Barbietown holiday decorating...

I have been quite busy this past week, not only with work & the business, packing orders from our SALE in our Ebay store, but also getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Usually I like to have all of our decorations up and the house clean and ready for entertaining, as I have so little time once Thanksgiving kicks in, with traveling, meetings, and of course- the parties! lol...Yesterday I traveled to Williamsburg which is only about 35 minutes away from my home- and Williamsburg is famous for its brand name outlets, as well as these wonderful stores called The Christmas Mouse which sells all kinds of simply wonderful Christmas trees, ornaments, creches, nativitys, dolls, accessories, lights- anything for Christmas! This is where I purchased these wonderful 2 ft, 12 inch, and 6 inch tabletop TREES with little cedar bases, for Barbietown. The lights on the trees are 20 LED battery powered light strings from the Christmas section of Walmart, that run on 3 double AA batteries each, and run about $4.99 each. I still need to get one or two more strings, I purchased three today and two the other day before that.
I also found miniature resin dogs that are perfect for our dolls, as well as a deer head trophy for the wall in the dining room. I haven't had a chance to put it up yet.
I took these pictures with the room dark and nothing but the trees and the stage at the Abbey lit up for the dolls re-enacting the Nativity for the Pageant. As you can see, they are having a dress reheasal. Some of the dolls- 2 kings and a shepherd, could not make it. Mrs. Greene was not happy about that, since she is in charge of the Christmas program for the church. I will have more pictures on that later, but for now, enjoy the progress so far.....Barbietown is still under decorating construction! The cross on the front of the Abbey's stage is a Christmas ornament from the Christmas mouse store. The trees were also from my trip there as well.

I have neglected working on the Nativity's characters- but here is a recap. Fashionista Ryan or Bryan is a shepherd, Angel Barbie purchased on Ebay at a great price; Vintage Breyer donkey purchased at a thrift store, Katniss Barbie is Mary, Sunshine family baby Steven is Baby Jesus, Basics Ken is Joseph aka Robert Green in Barbietown- (his wife Becky is an assistant to the Baroness' secretary at the Mansion, and their infant son is playing the starring role in the pageant. Becky often attends the pageant rehearsals to watch) Shepherd boy is also their other son Todd, and one of the kings in the front is a character who has just arrived in Barbietown.
The trees all around the Nativity stage are lit, as are two of the Christmas trees in the dollhouse.

As you can see, parking is beginning to get scarce in Barbietown and Black Friday isn't even here! They are still decorating the Boutique...today the workmen placed the reindeer up on the roof...

Did you notice how the dining room is coming along? Agnes, our impeccable party giver, is insistent this year that the mansion be decorated fully before Thanksgiving for Christmas...she has quite a few 'fetes' to throw, as she snobbishly put it. Agnes loves Christmas because she has a passion for 'getting' gifts, as well as giving them....and she is torn between that antique dollhouse she wants or that choice set of jewelry she saw....lol....

The dining room has really come along. Since this room is on the bottom floor, it takes all I have to decorate and stage the dolls...I am going to try and get a Thanksgiving meal together, but am trying to decide on which dolls should be having the family meal...Definitely Agnes and her Cousin, Lady Agatha of course! Hopefully more pictures tomorrow! And have a Happy Thanksgiving!
~Lisa
 

Holiday preparations in the dollhouse...

There are alot of preparations going on in the One Sixth Scale dollhouse. ...The Baroness is out shopping for her family & the household, and some of the occupants of the dollhouse are putting the lights on the Christmas tree, while the dining room has been revamped downstairs. The workers are gone after laying the marble floors, and the furniture has been arranged. Lucia the maid is now busy polishing the silver and getting things ready for the big Thanksgiving meal. The parlor is still having furniture moved about to accomadate all of the guests. Here are some of the photos of Vanessa & Robert putting the lights on the tree....

As  you can see, the plastic storage bins have been brought down from the attic and the lights and the wooden Christmas garland have been strung....now where is that tree skirt??

Vanessa carefully arranged teh wooden garland, before deciding on what ornaments to hang. Robert, of course, loved helping Vanessa with the lights...
The dining room preparations for Thanksgiving are coming along. Barbietown is busy with all of its holiday decorating...no pictures of Barbietown yet, as the workmen have not finished hanging garland, applying lights and hanging wreaths...

 

The room still lacks pictures, and of course, a Christmas tree in the corner, and tons of food. (Lucia and the butler & cook are preparing the food and all of those mundane holiday meal preparations, for the guests to celebrate on Thanksgiving. The Baroness & her cousin Lady Agatha have quite a guest list prepared!

Enjoy the pics!

 

Victorian Paletot cape & hat finished...

I finished the cape and hat last night, with some alterations to the pattern. I am not completely satisfied with this cape, one- I believe I sized the pattern too 'fitted' to Anja's body, even allowing for the dress bulk underneath. I made the hat into something of a pillbox with a straw hat form from Hobby Lobby as I thought this looked better than the hat pattern shown with a brim. One problem when sewing for a slimmer bodied doll than the regular French Fashion dolls is how bulky the material will be on them. Though I used a striking striped sage green fabric and matching satin lining, the cape came out a little stiff and bulky. On the coat part I should have lengthened the pattern more, instead of sizing it down like I did. But it did come out nice for a first try, I thought.

I have Anja here next to Mrs. Albee 'Avon' representative Barbie- she just arrived off Ebay yesterday, got her at an incredible deal! Needless to say she immediately came out of that box to model that lovely dress.  Ever lament about the dolls that 'got away'?? Well, when I began collecting, I had missed out on some really lovely dolls from previous years, and so now I scour Ebay looking for them and their marvelous outfits. Many times it is because I want the outfit itself vs. the doll because my Fashion Royalty dolls love clothes!
One of the sentimental reasons is my mother used to be an Avon representative for years, growing up. I remember as a teenager my job was to go out on Saturday morning after the UPS guy had come and delivered the orders- which the boxes covered our whole front porch stoop sometimes! My mother sold alot each month which qualified her to be in the President's club, and she has a whole cabinet full of the china statues they gave as prizes each year for sales, all of Mrs. Albee, the very first AVON representative from the late 1800's. I am thinking of buying this doll again and giving it to her this Christmas. For now, I love the outfit.
So here are Anja and Mrs. Albee enjoying tea with the 1:6 scale Bespaq buffet sideboard, all decked out with tea items. Remember, I have two of these on Ebay Auction at reasonable starting bids.

As a child when I received my first dollhouse (it was in 1:12 scale) my favorite things to do were to make clothes for the dolls in Victorian style from pictures in books. Many times I would make new dresses for my most favorite dolls so they could have tea, or attend a dinner or a ball, - my dad built my dollhouse like a tall cabinet /castle , so I had loads of fun. One of the reasons I did not make that great of grades in middle school is because I would be concentrating on the decor of the dollhouse, or creating food, or sewing clothes, lol. I guess you could say I developed my 'eye' at a very early age. Working in 1:6 scale as an adult, I can create and do all those things I was frustrated with as a child because everything made for Barbie was that ghastly pink or neon green and purple...and that is what attracted me about 1:12 scale- it looked 'real' and felt 'real'. I am finding myself with that old anticipation of the dollhouse when sewing now as an adult, and it is making the sewing such a pleasure.
I currently have Victorian lady barbie arriving soon off of Ebay as well, and depending on her condition, I may leave her in her dress or put the dress on another of my dolls. I have not yet had time to see if the dresses on these dolls would fit the pivatol body, these Victorian Barbies look slightly short to me. I would love nothing better than to build a Victorian Barbie dollhouse, and have all of the dolls dressed in historical accurate fashions. Sadly, I would need much more room before I could begin to attempt that project. I have looked over some of the Kidcraft dollhouses and with a little alterations on wallpaper, embellishments, etc. I believe I could do a small Victorian dollhouse to get started. My fingers actually 'itch' to do this, as I do have some furnishings that could be converted into Victorian period. Oh it is so easy to get carried away with the dolls, their props, and most of all, their storylines!
I almost forgot! I have a wonderful link to share with you. On Facebook I belong to Saucy Suwi's group Fashion Doll Dioramas. (look for Saucy Suwi's blog on my 1:6 link list to the left!) and one of the members, has posted simply remarkable pictures of her dolls in Victorian dress and her Victorian dollhouse! It is based I think on the old soap opera from the 70's of Dark Shadows, which I loved and remembered as a kid! Click HERE to go to her remarkable photobucket albums!
As the holidays approach, I will be working more on decorating not only the dollhouses but Barbietown as well. I have more lights, decorations and all to acquire, which I am still doing as I attempt to finish decorating my own house! So stay tuned for more pictures and I might do a different twist on Thanksgiving this year, sort of a Victorian flair too.
Enjoy the photos!
~Lisa

Victorian dress from Gildebrief pattern project...

I haven't posted since my last quick pictures of a Halloween setup, and here we are into November. Needless to say, I have not been able to have that much doll time. I am still working on the Nativity scene, and have almost finished one of the Kings' costumes.
Recently I have become enthralled with Barbies and Fashion Royalty dolls dressed in Victorian dress. There are a few people out there who are dedicated to their 1:6 scale dollhouses, and what amazes me is their attention to detail.
My newest project I finished today and started yesterday was a dress for my Anja club doll. Her upswept chignon and coloring demanded a particular color of fabric that would compliment her. I have long wanted to dress some of my Fashion Royalty dolls in Victorian garb, and decided since I also collect reproduction French Fashion dolls, why not resize the Gildebrief patterns down tot heir size? Easy enough, right?
For now, I won't show you the beginnings of cutting down the patterns, but will show you the finished product, Anja in her new gown. I found this tan or beige cotton remnant of 3/8 of a yard at a local Walmart craft department for .86 cents, and figured I could use ribbons, embellishments and cording I already had in my stash.

I may add two more buttons on the right side of the ribbon lines on the front of her bodice. I feel like it should be a little more embellished, but the more I look at the pics the more the gown grows on me. The bodice was one of the hardest parts to configure, I had to tuck, trim, and cut to make it fit. I think I will take the bodice patterns and compare them to the body when I do another gown. It came out much better than I expected. Here Anja is having an afternoon cup of tea, the tea table is Bespaq.

The issue of Gildebrief Magazine was volume 26, winter 2009 and it had two patterns in it for a 12 inch french fashion poupee. The skirt worked perfectly with a couple of tucks, but the bodice is the main part that needs to be resized. I have a reproduction Francois Gaultier on a Seeley body that I sew for, (when I have time) and one of my to-dos I have wanted to complete for some time is resizing the Gildebrief patterns to the FR girls.

I hope to do another gown for my Royal Monaco Vanessa, her black hair is also upswept into a bun and she would look astounding in a Victorian gown. I was browsing Ebay and found two Victorian styled Barbies from 1996 so I am expecting them soon. As a child, I remember pouring over doll books from the library and trying to sew Victorian clothing for my dolls in my dollhouse, I would sit and sew for hours as a kid. Maybe it never goes away, and that was why I was able to finish the dress in a 1 and a half. The buttons were plastic ones but I painted them gold with rub n' buff.

Enjoy the photos, I hope to setup a tea scene when the other Victorian barbies arrive.
~Lisa
 

20% off Hurricane/Halloween sale in our Ebay store

Just a quick note for everyone out there we are having a 20% off SALE in honor of Halloween until November 1st in our Ebay store Pumpkin Hill Studios - some items even have FREE SHIPPING!

I also have 1:4 scale and 1:3 scale items on this sale, as well as miniature carpets like the one pictured above, with free shipping! So shop now as the Countdown to Christmas has begun!