My first French fashion lady!

Well, I now have my first completed reproduction French fashion doll!

She was an adventure, from start to finish. Particularly obnoxious was setting in the gussets. Especially the knees, as they were so small! I am convinced there has to be a better way to do it, and I am on a mission to try things until I figure it out. I am also on a mission to create a fabulous doll body pattern, because I was unhappy with a bunch of things about this one. (The gussets, for example, are way too large for the openings!)

Stuffing was also an adventure, because first of all, it's not a matter of just dumping in the stuffing and saying "voila!" It's a lot more time-consuming, because you need to work with small amounts of stuffing so you can really pack it in as you go, so you don't have bulges and/or pockets of air. So I spent quite a bit of time, and when I had stuffed all the way to the waist, I decided to start over because the ankles weren't quite firm enough. All in all I think I spent 2+ hours on this step of the project!

At first I thought she was going to be quite flexible. . .



Okay, I knew she wasn't going to be as flexible as that, but this was during the first stuffing and I was in a good mood and being silly. ;)

I did, however, think she was going to be able to really bend at the joints where there are gussets. Turns out she can bend a bit in the knee, but the gussets at the back end are barely functional. Again, I need to do some trial and error and figure out how to fix the pattern!

I found it kind of strange how the doll will not lay flat. This is her "natural" position. She is rigor mortis doll!



Also, she really can't sit up. I have the same problem with Charlotte, coincidentally, where she wants to lay backwards. I have lazy dolls, who just want to lounge about instead of sitting pretty with nice posture!

This doll, I can force into a sitting position, but as you can see, it puts stress on the body. And, I think if I tried to shove her into a chair like this, she would just pop out. Clearly, this doll will need to be stored on a stand, and so I have ordered one.



Another figure "flaw" is that she has absolutely no bust. I know these dolls weren't busty, but one generally sees a wee bit of a roundness. This total flatness is going to make it challenging to make pretty lady costumes for her. I think I may have to give her a little padding to stuff in her corset before I get into making dresses! (Also note the pose in this picture. Again, rigor mortis dolly! Not only can she not sit down properly, but she can't stand up straight either!)



Also. . . There is a reason I could not stop humming Sir Mix-A-Lot while I stuffed a certain aspect of her body! ;)



The finished body!



Only not really, because I realized her arms were too long. The overall length was okay, but look back at that picture, and notice her elbow location. . . Yup, too long! I think actually the real problem is that the bisque part of her arms are too short for her, but of course I can't really adjust them, so I went with shortening the upper arms to try to move the elbows somewhat higher up. And after that, plus a day of Glenn driving me to the auto supply store and then the hardware store, he helped me attach the head to the shoulder plate, and voila!



Overall, I am happy with her, as far as the results I obtained with what I had to work with. I still do have issues with the body pattern, as mentioned, and her arms are too short, as also mentioned. I think I want a different wig because this one isn't quite what I had in mind. . . But then again, I can't find a wig that matches what's in my mind! And the biggest issue of all is that she is much smaller than I wanted. I wanted a doll that was about 20" tall, maybe 18" at the shortest, and she is only 15". But since I simply can not find a doll, or doll head/shoulders, that will yield a doll any taller than this, I am making the best of what I have. On the plus side, while she can not share any of the furniture/accessories I have for my other dolls, she can make use of a few accessories I purchased that ended up being too small for Charlotte, so that is pretty cool. . .

I have found a mould that will create a 20" doll in the end - and she would be beautiful - my dream doll! But that's a story for another day. . . A day in which I find a kiln and learn to make things of porcelain! ;) In the meantime, I am just going to have to adjust myself to working on an even smaller scale than I have been used to!

New Doll!

So the big doll-related news around here is that: I'm in the process of aquiring a new one! I say "in the process of" because, like was the case with Charlotte, this new lady is in pieces. And lady, she is! She's a reproduction French Fashion Doll. If you're not sure what a French Fashion Doll is, check out some of the lovely ladies over at the Carmel Doll Shop. When I see those dolls, something inside me just explodes. WANT!!!!! However, my budget does not allow, LOL! So, I started hunting for reproductions. I found them to be terribly expensive as well, so I started hunting for just a head, figuring I could always make the body myself.

At long last, I found one!



She came with other parts, and I think I'll use all but the legs.



According to her markings, she is a repro of a Gaultier "4" head. (Still not sure if the number refers to a style, size, or what!) I figured out that she is a Byron mold, (available here), which was really helpful because I was having a hard time making solid decisions about what size things should be for her. For example, I spent forever deciding the body size, but once I found this, I knew she was meant to be 15" tall, and so was able to choose the correct body size accordingly. I was so excited that within 10 minutes of opening the box containing her head, I was already starting a mock-up of the body!



I have some mysteries I have to figure out about this sort of doll. For instance, how do I join the head to the socket so that it is securely connected, but can still swivel? And how will I secure the cork pate that I am about to go order? And once I figure all this out, I think I'd like to make a nice, concise, "pull together your own French Fashion Doll" guide for new folks like me, because there are SO many web sites out there, and it can really just be SO hard to find answers to your questions! And I'd like to think that I've helped others fall as far down the rabbit hole into doll madness as I have. ;)

The Doll Family

So the real reason for the new blog is that I'm starting to get into a whole new sort of dolls, and I'm finding new blogs here on blogspot that I'm following, but yet I also have doll friends on LJ, so. . . Now I'll crosspost to the two. Feel free to visit my LJ doll blog to see past entries. But, the basic overview is. . .

I've loved dolls, sewing, and fashion history pretty much all my life, and I like to combine all these interests in having my little doll family that all wear historic clothing.

First, there's the AG crew:



From left to right, and top row to bottom, Ruthie, Mia, Emma, Elizabeth, Felicity, Samantha, Kirsten, Coconut, and Licorice. Of these, the only one that you may go "who?" about is Emma, and she is actually one of the "just like you" dolls (or whatver the heck they're calling them now). Emma fills my need for a Regency era doll. I think of her as c. 1814. All my American Girl dolls dress only in the era they represent, because I'm a little OCD like that. ;)

Next up is my BJD, Charlotte:



She is a Volks F08 (old F05) head on a B&G type 1 body. I am alarmed to find that I don't have a recent "portrait" of her, but rather, just pictures of sewing projects. The horror! I guess I need to have a little photo session with her soon! Anyway. She dresses mostly in 18th century and Regency, but has also been known to do a little 1860s-70s, and even has a 1950s dress (thanks to my fling with taking swing dancing lessons).

There are other dolls lurking in my house that I don't sew for (yet) so I'll just leave the list at this and at to it as I see fit. ;)

I do what the dolls tell me. . .

And they tell me they want a new blog. And so that's just what they get!