A Sister Visit...

 

More Thanksgiving Leftovers...

I Was able to snag my Sister for a Quick visit just before Thanksgiving, Dear Readers, which I try to do every time she comes North to see her Grandchildren. They live an hour and a half from my home, so it is doable to go get her, bring her to my house for an overnight and take her back the next day. I never know when she will be coming until the last minute... plans change,  so I jump at the opportunity to spend time with her whenever possible! We did a little shopping on the way to my house, buying gifts for the grandchildren. We wrap them together... it makes it so much more fun! On the following morning we have a little time to play with the dollies.... but not until after breakfast. I indulged in a "Bonne Maman's" Advent Calendar this year... a tiny jar of jelly or jam  for each day....! We opened the first one even though it was early... we had "White Nectarine Linden Flower Jelly" on English muffins for breakfast! Oh my! With tea, of course! And then it was time to bring out the little dolls we had started costuming back in the Spring on her last visit...

Here you can see the one I was working on...

These are some of Sandra Morris' little porcelain dolls. 

She has retired and is no longer making them (*sob*!)

but I still have a few that have not been costumed.

Here they both are...  

We had gotten as far as constructing the jackets

 but not the Sleeves. The dreaded sleeves...

They are tiny and have to be hemmed..... 

stitched and turned inside-out.

And then you have to hope that you can get them on.... 

and that they are the right length!

I am sorry to say I didn't take any pictures of the process.

But... Ta-da! 

Here is my dolly with her sleeves on!

For encouragement and Atmosphere,

 we brought Chere Elise in to play for us while we worked.

She was ever so happy to oblige.

And my sister's sleeves are attached!

 

Then we needed to design the lace collars.... 

we are using whatever materials I have in my stash for this project,

as these little dollies were not kits with all the pieces provided!

It took quite a hunt through all my lace boxes

 to find some that had a small enough, 

delicate enough pattern to be usable.

 

 

We settled on one we could just use the edge of...

 cutting off the upper part of the lace. 

Here is "Aria" with her collar added.

And here she is with her hair too!

I managed to scavenge leftover "curls" from previous doll kits...

 we gave them simple all over curls hairstyles.

 

And here is my sister's with collar and curls.... 

she is named "Savannah".

 

 Here they are together!

Aren't they adorable?

Alas, we had run out of time, Dear Readers,

 so we were unable to complete them this visit.

They will wait in the Dollmaker's Studio

 until such a time as we can make their bonnets.

For you can be sure that Every Victorian doll must have a bonnet! 

There was snow in the forecast so I didn't want to be driving late.... 

And rest assured I made it home again before the snow started.

(We did get several very slushy inches....)

So that was my Sister visit, Dear Readers... 

except for the leftovers....

Unfortunately, it was I who really caught covid.

 Probably the Grandchildren had it but just thought it was a "cold".

They are young and no long do the testing.

And I will recover......

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!