1954 Chiffon Dress

I first made this dress way back in 2006 and I always intended on making it again so I could have a copy of my own.

My first attempt.

(Picture By John Peacock)

The inspiration for this dress came from a John Peacock fashion history book.  I am still looking for an actual picture of this dress by Dior.

I was inspired by a Vogue hat pattern to jazz up the pill box hat.

Of course, I didn't practice the restraint I had promised myself after my last big sewing project and ended up making almost 30 dresses.  The good news is I used up 7 different pieces of fabric from my fabric hoard, so there's that.

Now before you think that I'm totally off my rocker, the dress was relatively easy to make.

It's the hat that is nuts.  It is very labor intensive to make.  Luckily, not every dress has a hat (thank goodness!). 

I think the hat really makes the outfit special though.

So here in no particular order is the evidence of my OCD.  Warning!  Lots of pictures!

I was able to make three different versions of the dress out of an orange border print.

 I'm keeping this one for myself.

The embroidery on this fabric doesn't show up well in the pictures, but it is beautiful.

To purchase the pattern, click here.

Merry Christmas!

I'm always running late when it comes to posting on my blog.  This dress has a little story behind it.  Last year one of my dolly Facebook friends posted this picture on her wall.

I got the biggest kick out of it, so I shared it on my wall.  Another dolly Facebook friend suggested I make the dress in Gene's size, so I did.

I originally wanted to make the dress in a satin or taffata, but I couldn't find the black and white dot in those fancy fabrics.  I ended up making it in cottons.

I turned this photo into our family's Christmas card this year.  I'm not sure what my non-dolly friends and family thought, but I was pleased with the outcome.

I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday season.

Lelong Chiffon Dresses

I have a hard time with moderation.  I made about 24 of these dresses.

This is another outfit that I originally made years ago that I decided to revisit.

I made this dress in 2009

Not my photo

This dress was inspired by a 1945 Lucien Lelong fashion from the Theatre de la Mode collection.

Not my photo

Not my photo

I love this dress so much that I decided to see what it looked like with a pussy cat bow.

I loved the way they turned out.

I bought this cream floral chiffon at Mood Fabrics in NYC.  It ended up being a perfect match for this hat and purse set.

I ended up using up six different pieces of fabric.

To purchase this pattern, click here.

2017 Spring/Summer Display

It's been a long, dreary, wet, soggy, dank, moist, dark, winter here in Vancouver, Washington.  I loved dressing my Gene collection in their beautiful Spring/Summer outfits.

 

 

I want you all to know that I made a big change to my doll display. 

 

 

In the Fall, I stuffed almost my entire Gene and friends collection into my new Ikea BESTA cabinet.  I was feeling like I had too many dolls and needed to down-size my doll collection.

 

 

 

Evening gowns

 

 

As you can see, there are less dolls now in each box.

 

Cocktail dresses

 

 

I like this look a lot better.

 

 More evening dresses

 

 

 

Daywear

My bridal wear collection

 

More daywear

 

 

I even have room to create some little scenes.

 

 

 I know you're thinking, "Wow! Diane, you really did downsize your doll collection!"

  "I'm so proud of you for letting go of a lot of dolls, that must have been so hard!"

 

"Less is more, right?" 

 

 

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

WRONG!  I tricked you all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

WAIT

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOR

 

 

 

 

 

IT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't get rid of any dolls!  I made an even bigger doll cabinet on the other side of my sewing room.  I might have covered up one of my 5 windows with this massive baby.   Who needs 5 windows in a sewing room when you need another huge doll cabinet?

 The Belle of New Orleans gown is so massive it needs its own zip code.

 The rest of my "Belle of New Orleans" collection waiting to be photographed.  I made 3 of the cubes bigger by leaving out the middle board.

My red, white, and blue collection

 

 

Garden party outfits

 

 

So I went from thinking about selling some of my dolls to now needing more dolls!

 

I'm a genius!

 

Or crazy?

 

 

 

The bottom of this cabinet will display the rest of my non Gene dolls, if I can find the energy to dress them.  I have an American Girl doll, Robert Tonner Magic Attic dolls, very vintage Madame Alexander dolls, and others. 

 

2016-2017 Winter Doll Display

 

I dressed my dolls in their Holiday outfits and displayed them for the most part by color.

 

 

Black and White

 

Blues

 

More black and white

 

Greens

 

Christmas

 

Reds

 

Pinks and burgundys

 



My hostess collection

 

Misc. casual outfits

 

Dressing my dolls each season is fun, but very time consuming.  This display ended up becoming my Valentine and St. Patrick's displays too.