The Fairy Princess Pumpkin House--part 1: Inspiration

I love all things miniature.  Always have!  Several years ago, I went to a miniatures show, and purchased an undressed old woman with green skin...a witch!  ("A Witch!  A Witch!  Burn the Witch!  She's a Witch!" ...for all you Monty Python fans)  That single purchase inspired me to create a witch house in miniature, and even spawned the idea for a novel.  The novel is in progress (very slow...don't often get time for writing!), and I've been collecting things for the Witch house for years. 

Recently, I took out the box with all my witch stuff, and the kit for the house, and got inspired to start working on it.  But then...I got a little sidetracked.  I was looking online for ideas and inspiration, and came across a tutorial for making a Halloween house out of a "funkin"--those styrofoam/molded pumpkins the craft stores sell.  I was worried that doing a whole house would be too big a project to start now (it probably is), and loved the idea of making a house out of a found object (I love the miniature book "Miniature Worlds in 1/12 Scale"--they make houses out of teapots, etc!).  So the wheels in my brain began spinning, and pretty soon, I was sketching out plans to make my daughter a dollhouse out of a Fun-Kin. 

Part of the idea is to make Halloween fun--my daughter has developed a fear of the "scary" things at the craft store, and has claimed that Halloween scares her.  So, I'm planning a bunch of things to make Halloween fun and not scary.  I thought that a Halloween-themed dollhouse would be a great idea!  I've designed it to be the perfect size for her little Princess and Polly Pocket dolls...the "Fairy Princess Pumpkin House", complete with furniture.

I thought it would be an inexpensive project, but going to the craft store means inevitably purchasing about a gazillion other things, so...so far, it would be far more inexpensive to buy her a play dollhouse.  But...then...it wouldn't be as unique, special, or nearly as fun to create!

I will post progress on the house as I go along.  Last night, I began carving (after cleaning up work space in my room!) and fitted the floors.  I have an order for a beaded bracelet, and I need to work on that, too, so... priorities!

Look for the next installment soon!

Bleuette has cold feet

Ok...just a quick one, because I want to go to bed before midnight.

A few weeks ago, I was prowling through my Yahoo boards, and found a few knit/crochet patterns on my Bleuette Sewing Board that I thought I'd try.  The first one was a slipper--the same kind of slipper I had as a kid!  So...I had to make up a pair. 

 

(I really need to de-clutter my sewing table when I take pictures...)

I was tickled with how these turned out, and immediately made a pair to send to my mom.  The yarn I used here is "Willow Tweed" by Louisa Harding Yarns...lovely stuff:  40% Alpaca, 40% Merino, and 20% silk.  This is kind of a light greenish-teal/fern with cream-colored slubs/nubbies.  I have planned a robe and nightgown around some beautiful fine cotton shirting I got at Fabric Depot (aka Fabric Mecca) in Vancouver, Wa.  It has a pretty striped pattern in fine lines of fern green and white.  So...the nightgown is the 1915 Chemise de Nuit (pictured below), in white swiss batiste with coordinating feather stitching details (as the pattern shows) .  I was going to do the bathrobe Robe de Chambre 1911, but the pattern I have is missing the belt, and the collar doesn't fit the back of the robe properly as written, so I need to do some tweaking before I make that up.  The robe would be in the stripe, with white collar and cuffs with the chain-stitch embroidery indicated.  (I just checked the original pattern...and discovered that the belt is not a pattern, but simply instructions to embroider a particular length of fabric with the wavy pattern and stitch it into a belt...I guess it would help to read the pattern, huh?  Then again, it is in French, and I only know French sewing terms, not the language itself!)

    

There is a prettier robe de chambre later, in the 20's I think, that I may do instead.  I don't know...most of the early dressing gowns were pretty utilitarian.  And the embroidery on the collar and cuffs is a pain in the thimble, let me tell you!!  I have embroidered three sets of them so far (one for my mom's Christmas Bleuette Trousseau, and two to sell), and it is some finicky work.  I did it on batiste with a single strand of 6-strand DMC floss...will have to post pictures of the embroidery sometime.  Hmm...  Maybe that will be my next post--embroidery for dolls.  I like it!

Anyway...love the little slippers...will definitely have to make more. 

Until later...