I'm in the process of beading along the trims on my Santa's hat... I can only go to about an inch away from the sides, so there won't be any beads in the way when i sew up the back hat seam. It doesn't go that fast. I've always loved beading, and was pretty fast back in the day, but now it's becoming a real challenge. The worst (other than threading the needle) are those tiny 2mm round gold beads. There's absolutely no way to see the holes in them.
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Cinnamon and Tillie were busy raking up all the fallen the leaves... When Talyssa came along with her buggy.... So, of course they had to stop and look at her teddy.....
It's been a rough week, so I'm nowhere near where I had wanted to be by now. But I have started. I finally cut out the dark purple for Santa's hat, and decided on the trims. Each row had to be basted by hand first because I'm working with velvet, and everything 'rides' if you don't. The next step is to do all the decorative beading. I can bead to about an inch from the edges, so it won't get in the way when I sew the hat seam.
I've decided that I'm going to go with my original plan of a separate shirt and vest, and in the fabrics I chose last winter. I've cut out some pants, but still have to cut out the shirt, and I need to design a vest pattern. But tomorrow is Friday again already, and that means cleaning up everything in my work spaces, for grandchildren on Saturday morning. And I could be up to me ears in laundry tomorrow as well. Our dryer stopped working last week, and the laundry has been piling up. Hopefully be fixed tomorrow. And we are supposed to get our very first snowfall overnight, which is always very exciting! Although it is coming along with an 'Extreme Cold Alert', as temperatures dip to -14 C overnight. So I'll see what it's like out there in the morning, and if I want to venture outside for pictures. It's getting a lot colder out, and I just finished Steve's scarf to go with his sweater, so I took him outside for a few photos. I'm really liking this guy.... It really is interesting just how different he looks from his brother Owen..... I think Owen is going to need a new handmade wig now too..... And of course, I had to take a few photos of Steve with Isis as well..... They make quite a nice couple....
It's back to my Santa costume again today. I had picked out the velvets I would need, and had designed a hat pattern - even made a test hat out of cotton. But I was stalled because I didn't have the right kind of fur for the trim. I didn't want to use real fur, and I had just a few scraps of white fake fur, and the pile was way too thick to use on the coat and hat. When making doll costumes it's important to keep 'scale' in mind. Obviously any fabrics available are meant for full-size human clothes and decor, but when making something for a doll - say a 1/4 scale figure - the fabric ideally needs to be in that same scale as well. And good luck with finding that! So I needed a much thinner, softer, fake fur. I wanted to try the fabric store, knowing they'd probably not have the right thing either. Then it dawned on me - now that Halloween is over, all the stores are full of Christmas stuff - and that includes Santa hats. I know the Dollar stores always carried cheap hats with thin, white, fake fur around the bottom. So we went to Dollarama, and sure enough, they had lots of those hats, and the white fur around the edge had just the perfect look and feel to it. Plus it had just one seam down the back, so the fur was nice and long as well. So I bought two hats, and picked them apart..... I've also redesigned the JID shirt pattern so it's roomier in the front.
Now I just have to choose a fabric and cut it out. Years ago, when we were kids at Halloween, we were required to dump all our treats, and sort and store them in containers in the closet so everyone could enjoy them sparingly for weeks to come. So that's what I expect of my kids as well.... "This chocolate bar is delicious!' Everyone was having a great time, sharing.... Except Chloe, who sat back, guarding her stash... ...and Ringo, who decided to keep all his own treats for himself...
Two granddaughters brought along dolls this morning, and the third brought some of her Littlest Pet Shop characters. So they wanted me to take photos with them - and my horses, and pumpkins...
For Halloween I needed to use the Fantasy costumes, but I'd decided that no one was going to wear anything they usually wear, so I chose four other dolls to wear them. I thought they looked great in them - especially Aaron - so took some photos before changing them back into their regular clothes Aaron and his bow.... Paige, the huntress..... Aaron and Coco.... Paige and Bonnie....
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AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
March 2024
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