a lovely holiday season and make each day count! Melissa
