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!

 

A Tiny Visit With My Sister....

 

 We Had Sew Much Fun....!

I had a week of Vacation, Dear Readers, and by Far the best part was the overnight visit I had with my sister who was visiting her grandchildren not too far away. I brought her to my house so we could have an overnight and get caught up on the Minis. Of course, she also visited my overgrown garden, and I snagged a good picture! We spent the evening of the first day looking at all the Big Mini projects I have underway.... not a small undertaking! Fortunately she is a Happy participant in the process. And the next morning, after the garden tour, she was poking around in some of my boxes of parts and pieces of in-progress builds... in this case, The Sugarplum Studio, aka The Dollmaker's Studio parts and pieces, and discovered a couple of little doll kits I had forgotten I had! They are also by Sandra Morris of Tower House Dolls, purchased at the same time I purchased the petite "Atelier de la Poupee" Vignette Kit which has become the "Dollmaker's Studio" project. We took one look at each other and agreed instantly that we were going to make them right away! The kits were to assemble a little Victorian Porcelain doll with all the bits: shoes, stockings hat wig and gown! They were alike but not identical. It took us less that five minutes to get started!

The kits are wonderfully well made!

The instructions are detailed and full of closeup pictures.

All the parts and pieces are ready to use...

 

Here we go! Undies under way!

And with the bunka trims added...

But look... who do we see over there...?

Is she cute or what?

And stockings too.... 

but I think I didn't make them cover enough of the foot...

And the fashion show begins.....

Starting the shoes...

This made us laugh hysterically....

But all in a good cause....

Next they got some "soles"....

At about this point, Dear Readers, 

we realized that the project would take

 a little longer than we had assumed...

 but we were enjoying ourselves so So much, 

we abandoned all our previous schedules...

The day was ours! 

Nothing was going to stop us!

And the kits were not identical, 

so here the instructions diverged...

My petticoat was simple and traditional...

And by now she has acquired the name "Petunia"...

And her pleated skirt over the petticoat.

 

 

And the beginnings of stitching the seams for the jacket...

Yikes!

 

 My sister's doll, Valerie, has the petticoat lace

 as an over-layer on the skirt...

And her Jacket is edged with a picot braid!

 

 Here is Valerie in her jacket.... 

before the sleeves are added!

Isn't she something???

Meanwhile Petunia's Jacket is getting sleeves....

You have no idea how difficult it is

 to gauge the proper length for the hems,

 and to turn them inside out!!!

Then the lace collar....

And Valerie is as done as we have time for....

It is time for me to return my Sister to her grandchildren...

My sister, who is a cancer survivor,

 loves Valerie's bald look and might even keep her that way.

 

I had enough time to add Petunia's

 buttons and picot trim before we drove off.

But didn't get a picture until much later 

when I was home again and it was dark.

And the following day, 

I completed her hair and hat...

A Much quieter, contemplative, process!

All those curls!

You almost hate to add the hat!

Until you see her with the hat, of course!

Ah, Dear Readers, the time went by Much to fast... 

and was years overdue....

But look what I have to remember it by....

Welcome Petunia!

I had a Tiny visit with my sister

 and We had So Much Fun!