Arts of Delight

  I have been working slowly on a new Grodnertal style doll. This one has short curly hair. When I thought of the different hair, I immediately reorganized my Pinterest board with a section of original dolls wearing short hair. I was very surprised to discover there are many! I also pictured her in a turban. Sure enough, there are MANY portraits of early Regency women with short, and long, hair wearing turbans. I think I will have to reorganize that Pinterest board also. I have a picture in my mind of how the costume will look and I have picked out the fabric from my large stash of silk. The dolls parts were again made from pressing Premier stone clay into an original mould. The mould has damage made by removing the original sculpt, and I am planning to make another. In the meantime, the casts I make require a lot of fixing up. Time consuming. I have worked on other dolls while the various stages of putting together this doll are completed. Slow going. Now she is painted and sewn t...

I finished this little one today and am very pleased with her. She is made using a Gail Wilson pattern that includes directions for everything except her chemise, which I designed myself. Gail doesn't put chemises on smaller dolls because of bulk, but I like them and don't worry too much about the bulk at the waistline when the dresses are so loose. I used dyed muslin for her body, and embroidered her features, as well as making a mohair wig for her, which departs from the original instructions. I have always thought dollies with pinafores are very fetching, and bonnets add that little bit extra too! Perhaps I was too heavily influenced by my days of sewing Holly Hobbie clothes for my nieces.  Her shoes are made from glove leather, sewn by hand. Real silk ribbon laces! She wears a dress, bonnet, pinafore, shoes, stockings, chemise, pantalettes and a petticoat. A great deal of this doll's wardrobe is sewn by hand. I like the look of hand hemming, and always apply lace by han...

  This sweetie was also made with Gail Wilson's Izannah pattern, but I still couldn't get her head round enough, so she has a wig made with wool roving. The braids are the easiest style for me. Love the bows! She has the full complement of undies (batiste chemise, pantalettes, petticoat) and a period correct dress. Her face is done in coloured pencil on painted muslin. I like the effect!

  I have a few dolls that have been made from a Gail Wilson pattern in my quest to get a round-headed doll. I have had mixed success, with the heads turning out to be mostly egg shaped. However, I have turned this into an opportunity to put a head of hair on them. I finished this doll yesterday, but decided her dress was too plain. I looked into my Izannah Walker Pinterest board and saw a dress that used chain stitch embellishment, so I decided to try it out. I am happy with the result. I think this girl has a very sweet expression. She just insisted on being a redhead and I complied. I really, really like redheads! All her undies are made to her measure. I created the pattern for her blouse myself. I have always liked the look of a blouse under those dropped shoulders from the 1830's-1840's. Her dress skirt has cartridge pleats, I just love the way it accommodates a lot of fabric into a tiny waist.

  This doll is one of three cloth dolls I began making after the complex costuming required for dressing the Grodnertal dolls. I needed something simpler and familiar, a bit easier to put together. I am trying to rediscover how to get a very round head for a stuffed cloth doll, but haven't been doing so well. I used a Sue Farmer pattern for an Izannah Walker inspired doll, with some modifications to the body, combinations and dress. I decided to go the extra mile and make her a corded petticoat, the precursor of the crinoline. Very time consuming, but very worth it. It really makes the skirt stand out. This doll's head emerged very pointy, so I put a wig on her, which transformed her looks! It is made from jersey and wool roving. I am very pleased. She is listed in my Etsy store today.

  I forged ahead and made another Grodnertal type doll. I really like her face. I had to adjust her arms a couple of times to make them look right, but I'm happy now. I had some shot silk that I had been saving for something special and she was crying out for it, so I bit the bullet and went ahead designing a beautiful dress for her. I was once again reminded of the adage "Measure twice, cut once," after I sat back, having cut out the pieces for her dress, and realized I had used the wrong sleeve pattern! I had intended that her sleeves would be even bigger than they are. Still, the dress looks pretty good. I used the instructions from littlecabincreations.blogspot.com to make Van Dyke points for her collar. Not difficult, but REALLY fiddly. I made her a stand, but it is a bit too tall. Don't know if I can find the strength to make adjustments to it. She is a jointed doll, and all her clothes are removable, so you can play with her. I plan to put her into my Etsy stor...

I was away for a week, visiting my daughter out west on Galiano Island, so my dolls had to wait for their next steps to completion. After my last Grodnertal doll, I made a cloth doll from a pattern. I tried to get the head to be rounder, and so I made a few heads before I got one that was close enough to round to satisfy me. This meant that more cloth dolls needed to come to life! I also wanted to try a pattern from Sue Farmer that I   had used once in the past. This one is stuffed with cotton, a heritage stuffing, but I am not impressed with how lumpy it looks. Still, she is at the stage of getting her face painted, so she gets her crack at Becoming Real very soon. My latest Grodnertal was reproaching me, since she was clad only in her chemise and pantalettes. I grabbed some batiste and whipped up a petticoat and yesterday finished draping her dress pattern. I have cut out her dress using some shot silk taffeta that I bought from Delectable Mountain Cloth in Vermont, years ago, wh...