Under pressure

I have been pushing myself to create an angel doll for submission to publicity for the winter show at Kawartha Artists' Gallery here in Peterborough. After several tense days, I was able to photograph her and send off the image. It was fun to make the chair and wings, but it was a struggle to get the armature to sit right on the chair. If that isn't right, none of it goes properly. Even now, it isn't the way I want it, but that's as much as she is getting. The photos don't do her justice, as she is very pale. Her charm doesn't come through, although I may be looking at her with the fond eyes of a mother!



At the same time, I have been working on a doll inspired by Jane Eyre. She is made of ProSculpt Baby that baked full of moonies, so she has been painted all over and flesh tones added on top in washes.
 In order to get her dress to stand out in the bell shape that was desirable in the early Victorian period, I did a lot of research. First, I looked up petticoats and crinolines online. Amazing! Crinoline comes from the two French words for horsehair and linen. These petticoats were made from a very stiff fabric woven of these two materials, and they stuck out stiffly. They were the first layer after the chemise and corset went on. Then four to six more petticoats were added! A woman could be wearing up to 14 pounds of clothing. No wonder they fainted! Keeping warm in winter must not have been such a big issue. I always wondered how they seemed to be wearing such skimpy jackets or cloaks. There were also petticoats made of fabric that had cotton or hemp cords sewn or woven in, like the later hoops of the cage crinolines. Also a fascinating area of research! I decided to watch five of the six versions of Jane Eyre on disc that I own, and see whether I could figure out what they were wearing in each one, underneath. I couldn't make out what the first petticoat was in some of them, but they all wore several. In the Zelah Clark BBC version, I could see that she was wearing a corded petticoat as the last layer under her wedding dress. Right!
Next, what was I going to use? Buckram! So that is what she is wearing over her pantaloons, under her linen petticoat. 
Sewing on her skirt over these layers made her waist bigger than I planned for, but c'est la vie. Sewing on her bodice and sleeves has been tricky, since her arms don't move much. I'm in the home stretch now.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Busy times

Image
  It has been a long time since I touched base with you. I get swept up in my enthusiasms and don't take the time to share what I am doing. Gosh, I don't even take the time to wash the kitchen floor! Many dolls have been made in the past few months. Here are some images of them: This little rag doll is made with my own pattern, and is stuffed with wool. These Santos Cage Dolls inspired me to learn a new skill, tinwork. There are some great videos on Youtube that show how it is done. I wanted to make something soft and cuddly, so this little needlefelted guy was next. He has been patiently waiting for his clothes for ages now. Soon!  This little articulated doll was inspired by me seeing the work of momo&cose on Pinterest. She is made of papier mache and wire joints. Papier mache is not my favourite medium because it takes so long to dry between coats, and I get impatient, but it has the charm of excusing rough modelling.  As you can see, she is sitting on the bare bones of
Read more

The making of a boy doll dress

Image
  My last post talked about the first step in designing clothing for a doll, that is, creating the under layers first and then draping a pattern over top. This post will show pictures I took while making the dress for my Izannah Walker John Thayer doll challenge. This challenge ends Feb.1 in the MAIDA dollmaking group. I have made a tutorial of the process that explains more and I will send it to anyone who is interested in having a copy. I have noticed that my instructions tend to assume some knowledge of sewing clothing, but I hope the photos make things clearer. Just contact me by clicking on the three parallel lines in the top left corner of this blog. I begin by using a shop towel to drape the shape of the bodice fronts and tracing around on the shoulder, side and mid-bodice on seamlines. Do the same for the back. Darken the outlines and cut out the shapes, leaving a rather generous seam allowance. It is easier to trim away excess than to add extra, although sticky tape is your fr
Read more

A little rag doll

Image
I am in the middle of making four Santos dolls at once and it feels overwhelming, so I turned to creating a sweet little cloth doll from my own pattern. I knew it wouldn't take too long and I needed to do something that took less mental and emotional effort.   So, here she is, looking very happy with the world!
Read more