Violet's wardrobe

I have been working on Violet's wardrobe for her new mother.
Here is a list of what she wants:
A navy sailor's dress with a matching coat and a hat.
A peach dress like Liliyas.
 (If anyone knows how to spell Liliya, please tell me.  I think it is a Russian name.)
A Red dress like popy's dress as well as her hat and bag.
A lacy wedding gown with an empire waist line.
I have done all the knitting and have finished sewing up the seams.  I am now going to add all of the little details to the dresses and make a couple hats and a carpet bag.  I am having such a great time!

I have to re-block a dress  onto the doll , so that it will hang correctly.  I lightly  dampen the garment and then tie it in place.  It looks like I am not a very nice person, but it has to be done.  

Violet's mother wanted the coat to match the dress, and chose to reverse the color scheme   I  made three button holes and am going to make  little blue buttons out of Fmo.  

I am not going to make a collar for the coat, because it will be too bulky, so I am using the dress collar .  After I block the coat,  it will drape better.  It is very hard to dress a little doll like Violet.  I had to use needles to pull her coat sleeves over her dress.  I was afraid that I might pull her sweet little arms off.

Violet's mother wanted her to have an outfit like Poppy's.  Violets dress is done and I let her borrow Poppy's carpet bag and hat for the picture.

This dress is like Liliya's dress.  I am thinking of adding a ruffled collar...I will ask her mother.

This is the first wedding gown that I have made.  The dress is knit of Medeira #80 cotton. This is my favorite cotton to knit with.  Unfortunately it only comes in white and pastels   I love the way it drapes, and after I block this dress, I will show you and you will see what I mean. 

I knit a  train...making it a wedding gown..

A plate full of work.

Have a wonderful week,

Violet's New Wardrobe

In my last post, I showed you Violet and her little doll baby.  Well Violet has a new Mommy and before I send her off, she will get a full wardrobe.  I have a tendency to go too far, to want to add too many details, so I usually have to stop myself and move on to the next project.   I am so happy to be able to continue to make Violet more clothes.  I thought it would be fun to share the process with you.  

One of the dresses that Violet's mother would like is a sailor's dress with a  matching coat and hat. 

 I have a lovely navy  Gutermann's silk, which I have used for the body of the dress.  I made a stripped insert for the v of the sailor collar out of blue and cream Gutermann's cotton.

A closeup of the stripped insert of sailor neckline.

After I make a dress, I dampen it slightly and wrap it with thread, so that it hangs correctly. This is what it looks like before I have done that.  As you can see it looks stiff.  As a miniaturist  I am always trying to get my knit-work to drape nicely...it adds to the realism. 

A back view

I have discussed the method of how I  knit a dress on October 8 on  my Needlework blog    http://mini-needle.blogspot.com/ 

All of the components of a sailor dress: body, collar and insert.  After I knit, I block my pieces before I sew them. This makes them stiff and manageable, but it ruins their drape.  This is why I reblock the dress onto the doll.  I will show you a picture in the next post.

Next, I will Knit the coat.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Violet is Finished

Violet is one of my favorite little dolls.  I sculpted her from porcelain and glazed her so that she looks like a china-head doll.  Her features are china painted and she has dots of gold that are fired on to look like jewelry.  Her clothes are knit on 6/0 needles.  Her dress is made of medira cotton with a lace pattern down the front...Tiny purple flowers are embriorderd at the hem.  I have given her a tiny porcelain doll that I also sculpted, and dressed in a tiny knit dress.  I have a hard time finishing things, and even now am thinking of making her more clothes.

Violet has tiny lavender rose buds embriorderd down the front of her slip. 

Violet and her doll baby.

Violet has a dark purple caplet and bonnet.  I have not yet tied up and snipped all of the threads,as I have not decided how she will be dressed...indoors,or ready for a walk with her caplet. 

It is always nice to finish a project.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Lucy

Happy New Year

I just wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year!

Gilliam from   http://makeitsmall.blogspot.com/  , sent Annabelle and me these wonderful little Christmas gifts.  We had so much fun opening them.  Thank you Gill.

Merry Christmass

God bless all the little children and you.

Tiny Hat Tutorial...A Finishing Touch for Your Little Doll

When I started my blog, I put this tutorial on my Tutorial page.  I have deleted that page, because it was not well thought out.  Now I have taken the pictures and placed them in a collage that you can download and use at your leisure.  If you ever need help with my tutorials, just ask.

The first thing that I do is select a color of fabric...I use silk, but cotton will be fine.   I soak the fabric in a solution of 50/50 tacky glue and water.  I let the fabric dry on a plate, so that it will be smooth.  The doll that I am using is 1 5/8 inches tall...so her head is tiny.
  Measure the circle for the brim of the hat, and cut a circle to the size you like.
Clip a tiny hole in the center of the hat and carefully cut a tiny circle out of the middle of the brim.
Measure the hole to the doll's head.
find a dowel--I used a paint brush--with the same diameter as doll's head.
 Place the brim onto the dowel.
cut a strip of fabric so that it is the desired height of  the tiny hat.
Wind the strip around the dowel, cut strip to fit and glue ends together.
when strip is dry, remove and apply glue to base of strip.
Put the glued strip back onto the dowel so that the glue adheres to the brim.
Let dry.
Cut a tiny circle so that it is the same size as the crown (glued strip).
Glue top to crown

The final hat will need decorations to cover up edges.  I use tiny ribbon to wrap around the crown. Sometimes I glue a piece of silk floss to go around the top of the brim...the little gold hat is a n example.  I use beads, silk ribbon roses and tiny feathers that I collected from a pet love bird..  These little hats really pull together a little doll's wardrobe.

Happy hat making, and have a wonderful week,

Shameless Self Promotion

Actually, self promotion fills me with shame...but it has got to be done.  I started my blog to promote Evalina and other characters for some children's stories that I plan to write.  Evalina will be the main character.  She and  her little sister Posy Anna live in Honeysuckle cottage.  Humble and Pie are their best friends.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with scale miniatures, Honeysuckle cottage is considered a half scale miniature(one half inch equals a foot.  I am making all of the characters and the setting from scratch.

     I am about to send out a Christmas card to some publishers, with hope that they will visit my blog...wish me luck.

I am also getting back, after a long respite, to making and selling my miniatures.  I am preparing to go to the IGMA show in August.  I have opened an Etsy shop, and am slowly putting some of my pieces into it.  At the same time, I have started a Pinterst site.  Please follow, admire and pin me when ever you can...I need the attention.  I am not comfortable with attention, but I need to try harder to get my images out.

I continue to work on Hugo.  He is getting a little teddy bear  who still needs ears and arms

I am putting a Holiday challenge onto my needlework blog
http://mini-needle.blogspot.com/

I have had this clipping for about 20 years....finally, I am knitting him in miniature. I will finish him by Christmas.

My challenge is for the rest of you to make a Christmas item.  I have changed my mind, it does not have to be needle work, any hand made item will be included.  Please send me a picture, and I will  post it.

lucy_coles@netzero.net

Hugs, and Happy Holidays,

Lucy