Grace and Dolly in the Big Apple

Birthday Week!  Oh, c'mon.  I can celebrate all month if I want.  Why not?  While California's forests burn around me, and the days of clear, blue skies are gone until the fires go out - which could be mid-October - and the dentist puts me through the wringer, I need to keep my spirits up and play.

So, yes, I'm working on "the other" special project for September, now that Year of the Rooster Gracie is done.  However, I had to take a quick break from it when the Virtual Doll Convention Club Grace box arrived on Friday.  I'd already purchased a fat quarter of mini animal print fabric to make Dolly a dress, just in case I found myself inspired.  

Rachel gives us YouTube introductions to the Club Grace offering of the month, so I now have extra time to plan for Dolly's complimentary outfit.

Am I into animal print?  No.  But I was, in the 80's.  In fact, I'd borrowed money from my mother while we were in Hawaii, so I could buy this very sexy and feminine dress in a zebra print.  I know I have a photo of us having dinner one night in Oahu, and I was wearing it.  The 80's were difficult and complicated for me, so any music or fashions associated with that time, evoke sad memories.  I think I crossed that bridge a couple of months ago and made it to the other side unscathed and have been feeling stronger overall, so I jumped in, feet first, into making Dolly a complimentary outfit for Club Grace September.

The theme was Brunch in the Big Apple.  Believe it or not, I was in New York in 1989, and wasn't impressed.  It was too much.  Too big, too tall, too smelly, but an experience I wouldn't have wanted to miss.  It was summer.  And I recall taking a ferry ride to see the Statue of Liberty.  Also saw Les Miz there.  Did not do any shopping though as there were 

sights I wanted to see. Like Central Park.  So maybe, this month's Club Grace gave me an opportunity to reflect on the past a little.  And, the funny thing was, I really wanted to do something with Remmie Lou, who seems all but forgotten these days.  I adore bulldogs, so I will never forget Remmie Lou.

Let's start with the box.  A while back, Diana Vining started designing interior artwork for these boxes, making them keepsake boxes to store the month's garments and extras in.  I think Diana has done an extraordinary job with this.  They are gorgeous, and the artwork is superb, well planned and executed.  

Inside this month's box were the standard story card that Diana writes for Grace, a shoe box to make for the blue jeweled shoes "Grace must have after first glance in a boutique window", great stickers, a keychain and a newspaper featuring a surprise of Rachel's baby daughter.  

Silly as it may seem, I think my favorite addition in the box was the tiny apple confetti.  I set these boxes out in my studio when they arrive, just as seen in this photo, and I enjoy looking at them until the next box arrives.

And I was thrilled to make Dolly a matching dress, and shoes and purse!  

But first I had to do something for Remmie Lou.  This month she gets to go shopping with Grace and Dolly.  Pedestrians part the way as the three girls click down the avenue, as they are in awe of Remmie Lou's September sapphires collar and matching gold chain leash.  

She is allowed in every store and boutique, and gets all the attention, showing off her beautiful necklace.

I try to do something with Remmie Lou with each outfit I make for Dolly.

I'm wondering if she got a Halloween costume last year.  I don't recall.

And I am so hoping Grace gets a new Halloween costume this year.  If she doesn't, you can be sure I'll pull Dolly's witch costume and Grace's cat costume out and dress them up.  Remmie Lou will get a costume then.  I already know what I'll make for her.

Dollys' dress is fancy because of the print, but it's a simple dress of high bodice, long sleeves and full skirting.  It's in the accessories that I spent the effort.

I wanted her to have a pair of shoes like Grace's, and a similar shoulder bag.  Dolly's gets a back-to-back D logo on hers for Dolly Dingle.  Inspired by Grace's Channel bag, I have to pat myself on the back for that one.  The shoes came out darling, too.

Another addition in the Club Grace box were two shopping bags you could fold up to create, two little perfume bottles, and a pair of apple earrings for Grace.  She's wearing them, but you can't see them.  Clever.  Rachel had FUN putting this box together.

September means fall is near and, in many places, already present in the turning of leaves.  The image below is of Grace and Dolly's favorite shopping alley in the Big Apple, full of bookstores.

I do not know if my current project will be done by the 18th, but it's a goal.  I'm so ready to begin playing Halloween and making a couple of costumes for dolls.  Cissy never got a Halloween masquerade party costume.  Peggy Sue needs a new one.  But that is the official day I turn 65.  The 18th.  I love birthdays.  I love all my friends' and family member's birthdays, too.  It's that special day that says, I'm glad you were born.   We all need to feel special once a year.

Love, Melissa

 

Year of the Rooster Gracie - 1957

I was a curious child.  Every new idea or concept that floated by me that had a hint of mystery attached to it, I latched onto and explored.  One of these ideologies or belief systems, was that of astrology, the zodiac.  When I discovered that I was a Virgo, I read everything I could on the subject.  By the time Linda Goodman's publications came along, I was a young adult, and I gobbled up her writings on the subject. 

 Analytical to a fault, I never tried to fit into what was written, but noted that what was surmised, may fit well for some, but not all.  That's when I had my chart done, which was a bit more tailored to me, yet still, not everything the charting indicated fit who I was, or would become.  Still, I enjoy the idea of astrology and love being a Virgo.  I read my horoscope every day, but only if it's a "good" one.  I won't be cornered into someone else's idea of how my day should proceed.

My teen years were spent looking for the right "sign" in friends and beaus.  Often I chose the opposite as they were simply more exciting and interesting.  

My first introduction to the Chinese Zodiac came by way of a paper place mat on the table of a Chinese restaurant.  Not wanting to spill anything on this treasure map, I slipped it into my purse and asked for another.  But before I did that, I searched for 1957 and discovered that I was a Rooster in the Chinese Zodiac.  And just what did that mean?  Keep reading everything that's been written on the Rooster personality, and you'll get overwhelmed.  Add to this that 1957 is the year of the Fire Rooster (there are Wood, Metal, Water and Earth roosters as well), and you're in for hours of research and confusion.  

The best of the traits, in my opinion, because we like "good traits", are that roosters are fashionable, dedicated, live clean 

lives, are bold, and ingenious.  Confident, committed and loyal.  Good talkers and writers.  La-la-la-di-da!  Shall I list the bad things?  Hah!  No.  We can find plenty of those looking up the Virgo personality.  

The point is, it's all fun and highly entertaining.  Going further, I had to look up "famous" Roosters.  The short list: Kate Middleton, Paris Hilton, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rami Malek (GREAT actor), Nina Simone (be still my beating heart!), Neil Young, Dolly Parton, Vera-Ellen (boy could she tap dance!), Eric Clapton, Osama bin Laden...oops.  So, what does this say about Roosters?  Not much.  Can we really find any one thing that connects these people as Roosters?  We might have to dig further to find out what element of Rooster they are.  

All that said and noted, I still find the Chinese Zodiac as fascinating as our western astrology.  Every twelve years, the Year of the Rooster is celebrated, and the last twelve-year cycle for the Rooster was in 2017.  I must have made note of this at the time, but whatever I was up to in 2017, it had little to do with creative efforts in dolls.

However!  When I devised to celebrate this birthday month with Symbols of September, I knew I had to do something with the Year of the Rooster.  I had such a blast creating Good Luck Gracie for 2022's Year of the Tiger, that I decided to buy another Gracie doll and do something with her for Year of the Rooster.

I had a much more difficult time with this one.  Pinterest was full of children's parade costumes and toys for Year of the Tiger, and there was next to nothing for the poor Rooster.  No problem.  I'd put on my thinking cap and pull out all my Ruby Red Galleria Ten Ping costumes and come up with something.  Symbols.  Year of the Rooster Gracie is an allegory doll.  And I created her costuming in part, based on the poster above.  

I chose the colors gold, brown and yellow for her costuming.  And sure, the poster says avoid green, but I wear green, so Gracie can, too.   

As I was looking for interesting accessories and details in costuming, I looked to Ruby Red Galleria's Gigi in this kite flying costume.  It was the collar that I loved so much and the kite.  Love kites.  Gracie had to be original, so these elements of Gigi's costuming were inspiration.  

I also looked up roosters on Pinterest and found this felt rooster with chicken and chick and loved the colors and simplicity of design.  I used this artist's idea for a cross-body bag in leather for Year of the Rooster Gracie.  I had to cut and piece together, like a jigsaw puzzle, the elements of this rooster.  The pieces are too tiny and detailed to have done stitching on them, so it was all put together with fabric glue.  

Earlier, I'd made a rooster bag out of wool felt and embroidered it, but it didn't have the mystery and elegance I was after for this doll.  I like the bag and will use if for another doll, but I had a vision for this doll, and the first

bag just didn't work.  

After completing the bag, I started on the costuming.  The over apron was to be the main focus of the costume, and it's a pattern I've used before.  

I spent hours sorting through my silks for coordinating patterns and colors.  The rooster purse would be the basis of the color selections.  I this was another reason why I ditched the felt rooster bag.  The leather one lent me more to work with in color selection. 

I began with a dark green silk with tiny brown embroidered fleurs in it for the trousers. The under shirt is an embroidered rose silk that ties in the back with silk ribbons.

Over this, a yellow checked blouse with Chinese collar was made with a dark yellow border in silk.  What you cannot see

are the machine stitched, red embroidered leaves on the yellow border.  In these photos, you can see a hint of the border.

Ruby Red Galleria often combines various fabrics in prints to create a costume. I love how they do this and have studied the costuming as much as I've enjoyed dressing my dolls in it.  So, for the over apron, I chose an embroidered silk for the back and a plaid silk for the front.  Why?  Because I wanted to make a version of Gigi's collar with a rooster embroidered on it.  This collar would be a detail focus of the outfit, much like any fancy bodice is done for a dress.

The checked Chinese blouse is closed at the neck with a hand dyed mini twill tape Chinese frog closure.  

The beautiful silk I used for the back, was a piece given to me by Kathy O'Malley (Filanowski), years ago.  It was just a remnant that I never used, though I'd intended to, and now, have.

The embroidery design for the collar was taken from a Chinese drawn symbol of the zodiac rooster. The red on white design is shown in an image below.

It is not an exact transfer, but a representation of the same rooster.  

First of all, you cannot transfer a drawing like this to silk in such a small size.  I do a kind of point system, or make dots, much like constellations, to outline the image, then freehand the rest of it.  

I am a long, long way from being competent at embroidery, but on occasion, when a costume calls for it, I put great effort into the tiny stitching that creates a picture.

Year of the Rooster Gracie gets a hat.

One of the themes I worked with in my mind for the costume was that of farm animals.  Farms.  Roosters live on farms - usually.  We do have neighbors with them in their backyards.  Cock-a-doodle-dooo!  Every morning.  But, yes, I had the colors and feel of farms in mind when designing this costume.  Checks in the clothing, yellows and golds for wheats and straw and corn.  Muted earth tones.  

Yet, I have often noticed that even the poorest of Chinese dress has a spark of color and fanciful design.  This was brought out in other ways such as embroidery and pom-poms.

I made Gracie's Chinese straw hat by creating a form out of cardboard, covering it with Glad Press n Seal, then proceeding to wrap the straw as you would with a PNB hat mold hat.

I love pom-poms.  I selected six small pom-poms in the colors of the leather bag and sewed them to the side-fronts of the hat.

For her shoes, I made them in the same green silk as the collar, then embroidered small red flowers on the fronts before assembling.  

Ruby Red Galleria covers their Chinese doll slippers often in a white linen.  I've done this several times for other costumes and did it again for this one.

One last accessory would complete the costume.  Good Luck Gracie received a toy needle felted tiger to hold.  I didn't want to needle felt a rooster and had considered making a puppet.

However, for the felt puppets I make that fit over the doll's hand, her arm would need to be raised when displaying the doll to show the puppet.  Her elbows don't bend.  That wouldn't work.  

I could have made a rooster marionette.  That would have been awesome.  Next time.  There will be another Chinese Gracie and I'll keep this in mind.

But I love kites, and I was keyed into Gigi's look.  That tiny kite of hers with the eyes!  I had to make a kite for Year of the Rooster Gracie.  I have seen so many illustrations of Chinese children flying kites, and this was the feeling of joy I was after.

I looked online for images of colorful roosters.  I needed one that had a plain or blank background for this effort.  The image I chose is shown in the photos below.  I chose this rooster due to his stance and how he would fit on a small kite.

I printed him off on inkjet printer fabric and used a kite template in miniature to get the shape I wanted.  

I'd just bought some new alcohol markers and used these colors in the background of the rooster.  You may notice I used the background sky and grass color from the Year of the Rooster poster added at the beginning of this blog.  Take a look.

I then folded the edges under, trimming at the points, and glued them down for stability.  

I took bamboo skewers and cut them down to size for the kite's braces on the back, then sewed them to the kite as Ruby Red did with Gigi's.  

Year of the Rooster Gracie was now complete.

This was fun.  Now I have a little doll representing the year I was born in the Chinese Zodiac.  

As an animal lover, I find the Chinese Zodiac much more fun to work with.  I asked a friend of mine what her symbol was, and she told me the horse.  She was not pleased with having a horse for her Chinse year.  I had to laugh.  I won't be making her a Year of the Horse anything for a gift!  Good information.

Below is some beautiful artwork for Year of the Rooster.  I love the one Etsy artist's little finger puppets!    I even found a vintage Jack and Jill magazine whose September issue had a rooster on the cover.  This is how I have fun.  I am never, ever bored and constantly working on the next project in one way or another.  It's still early in the month and we have until the 30th to celebrate Symbols of September.  More to come...I hope!

Enjoy the first of the 'bers!

Love, Melissa

Image I used for the collar.

Image I used for the kite.

Etsy seller's finger puppets.

 

Esme's September Aster

The 'bers have arrived!  I've been eagerly anticipating the arrival of my favorite four months of the year, and especially this September.  Its my birthday month, and this one is a landmark year.  I turn 65.  I never thought I'd feel comfortable saying those words, but things change as you get "up there".  I'm upright.  I'm walking.  And I'm enjoying my life, so what is there to be squeamish about?

SIXTY-FIVE used to sound ancient.  It was the age when people born before the boomers, retired.  It was a time when you became an official SENIOR CITIZEN.  Well, AARP has been sending me bulletins in the mail for years now, and the only real change is that as of September the first, I'm on Medicare.   Okay.  Now I'm beginning to get squeamish.  The only important thing to me these days, is living the best life I can - while I'm still upright.  So, this September is going to get celebrated big time.

If you recall, last September I celebrated the month with Little Red Riding Hood.  I loved it!  I had so much fun doing this.  Making Little Red Riding Hood doll clothing, posting vintage illustrations from the fairytale on Facebook, collecting some rare LLRH ephemera, and so on.  I was actually having trouble thinking of what to do this year, but I knew that Esme, at least, would have to have a new botanical dress, and that it should be the Aster.

Morning Glory is also associated with September, and I may yet try one, but the Aster has long been the flower of September. 

I think it was upon completing Esme's Aster last month, in anticipation of sharing it this month, that I decided to celebrate the month with Symbols of September.  And so we begin.

 

"The name Aster was derived from the Greek word for "star", and in the past it was believed that the perfume from burning the leaves of the plant could drive away evil spirits."  As a nighttime star-gazer, this appeals to me.  A closet gypsy, I love the idea of driving away evil spirits.  

This little flower gown was a challenge to design.  The aster has a trillion petals, and I wasn't sure how this would all go down.  In the long run, I created the gown as I went along and for what its worth, its Esme's Aster.

She wears especially tall leafy boots as the leaves of the plant are thin and long.  

I made her a little hat representing the bud of the aster flower.  The design was created by observing botanical drawings of the aster bud.

The panties, or base of the flower retains its long green casings or leaves as the flower blooms, so I added these to the waist of the bottoms.  This also gave the dress a bit more volume.  This alone, the adding of volume due to so many petals, was tricky to work around.

Each leaf and petal is machine stitched for stability.  This stitching also helps shape the pieces for display, such as curling them up.

September has just begun, and I'm working on a darling doll to share soon with you.  There may even be a second when she's done.  Either way, there is no shortage of inspiration and desire in keeping with the theme of Symbols of September.  

There is no better time of year, or season.  Even though we are in a heatwave right now, the air smells like autumn.  I can sense the change of seasons and anticipate all the fun that comes with them. Okay, I do love spring, but Autumn is the best.

To me, the end of summer begins the first of September.  It will always the time to return to school after Labor Day. But just for now, just for today, it is the time of flowers and Esme's September Aster gown is a symbol of "love and patience".

Enjoy every day of this magical time of year!

Love, Melissa 

 

Summer Clubbing with Grace Marie

Mid-August and we're in the midst of a heat wave.  Last week kept us indoors during the daylight hours, and this week is even worse.  Just taking my poor dog out to potty is stressing.  I get up at 5:30 in the morning, with the alarm clock, just so I can have a cup of tea, then get Brighton out for a hike before it gets too hot.

I've been teaching him to swim these mornings.  He's a Lab.  Labradors are supposed to be swimmers.  Well, the problem is that he would run away when off the leash, not come back when called, and invariably eat something that would make him sick or cause medical problems.  I have an $8,000 bill to prove it from three years ago when he swallowed a rubber fishing lure.  Anyway, we are doing this slowly, with a bag of cookies to come back to, and so far, he wants to chase the ball into the water and do it again. I'm so proud of him!

That's what the hot summer mornings are like. The afternoons

are spent reading or sewing or doing something with a needle, and that's just fine with me.  

I enjoy subscribing to Rachel Hoffman's Club Grace with the Virtual Doll Convention.  It's my treat every month.  A surprise.  And no.  I don't like every surprise, but I try to be open minded because I really want to play and sewing something for Dolly to go with Grace Marie's outfit of the month, is FUN.  

I didn't post a journaling from July's Club Grace because I didn't feel like I put out a sufficient amount of effort on Dolly's costume.  What I wanted was to change the girls out of what they'd been wearing and gave it a whirl.

Grace's gown is pretty.  The concept of Grace Marie being a violinist or making an effort to do something and succeeding is a wonderful thing for women of today.  I'd like to think Grace Marie is symbolic of Rachel's efforts and dreams.  My problem with many of the 

outfits, is that they have a distinct 80's flare to them.  For instance, the Tarzan look.  That one shouldered Tarzan look.  It's not me.  It keeps showing up, so its somebody's favorite look.

What I love are Diana Vining's illustrations; her artwork which turns Grace Marie into a virtual girl of the 21rst century.  We can live vicariously through her. Forever young and beautiful.  Forever having exciting adventures.  We like dolls with stories.  They come to life for us this way.  Can a doll inspire?  Of course!  Wherever your imagination finds joy, is inspirational.

The inspiration for me with July's Club Grace was wanting very much to change what Dolly and Grace were wearing.  I wanted to play.  Many of the subscribers will sew Tamara Casey's monthly pattern for Club Grace and it's so much fun to see what they come up with.  Some of the photography with special, realistic backgrounds is fabulous.  Rachel's idea for a Club Grace subscription was genius.  

July's subscription was "She believed she could, so she did.".  I'm not sure exactly when the insides of the boxes began to feature Diana's artwork, but this is another brilliant idea.  I keep the opened box in my studio all month if I'm enjoy that month's offering.  Its art.

This box contained a small, plastic violin for Grace, but I knew where to find musical miniatures like violins, from my Bleuette days.  Believe it or not, Amazon carried them in three sizes.  The two smallest were perfect for Grace and Dolly's duet. 

In August, as I was purchasing a few extras for the box, I noticed the little t-shirts that Rachel has been having made up with Diana's artwork.  There was an interesting one with the music theme, so I bought it to include in the box - and a violet-colored handbag.  Rachel calls these "add-ons".  Fun stuff.

So, I made a costume for Dolly.  The first summer I sewed for Grace was after the first Virtual Doll Convention I attended online.  Diana had knocked herself out with a beach themed paper doll of Grace with several outfits, and I was in love.  One of the dresses I made up from the paper doll one, had small purple flowers on it.  I had just enough fabric left over to make Dolly a dress out of it, to coordinate with Grace Marie's one shouldered gown.

The real fun in this was with Dolly's shoes.  Grace Marie got a pair of shoes in the box that had die-cut flowers on them, and I "replicated" them for Dolly.

The girls were playing a duet on my shelf for most of July and some of August.  Then the Club Grace for August arrived.

This one was in my favorite beach theme!  But with a Tarzan bathing suit for Grace Marie.  "Get used to it, Melissa."  The one shoulder look is Grace's signature.  

Diana Vining's artwork knocked my socks off, and I was dreaming of the sand and the sea and once again, missing the coast so very much.  I think this woman, this artist, could illustrate a charming book.  I wonder if she's ever thought of it.  I'd love to see her illustrate a story book of Grace Marie Fitzpatrick on some holiday somewhere.  Do one once a year.  It doesn't have to be more than ten pages (five back and front).  Just a lovely story, short and sweet with her fabulous artwork.  I think they'd sell like hot cakes, and I would definitely sew everything Grace wore in the story.

In this beautiful little box of beach themed items was a swimsuit, a monogrammed beach towel, and a sarape cover-up, done by Ruby Red Galleria.  They'd trimmed everything in a tiny pink pom-pom trim.  I couldn't find the exact trim, but that's okay.  Diana drew a romper for the paper doll, and I was going to make that.  And something for Dolly,  

of course.

The romper was a lot harder to make than it looks.  Much of this had to do with the lycra/knit fabric I bought on Etsy.  Without a decent fabric store to shop at, I'm at the mercy of what I can find on Etsy, and hope the color is close, the fabric nice to work on.  

I wanted to make this a onsie in pattern design, but because of the pom-pom trim and how it needs to be sewn into the waist, it had to be designed as a bodice and shorts to then be assembled.  It took a couple of tries, but I figured out how to make it with a drawstring waist.  

I purchased the hat as an add-on and discovered that Ruby Red Galleria had made those, too!  I edged it with the pink pom-pom trim I purchased and its adorable that way.  

This is a back view.

Dolly got a two-piece swimsuit with pink pom-poms trimming the edge of the top.  

After struggling with Grace Marie's romper, turning the edges under and machine stitching them down, I decided to sew Dolly's swimsuit by hand.  This also allowed the fabric to maintain a stretch to it.

Dolly got a pair of beige strappy sandals to match Grace's, but hers are on a cork base.

I printed a smaller version of Diana's Dolly as a mermaid paper toy and made that up as an accessory.  Then needle felted two ice cream cones.  Pink peppermint on top of chocolate mint chip on a cone.

Diana Vining did the most incredibly beautiful artwork for Club Grace this month.  She's an impressive artist.  I hope you'll enjoy seeing a few of the pieces below.  

Rachel gave her subscribers a special treat this month with her marvelous beach theme.  It was a perfect way to round out summer.  A summer where I continue to staycation, read, and play dolls.  And teach my dog to be comfortable in deep water.

Oh!  I figured out what will be September's theme this year.  I've already started on some of it.  How far I get, how much I do, is yet to be determined.  But the theme is Symbols of September.  This is a "big" birthday for me this year.  I'm turning 65.  Better yet, I get to celebrate "virtually" with Ruby Ho.  Her birthday is September 9th.  Things just keep getting better.  Keep the sun shining in your corner of the world!

Love, Melissa