Just a few Valentine photos from the Archives....
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Well, the last of my Renaissance Tutorials is finally up. This one took a lot more work. Since I never took any under construction photos while making any of the EID-size gowns, I had to rely on the photos from the SD Tutorial. Which is fine, since they were made in almost exactly the same way.  The biggest challenge was adding the 'Dagged Sleeve Variation'. All my earlier Renaissance gowns were made with the dagged sleeves. Here's a few of them.
The dagged sleeves are very challenging to make, and probably best left to experienced seamstresses. It doesn't help that I have no under-construction photos of them at all, so all instructions are only verbal. However, if anyone really wants to try them, the pattern and instructions are there, and hopefully they are clear enough. Best of luck!!
Just a reminder that we'd all like to see what you've made from my patterns and tutorials. There's a 'Guest's Creative Gallery' at the bottom of the Tutorials page, where reader's work is showcased. Some of the most recent contributions include.....  Christmas dresses made from the Simple BID Dress pattern, by Amy Murrell-Haunold  Niamh, inspired by the Celtic Maiden costume, by Suzanne Sheppard  A leather bag made from the Leather bag Tutorial, by Sara Ringgenberg  Mardi Gras Mask by Jay Searle  Tattered Fairy Skirt, by Jay Searle  'Rue and Meuw'. Rue's dress from Simple BID Dress pattern So, if you make something from one of my patterns or tutorials, take a moment and send me a photo. We'd all love to see what you've made! Back in 2008, Doll Crafter and Costuming featured one of my patterns in their magazine. That magazine no longer exists, but back in their day, it was one of the better magazines for doll costuming. Patterns were printed on large pull-out sheets in the centre of the magazine. Anyway, I'd been thinking about reworking the patterns for 'Lovely in Lavender', and making a Tutorial of it. But it's so close to my Italian Renaissance costume Tutorial - in both pattern and construction - that I decided to add it as a 'variation' onto the end of the Tutorial.  Any experienced seamstress should be able to make the modifications to create something similar.
The next Tutorial in the Renaissance costume series is up now as well. It's the Tutorial for the hats and headdresses my dolls are wearing with their Renaissance-inspired outfits. There's three different designs. The stuffed circlet.....  And a variation of the circlet, with a soft crown....  And the cap with snood....  The pattern Tutorial for my version of an Italian Renaissance gown is up. The patterns were designed to fit my Elfdoll Ryung. She's an older Elfdoll model, but the gowns made with the patterns also fit my Supia Rosy. She has a slimmer body, so the dress is a bit more roomy on her.  *Click on photo above, or go to my Tutorials page. The Tutorial is rather lengthy, so the headdress, hat, and hood instructions are not included. They will be part of the EID Renaissance Gown Tutorial since all the dolls have relatively similar sized head circumferences. The EID Tutorial will include all the patterns for the larger size gown,but it will not have the detailed instructions, since it's made exactly the same way as the SD version. So the headdresses will be covered there. I don't know who thinks up these things, but today is 'National Kite Flying Day'. I'm thinking "In the dead of winter?". I know the 'special days' are an American invention, so I'm guessing it was invented by someone in one of the warmer states that doesn't get snow in winter - like California, Florida, or maybe even Hawaii? Oh well, we're not exactly having anything close to a normal winter this year, and there's no snow at all, but it's nice and windy, so Byuri wanted to go out and fly her kite today.....    Byuri is all nice and warm in her new outfit. She's wearing her new dark plaid jumper over her white blouse, and over that she's wearing her sweater, which was a prize from the Iplekids Yahoo group, and was knit by Donna. I knit a matching hat by mixing three different colours of variegated yarn, and knit a nice soft scarf from needle-punch yarn.
A year ago, I made four Italian Renaissance inspired outfits with the intention of providing a pattern Tutorial on how to make them. I had so many gorgeous fabrics that would look amazing as Renaissance gowns for the dolls, but it just wasn't going to happen. So I figured by providing patterns, people could make their own.
I took photos of most of the construction steps as I went along, but life happened, and I never did put the Tutorial together. So I figured it was about time I did. I've pulled all the Elfdoll-sized patterns, traced them, and have turned them into a pattern pdf. I figured while I was it it, I might as well do the patterns for the EID-size version as well. After all, the instructions are exactly the same.  So, the EID patterns have been drawn up, and now I have to make the pdf and print it
out to check to see if the patterns come out the right size. Then I can start the Tutorial. Just a little reminder that next week is Valentine's Day, and if you still need something for that special doll, then why not make them a heart-shaped box of chocolates?  I created a Tutorial several years ago, specifically for BJDCollectasy to host on their site, and the links are on my Tutorials page. I'm sure every young lady would appreciate a box of chocolates!    I finished all the top-stitching on the baby quilt I was working on. The sewing machine jammed up a few times, and I bent one needle into a 'fish-hook', but I eventually got the thing done.  The central panel was one of three Flower Fairy panels I found at Len's Mills Yorkdale store. Curious to see if there were more, I checked the Internet, and discovered the Flower Fairy fabrics are by Michael Miller Fabrics of the UK, and they have a huge selection of Cicely M. Barker Flower Fairy prints and panels. Good thing Len's Mills had just the three different panels, or I'd never have been able to choose.
The actual panel was considerably longer, with two more full-size fairies at the top, and a bit more green foreground at the bottom, but my daughter was hoping for a standard sized baby quilt, so I cut the top two fairies off, decreased the bottom a bit, and used the extra fabric in the corners. All the matching coloured strips along the sides came out of my fabric stash. The backing is a small print of pink and purple pansies on a white background. The only things I purchased were the panel and the batting. |
AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
July 2025
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