Antique Lilac
  • Home
  • for Sale
  • Galleries
  • Favourite Photos
  • Tutorials
  • Blog
  • Links
  • Books

Still Struggling

1/29/2020

2 Comments

 
I've been working on several things the past two weeks, and things are very slowly coming along. Rather too slowly in my opinion. I wish everything was finished!

Jan made me another set of foam-core walls a while back, which I wanted to make into 'interior castle walls', with an irregular stone design. I had painted the background the colour for the 'mortar', and yesterday finally stamped on the stone work. I had cut up a package of sponges from Dollarama to represent the different sizes of stone blocks.  When the paint dried, it seemed a touch too 'blue', especially with all the brown furniture, so I brushed over the entire wall with some very diluted brown paint, to kill the blue and warm up the wall a bit. I've done the lower right side...
Picture
The green gown keeps fighting me every step along the way.  I sewed the underarm seams yesterday, so was also able to sew on the skirt.  Then I had to try the dress on Bianca, and the skirt was WAY too long.  How did that happen?? I had measured it before I cut and hemmed it a few weeks back. But it was way too long, so I had to cut off an inch and a half, which meant the two days spent hand-hemming it also went out the window.  Now I get to do it all over again....
Picture
I had thought about the sleeves a lot before starting on them, whether to make the lower end overlap and close with snaps, or insert eyelets to lace them up, or to just sew the narrow sleeve shut so that the doll's hands would need to be removed to put the gown on and take it off. As much as I find it a bit frustrating (and need an assistant) to remove a doll's hands when putting on or taking off an outfit, sewing such narrow sleeves does look a lot better than having snaps or lacing.  So this gown will also require removing the doll's hands.

When the gown was on the doll, I tried on the hanging sleeves to see how they'd look, and I decided I preferred the gown without them.  So much for two tries, and three evenings spent beading partway around the edge of the first one!   But I like the gown better without them, so maybe they'll work on one of the other two gowns I have planned.

​However, without the hanging sleeves, I need to finish the beading at the top of the 'under-sleeves' since I hadn't bothered to complete the beading pattern because that part of the sleeve would have been hidden under the hanging sleeve. I also need to finish the beading around the wrist.  I had only done the middle part of the sleeve, after hand-stitching on a very narrow lace ruffle, because my sewing machine doesn't like stitching anywhere near beads.... 
Picture
I sewed the inner bodice yesterday, tried it on the doll, but the neckline was way too high, so I had to turn it back inside out and make it a lot lower and wider. I wanted to bead the neckline and chose tiny green and gold beads, thinking they'd match the colours of the gown, and got halfway round before deciding that I wasn't sure that I liked it.....
Picture
So now I have to decide if I want to remove it all and start all over with tiny gold and pearl beads.  We stopped in at Michaels to see if they had tiny pearls the right size, but they only had gold and black beads in the size I need.  There is a bead store in Toronto that has them in pearl, but it's not that easy to get to, since it requires taking the busiest highway in North America, and that's often nothing more than endless stop-and-go, and seems a rather overwhelming trip just to get a $3 vial of beads. The other option is to sew a row of bigger pearl beads around the bodice opening up against the row of green. Maybe I should try that first to see how that looks. If I decide that I still don't like it, it will be just a bit more to remove.....

And here I thought this would be a quick and easy gown....

But on a positive note, while I had Bianca undressed, I tried on the test bodice for the next two gowns. They will be like the ones I made for the bigger Iplehouse ladies, with an underdress that closes in the back, and an overdress that laces up the front. The test bodice fit perfectly....
Picture
2 Comments
Rachael
1/29/2020 04:16:57 pm

If it makes you feel any better, it looks like the dress is going to be stunning!

Reply
Dorothy
1/29/2020 07:35:06 pm

I love the wall. I think it will be perfect when it is finished.

The dress is lovely. I am sorry you had to cut it and re-hem it.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Martha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes.
    Read More... 

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.