Coppermouse Dolls's Page

Around Friday, I finished attaching the collar by hand. There's still a long way to go. Lots of little finishing touches and so forth. Sorry for the crummy presentation. When I dress a doll, I use my large doll stand. So the wrong doll stand is in this picture and her clothes are all crooked. That's because nothing is permanently attached yet. I'll post more pictures as I progress. Thanks for stopping by.

Above is the picture I am using as inspiration for my doll's costume for the Hoffman Fabric challenge. My attempt at this dress has created opportunities for new styles of sewing which I have never attempted before in the past. Mainly, the pleated skirt is a brand new experience. Thankfully some clever person invented a pleating board and therefore makes it a lot easier to created tiny doll-sized pleated skirts. I purchased my pleater from Adele Sciortino's site at http://www.costumesandtrim.com/supplies/misc.html. Pleating boards come in handy when making tiny French costumes. Okay, enough about pleating boards.

The rest of the costume is falling into place. I've finished her bloomers, petticoat and skirt. Now, I need to work on her jacket, cuffs and collar. I don't know about you, but I detest collars. My tiny brain cannot wrap itself around the concept of attaching it to the bodice. Heck, I even watched videos with dressmakers attaching collars and I still don't get it. I suppose that is where just biting the bullet and just doing it comes into play. In the past, I have made a couple of shawl collars, but for some reason my brain just blocks out the experience as if I were traumatized. I suppose it's repressed collar syndrome or something. It seems there is always some stumbling block with which every artist goes through. Collars just happen to be mine.

The next big challenge for me is how in the heck am I going to display this doll. One of the rules of the Hoffman challenge is the use of purchased doll stands are prohibited unless they are integrated with the doll. Every single doll I've made in the past, with the exception of my Queen Anne doll, requires the use of a doll stand. The costume on my doll looks better when she is standing. I thought perhaps I could just have her sit on a block, but I don't like the way the skirt flares out. And to be honest, it wasn't until the 20th century that fashion actually was made to be comfortable. So when I look at a child in a picture wearing a French dress from the 19th century, I can only imagine how happy they were to take it off and put on comfy clothes and just be a kid.



What I mean to say is my doll looks better standing. So I've got to think outside the box and figure out a way to display her standing up. But in the meantime, I'll finish her jacket and go from there. I'll keep you updated.

On a side note, I am officially 18 weeks pregnant today. Getting close to being halfway there. Two days ago, I felt my little girl kick for the first time. It was such a pleasant surprise too. We are very excited to be parents. :)

Dear hubby is away this week. I've been working on cleaning up the house for our new baby due in November, but now it's time to work on some dolls. As I mentioned DH is away and he took the camera with him too. Man, I am going through serious digital camera withdrawals right now. I gots to have my camera! So just imagine my doll with a muslin 1890's style dress. C'mon now you can do it!

At any rate, I've made a muslin prototype of the dress for my Hoffman fabric challenge doll. Tonight, I am ready to cut into the actual fabric itself and start costuming my doll. She still needs a name. The thought of enjoying myself on this project is something I'm really looking forward to.

Lastly, I've got a hankering to make a couple of historically inspired dollys to sell in a few weeks. I just may get those started tonight too. We'll see.

My doll is now painted with acrylics.



Here is a view from behind.



Here she is from head to toe.

This is a comparison in size. I enlarged my pattern by 25%. Dreadful Pauline, wearing the green dress, stands roughly ten inches tall while my Hoffman doll is approximately thirteen inches tall. It was an enjoyable experience experimenting with scale. Also my Hoffman doll is weighted with BB pellets, another first for me, so she'll sit nicely. The next step is to make a prototype costume out of muslin. I've already chosen a picture from 1879 as inspiration for her dress. The final step is to make a base for her to sit on. Still undecided on that one.

Andreas Voit's wax model is a source of inspiration for this doll. The hair, in particular, is my favorite part of Voit's model. This model is from the early 19th century. I want my little doll to have a smiling face with wild short curly hair. More pictures are to come.