Blog Archives

'Outlander' Inspired

5/23/2019

The first of the new 'Outlander' inspired costumes for Bianca are coming together. I'm working on two similar outfits, with all the parts in different colours, so she can 'mix & match'.

I knit some fingerless gloves and a shawl out of needle-punch yarn. I still have to weave in the loose threads of the shawl, but was excited to take some photos.....

Her shawl looks great in real life, but shows rather 'orange' in photos, but I'm not going to make another. At least not of this version. I stained her sleeve edges, and applied a diluted beige paint to the bodice to 'kill' the bright green...

I think I need to open up the stomacher and insert something to stiffen it, since it 'pulls' together when the lacing on the jacket is done up. The second inner bodice definitely needs it.

I also think this combination needs brown arm warmers. But the brown yarn was so thin that I knit one using double thread, but it ended up way too bulky, so now I will try the super thin yarn after all. I'm also trying to figure out how to knit a 'cowl' shawl, and make a fine, white 'fichu'.

One Last Embrace

5/22/2019

Thanks to all the cold and rain, we had an exceptionally long Scilla bloom this year. I'd given up on the patch along the town-line, and had moved to the patch at the lake, then went to check along the town-line one last time two weeks after having taken the first doll photos there. The last to bloom are always the flowers under the trees, and they were a carpet of blue. But they had been blooming for a while, and scillas keep getting taller as they bloom, so they were quite tall.

But I took Rex and Bianca for one final photo session anyways.....

Victoria Day Weekend

5/21/2019

This past weekend was the Victoria Day long weekend, and we took the RV to visit our daughter and family for four days. We brought along an RV full of stuff, from one son who is about to move.

There were doll houses and little figures for Emily, from Natalya, who no longer wanted them...

Elliot 'helped' his Mom make a sock monkey...

When the rain stopped, we all put on our boots to go for a walk...

..into the soggy woods....

....to dig up trilliums to transplant into their own back woods...

A trillium ready to be planted...

...and a little violet...

Saturday afternoon, the sun came out, and we went for a little drive to see the azalea gardens, along the Detroit River in Amherstberg....

Amherstberg is the "Rhododendron Capital" of Southwestern Ontario. Well, it's also in the very southern-most point of Canada, which is why they can be grown there in the first place....

There were also lots of redbud trees...

Back at the house, we watched the birds come and go. The orioles were especially colourful...

Sunday morning more guests arrived....

Cousins from our neck of the woods, passing through....

It was very hot, so we decided to inflate the water slide. First a few 'dry runs'....

Then they turned on the water...

Then it was time to decorate the fort with sidewalk chalk...

...and a photo with everyone....

Swinging is fun, no matter how old you are....

After the cousins left, it was time for some spin art.....

Wearing the safety goggles....and applying more paint....

"I think it needs a little more red..."

Some more bird-watching....

Spotted a baby robin being fed by one of its parents...

...and a tiny finch bringing nesting material into a colourful birdhouse....

Then some more swinging on the tire....

..and it was dinner time. The pizza place gave them a box, along with the dough and pepperoni, so that after making his own pizza at home, Elliot could 'deliver' it. We lined it with foil to keep it clean inside so he could keep the box for his play kitchen....

After lunch, Grandpa had to help finish the new monkey bar addition to the fort....

And so as not to lose four whole days, I brought along stuff to work on when time permitted. I knit a doll shawl, a pair of fingerless 'gloves', picked out a hem so I could shorten one skirt, finished the embroidery on one jacket, and sewed the inner sleeves into a second. So, got lots done!

Now it's unpack, and clean everything up, and catch up on the stuff needing to be done at home. Plus I took over 250 photos, that need processing....

"No Spells Please!"

5/16/2019

It was a warm day, and Mr. Ropuha was cooling off in the garden fountain....

...when who should come along, but Phairby, the little Fairy Godmother....

"Good morning!!"

"Good morning to you too! I hope you aren't here to cast a spell on me?"

"I don't think so....why???"

"Because I'm already married to a lovely toad, named Tiana, and I am quite honestly getting fed up with human Princesses trying to kiss me hoping that I'll turn into a Prince."

"So I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't cast a spell on me so that I'll turn into a Prince."

"Oh no, I wouldn't do that! I make it a policy not to mess with true love..."

"But if there is ever something I can help you with, just give me a call.
Have a nice day!"

'Claire' Costumes

5/16/2019

I'm working on two 'Outlander'-inspired costumes for Bianca. It doesn't go very fast, since now that it's more-or-less "Spring", there's all kinds of garden stuff to do.

I've decided not to make every single layer of the costume separate, but combine some to help reduce bulk. I've made under bodices, which are technically intended to stand in for the chemise showing inside the bodice neckline. One even has the gathered 'kerchief' sewn in...

The 'stomacher' will get sent onto it once I know exactly where the jacket comes to. The jacket will get laced over it in front. The second bodice is just plain cream cotton, with a print stomacher..

There's so many parts to keep track of, and many need hand-sewing, or basting, before machine sewing. I've also started knitting gray arm-warmers and a brown shawl out of needle-punch yarn.

I see that I'm running into the rusty red problem again, same as with David's wig. The camera really makes the rusts and some browns very bright. I may have to dye the finished bodice to help kill some of the brightness. I'll see how it goes, and how things photograph when I'm further along.

A Conversation

5/14/2019

The last photos of Rex and Bianca, taken in the Scilla woods down by the lake....

Gathered Skirts

5/13/2019

One of the most challenging things about making doll dresses, is getting the gathers to hang properly. The first thing to consider is the choice of fabric. I'm currently working on my Fashion sized dolls, which are more or less one quarter scale. Which means that any fabrics used for their clothes should ideally also be one quarter scale. As in one quarter the thickness. But it's almost impossible to find quarter thickness fabric. It's hard enough finding them the right colour and/or pattern. So the best thing to look for is as thin a natural fibre fabric as possible.

I went through my box of tartans and plaids fabrics, and the only one in an appropriate scale plaid in a good colour was a grey synthetic. I thought I'd try it anyways.

Even washed, it wasn't really draping properly. It was screaming "doll dress"!!

I wanted something better, which meant a trip to Value Village. There I chose a blue plaid, man's shirt, and a pair of thin gray/green flannel pajama pants. I took them home, washed them, and cut them apart, so I'd have flat fabric to work with.

First I made up a skirt from the darker plaid. The skirt was gathered from a 60" length of fabric, and the gathers really stood out. It screamed "Doll Dress"!! I hadn't looked at the label to see what the fibre content was, and was hoping I'd not made a mistake. But the real test is what it looks like after I soak it and let it dry, laying it crinkled on a heat register. It looked much better.....

Then I made a skirt out of the lighter green/gray plaid. Again it was 60" of fabric gathered onto a yoke at the waist, so the gathers wouldn't all be crowded around the waist, making it look too high.

I knew this skirt would respond better to being wet, so decided to stain it right away. After all, if the skirt is being worn in the wilderness with no chance of ever getting washed, it's not going to be all pristine, like it was just made from brand new fabric. So I mixed up some diluted brown paint in textile medium, and dipped the bottom edge of the wet skirt into it....letting it soak in....

Squeezed out as much moisture as I could, then laid it over the heat register to dry....

After it dried, I put it back on Bianca.....

The gathers were a much better scale now, and the dirty hemline added a touch of realism. I could even go a step further and lightly sand the bottom edge of her skirt, to really rough it up, but this looked good enough for now.

*Note - it really is better to AIR dry clothes that have been stained, since the colouring dries more evenly that way. For some reason the heat from the furnace heat register bakes the colour darker and more uneven. But I didn't care. I was impatient, and it was way too cold outside to hang anything to dry out there. In fact I just heard on the radio that today is the coldest it's been on this day since they started keeping records. So the heat register it was!

New Wigs

5/13/2019

Today I'm finishing up several loose ends. First up was to glue an extra strip of mohair along the bottom inside edge of David's wig, so it would be fuller in the neck. Then it was done....

I was pleasantly surprised at how much this wig looked like the first one. It isn't quite as 'curly', but is still nice and wavy. And most importantly, it doesn't photograph as 'bright orange'.

Then, since I had the glue gun sitting there, I thought I'd tackle baby Sena's wig. Talk about tiny!! I've never made such a tiny wig before, and wasn't at all convinced that it would even work. Babies don't usually have a lot of hair - at least mine didn't. But I was determined to give it a try.

This is what it looked like after it was all glued....

Way too wild and bushy for a little baby! So I combed and trimmed it. Then wet it, worked in some hair gel, and put it on Sena (covered in plastic wrap) to trim some more. Then I wrapped the wig with strips of cotton, and laid the doll on a heat register, so the wig could dry....