Diane on Whidbey Island: Grace Kelly

Showing posts with label Grace Kelly. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Grace Kelly's Black Floral Dress Part II

I finally got around to making this dress again!

It was inspired by the dress that Grace Kelly wore in 1955 when she met her future husband Prince Rainier of Monaco.

Photo Edward Quinn, © edwardquinn.com

I originally made this design way back in 2011 as a commission.

For more photos and information about my first experience, click here.

Last year for Sandra Stillwell's convention in New York, I made four dresses to sell out of this fabric. They sold out fast, and I intended on going home and using up the rest of the fabric.

I found this fabric on the bargain table at a Hancock Fabrics in Lynnwood, Washington. It is "mystery" fabric. I am not sure what it is made out of, but the print was great. So I bought about 2 or 3 yards of it.

I love this fabric, it is like a cross between a cotton and a taffeta. It is not shiny, but it has a nice crispness to it and it pressed up beautifully. The flower print is a nice size for the dolls and I love the colors in the print.

My JAMIEshow "Le Jazz Hot" Oona looks lovely in this dress. Her Pink lips are perfect with this print.

I think it is a good match for the original dress.

I found this fabric in Kansas City in 2013. It is a very nice satin and has weight to it. I loved this print too, so I thought "What the heck........."

"......I will make massive quantities of dresses in both fabrics!"

My "Cool Breeze in Vegas" Oona was chosen to model this version. I love her red lips with the bolder print.

I keep going back and forth about which dress I love the most.

So I have decided to keep one of each. One to fit my Grace Kelly Franklin Mint doll and one to fit Gene.

The FM Grace Kelly sized dress also fits the Tonner/Tyler dolls great.

The flower hats are made out of twist ties, Grosgrain ribbon, flowers, leaves, beads, and ball tipped pins.

Here are some more great photos of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier that I found on the internet.

Photo Edward Quinn, © edwardquinn.com

I want to make the cream brocade engagement dress too.

Photo Edward Quinn, © edwardquinn.com

To purchase the pattern, click here.

To purchase the dress for Gene, click here.

To purchase the dress for the FM Grace Kelly or Tonner/Tyler dolls, click here.

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Dior Animal Print Wrap Dress

I love this outfit!

When I first started sewing for Gene in 2003, I looked everywhere for pictures of vintage fashions. I found this outfit in a library book. This outfit is from Christian Dior's 1952-1953 Profile Line. I knew I had to make it.

My attempt to recreate the original photo. If only I had a set of stairs for my dolls.

In 2005 I made this ensemble.

It turned out OK.

Years later, I came across this photo in a L' OFFICIEL magazine. I took a better look at the other photo of this outfit and noticed that the dress looked like a wrap dress.

In my version, the skirt edge has more of a diagonal to it than Dior's does. I straightened that line a little for the pattern.

I had enough of the original fabric to make a couple of dresses with my new pattern.

I succeeded in washing out Gene's face again.

I tried this dress on all my different 16" dolls.

The dress doesn't overlap as much in the front on Brenda Starr as it does for Gene, but it works. I have added alterations to the pattern so the dress will fit the Tonner/Tyler dolls better.

The alterations should also work for the Franklin Mint Grace Kelly dolls.

The 16" Fashion Teen Poppy Parker doll looks great in this outfit too.

Of course while I was finishing up the animal print dresses, I started wondering how this pattern would look in a cotton print. I added a different collar and omitted the sleeves. I reduced the diagonal line on the skirt for this version too.

It turned out great! I love showing how versatile my patterns can be.

Even though the dress looks awesome on all the other dolls, including Gene, Madra owns this look.

To purchase this pattern click here.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

I Feel Like a Proud Mama Part 2!

I have some more photos of my patterns made up by two of my awesome customers to share with you. I love seeing these!

First I have Style 115- Betty Draper's "Mad Men" red print dress. This dress was made by Linda Gallegos.

Photo by Linda Gallegos

I love her choice of fabric. I wish I could have found fabric like this when I was making this dress. Linda says it is a soft lawn print. I think it looks a lot like the fabric in my inspiration picture.

Photo by Linda Gallegos

Her model is Tonner's Tres Jolie Sydney. I love this doll and wish I had one. She is still a very popular Sydney, and is hard to find.

Photo by Linda Gallegos

Awesome job Linda!

Photo by Linda Gallegos

Next I would like to share Style 107 Grace Kelly's "Rear Window" green suit by Suzanne Hall.

Photo By Suzanne Hall

Yes my friends, that is a 12" Grace Kelly doll wearing a suit made from my pattern. I have not gotten around to making patterns for the 12" dolls yet, but Suzanne did. This is so cool!

Photo By Suzanne Hall

Suzanne emailed me how she did this.

Aug 8

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Hi Diane,

I have finally finished the Rear Window green suit and it came out really well. I have attached photos of my Grace Kelly Barbie wearing it.

I found that if I shrunk the pattern to 83% that roughly fits Barbie slightly on the big side which leaves room for adjustments. I had to do several adjustments as Barbie is longer in the torso, larger in the waist and flatter chested than your 16inch dolls. Being flatter chested worked well as the jacket sits really nicely. I couldn’t figure out the pattern for the hat at all, so I followed my nose on that one. But it all worked well.

Knowing what I know now, if I ever made another one I wouldn’t line the sleeves of the jacket as on the smaller doll it makes everything just too small to work with.

I have now started on the To Catch A Thief beach outfit. That is a pretty one so I am looking forward to finishing it.

Kind regards,

Suzanne

Photo By Suzanne Hall

I admire people who sew for the Barbie sized dolls. I don't like doing it. I do own all the Grace Kelly dolls that Mattel produced a few years ago, but I haven't sewn for them yet.