December | 2017 | Made of Rags

The Humble Little Doll Theater plays: Merry Christmas 2017!

This time, I wanted all my 21 girls to play. It took almost two days, to dress the dolls, build the set, shoot and prepare the pictures afterwards. And I had also some issues with the light and my old camera. But finally I made it and it was worth the hard work (and exhausting!) I don´t know, how I manged to sew all the evening gowns. For the wigs and shoes and other little items- thanks to Marcia- could be taken care long before the shooting.

Some of the Jazz Divas gowns are genuine late 1920s or early 30s fabric and items. I had to sew very careful and use only the simplest patterns to show up the beauty of the old tissue without damage or diversion.

My other girls wear OOAK gowns from vintage or recycled fabrics.

I made the Christmas trees from french beading. A technique, almost unknown here in Germany, but widespread in the USA.

And this is, how the little story goes:

The Tonner-Girls enjoy singing old carols in front of their traditional Christmas tree.

The Sybarites and Tulabelle refuse to sing. They have…different needs…And a different style of Christmas decoration.

The Jazz Age girls next door don´t care about carols. They want their Christmas to be “Jazzy”. And invited their friends Inque and Sabina to share the wild party.

Meanwhile, Elsa Lin and Law sit on the roof and enjoy the new books they got for Christmas.

The two Miss Ghastly were wailing, because they couldn´t get a dusty attic, but agreed to use a dark corner with gloomy decoration. And Redhead Evi promised, not to bully her sister Angeline today….But we shouldn´t trust her innocent eyes to much…

Not quite unexpected, in the middle of the party happened a moment of chaos, when the Jazz Divas took their gramophones and went over to stop the caroling by “Jazzing all up”! They disturbed not only the singers, but the Sybarites in their little world of consumption and the Ghastlys in their dark corner. Event he readers on the roof stopped for a moment and asked themselfes, what the riot means down there.

Evi uses the confusion to steal her sisters gift. But this time, Ravenhead Angeline fights back and Evi not only loose her prey, but ends on the edge of the seat in a huffy mood.

But soon, the chaos stopps and the party goes on. The singers form up again and everyone has to listen- Even the Sybarites and the Jazz Babes. To their own astonishment, the Jazz Ladys find out, that they like other kinds of music- Even if it´s no Jazz!

When the evening falls, it´s time for the Tonners to stop singing and relax. They meet with the other girls to chat and get their deserved gifts.

The Miss Ghastlys finally make peace and the readers come down from the roof to score the others.

The Sybarites show themselfes the luxurious shoes and jewelry they got and Midnight decides to start the new gift-list for next Christmas tomorrow…

Late at night, after most of the guests gone home, fife girls meet in the Jazz corner to chill out after the party and say good night and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Humble Little Doll Theater plays: Jane!

I confess, I´m a Janeite…And always will be!

So there is no wonder, why I tried to make a set with this subject…This time I was better prepared! I had some items in my collection, that suited the set fine. They´re all around 1880-1910, but who cares! They fit in, that´s all!

The shawl my “Jane” wears is made from modern silk and a rare (but rather mothy and fragile) hand embroidered piece of a shawl around 1850-90. It´s a still beautiful and unbelievable fine embroidered work of art and now it comes to live again!

All my world….In Private

Miss Jane alone

Respect my Privacy!

Time of Romance and War

The Humble Little Doll Theater plays: Jazz Age 1

I love the style of the 1920s!

And I was lucky enough, to get two versions of Tonners Devereaux Sisters, Louise and Renee´. Both dolls are very beautiful and I enjoy it very much, to sew cloth with genuine vintage fabrics from the late 20s or 30s for them.

Renee´s suit is made from a precious piece of egyptian revival fabric. I possess another one in a similar pattern. I think, it will make a second suit, this time for Louise….

My second set was a bit more appealing than the first, but I had still much more to learn (and still have!)

I had a few real Art Déco curtain pieces and some doilys and other items. But not enough to cover up the whole set. So I knew, I needed some more things for the theater. And I also knew, where to find them: Fleamarkets, second hand shops, charity department stores…The next sets could come!

The Miss Devereaux on their daybedTwo Sisters together We´re going out!

The Humble Little Doll Theater

I´m back. The last two years were not quite easy and I had to deal with some issues. I had to give up millinery and had also enough of filling my wardrobe with endless clothing until it bursts.

And what does a girl, when she´s frustrated and looking for a new way? She craws in her cellar, rummages through boxes and chests…. and stumbles finally over the long forgotten box with the vintage Barbie-doll collection….

My husband called it “The opening of Pandoras box”, because I found out, I still enjoyed playing with the dolls. And it gave me another idea: I never knew exactly, what to do with the big amount of rags and leftovers from all my projects. But I´d sewed Barbie clothes many years ago and why shouldn´t I try it again?

But soon I had to realise, that my eyesight isn´t what it was anymore and working in 12″ scale much to stressful for me.

That´s when I finally hopped into the 16″ doll world. I sold most of my old Barbies, kept only my favourites and bought some second- and third- hand 16″ beauties.

Working in this scale is much more comfortable for me and some rags turned into new clothes for the dolls.

Of course I wanted to share the results with friends and acquaintences. That meant: Doll shooting. But I couldn´t find any good place in the whole house to make pictures. The balcony was an option, but rather limited. And not very useful in winter.

Another idea turned up: Why not build a doll box, like a little theater, where I could make sets?

Unfortunately I´m the worst woodcrafter in the world. When it comes to that subject, I always fail. And sad enough, it´s the same with my husband.

But I tried it anyway. We screwed and nailed something together, nobody with experience would ever go near that thing by choice! But finished, I found out, I love it. It´s mine! Selfmade! And I don´t care about all the mistakes we made and the horrible look it has.

All the “Humble Little Doll Theater” needed, was the magic, that some vintage items, antique fabrics and a litte bit of fantasy could do.

I began with a simple set and one of my two Miss Ghastlys. “Evi” had just gotten her “hunting suit”. I don´t know, what- for a doll needs a hunting suit, but she insisted on the subject. An old 1950s curtain did the job and from the remains, I sewed some rather dusty and gloomy looking curtains for the theater.

So that was my first set. Modest and unimpressive, without any storyline, but I learned fast and I got better with every set . Wait and see!