Musical Automaton.....

 

 Almost Done....

I have Finally managed to make progress, Dear Readers, on the Musical Automaton Kit that I had to put aside when I hurt my arm a few weeks ago. I had managed to assemble the box and the tiny piano, but the battery pack and speaker which needed to be carefully fitted and firmly attached to the inside of the box required a minimal amount of arm strength. At last I have succeeded in gluing the speaker into the box in the right spot along with the battery pack and made the switch button fit too!

I know, it doesn't look like it should be so difficult....

but the wires are stiff and the button for the switch

 had to reach the hole that was prepared for it....

And it all had to allow the battery box to fit behind it.

The back wall of the box pulls off 

(held with tension by fitting tightly)

so you can access all the works and change the batteries.

It is a neat design and I can tell you, I smile with delight

 when I push the button and a piano tune plays on the speaker!

So all that was left to do was dress the little doll!

Yes, another one of Sandra Morris's little dolls!

By now you know the drill....

 

 She has a "routine" to follow....

And she's really great at standing by herself!

And with her shoes on too!

But these shoes need an extra feature....

The shoes will have tiny magnets to help her stand at the piano.

These tiny things were fidgety to attach!

And then we had to glue the leather soles on too.

Success!

 

And the lace petticoat....

Then things started to get tricky!

I had to sew a pleated silk band to the lace petticoat....

Then a lace ruffle on top of that...

And another pleated layer, this time a pink one...

and believe me, it was not easy to stitch all these

 onto a ruffled lace petticoat!

And that was just the skirt!

And in case you didn't know, Dear Readers,

 this little doll is a Performer... 

and she has to dress for the role! 

She gets sparkly jewelry!

I had to assemble the necklace...

 thread the tiny beads, glue on the crystal....

and I left the earrings for later.

(I didn't want to run the risk of 

knocking them off while fitting the jacket!)

Next came the bodice... just glued in place,

 with some lace trim at the top.

And then it was time to sew the jacket...

 

Here you can see the seams are all stitched and pressed open!

(Yes this did take a long time...)

And here you can see the right side with the trim glued on the edges.

By now it is late again (this is the third day of working on this little one!)

And the next day... 

testing the fit of the jacket...

 and gluing it to the bodice.

And starting the sleeves!

 

 Many careful steps go into the sleeves!

Here you see one is turned right side out,

 and one is just stitched and hemmed

 before turning it right side out.

Here the sleeves have the lace trim added.

There wasn't enough trim left for this, 

so I had to improvise.

I found some lace in my stash

 with a very fine picot edge

 and used that instead.

And here the sleeves are finished and attached!

And the next day... (yes this is now day five!)

The enormous bow gets added to the front of her skirt.

It nearly hides all the pink pleats...

 but just barely shows a flirty edge...

(Those Victorian costumes were elaborate!)

And then I glued the earrings to her ears prior to making the wig.

All the materials for the wig are also part of the kit.

Curls for the brow and then the main head covering are glued on.

Long ringlet curls adorn the back...

As you can see above, 

I have not used up all the ringlet material...

I might add more curls....

But there is also a very fancy bonnet

 to go with this ensemble...

(See the picture on the instruction book in the background!) 

Which I have not yet assembled!

But I hope you will understand, Dear Readers,

 that I am having a enormous amount of fun

 with this little automaton!

(If you can call her that!)

Here she is on the magnetic stand on the box...

 

 (Her name is "Chere Elise")....

 

 

I have placed the box in the Castle Great Hall....

And every time I walk by,

 I have to reach in and push the little button... 

and the piano music pours out into the Great Hall!

And I sit entranced to hear

 such wondrous music filling the Castle!

It is truly quite Enchanting!

 

But the Musical Automaton

 is still not quite Done!

 

Sister Visit.....

 

Playing With Dolls Again...

I Can't tell you how Satisfying it is, Dear Readers, to sit and sew doll clothes with my sister! This is something we did together as children, sitting on our bed of a Saturday morning with the rag bag and the sewing box and our little "friends".... mostly I remember the "Liddle Kiddles" and the "Trolls", but I know we did this all the time. But the opportunities became scarce once adulthood took over, so grabbing an opportunity here and there is so much fun we just can't resist. My Sister came North for a few weeks to see her grandchildren and I got her company for a couple of days. Even though my arm has been a "problem" I was able to indulge in tiny bits of sewing! (The arm is getting so much better thanks to lots of rest.) I didn't have any "kits" for us to make up as we did the last time, but I searched all my boxes of parts for the Dollmaker's Studio and there were two not-yet-dressed little dolls! (One of them was the model in last year's X-mas Card!) We quickly decided that we could "scrounge" supplies for their clothes and see what we could design for ourselves. I still had previous kit instruction booklets (never throw stuff like this away!) and packets of cloth bought from Sandra Morris over the years. It took us a little while, but we settled on similar cloth in different color ranges and I had tiny trims from last year's Miniatures Fair.... and tons of scraps.... so we were off and running...!

Here you can see the fabric choices for my little doll,

 a striped silk in blues and lavenders, 

and a beautiful brocade in pale blue and silver.

 

And my sister's choices, a brocade in pink and copper-green

 along with a stripe in green pink and gold hues.

 

I had bought a whole bunch of lovely silk ribbons at last year's Fair....

Or at some Fair in the past... 

and they made great underwear for the dollies!

 

The kits always provide bunka for the trim on the undies... 

so I looked through my stashes and sure enough,

 there was some bunka left over from the Secret Christmas House Project!

My sister chose the green trim and I got the red.

 

Next comes stockings,

 and I was able to find a lace scrap in my stash

 with a very fine mesh

 that we could trim down for the stockings!

 

 

These little dollies are so cute!

 

Next is the shoes... made from the silk ribbons

 that I had in a wonderful selection of colors!

 

Lots of really careful gluing and cutting....

 

Here mine has the ribbon part done...

And my sister's is getting the leather soles....

 one foot at a time...

 

And mine too...

 

And the second sole.... 

making sure they don't glue in the wrong places!

 And my sister's.....

Aren't they just adorable?

Next step is petticoats!

And then we had to design the skirts!

Which required some sustenance!

(Yes, we ate some lunch and some candy!)

Here the skirts are well under way!

And my sister's too....

(Apologies for the blurry shot!)

But we were running out of time!

It was getting late. 

My sister was leaving by dawn the next day.

The little dollies would wait until our next visit...

They have good company with Floralinda in the candy bowl!

And then, Dear Readers, the flight was cancelled at the last possible hour...!

My sister had to reschedule and we got an extra day together!

Woo hoo!!!

The little cuties were ready and waiting!

Out came the supplies.....

We needed to design and make the jackets!

I had kept the pattern pieces from the dolls we made last year....

 the shape just needed to be a little altered because the skirts are stiff...

My sister's brocade has a pronounced pattern... 

so she needed to match the pattern when she cut her pieces....

She did an awesome job!

For mine the pattern was way more subtle... 

so I just cut the pieces being sure to stay

 with the grain  of the cloth.

We used iron on interfacing to prevent the cloth from raveling too much...

Here you see the seams are stitched and pressed open!

And the other side.... 

I should have tried harder to match my cloth pattern!

Here we are testing the fit.... 

before the sleeves and trims...

And mine too!

 

 

And we just had time to glue the trim on the hems....

 

Here we are testing the jacket with the trim....

 

 Here they both are with their jackets on!

And in the candy bowl!

We had to stop for dinner, Dear Readers,

and to prepare for the next day's trip to the airport. 

For now, the little dollies are residing

 in the Dollmaker's Studio workroom.

 And we are all eagerly waiting 

for the next Sister Visit!