Independent Thoughts

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

Plans and Progress

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

Motivated!

I didn’t take a nap yesterday afternoon. I got started on the 17th century fairy costume for my Bru (see My 17th Century Bru Fairy).   This is my inspiration. I will be creating the costume from the inside out, starting with the smock. The smock is like a long-sleeved chemise made out of linen. One of my doll friends found some very fine, antique linen yardage at a flea … Continue reading

Back to the 17th Century

Last month I told you about my 17th century embroidery on-line course, Cabinets of Curiosities (CofC). Well, I got the first lesson on May 1, and expect lesson 2 next week. The first few lessons are about the history and anatomy of 17th century embroidered caskets, so I don’t have much to report on that front except that I’m getting more and more excited to get started stitching. Since I … Continue reading

My 17th Century Bru Fairy

Meet Mademoiselle Bru. She told me that she wants to dress in 17th century costumes. I think she wants to be a fairy. This is an early 17th century masque costume drawing by Inigo Jones (1573-1652). He was an architect, stage designer and theatrical masque designer. When I got hooked on 17th century embroidery, a good friend asked me how it applied to dolls. My first reaction was, why does … Continue reading

The Long and Winding Road to Pocahontas

On a lovely Sunday in January, my husband and I joined friends for lunch, then the men went for a stroll while my friend and I stayed in for a stitching lesson. She was excited to teach me some new techniques for raised embroidery stitches. I wasn’t a great student, but I was inspired! It got me interested in finding more about dimensional embroidery, so I Googled embroidery. This led … Continue reading