More Blythe Costumes

Been a while but I did promise to show you the other costumes I made for my Blythe dolls for the Sydney BlytheFest.


Imogen was very excited when all the feathers for her costume arrived in the mail ...




I made her fan first - from the little ostrich feathers (proper name, Blondines) and Imogen spent hours practicing how to dance with it.








Yes - it is a ShowGirl costume. 

Imogen was dressing up as Lucille Ball in this still from the 1942 movie "The Big Street"

Lucille Ball

Imogen LaMarr

We were very pleased that we already had some shoes that looked very like Lucille's! 

 
Imogen's leotard is knitted, white wool held together with silver thread then lots of beads including for those rather fancy shoulder straps. 

The 'tail' is marabou on a ribbon belt, here is a back view.







Without the fan ...

















And the Whole SheBang!!

Violetta's costume was a little more restrained!  

She was a "Character" from a movie ... one of the Flappers in "The Great Gatsby".

The dress is based on 1920s fashions; it is longer than the classic Flapper Frock of 1926 and this would be worn by an older, more conservative party-goer - black was favoured by the older ladies.

Vertical beading and godets of light weight fabric in the side seams so that you can dance ... 


Being a perfectionist - the shoulders are too wide, for a real 1920s look those armholes should look more like a singlet's.

Ballet Russe inspired headdresses were part of 1920s party-wear.  I constructed this one like a ballet headdress with some lace and lots of black beads. 

Carmen Miranda - a prize winning Blythe

Hard to believe but the Sydney BlytheFest was over 3 weeks ago now - high time I posted something about it?  !!  And this post is going to a boastful one - because Audrey won 3rd prize in "Celebrity Look-Alike Stock" and she is tremendously proud of herself!

There is quite a lot of costume for one doll who stands only 12" high - would you like to see some of the details?





Starting at the top with the all-important Tutti-Frutti Hat!




Made like a stage costume Carmen Miranda head-dress with a felt helmet underneath.  For a human I would've used millinery or slipper felt - thick and stiff - for the doll scale I used craft felt and it stretched with all the handling - grrr
Given all the weight & height of this head-dress it would've been better if it had remained snug-fitting.

The turban effect is created by 2 squares of fabric draped and stitched in place - the fall of fabric over one ear helps balance the weight of the basket of fruit.

I couldn't find a little cane basket and ran out of time to search for one.  The basket I did find was perfect in every way - except for weight.  It is made of metal, brass I think, really pretty, perfect size and an oval shape (just like a Blythe doll's head) but it would've been much better in cane and light-weight.

Luckily I had the faux fruit erasers in stash - again they are rather too heavy - but they looked good (especially those cherries!)  The bananas were a great find at the last minute - though I did have to buy a huge bag of them - they weigh almost nothing.  Lots of bright coloured ribbon, bows & roses, as 'filler' and feathers for height.  They are just chicken feathers but I curled the filaments so they look as fluffy & pretty as possible.


Carmen Miranda often wore big hoop earrings and I couldn't resist using a Blythe pull-ring (a red resin one by JemGirl on Etsy).

Working on down - the tie-up top.  I needed stretch without bulk for this tiny garment - hand knitting seemed the way to go, with fabric sleeves sewn on.

Here is a back view of the costume:

Lets see some detail of sleeve, earring ... the yoke of the skirt and you'll notice those nails!
The nail polish is acrylic paint - not sealed, we'll probably wash it off one day!  Meanwhile, Audrey has been getting regular manicures which I think she quite enjoys!

The yoke of the skirt is super-tight - waist-band made of ribbon ...

The skirt is circular, it trains longer at the back and is split at the front.  Covered with rows & rows of ribbon - satin & organdza ...






I was going to cover the gathered edges with thin ribbon on all the layers - but only did so on the bottom-most as it really wasn't necessary.






Carmen Miranda wore big platform shoes because she was self-conscious about being rather short. 
These were made for Barbie and they were pink - I painted them and put glitter on (most of which has fallen off!)

And you can see the beads I tried to weight the corners of the frills with.

Well - all in all it is a lot of costume for one small doll to manage and I think Audrey did very well as "The Lady with the Tutti-Frutti Hat".

Had a wonderful day, though I spent most of it behind my sale table - which was massively overstocked!  Sold well on the day, but lots left over which is gradually going into my Etsy shop BlytheStar.

Next post I'll show off the other 2 costumes - non-prize winning but great fun to make.

Stitches

It has been such a long time since I posted about the things I've been making  - there is quite a backlog!  

Most of the stitches have been knitting and the sewing projects are mostly things I can't really show you.  I can show you the complete mascot costume - one Hound Dog.  

Previously I've posted about the making of the head and about the hind feet - this is the complete costume being modeled by my darling hubby.

And a back view to show the tail.  BTW please do not notice the uneven lengths of those curtains!

 

Of the next project I can only show you a teaser - and tell you that it is all ecru with lace & embroidery - it involves masses of hand-stitching and quite a lot of glue.

And now to the knitting - the commissions for costumes have continued.  Some have been repeats ... and this was a repeat of a repeat   Eh! What!

 

Well, the first tatty & distressed shawl for the Bird Lady in Mary Poppins was a great success and they wanted a 2nd one - which I made from the yarn supplied - half of which was mohair.  That 2nd shawl was quite 'splodgy' and I think the mohair made it look quite elegant (it is the last item in this post).  Perhaps it was too elegant and it didn't look like the 1st shawl  SO I had to make a 3rd one ... and I now consider myself an expert in the art of Bird Lady Shawl Making :-)  For this 3rd shawl I sourced the yarn - it is a long length variegated yarn meant for socks.

 

I've also made a 2nd Cardigan / Jacket for Colline in Opera Australia's current production of La Boheme - there are some cast changes.  It is another distressed and artfully 'badly knitted' thing and I would like to avoid all shades of mustard for the next decade!   Had to hand it in without buttons (they weren't supplied) so here it is with safety pins.

 

And a back view - with those pleats and some of the deliberately 'knitted in' holes.

 Now if you go to the Opera Australia web site you'll see David Parkin wearing the 1st of those mustard cardi/jackets - with the beanie and scarf that I knitted.  I've borrowed one of the pics here ...

 Had my first commission for some knitting for the small screen - the next 'season' of Underbelly (starting in some states (or all?) Sun 21st Aug) is set in the 1920s.  If you watch the show, keep your eyes peeled during some of the more domestic moments for a character knitting a chocolate brown jumper.  Of course, it may all have ended up on the cutting room floor but I provided the knitting in 3 stages - just commenced ...

Up to the 1st (or 2nd?) sleeve ...

And Very-Nearly-Almost-Finished ...

 

  Poor ole' Bruce the Body there with those sharp metal things at his neck - very appropriate for this TV show!  The jumper is based on a vintage pattern and has old-fashioned styling including very deep rib bands.  I also had to source all those knitting needles - making sure that they looked like those used in the 1920s.  

There were some other commissions, not for the stage but via Jonathan Howard The Hatmaker.

 Donuts? toilet-seat cozies? hand-knitted UFOs?   No, but almost as unlikely.  Jonathan was making a top-hat for a client who wanted it hand-knitted and he wanted cashmere.  So these are, in fact, the parts of a knitted top-hat!

 

First I had to find the cashmere - the desired 'look' was chunky, country-fied and natural - hand-spun seemed the best option.  I bought some natural brown cashmere fleece (fluff) from Belisa Cashmere lovely soft stuff it was like spinning a cloud - I put in about 20% wool to make it easier to handle.  However, it was still brown - the client wanted charcoal so into the dye-pot it went ... until it became the colour you see above ... actually the knitting was the easiest and fastest part of the whole process!

Jonathan The Hatmaker really likes the look of my hand-spun yarns with all the lumps and fluffy bits ... he commissioned a man's scarf ...  

   The yarn is about 50% alpaca & 50% corriedale sheep, both undyed, naturally coloured fleece.    I used a simple knit/purl pattern with garter stitch edges and as it was to be a fairly short scarf, there are 2 splits.  The wearer can thread the scarf through the splits and the scarf doesn't slip off and get lost.      Here is a close up of the texture of the yarn and the stitch pattern.

I've also been knitting beanies for Jonathan to sell in his lovely boutique.  We've missed the window of opportunity to sell warm woolly beanies this year but inevitably, winter will return!  Here are 2 of the beanies ...

Again, all naturally coloured, undyed fleece, these were spun 'in the grease' so the yarn has retained some of the lanolin.  The mottled yarn is sheep - a grey/brown from the Robinson era with some very dark fleece from another Robinson sheep thrown in :-)   The stripes are 100% alpaca - the same ginger girl as in the scarf above.  Her name is Angelique and the fleece was from her 2nd shearing.

The stripes in this 2nd beanie are the same alpaca - the rest is re-purposed woollen yarn.  I found an abandoned knitting project in an op-shop - following some un-knitting and lots of sorting I plyed 2 of the colours together on my spinning wheel to create a thick tweedy yarn ...

For the ladies I knitted some very vintage, very French berets.  My own pattern but based on a 1940's vintage one.

The yarn is Bendigo Woollen Mills - their very dependable Classic 8ply.

Dog Costume ... The making of a Head

If you've a really good memory you might remember that I've been making a mascot costume of a dog - it has been an on-going project that really did take far longer than I had planned ...

It is now finished :-)  and I thought you might like to see some progress pictures of the most difficult part of this costume - the head.   Back at the end of last year I posted about the cardboard mock-up.  This (sort of) became the pattern.

But as with all engineering projects - you have to start with some foundations !   In this case a hard-hat - the harness inside fits the wearer's head, the brim will support the dog's nose, it is firm and you can glue things to it.  Things like supporting foam structures and wires for the ears.  Reminded me of "My Favourite Martian" - Ooops that's aged me !

I'm always forgetting to take progress photos :  the intervening processes were ... messy - bits of PE foam everywhere!

But here the head is taking shape - head, nose, lower half of the ears - all done.  Here I was checking that the end of the snout would work. 

That wire nose / muzzle is the only place the wearer will be able to see through.  It is important to give the wearer as much 'sight' (and ventilation) as possible without making it too obvious that there is a person inside the animal.

And yes, I was using my kitchen bench as the work area - managed not to poison anyone!

The next step was the lower jaw, and I'm starting to work with the covering fabrics.   This is a jaw - hardly any of that pretty pink satin will show - but it needs to be there.

 

And here is the jaw glued and stitched in place - and some fleecy on the nose as well ... pins keeping everything in place while the glue dries.

 

OK - now for the rest of the nose - a bit of artistic drapery here as this hound dog has jowls.  That's the original drawing of the Doggy - he is quite a cartoon type character.

Nose done - next the ears.  Tried to make them floppy and there is a little movement to the upper halves of the ears when the wearer moves.

Skipping a bit now - here most of the fur is on and I'm checking that the 'cape' will work.  The cape is to cover the neck, it will go under the shirt.

 Intervening processes :

• Some padding to refine and soften the shape of the head
• Lots of pattern-making (the fur patterns are not the same as the ones for the foam)
• Lots of confusion about the direction/s of the fur - it grows 'up' on the front & back but sideways and around on the sides.  Sounds odd but it works
• Then cutting and sewing fur - a little gluing in place with lots of hand stitching.

But you have probably noticed - dog still has cardboard eyes.  I left them to the end because they really had to be 'right'.  "The eyes are the windows to the soul" they say and definitely for an over-sized animal costume the eyes could make the difference between a nice friendly doggy and a really scary wolf-creature.

Eye parts -

Eyes finished - felt and satin, machine and hand applique / embroidery.  He has a bit of a "twinkle" in his eyes.


Another little touch ... doggy needed something between his ears :-)   a bit of a "hair do".    In the photo in the mirror above, there is a mess of fur fabric where the front meets the back - a problem that needed a nice solution.

Once again I had trouble sourcing suitable fur fabric - I just couldn't find that "hair of the dog" [sorry!]  Eventually I bought a shaggy fur cushion and chopped it up!

I think the result is cute -