My precious! Hand painted Helen Kish Doll. And it's all mine!

The day when she arrived was a beautiful (...and cold) winter day, so my walk to a post office and back was like a part of celebrating the happy family event.

Back home I was really really excited about this view. I don't often receive packages from overseas. Actually I could say that I never receive packages from overseas.

At this point I was super excited.

At this point I was like multiple-super-extra-double excited.

At this point I was more than overjoyed.

At this point I was in love.

We all were very tired after all those emotions, so we took a nap together.

After a proper rest it was time to intorduce her to the girls. I was really proud of them all. The girls gave her a warm welcome, and the newcomer was outgoing and cheery despite her long travel!

Doll's snowy spring walk

Somehow she seems to be ok with snow.

A lovely hat and a beautiful scarf are crocheted by my sister.

It looks and feels like spring! (She shares my opinion.)

Watch out there! You are not Heidi! (And these are not the Alps, answers she. What a cheeky girl.)

18th century short jacket (pierrot) for a doll

This is one of my favourite outfits. Maybe it is because of jacket's lovely silk ribbons (this was first time for me to use silk ribbon in my sewing) or maybe it is because of that jacket's white and fresh lining. Or maybe it is just because the jacket is cute. But. Anyway. Here is many pictures of the outfit.

I don't know the English name of that instrument, but it's a lovely tool.

I have sewed a lining to all period costume bodice parts, but in this jacket the lining is.. I don't know. It is just sweet.

I remember that I got a feeling that I need more sharp pins. I don't understand how pins always become unsharp. (Those pins in the picture are sharp ones, but the rest 200 are not. I made a sorting.)

It's quite nice. But I don't like those wrinkles near armpits. Partly the probem is with too light fabrics, and partly with stays: I have an other pair of stays, and the jacket fits better with them. And I made a dress with same bodice pattern, and there is not as visible wrinkles in that dress as there is in this jacket. But the dress is made of linen, and it's lining is heavy cotton.

I think the profile of this outfit is... perky?

She looks like she has a happy happy tail.

I have sewn doll clothes not so many years. Ok, I did try it as a kid, but I and sewing machine didn't get along. Somehow it flattened my spirit and for many years I thought that I'm rubbish with sewing and stuff like that (so I let my elder sister to do all sewing). But about... oh! already! seven! years ago I gave an other chance for sewing. I borrowed my granny's sewing machine, and it worked like a dream and I begin to feel like a champion, and here we are. I'm not a brilliant seamstress (and I can't sew anything for humans), but I may say I have learned a lot. (These days I mostly stitch by hand. It wasn't possible past days because my hands ((joints)) were almost always inflamed, but luckily I got help for them, because nowadays my brains doesn't like the noice and resonance of a sewing machine, and a sewing machine has too many moving parts, so it's a quite wearing machine. Hand stitching is so wonderfully calming and silent and slow!)

Sorry, I get lost. I meant to tell, that I have sewn doll clothes now about seven years, and after about two years I got enlightened and I understood the Importance of the Undergarments. That's why some of my doll outfits take a pit of time to put on. Here is an example:

Chemise.

Stays.

Bum roll.

Petticoat and pocket.

This time I forget an other petticoat, but here is an older picture where you can see it. At least a quarter inch of it.

Skirt, jacket, apron and fichu (I forgot her false sleeves), and job is done. It takes easily 20 - 30 minutes to put that all on. But I admit, I'm quite pedantic.

Here you can see her false sleeves.

And then just some more photos.

These last four pictures are taken with my sister's camera. Oh, I miss it so much! (I miss my sister also!)

Silk ribbons!!!

Roísin (and her new regency outfit!) visiting manor houses

Doesn´t she look like she belongs there?

This (above) is Russborough House in Ireland at autumn 2017. I took photos at this same spot at autumn 2016 also. The Roísin was wearing her pet-en-l'air. And it was windy then. Like, really windy. Roísin could stand on her feets less than 0,7 seconds at a time, so it was a really tricky photoshooting session. (In the mountains it were of course even more windy. And we heard afterwars that actually there had been a warning of a dangerous wind on that day. So, it really was a windy day, I didn´t just imagine it.) Anyway. At autumn 2016 I had a real camera with me, but it was quite impossible to take photos. At autumn 2017 I hadn´t a real camera, but the day was perfectly not-windy. But it was raining...

Luckily there were shelters from the rain. (Russborough House is very beautiful in the inside, too!)

These (under) photos are taken in Castletown House. There weren´t windy at all (but there must be very drafty at winter time), but most of my pictures were bad because there weren´t enough light for my mobile phone's camera... Fortunately some of the pictures were nice:

She looks like she is a bit lost. But I can tell you. She is not. Her character doesn't allow a concept of being lost.

The staircase and the whole entrance area in Castletown is gorgeous.

This is the Long Gallery.

The chandelier - it´s one of three in Long Gallery - is from Venice. The chandeliers are Murano glass and they are a really unique thing. They look so candy-lace-creamcake-like, that you must either admire them or hate them! I love them.

P. S. Here you can find pictures of making this outfit and Roísins undergarments.

Regency outfit for promenading in style

I visited (again) in Ireland at autumn (again). I wanted to take a new doll outfit with me so that I can take photos (again). Because Roísin had already a white regency, I thought that easiest solution would be sew just a spencer. A doll in white dress and a spencer jacket would look very classic, and it would suit well with a georgian manor house.

So, I sewed a jacket. It was very satisfying job. I love silk (who wouldn´t?) and that feeling and sound when my needle and yarn goes through it. And the colour of the silk was so yellow that it felt a bit like a sunshine in my brains.

I took the idea for this from Nancy Bradfield´s book Costume in Detail. For the construction I used ideas from Janet Arnold´s Patterns in Fashion and also Nancy Bradfield´s book.

I finished the spencer in some days. But when it was finished, it was certain that I couldn´t use Roísin´s old white gown: the neckline of the dress was wrong. And her underwear were all wrong, too. Her petticoat had a too long hem and too small neckline. And I wanted sew her a shift. So:

It´s a cotton dress. An idea for it is from Nancy Bradfield´s book.

Of course I had to sew a reticule also! Unluckily I didn´t have time to sew a hat. Of course there has been time after visiting in Ireland. But you know, because there is not a schedule anymore... Anyway, here is the reticule. Isn´t it cute!





(Pictures of this outfit visiting Ireland you´ll find here.)

Dolls can enjoy the snow, too

At least if they are dressed well!

But she actually isn´t... (Ester has such a hurry to run outside that I couldn´t stop her and ask her to wear a jumper and proper pants.)

Roísin had a bit more aristocratic approach to her winter walk.