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One day the North Pole received an unusual visitor....  Everyone stopped what they were doing, and turned to look. It wasn't every day they had a dragon drop in...  Winston was missing his friends, so decided to fly up north for a visit...  ..and he'd brought along a poinsettia for his best friend...Willie...   I finished the pleated strip for the bottom of Christine's skirt, and have sewn it on, as well as the other trims. The wider black trim with gold criss-cross design was a bit of a challenge, to get it to fit nicely on a small curved skirt, but I managed. Now I'm sewing red sequins in the spaces, and adding a row of tassels. The plan was to make one and sew it on the bottom of every other red sequinned point. But I'm already thinking I may have to sew one below EVERY point. I'll see....  The sewing department was busy putting together the last of the Christmas stockings....  Narae stopped by to see how things were going....  Paige and Willie were taking turns at the sewing machine....  Chloe was busy cutting the trim for the tops....  "There's not a lot left to do..."  Meanwhile, Cinnamon was in charge of stuffing all the finished stockings....  When it was Paige's turn to sew, Willie came over to see how Cinnamon was doing....  "These look great!"  There were a LOT to stuff....  I'm finally happy with Bianca's bodice. I had made it too high in front, and had to take everything off and redo it. It looks much better now. It still needs the jewels and strings of beads draped down over her arms, but I'm waiting to attach those until after the rest is done....  Yes, I made two 'Christine' costumes in the past, but they were for a much bigger doll, so the trims I'd saved were not usable, as they were way too big and rough, and totally out of scale. And with Bianca being close to real human proportions, the costume has to look it as well. So I'm basically starting over from scratch. I looked at a lot of costumes from the different Broadway productions, and even though they were all made from the same designer's sketch, they were all still very unique. So I'm choosing what I like from the various interpretations. Several had a beautiful, colourful pleated row along the bottom of the skirt, so I chose four ribbons, sewed ten feet of each together, then pleated the entire length by hand. I've learned that it's a mistake to press the pleats with the pins still in them, as they end up 'denting' the trim. So I basted along one edge, and am in the process of basting the other. Then the pleats will get pressed.....  Working hard in the 'stuffing corner'....  "These are looking great!"  "Anyone need more stuffing??"  "Just a little more..."  "Keep up the great work everyone!"  "Don't look at me like that!! You know that's where I have to stuff this..."  Just a few glimpses behind-the-scenes of some recent photos.... First the North Pole workshop. It's so big that I had to turn the dining-room table sideways and insert an extra leaf. The row of cabinets and fireplace along the back stays in place, while the other furniture and props get moved around. And I have various boxes of stuff I'll need, stored under the table. There's also one photography light stand, and of course, the tri-pod....  For the 'panhandler' shoot, I set up on the slide projector stand, under a street light, on the walkway by our town's city hall. Unfortunately most of the Christmas lights were not turned on yet, but the snow was going to melt the next day, so I had no choice....  For the Little Drummer boy, I wanted something suggesting a 'stable', so taped some strips of wood onto the back of my work-table. And Ringo needed some books to stand on to make him rise high enough above the 'manger', which was really just my grape-vine cart....  I wanted some kind of fuzzy 'magical' background, so have our Christmas tree in the background, and because all the lights were behind the little scene, it needed some help from my one photography light....then I shot in close... ..oh, and that mug with a brush in it, is for the water to put a teardrop on his cheek....  Willie's first job was to do a final quality control check on a series of angel dolls...  "These are so pretty!"  "I love the little white roses you added..."   Peach was in charge of the 'Mail Department', and opening all the letters to Santa. "Wow, this person has a long list of stuff they want!!"  "That's nothing!! Look at this...!!"  "This guy named Craig, has the biggest list I've ever seen!!"  Santa was getting a touch overwhelmed. He wasn't used to such a level of busyness, and needed to ease into it again. So he took a little break....  "There's just a few days left, and still an awful lot to do....  Willie was excited to try on her new outfit....  "It fits perfectly!!"  "So, what do you think??"  "I LOVE it!!"  |
AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
June 2026
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