Sometimes aimlessly wandering around the internet reaps rewards, but not often. One such serendipitous journey led me to The Portrait Timeline website. It features portraits and historical paintings from ancient times to the 1930’s. I first searched the 1600’s and was surprised by this colorful costume on a 2 year old girl, c. 1602. I love this embroidered jacket and skirt from 1617. And what décolletage! Then I moved on … Continue reading
Yearly Archives: 2014
The UFDC national convention is next week and I’m sadly not going. With my new, expensive 17th century embroidery obsession, I had to make a choice. I went to my first one in 2000 and have only missed a few since. It is always fun and reassuring to be around so many other people who share my interests. And the shopping is fantastic. Over the years, I have collected French … Continue reading
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It is time for the Triple Flip girls to get new dresses. I am going to show you how to use the basic small doll dress pattern from Beginning Hand Sewing for Dolls Part 6 to make three very different dresses. I reduced the size on my copier and just used the paper patterns to cut out the dresses. Since I used silk, I didn’t use tape to hold the patterns … Continue reading
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My head has been busy in the 17th century, so dolls have taken a back seat. But they’ll be back. Today I cut out the dresses for the triple flips and I will do a tutorial this week showing how to use my basic small doll dress pattern to make 3 very different dresses. Stay tuned. Last time we visited the 1600’s (Plans and Progress), I was thinking about making … Continue reading
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I’ve shown pictures of this doll several times, but she has not been formally introduced to you. She is a 6″ (15.5 cm) all-bisque mignonette made by the German firm of Simon & Halbig (S&H). They produced many premium quality dolls and this surely is one of them. She is unmarked, but unmistakably S&H. With her sweet face and shy smile, she charmed me. Her brows are delicately feathered and her face painting … Continue reading
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Our summer to-do list has come in handy (see Plans and Progress). Whenever things get quiet, Supergirl (SG) checks the list and suggests something for us to do. Last week, we made another fairy. We also saw a movie. The movie was “Belle”. It was my choice. It was beautiful and I loved it, but SG is not a fan of historical dramas. She was very patient through the “boring” … Continue reading
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I love tiny dolls. I love dolls with wispy, painted hair. This one has it all. She stands 3 1/4″ (8.5 cm) tall. I don’t know where or when she was made. The dealer said that she was definitely antique… She is beautiful. She has blue, painted eyes with red lines highlighting her eyelid crease and single stroke brows. Her pale pink lips are accented with a red center line. … Continue reading
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I have a confession. I am old and slow. Not physically slow. Slow to get stuff. I spent many years feeling guilty whenever I was doing something fun just for me. So, I procrastinated and usually did nothing. Work, kids, husband, house, and all that jazz… With limited time, it was all about priorities. Even after the kids moved out 16 years ago, I still had a hard time giving … Continue reading
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Today is Supergirl’s last full day of school. Tomorrow, I pick her up at noon and summer vacation begins. Yesterday afternoon we started a list of things to do this summer. I had a hard time convincing her that I will still have work to do and sometimes she will have to entertain herself. A few weeks ago she came to my house with her dad (my son) to work … Continue reading
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Today’s post is all about the pictures. And a few words. I’ve mentioned before that some dolls are collectors. French fashion dolls are notorious for this. Here are some of the antique accessories my FF’s have collected: Wood, hand-painted fan with orange silk ribbon. Purchased at Paris flea market. I tried to barter, but my shaky french didn’t help. Faux ivory fan with hand-painted silk leaves. Two pairs of doll-sized … Continue reading
