birdlapine

[birdlapine]

Kirsten didn’t feel up to doing more schoolwork after reciting her poem, so she volunteered to fetch water. Outside, she heard a familiar whistle. It had been a while since she had met with Singing Bird, but here was her friend, looking and sounding urgent.

Singing Bird kept asking Kirsten to come with her, but Kirsten tried to say that she would find a way to come later. Later wouldn't work for Singing Bird. Her tribe was leaving because they no longer had enough food. Kirsten remembered when her family didn't have enough to eat in Sweden, which was why they answered Uncle Olav’s request to join him in Minnesota. She understood the situation Singing Bird was in and was tempted to leave with her, but thought of her family. Though she still struggled to fit in, Kirsten decided that she was where she needed to be.

Kirsten came back to the schoolhouse with a full pail of water, but couldn’t smile when Miss Winston tried to make a joke. As she sat down next to Anna and opened her reader, she saw a Reward of Merit between the pages.

[birdlapine]

Josefina 🌞

I am in LOVE with this outfit. It might be my favorite in all of Josefina’s collection. The ruffles, the vest, those boots!! The vest keeps curling up around the edges, though. I’ve stuck it underneath some heavy books, so hopefully that helps to flatten it 🤞🤞

[birdlapine]

Concept art for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

[birdlapine]

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

[birdlapine]

I took some pictures of Sam on a fallen tree branch, and this was my favorite.

[birdlapine]

a new dolly arrived yesterday! she’s a truly me but i can’t identify which at the moment (i’m planning on asking a coworker today). she came wearing an adorable our generation outfit. her hair initially looked in pretty good condition, but upon brushing it i found that the child she previously lived with had put paste in her hair (which probably explains why i got her for so cheap). so that took a little detangling, but i managed to get most of it out. i plan on transforming her into a historical oc, but as i have no period-accurate dresses for her intended time period, i’m putting her in samantha’s meet dress and rebecca’s shoes for now. her name is annie mcneil, and i plan to most more about her transformation!

[birdlapine]

Robe à l’Anglaise

1740-1760

British

The MET (Accession Number: 2009.300.926)

[birdlapine]

Oh decadence, oh ennui, oh beautiful nothingness! Which Fin de siècle heroine are you? 

The 1880s (big butts) and 1890s (big sleeves) in the Tag Yourself Timeline

[birdlapine]

The Historic Mini-Gown Extravaganza! Matilda,1830s Mode

Hello again folks! Building on my ‘A Girl for All Time’ fanpost from last time, just thought I’d share a few pictures of some of the little dresses and accessories I’ve made over the years!

First off, my very first A Girl for All Time Doll purchase: Matilda.

Matilda was the first doll in the range - and for a long time she was the only one you could get your hands on, as the the later version sold out so fast! These days it tends to be the other way around, and she’s only available through scouring the second-hand dolls on Ebay.

Now, I love Matilda, because she has this lovely, still little “listening” expression on her face!  She’s not vacuous-looking or conventionally gorgeous - she’s got a quiet dignity about her that I just adore. Thought I’ve never really thought of her as being Tudor, even though that’s the way she’s marketed. She reminds me of a young Queen Victoria more: or maybe Jane Eyre or Beth from Little Women…

And as there were some lovely 1830s patterns released from PemberleyThreads… well… this happened:

She just looked so 1830s it was almost unreal! So, in a twinkling, Matilda the young Tudor lady-in-waiting time-travelled forward a couple of hundred years to become Miss Matilda, an elegant young lady from the Romantic era…

This was the very first gown I made her, out of some IKEA cotton voile curtain scraps! I wanted to recreate the airy, diaphanous look of the muslin gowns of the period. I accentuated it with some delicate crochet lace at the hem and neckline, and lightly tacked on some little blue paper flowers at the bodice for decoration.  I used the PemberleyThreads ‘Victoria’ Pattern’ which was a dream to sew up.

After that, I created a little grey plaid cotton long-sleeved dress for daywear. Here Matilda is definitely channelling the delicate Beth ‘I must keep to the house until spring comes, due to my delicate health!’ look. I added bias binding ‘ribbons’ to her shoulders in the same colour as her sash to make the gown just a little less plain.

Here she’s showing off her Shakespeare collection, which was a great find on EBay , as they were perfectly sized for her! These are just cheap miniature novelty gift-shop items from Stratford-Upon-Avon, but they look great as books for dolls - or even just as props in a scene or background photo.

(The keen-eyed American Girl fan will recognise Rebecca’s shawl and Felicity’s backdrop in the picture here My mother was an avid AG collector for a while and I freely piggybacked her collection for the benefit of my 16 inch dolls, as they fit into it just as well…)

And here we have a little historical dressing gown I made for Matilda out of blue-plaid cotton - scraps left over from an old re-enactment apron. This is actually the Pemberly Threads Clara Nightgown pattern - just worn back-to-front without the back sewn up to form a loose dressing robe - a quick sewing hack, but it turned out well and made a mighty fine dressing gown for Matilda to wear over her nightgown (her own, as well as the little nightcap)

Well, that’s all the pictures Tumblr will let me post this time round! Stay tuned for 1830s mode part 2…

[birdlapine]

Matilda, 1830s Mode: Mini-Gown Extravaganza Part 2

Hello again, folks! More Romantic era doll costumes here as promised! There weren’t quite as many as I remembered - I began to branch out into other time periods around this time as I found more patterns, but I got a lot of use out of the Pemberley Threads patterns. 

Let’s kick things off with an autumnal scene! (my taking SHAMELESS advantage of the American Girl Samantha Gazebo before my mother sold it on, basically) and strewing plastic pumpkins and fake autumn leaves everywhere. Also present, Felicity’s nightcap masquerading as an 1830s day bonnet. 

The brown cotton day dress was my first attempt at the ‘Molly’ pattern, and I made the sleeves a little too tight; it was a strain to get them over the wrists! Plus, the neckline was a little gappy from what I remember. I took a pattern from American Girl Addy’s knitted heartwarmer to make a little tie-around muslin fichu for Matilda to disguise my bad sewing (accessories, folks - don’t underestimjate their power!) and with the scraps left over from her blue nightgown managed to eke out a teeny little doll apron. Matilda looks ready to help with the harvest festival - and I was pretty relieved some of my early mistakes didn’t show…

The little collar here was actual experimentation, as opposed to ‘argh, I made mistakes! HIDE THE EVIDENCE!’

I’ve long really loved the look of the mini capes and pelerines the 1830s are famed for,  so I took inspiration from fashion plates like the one below and made a little matching cape in the same dress fabric to set it off. The fancy buckle is a cheap plastic ‘bridal’ buckle you can buy at any craft shop for floral arrangements/wedding decoration. They’re just the right size for a doll sash./// 

This final 1830s dress is the simplest - but it’s also the one I’m most proud of, because I’d practiced enough with the pattern so I could put it together really well. And I was incredibly lucky with the fabric - it was a fine shot blue/pink cotton by a patchwork/quilting designer called Kaffe Fassett, and it looks beautiful under light - it has this iridescent sheen that just makes it wonderful.

I didn’t bother with trims or lace for this one - I let the fabric speak for itself in its simplicity, and just added a violet sash to pick out the soft pink lurking in the weave. And Matilda photographed so well in it!

Even in a more subdued light, it’s still a wonderful bluebell colour with a hint of violet/purple in the depths….

[birdlapine]

Kendall’s Greenhouse

Kendall is spending this lovely spring weekend in her little greenhouse! This was built especially for her, since she’s crafty and likes to have projects to work on.

This is a quiet, pleasant space for Kendall to come spend time with her seedlings, and help prepare them to be planted in the ground. She has been so diligent and nurturing to her plants, always making sure that they’re watered and nourished.  

I built this greenhouse using an old, broken set of blinds that I took down from my kitchen window when they started to fall apart. I cut the strips of plastic in half to make the framework for my greenhouse. For the “glass” I used packaging plastic stapled onto the blinds. 

I based the design on the greenhouse sold by American Girl.

Mine is a little bigger. I also decided not to paint the frame green, since the white looks to me more like a real greenhouse. I painted the foam board base green instead. 

Kendall will be growing flowers and vegetables this year. 

She’s most excited about the giant pumpkins! 

Two of her seed packets (plus the watering can and notebook) are American Girl brand from the Gardening Tote and Tools set. Two of them are Our Generation brand. And the other four are printables from the Little Gardener pattern by Forever 18 Inches, which was a recent free pattern from Pixie Faire. 

 Kendall has five seedlings growing here now! Their little pots are made from one-ounce sample cups that I painted and varnished. The potting soil is hardened clay made from applesauce and cinnamon. I cut leaves from various faux plants to make the seedlings, and stuck them into the clay while it was wet. 

The shelf they’re on is made from a piece of foam board covered in a printed picture of pink marble countertops.

I also made Kendall’s outfit, based on the Cute as a Bug Gardening Outfit sold by American Girl, and pictured above. I had only a few scraps left of this green gingham, and so it’s got a few differences from the original. I hand-embroidered the pink trim on the petal-shaped collar. 

Her blue gingham apron has roomy pockets to hold her shears and spade. I embroidered the pockets as well, using the chicken scratch technique to make a flower pattern.

Kendall and her new friend Lacy are swapping flowers that they’ve been growing! Lacy brought some tulips and Kendall is giving her some gerbera daisies. I made Lacy’s outfit too; Glitter Girls and Wellie Wishers have similar body proportions and so can wear each others’ clothes! 

[birdlapine]

And here we are; my first ooak rainbow high doll. I really enjoyed blushing this face sculpt, it’s like a larger EAH face.

As I mentioned before, getting the eyes back in straight was extremely challenging and I dont know that I would remove them again unless I was giving the doll custom eyes. The main reason I took them out was the lashes obstructing the face, so... yeah, it’s kind of a lose/lose scenario. In the end she’s a little wonk-eyed and I cant do much without further damaging the faceup.

[birdlapine]

More Rainbow High doll doodles! (this time it is Sunny Madison)

[birdlapine]

Kirsten and Marta

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/420312577726336312/

[birdlapine]

“I felt that it was my job to reassure my reader that difficult things will happen to them, much like they happened to Molly. You’re going to experience big changes in your lifetime and you’re not going to end up where you began. But here’s the thing: You will be all right.”

— Valerie Tripp, quoted in American Girl Sales Are Plummeting. Can the Iconic 90s Brand Be Saved?

[birdlapine]

Felicity peering out the window in her Williamsburg sitting room

https://www.pinterest.com/willowsilverb/1770-80s-georgian-felicity-%2B-elizabeth/

[birdlapine]

Marie-Grace enjoying a book in bed, surrounded by pink brocade wallpaper

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/308004062005644436/