New Clothes

Progress is slow, but Lily Auguste will finally get new clothes. Her first outfit will be in the enfantine style. In other words, dressed as a young teen/pre-teen. Before LA arrived, I pored over many of my doll books searching for inspiration. My criteria for choosing costumes for my dolls starts with finding a dress that appeals to me aesthetically and is from approximately the same time period as the … Continue reading

A New Doll Book: Mesdemoiselles Mignonettes

  Today’s mail brought a package from Paris.   It’s cold and rainy, so curling up with a new book sounds lovely. For many years, I sought out every doll book I could find about the dolls I collected. And, it seemed like a new book came out several times a year that I just had to own. Lately, new doll books are becoming rare, so when I hear about … Continue reading

Book Review: The Dolls Dressmaker

When I first started dressing antique reproduction dolls, The Dolls Dressmaker The Complete Pattern Book by Venus A. Dodge was THE source of  inspiration I turned to again and again. In the book, basic pattern shapes are given for dolls from 11 inches (28cm) to 22 inches (56cm). The author explains in wonderful detail how to combine these shapes, alter them and add to them to make an endless variety of doll … Continue reading

Book Review: Hats, Caps & Bonnets: 1855-1875

Earlier this week, I said that I would try to get to sewing this week. Oh well (sigh). SG and I made fairies to give to some of our friends. We took a trip to DC with DH. I met with a dear friend for a long, chatty dinner. I learned that my affinity for power tools does not extend to table saws.  I own and can operate my scroll saw, band saw, … Continue reading