Blog Archives

the Violin

4/30/2025

It was the baby's nap time, so Iris was catching up with a bit of reading...

When Eric came in..

He'd just come back from his violin lesson.

"Do you want to hear what I learned today?"

"Yes, I'd love to."

So, he started to play...

Iris was really impressed with Eric's dedication to such a challenging instrument...

...and he was getting very good at it.

"That was really beautiful."

"You are becoming quite the violinist."

Today my sincerest thanks goes out to President Trump! If it hadn't been for his fine example of what happens when the far right comes to power, we'd have voted in our own Trump wannabe.

Instead, Canadians turned their backs on the Conservative leader yesterday, and reelected Mark Carney, leader of the Liberal party, and a skilled economist with exemplary credentials, to become our next Prime Minister.

It's what most of us had been hoping for, and now we have someone skilled enough to stand up for Canada against Trump. It would not even have been possible a few months ago before Trump came to power. But Canadians have learned from their neighbours to the south, and now we can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing we are in good hands.

And the fact that the Conservative leader was defeated in his own riding is just icing on the cake.

So, thank you President Trump!

Scilla Time

4/29/2025

One of the first flowers to bloom every spring are the little blue scillas. I used to take a lot of photos every spring at the property on the town line, but the current owners have let the field get overgrown with dog-strangling vines....

I used to love taking doll photos there every spring, and have taken some gorgeous photos over the years, so it's a shame how its now so overgrown...

I do have a patch in my backyard, but it's not the easiest to take photos in...

Even so, between the two locations, I've managed fourteen individual doll photo shoots this year before the leaves got too tall and obscured the flowers. Now I just have to process the photos. So, stay tuned....there's lots to come.

Finishing

4/28/2025

Continuing on with the elf gowns.....

Before sewing the sleeves to the gown, it's important to do any embellishing on the bodice front, as it gets a lot harder once the sleeves are attached and they constantly get in the way. The mauve bodice had lines from the scarf embroidery going haphazard across it thanks to the way it was cut from the fabric...

I needed to embellish the bodice front with more chain stitch embroidery, so had to find matching colours of embroidery thread...

Then I embroidered curlicues on the bodice front using chain stitch.
(I have a step by step tutorial on how to do the Chain Stitch)

I also embroidered the front of the pink bodice to match the embroidery in the lace, and embellished with sequins from the scrap lace. Now is also the time to insert the eyelets along the back, and to stitch the trim at the waist.

Then it was finally time to sew the sleeves on, matching the curves in the bodice and sleeves. Note that the trim at the waist curves below the seam lines at the back, folding in over the top of the skirt. That's so it doesn't interfere with the bottom eyelet.

Trying on the dress...

The next step was to do a row of picot beading around the neckline.
(I have a step by step illustrated guide on how to do Pecot Beading in my Tutorials)

I wanted to add a row of flowers along the neckline, and wanted to use the gold-edged ones I've had for decades, but I didn't have enough pink ones, so I had to dye some white ones with diluted pink acrylic paint...

The flowers were stitched to the bodice with three beads in each centre, starting with the flower in centre front, then going one direction, and then the other. Before doing that I first beaded much of the bodice because I found it too 'plain'. I also embellished the silver trim at the waist and upper armbands with purple beads. I was finding the dangly lace at the tops of the hanging sleeves a bit too 'dangly' so ended up trimming the ends back and securing the cut ends of the lace with FrayCheck.

the Back

Taking a closer look at the back. There are five eyelets on each side. Note that the silver trim curves downward at the back and folds under the top of the skirt.

The gown laces up the back, but the skirt tends to hang open a bit, so I fold a short length of matching colour ribbon, stitch the edges together and stitch it onto one side of the top of the skirt opening. It's for a snap fastener to neatly hold the top of the skirt together.

Gathering Eggs

4/27/2025

The little mouse fairies were out and about gathering eggs...

Gone Shopping

4/26/2025

Just got back home from a buying spree. Sometimes, in years gone by, we'd go to the fabric district in downtown Toronto on my birthday to stock up on trims and fabrics, and anything else that caught my fancy. But my favourite shop moved away from there years ago because of the ridiculous rent increases. So, Sussman's Supply Co moved to Hamilton. They do have an Etsy shop, but there's just about nothing on it. Definitely not compared to their actual store, which is packed to the rafters with laces, trims, beads, feathers, and all manner of dressmaking and costuming supplies - other than fabrics. It's an awful drive, but if I want to go then I have to go.
This was today's haul...

Now to card it all, and figure out what to use some of it on....

Another Year

4/25/2025

I'm now officially an old woman.

The mind is willing but the body is another story, so I'll see how this next decade goes.

Upper Sleeves

4/24/2025

The next step was to make the upper sleeves. The upper sleeve template was traced onto medium weight iron-on interfacing, and pressed onto the back of the dress fabric. Then I stitched decorative trim a seam allowance worth distance from the straight edge.

The reinforced upper sleeve was positioned right sides together on the cotton lining fabric, and the lining was cut out. Then the top edge of the sleeve was machine stitched. After clipping the corners and curves, it was turned right side out and pressed...

Next step was to baste the seam allowance at the bottom edge of the lining. This is to make it infinitely easier later to stitch the lining over the hanging sleeve seam later. Then stitch the upper sleeve side seam...

After stitching the side seams, turn the upper sleeve right side out...

Slide the upper sleeves onto the doll, to determine where exactly you'd like the opening of the hanging sleeves to be, pin the hanging sleeve front and back in place, making sure you create a PAIR, and hand stitch the fullness around the bottom of the upper sleeve by hand...

Now turn the upper sleeve inside out, and hand stitch the lining over the raw edge of the hanging sleeve. Then remove the basting thread in the lining so it doesn't catch the doll's fingers when dressing her.

Turn the sleeve right side out, and repeat for the second one, making sure you make a PAIR.

Easter Eggs

4/23/2025

Most years I take Easter photos of a bunch of girls all dressed up in their pretty lacy dresses, so this time I thought some boys deserved a chance. It was also the perfect time to introduce my newest little guy, an Iplehouse BID Ellia boy, whom I'm calling Elliot. He has a bit of a sad, pensive look, but I'm sure he'll fit in nicely.

Bordy invited him to come along on an Easter egg hunt...

the Hanging Sleeves

4/22/2025

It took me a little while to figure out how to make lined hanging sleeves with the lace edges still showing at the front.
I didn't have much of the sequinned pink lace left, and had to figure out how to make two hanging sleeves out of it in order to make the over sleeves as long as possible. I tried stitching the two smaller pieces together, but decided it wasn't going to work.

I ended up cutting some off of the larger piece of lace and stitching it to the wider section of scrap, to make a pair...

I wanted the scalloped edge on the outside of the sleeve front, so that required a different method than a usual lined sleeve. I cut the sleeve lining from the same flimsy fabric as the underskirt. I cut it considerably bigger, then overlapped the lace edge onto the straight grain edge of the lining and stitched it down...

Then I folded the sleeve right sides together along the stitch line, and pinned it. Now you can see why I cut the lining so much bigger. With the fabric being so flimsy it would have been impossible to line up the edges if I'd cut it the same size as the lace sleeve. Then I stitched along the bottom and up the back edges of the sleeve, trimmed the excess fabric, zig-zagged the edges, and turned the sleeve right side out. Repeat for second one.

For the mauve gown I'd cut the ends off of the triangular scarf, and positioned the dangly lace along the side that had straight of grain, and attached the lace on an angle tapering down towards the bottom point....