A few photos of Sarah in the garden, wearing the first gown...
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I finally finished the second green and wine gown.  ...and took Sarah out for some photos - where she met the Raven, who was also out having his photo taken.  This second gown is pretty much identical to the first one, except this one has dagged sleeves...which took more than triple the time to bead.  There are also a few other subtle difference. The second gown is beaded with 'solid' gold beads, whereas the first one was done with sparkly, clear gold beads. Part of that was from necessity since I didn't have enough of either to do both, and none of the local stores had any either. Thankfully my sister came to the rescue and donated her collection of gold seed beads. The second gown was also given the chatelaine I purchased at the doll show last month.  The second gown also has different lace at the neckline, again because I didn't have enough of this one - my favourite - to do both. There's also a few subtle design changes, including larger gold beads along the neckline, and a slightly bigger 'pendent' in centre front. And her necklace is made with sparkly gold beads instead of the solid gold ones in Serena's necklace.  It is interesting that even though both gowns are exactly the same size, they fit both ladies just as well, even though Sarah has the smaller 'Dew' bust, and Serena has the larger 'Bell' bust. It's thanks to the fact the bodices lace up in the back, making them 'adjustable' and able to fit different sized dolls.  I had wanted to take a photo of my tiny babies with the dandelion puff balls, but the plants in my garden were already way too big, so I had to create a setting from scratch. So I got out my mushrooms and the bags of moss, and went out into the neighbourhood looking for dandelions. There weren't very many, as most neighbours had mowed recently, but I found enough, and picked them carefully as they are very delicate. Back on the patio I set up a scene on a board elevated on a pot on the picnic table.  Then I 'planted' dandelions by inserting toothpicks into the bottoms of their hollow stems and poking them into the moss behind the two little girls...  All the dandelions in the meadow had gone to seed, and Mika and Gabi found them fascinating...       I've been working on two very similar Medieval Fantasy gowns for a while. It's taken a long time due to all the beading. Fortunately I had been working on both of them in tandem up until the hanging sleeves, so after the first gown was finished I didn't have to start right from the beginning with the second one.  The gowns were inspired by a gorgeous multi-coloured semi-sheer velour I found at Value Village, and the first gown has simple, straight, hanging sleeves.
Serena in the first finished gown...  The second gown is almost identical except it has dagged hanging sleeves, which take WAY more time to embroider and bead (several days each)  The next step is to attach the hanging sleeves to the under sleeve and sew the sleeve units to the bodice. Then I can finally embellish the neckline and finish the second gown.
Sara enjoying the crabapple blossoms...  with her little buzzing friend...    Every spring I try to take as many photos as I can in the beautiful little blue scillas, and this year was no exception. My favourite spot has always been the old abandoned orchard along the York/Durham townline, but it's not as nice as it used to be thanks to the invasion of dog-strangling vines in recent years...  Even so, there's one small spot (on the far left in the photo above) that is less overgrown and still usable. We went there several times over the course of the blooming period, each time taking dolls who had not been there before. I'd set up the dolls in the flowers, go sit down at a distance, and then direct Jan to make any small adjustments if needed, since things can look very different once I'm down at the doll's level, as opposed to from above when I'm placing them in the flowers.  Then I take the photos...  I also have a decent patch of scillas in my backyard, but then there's some huge rocks and a fence in the background, neither of which make for a nice scenic background. So I position two huge tree roots in front of the rocks, and I temporarily 'planted' several pruned evergreen branches in the ground to add some greenery. Then I'd pose the dolls....  Get down on the tarp, and take the photos...  The easiest place to take photos is if they are posed in the upper garden, but there's not a lot of scillas up there (yet). Plus the tulip leaves are way too big out of scale, so have to be avoided, as well as the ugly fence. But there was one small spot which had enough scillas to work for some photos. So I positioned the mushrooms and posed the mice....  Then took the photos...  All in all I managed to take photos with fourteen different subjects this year, all in the course of a week. It's a lot of work, but the flowers don't last very long, and I was determined to take as much advantage of them as much as possible during their short bloom period. And I'm glad that I did, because the entire plants have now been mowed down, and are just a memory for another year.
Prince David went out to the meadow hoping to meet someone....  And there she was....his cousin Daisy  David had developed quite a crush on her, ever since she'd defeated him at the annual chess championship.  He offered to walk her back to her uncle Rex's stables. Then he paused for a moment, and asked her if it would be okay if he held her hand....  Daisy really liked him too, and thought for a moment...  "Yes, I'd like that." and she let him take her hand....  Then the two of them walked together hand in hand - slowly - back to her uncle's stables.  |
AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
December 2025
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