Cinderella's Capsule Wardrobe

This is an extra fashion post to my usual Sunday afternoon article. 

I am a designer at heart. Of course, so far I have four patrons who require my constant services: three little Poodles and a fifty-five year-old doll, Cinderella. This post covers designs for my beloved 'Rella'.

Sometime last year, I started creating a capsule wardrobe, a group of interchangeable pieces. Quite a few months later--I skipped a few working on this--I'm finished!

Starting out, I was was aiming for a resort type wardrobe. I ran out of steam before I got a swim suit and a coverup done (next year maybe?). This turned into an early spring to late summer wardrobe for a doll who doesn't like to swim.

She is a doll of the early 60's and I wanted this grouping to play that up. I recycled old clothes from my closet to create her wardrobe. They mainly were:

• an denim Woolrich jumper
• a Eddie Bauer chambray dress with faggoting trim
•  and old white blouse I made for my daughter but it was just HUGE and even though it was authentic YSL fabric she never wore it. 

The main problem sewing for this doll is that I don't really have patterns to fit her (she's 29" and pretty slim). Thank goodness for Photoshop because I am able to resize any doll pattern that I have.  Still, I usually have to make a few changes. 

It's time to get started..........

The first thing I made was a lined hooded swing jacket with cuffed clam digger pants. Accessories for this look are black leather ballet flats with bows, a navy leather bag and a simple beaded necklace and bracelet set. I made all the accessories, shoes and bags because you just aren't going to find things for a doll of this size. Ebay has nice selections of leather scraps and they suit my purpose just fine. 

Earrings are the exception because I can find them in small sizes. Pearl earrings are the easiest, I just use two of my pearl ended straight pins. 

The triangles at the bottom of the side seams are there for a reason. My jumper wasn't wide enough for the pattern, so there was a last minute design change.

Next, I took the jacket off and added a hat. 'Rella's knitted shell is something that I did as an example for a color theory class I teach for fiber enthusiasts. I hand painted the yarn for this top in a Rectangle Tetrad * of red violet, orange, yellow green and blue green. Each of these colors have been tempered with their respective complementary colors. If there are any fiber folks reading this, I use acid dyes by Lanaset. I find that Lanaset dyes are the most permanent to washing and light that I know.

I kept the pants but changed the knit top for a short sleeve cuffed blouse with a tie belt out of the YSL fabric. I like the hidden button detail. Who can't use a tote bag for shopping?

I pulled out one of my vintage Poodle scarfs so she could look mid-century trendy. American Girl sunglasses are a tad small but still work.

Finally switching out the pants, she is now wearing a skirt and I've added a turban. The turban fabric is some really awful stuff that I got from Walmart for testing out knit patterns (I threw out what fabric was left after that project). Other things I added were a studded clutch and cork platforms. The shoes are always the hardest part of these projects. I use the web site Fashion Doll Shoes for ideas on techniques.

Heading into warmer weather I added shorts and a repurposed straw hat that was given to me years ago by our FCCLA teacher. All I had to do was to add a band, I believe made from the front band of an old dress.

For even warmer weather I added a sleeveless top and some simple slides for her third pair of shoes.

Just in case 'Rella has to go out to a nice dinner, she has a lounging pant skirt from an experimental pattern based on a skirt I made for myself. In case the evening gets a little chilly, I knitted her one of my "Rows Of Many Colors" shawls. Each row is a different yarn. This technique creates quite a nice textured surface.

With that, I'm done because I didn't make any more.

I found a photo of the Christmas morning when Cinderella came into my life. I was pretty proud.

Sadly, her original dress has long since disintegrated.

At this point, you may think I'm a tad crazy. Further, this is not the first time Cinderella has been on this blog. Her first outfit feature is HERE and I talk a little more about getting her.

 *What is a rectangular Tetrad you ask? It is four colors on the color wheel that form a rectangle as shown by this color wheel. 

Add caption

That is enough for today, so I will bid adieu until next week. In the meantime, Happy Styling and sewing (if you partake)!

Photography credit goes today to me and my Dad on Christmas all those years ago.

I am trying a few new linkup parties with this post because it is a little different for me. This was a labor of love and I do want to share it. There are only a few linkups that I found for this kind of post. It could be that I just don't know where to look, but I found:

Wednesday

A Little Bird Told Me
Monday
Inspire Me Monday
Monday Funday
Tuesday
Show and Tell

A Long Promise Finally Kept

A very long time ago, when I was a small girl, the local grocery store would get in wonderful toys right before Christmas. One year, I fell in love with the Cinderella doll. And I did get her! I never scored very many dolls so this was a big deal. After all these years, she is still with me. ‘Rella was pre-Barbie, so for the time, this was a high fashion doll.

'Rella was originally dressed in a beautiful gold and pink tulle ball gown, which disintegrated ages ago. The pair of silver plastic shoes also disappeared.

'Rella in her new top to toe outfit.

She is 29 inches tall and I've not found patterns for her. My Mom found one for a 32 inch doll (see below) and used that in the three garments she made for her all those years ago. For decades, “Rella has been barefoot and dressed in a limited and increasingly distressed wardrobe.

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A very old and worn pattern, but all the pieces are there. The styles don't fit Rella's image and are not a perfect fit. But it gives me something
to work with.

For years, I have promised myself that I would make the old girl something new*. I finally did. I don’t think this design is extremely fashion forward. However, it does fit the look of the doll.

I made seven pieces in all. To keep this simple, I have organized them in a list each with a little blurb.  

Fitted Pants-I adapted the pajama pant pattern to create a fitted pant with front pleats, back zipper and waistband. Next time, I am going to try and cut a new fitted pattern, rather than trying to fit that on on the doll. 

Lined Cape With Collar-This is pretty much the original. However, I wanted a collar and cut a pattern. Black grosgrain ribbon detail is used on the collar and cape (and also down the pant's side seam). 

I made these two garments from a fabric remnant from my Mom. It was in a dresser that I took home after she passed (along with all her patterns). I had seen this fabric as long as I can remember and have no idea where it came from. I know it has been around at least forty years. Sophia and Niko (my Poodles) also got Christmas outfits out of it. I still have some left!

A side view showing pleats, waistband and grosgrain ribbon tuxedo stripe down the side of the pants. Also, it's a good view of her new mani!

Short Sleeve Sweater, Arm Warmers And Beret.-I designed the sweater and arm warmers. The beret came from Ann Budd’s book The Knitter’s Handy Book Of Patterns. I used the 0-6 months size. 

The back of the sweater has a placket with vintage mother of pearl buttons.

The yarn used is Trendsetter’s Rapunzel. It is a Mohair and wool blend. This yarn was one of my Tuesday Morning finds.

Shoes (actually boots)-These are made from some fairly thick black felt. They have leather soles and heels created from Sculpty clay. I lined the top inside so they could be turned down for a different look. Shoes are always going to be a challenge. They are a whole different ballgame from regular sewing.
My research has found a wonderful and knowledgeable resource from Finland. Tarja Simpanen has a wonderful blog and website with valuable information about creating doll shoes.  
 

The boots showing the option of the turned down cuff. 

Purse-I designed this using leather and jewelry findings. Fortunately, I have an ancient heavy-duty Singer sewing machine that will sew through fairly thin leather with ease. 

   

 A closer view of the purse.

The only thing I bought specifically for this project was the Sculpty clay. I scavenged everything else from my stash.

I had a great time with this project. It covered a lot of different skill sets and made me research on how to do some aspects. 

* I have actually knitted one top for 'Rella. I wanted a sample for my Simply Color fiber class, so decided to "kill two birds with one stone", as the old saying goes. However, nothing goes with the knitted top. Next doll design project?