Lois's Wedding Dress Doll (& a tutorial)

Good Tuesday afternoon to you dear friends & readers

Way back sometime mid last year, my friend Lois bought me an order to do for her

You can read about part of Lois's order in this post here 

Scrunched up in the bottom of the plastic bag was Lois's wedding dress.

Although I completed the rest of the order, I can't tell you how many times that dress came out of my sewing room cupboard, then was thrown right back in again . . .(& the door slammed shut tightly !!!)
I decided I had procrastinated enough !!!***

The dress itself was in a sorry state .  .  .

Front View of Dress                                                                          Back view

Lois got married nearly 50 years ago now ... & although the dress in its day, would've been beautiful ... it was now neglected & yellowed with age . . .

This time - for a change - its not my photography making it look yellowed . . . it actually IS very yellow

Though the train was gorgeous, there was very little lace detailing to work with, apart from using the flowers off the train, & the lace up the sleeves. The rest of the dress was quite plain.
I decided I was going to need to make a decent size doll, to do it justice ... so I chose Charlotte by Rosalie Quinlan designs as she is 70 cm's in length
I tentatively cut out my pieces, then I needed to try to clean the fabric.
I dissolved a strong mixture of Napisan in hot water, then made it up to luke warm.  I soaked my pieces overnight, then just rinsed them really well in cold water, then hung them on the line in the sun to dry.  They came out spotless.
(phew . . . what a relief!!)

I made the entire dress using the heavy satin & then used one lace sleeve for a "pinny" at the front.
The sleeves were made from a fine silky organza fabric.
The cuffs became the bodice & I managed to use one button-up cuff for the back so the dress is removable.

I handstitched some of the ribbon roses that were in good condition still, to the hem of the dress

I used more of the heavy satin for her pantaloons & edged them with a vintage lace.  Recently Lois had given me an old powder box filled with some lace pieces that had belonged to her late Mum & this length of lace was in there.

The remaining sleeve was used to fashion some dainty ribbon roses which I used in her hair as a kind of "fascinator" headpiece (& I added some feathers)
When she was finished I realised she needed something to hold in her hands . . .

I still had some larger size ribbon roses that I had removed from the train so I wired these with some florist wire . . .

. . . & made her a bouquet to hold

I love her . . . but I now have a deep respect for the women that sew wedding dresses . . .
 working with the heavy satin & sewing the slippery organza over the top of it all very nearly did my head in !!!! 

-  Beautiful  -

. . .  A Suitcase Planter Tutorial  . . .

My friend Lynda phoned & asked me if I would like a Vulcanite Suitcase she was going to dump??
I said "yes please" - even though I didn't actually know what a Vulcanite Suitcase was  :-)

When Lynda's husband dropped it off he said the lid was split & broken & it was only really fit for the dump . . . 
but I thought perhaps it could look cute planted with flowers ??

Cut your timber lengths on a slant at the top for the lid to sit on

I drilled in two lengths of timber to hold the lid open - I use my ordinary kindling for this job as I find it is sturdy, but not too thick to drill either

Line the case with two big black rubbish bags & puncture some holes in the bottom of the bags - clothes pegs are good to hold the bags from slipping as you fill the case with your potting mix.

Work out the placement of your plants ... you could use just punnets of flowers but as I wanted instant colour, Mitre 10 stores throughout the country currently have 10 potted colour for $10 . . . which I thought was a bargain

Viola . . . one suitcase of flowers ready to grow & spill out . . . one Vulcanite Suitcase saved from landfill.
I just lift the lid to water it every couple of days.
You can read another post about suitcase planting I have done here

Thanks SO much for your visit today folks - rather a photo heavy post I am sorry.
Before I go ... could Trish (who commented on my last blog post) please email me (stitchedbyjulie@hotmail.com) - Trish I am unable to answer your question as you are coming up as a no-reply blogger.

I will leave you today with Jinxy "pondering her stressful life" . . .

Click on the photo to enlarge it - if you wish  :-)

with much love & friendship to you all dear readers.
Julie x0x0