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

 

Agatha Hood or Agatha Primrose as Red

Ahhhh!  A sunny, quiet afternoon in the second week of the new year.  Winter came and went.  Two weeks of snow and rain and I was in a blissful state of winter.  Then "whoosh"!  It all went away.  Sure, it worries me, but there's nothing to be done about the weather, so I'll hike the trails in the earliest of spring growth.  Oh, I don't know.  Winter may return, and I have a couple of doll projects that are winter related, but it brings me back to my childhood growing up here.  I couldn't understand why it snowed in New York and only rained in California.  No one bothered to explain it to me either, but I "played snow and winter".  Even it meant freezing a pan of water for my troll doll to skate on.  My imagination has gotten me through life.

Remember last September when I spent the entire month celebrating Little Red Riding Hood?  I got a surprise one day by my lovely friend, Diana Vining, when she shared with me, a Red paper doll that she had created.

This was towards the end of September and I was already deep into Peggy Sue's Mechanical Man costume and "playing Halloween".  I knew however, the moment I saw this set, that I HAD to make the Red costume with the furry wolf hat.  OMG!  Just how adorable is that anyway?!  Some of the costumes Diana created were child outfits, but this one had a bit of sass to it, in a grown-up way.  It didn't take a lot of guessing who I'd want to use for it, and Tonner's Agatha Primrose got the honors.

Agatha is probably one of the lesser known and appreciated dolls that Tonner made.  His 12" Marley and assorted characters seemed to find more popularity and approval.  Which made bookish little 13" Agatha with her glasses, all the more appealing to me.  Not a mini me, but her personality is more in line with my own.

If my poor memory serves me well, Robert introduced her at

the MDC (Modern Doll Convention), in Reno, the year I went.  I could drive there.  A good three hours, but it beat a trip to the airport.  He got the standard applause as he continued with his slide show, but I don't think she took off as well as his other lines.  I got everything I could lay my hands on for her as Ebay sellers would offer the outfit only auctions.  I was even lucky enough to get the Alice outfit from the Agatha he brought to ComicCon.

I display two Agathas on my Tonner "12 shelf".  A blonde I dress up, and the short haired blonde in the houndstooth pants, looking rather collegiate.  I bought the anime dark haired one for the pink sailor outfit, then put her away, and that was that, until now.  I'm so glad I kept her!  I knew with her dark tresses, she'd be a winner for Diana's costume.  And this would be a challenge as I'd never sewn for this size before.

So, let's talk about the dress first. I'm pretty punch proud of how this came out.  The funny thing about considering buying someone's patterns, is that 

they never have the style I'm looking for.  But this dress is very similar to Cissy dresses, so I reduced in size, one of the patterns I have for Cissy for the bodice.  It almost fit but needed to be taken in at the sides and shoulders, and the weird thing is that I had to move the back dart over towards the side.  I'm still not comfortable with darts, even though I understand what they do and their purpose, so moving it over a quarter inch took a leap of faith.  It worked out perfectly.  I can't tell you why.

The next task was making the pattern for the jacket and hood.  Now some of you might interpret what Diana drew as a head band with wolf ears on it.  Obviously, we can't see the back of it, and while I could have asked her what she intended, it was more fun to wing it.  Maybe I was being original here, which is not the point, to me, when bringing her fashions designs to life, but to me it called for being a hood.  I made a pattern like a baby's bonnet for the hood, and the jacket was a reduced Cissy-sized blouse altered at the front.  What did I use for the fur?  Here's the fun part.  Something I can share with you!

After receiving the December Club Grace box that included this soft, and darling little fur coat in it, I started doing a bit of research on what Ruby Red Galleria may have used for their fur.  A lot of this has to do with what you put into an Internet search.  "Mini fur for dolls" did the trick.  What came up as a result was "mini teddy bear fur".  Mini Teddy Bear Fur.  I had no idea there was such a thing, much less that it could be purchased.  

A seller on Etsy had six pieces of this fabric in the gray you're looking at.  All other sellers of "mini teddy bear fur" were either in the U.K. or China.  So, I purchased it all because it was both inexpensive and came in small sheets.  So small that I had to piece two together to place the pattern for the back of the jacket on it.  Why?  Because like velveteen that has a nap, the fur goes one way.

I figured I'd just test this gray fur out, work with it, and if it was nice, I'd buy more from this one U.K. seller who directed me to her "soft" mini fur.  As it turns out, I bought a piece from a China seller, and one from her.  I feel like I hit the jackpot for doll fur coat needs.  No more using chunky, bulky people size faux fur for dolls!  Is it easy to work with?  No.  Fur isn't.  If you've never sewn with fur or faux fur, watch a good Youtube on how to cut it and sew it.  While I've only worked with it as trim on doll coats and for collars, I feel confident now, that I could make a nice fur coat for Grace or Cissy, or any sized doll because the mini teddy bear fur is the correct size.  And it does come in different fur lengths and lots of colors.

Again, it is not easy to work with.  It's very soft and silky, but if you have patience and determination, you can smooth the fur down in the front to meet the edge of your lining as you pin it together to sew.

The hood was equally tricky and attaching the wolf ears was something else.  I've never done this before, and don't plan to do it 

again.  You might normally position the ear ends in slits and sew them on, but this slippery fur did not allow itself such a process.

The little wolf paw print on the hem of her red pinwhale corduroy dress is of black leather. Gray tights and little boots purchased from Marcia Friend of Facets By Marcia, rounded out the look.  

Agatha Primrose is a lovely, youthful doll to dress and play with.  In my mind, she's about 19-20 years old and full of fun, life and promise.  Now that I have a good dress pattern that will fit her, I might do something like this again in the future.

As I was compiling stock photos to celebrate Agatha Primrose, I became very sentimental and sad that Tonner Doll Company is gone forever.  Just typing the name makes me shake my head.  I'll have a Tonner doll arriving in the mail the day I breathe my last!

Below is a photo celebration of Agatha Primrose.  Also, another Diana Vining Red Riding Hood that she created for a Bleuette paper doll.  Just love the Becassine in the basket!  Her Bleuette paper doll was fairytale themed.  Maybe someday.  Think I'd skip the Goldilocks though with that smocking on the pinafore.  I did smocking with Mary Lennox, and that was plenty with a capitol p.

The last of December and the first two weeks of January have had me buying a few new dolls for special projects. The illustrators of beautiful children's books, and the art of paper doll artists like Diana Vining keep me inspired and contently creating away.  However!  If winter returns, I'll be back on the snow in no time flat.  

Love, Melissa

Give a little Woof!

 

And so we come to last hours of the year 2021.  It is during this time, on this day, that I become most reflective on the year past, and also begin to plan the future, the new year.  In this last month I've been carefully selecting and purchasing a few new dolls to play with and create for in 2022.   And I look back on what I accomplished this past year.  What I want to try.  Where I want to take what I've learned. 

Of note, I acquired Dolly Dingle to enhance my enjoyment of The Virtual Doll Convention, Grace Marie Fitzpatrick, and Diana Vining's illustrations of them.  I made a needle felt Remmie Lou (Rachel's dog), to go with them, as Diana often added Remmie Lou in the artwork.  And, although I didn't publicize it, I won on Ebay, a MIB original Grace Marie Fitzpatrick, which now made me feel like a real member of the club.  Dolly, with her cubby little body and bent arms, has been and continues to be, very difficult to sew for.  Yet I still go for it.  I love Diana's illustrations of her!

Having her, I was finally able to make the Halloween witch costume Diana drew her in two years prior (could have been three).  And, with Club Grace, I was able to sew complimentary clothes for her to go with the Grace dresses in her outfit of the month.

But, this year of creating was a bit scattered.  I tried lots of things.  The year before, I spent several months creating a Flapper wardrobe for Heather's doll, Kitty, and that was the highlight of my creative year.  I did not make three coordinating holiday costumes for Louise, Lawrence and Laura this year.  I'm not sure where I'll go with them next, but the Victorian time frame is theirs and I'm content with creating contemporary and vintage presently.

Perhaps the most notable doll was Paloma the Puppeteer.  A tireless, intricate project that held my inspiration and fascination all the way through.  I was looking at Michael Cheval paintings the other day for inspiration for a new 15 1/2" Iacono I won on Ebay, and my jaw dropped when I discovered that he'd painted a male counterpart to 

the puppeteer painting Paloma was modeled after.  Should I perhaps, redo the Little Red Riding Hood (Iacono) and turn her into a boy for this?  It is awfully tempting.  Gosh, that was a lot of work though!  But, Paloma is my star accomplishment of the year 2021. But, I have other favorites.  Some of Dolly's costuming, the Red Riding Hood costume I made for Mignonette, Treva, and my dear Little Miss Christmas.  I can't pinpoint why I love this doll so much, but she made me feel like a little girl again, and needle felting the blue reindeer was a joy.  I have other paper dolls by this artist, and am sorely tempted to buy another vintage Madame Alexander and do it again.

One little doll I never shared, was made during September's Little Red Riding Hood theme.  She was to be a Christmas gift to Betsy, and I took a Wendy Lawton Abigail, gave her new eyes and wig, and transformed her into Red.  It was after I made her that I dressed the Iacono doll similarly.  see below  She wears tiny red tights beneath her layered dress.

TIGHTS!  That may have been one of my best, new accomplishments.  I'd made them for Dolly and now all my dolls will get them.  Of course, I have to rework the pattern each time, but tights allow me not to have to make the dreaded underwear.  That no one sees!  I know that some people love underwear, but it feels like such a wasted effort to me. 

Another outfit I haven't shared yet was completed Christmas Eve, although I did share it on Facebook.  I'll get to that in a minute.  But first, I was able to make Cissy's New Year's Eve party gown and finished it yesterday.  This was the last project in my hopper for the year, so I'm feeling very satisfied.  

I started by looking at 1950s cocktail dresses on 

Pinterest, and when I came upon this opera gown and coat from the 50s, I knew I'd hit the mark.  I'd bought some beautiful silks on sale from Farmhouse Fabrics, and wanted to make something in the midnight blue.  I also love that this outfit had a matching coat, as well as pearl beading on the bodice.

What I ended up doing was making something unique for Cissy based on this outfit.  I'm not much of a designer, but I do come up with original ideas from time to time.  Its just that I enjoy bringing illustrations to life more.  There's a challenge in both.

Cissy's gown has a V neck, and shoulders.  Imagine pulling all that silk through the shoulder width just to have it lined.  I line everything.  To recap, I learned the Magalie Dawson method of lining a dress years ago, and adapt it where needed for all my creations.  Its online.  Look it up if you've never seen it.  I lengthened the skirting to a cocktail dress pattern, and lengthened the coat hem to the pattern I used for Cissy's oatmeal colored wool 

coat that went with the olive green cocktail dress.  This outfit is completely made up from silk.  The lining is a beautiful, muted blue, and tiny pearls are scattered among the top of the bodice of the gown.  I was tempted to add them to the sleeves of the coat, but the lighter blue lining of the coat set it apart on its own.

I added a little bow to the neckline of the coat where it snaps close, and a big bow to the top and side of the skirt.  Basically, I made this all up as I went along.  I try to stay with traditional Cissy styling, but I have to do my own thing as well.  She's wearing silver strappy shoes beneath her gown.  

The little tiara was one that came with a Little Darling outfit knitted by one of my Russian favorites.  

Now the truth, and the funny thing, is that I'd forgotten how to piece this coat together and struggled for three hours trying to figure it out - until I read the directions.  Haha!  I made notes on the pattern and will never forget now.

While I was puzzling this out, I removed and boxed up all the ornaments on our Christmas tree yesterday.  I've decided that New Year's Eve needs the sparkle and lights of the tree, but not the tedium of putting the ornaments away the next day.  My tradition has been to have all of Christmas put away before the new year, not bringing the old into the new.  So now I'm being flexible.  I like the lights and I will miss the tree.

And, here is Dolly's second outfit from Diana Vining's adorable Christmas paper doll.  At first I thought I couldn't do it.  The Gingerbread Dress.  I struggled over the fabrics, the time and tedium, and as you know, created the one the paper doll came dressed in.  But, I really loved the gingerbread dress, so before Cissy's New Year's Eve party gown, I made it.  

This dress was made with a velveteen bodice and silk tiered and ruffled skirting.  Silk ruffles also end at the wrists on the velveteen bodice.  Vintage white rick rack is the icing and tiny pom poms are the gumdrops.  A smattering of flat backed jewels are scattered over the bodice as close to the illustration as I could get them.  The peppermint brooch is hand painted silk, the same as the peppermint on her headband.

Once again, Diana's artwork. Should I do the third dress?  Maybe next year if Diana doesn't entice me to create something else with her Dolly Dingle paper doll couture.

The back in detail.  Every pom pom is hand sewed one.

And, my beautiful Grace doll.  I still haven't undressed her as I'm marveling over my big win.  She's holding the mini paper doll page that Diana made for the Club Grace December box.  Of course, Remmie Lou gets in on the action - still chewing on Grace's red glove.

In the final notes of this year, I have to say that the last four months were the finest.  I love the Bers, as my mother called them.  Septem-ber through Decem-ber.  I had more doggone fun making Peggy Sue's Mechanical Man costume, and as I love making costumes, she'll get a new one every Halloween.  She did get two this year!  Inspiration without breaks was key.  I just kept on going until every idea, new and hoppered, was complete.  Sometimes I'm just fueled on sheer determination, but this is also how I play dolls.  

And, if that's not enough, the Doug James flapper doll, the 1470 as he's calling it, will be coming, hopefully in January.  He's made some gorgeous outfits for her, so I'm not sure, if I'm lucky enough to get them, that I'll sew for her, but sewing for her is the plan.  The thing is, I don't mess with perfection.  And, his new outfit collection that's been posting to Facebook is divine.

I also bought an original Tonner 13" Fancy Nancy recently.  I have several of the books.  I've always wanted to sew the outfits for her.  And maybe make her little dolly for her.  I had this doll once, and let her go, and won't do that again.  Fancy Nancy makes me smile, and isn't that what our dolls should do for us?

I'm not thinking past the moment today.  New Year's Eve is all about resting, reflecting on the year past and hopefully all the good it brought.  We create our own joy, and as long as I can create for dolls, the joy will sparkle like the sun on snow.

Wishing you a Happy New Year, with health and prosperity - and lots of new dolls!

Love, Melissa

9" Red Riding Hood Gift

First Outfit for Dolly Dingle

The Long-Awaited Witch Costume

Enchanting Paloma

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Paloma's Partner

Mignonette's RRH Costume

Peggy Sue's Mechanical Man

Sweet Treva and Her Dala Toys

Little Miss Christmas