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!