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

Spring Has Finally Sprung and Its Time For Some Straw

Spring and Summer are finally here! They seem to have come upon us together in the Heartland, because it seems to me that the last two months have been pretty chilly. 

With that said, happy June and hello to this month's Hat Attack. This is my sixth month of doing Hat Attack and that is a small mile stone for me. Originally, I wanted to do Judith's Hat Attack soooo badly, so I started this style blogging and have had such a great time doing it. 

With the warm weather, it was time to bring out my straw. Today's look is centered around mixing straw textures of different color. The snafu with today's shots is that you can't see my feet! I've made up for it below with one of my still life shots. 

There is a problem with great days like we are having. My in-house photographer (a.k.a as Michael the hubby) would rather be in his garden than anywhere else. I decided to be a nice wife and bring the camera and I to him. So we have this beautiful green backdrop in front of the Wisteria, but after downloading the photos, I realized that his taller garden grass and shoes don't mix well. 

This look started when I had just found this "new to me" apostrophe jacket on my Friday night "thrift hunt". I am not sure what I had planned for this post, but when I saw this jacket, everything went out the window.

The material is a 98% Cotton / 2 % Spandex and has a free flowing window pane type of design with off-white, black and grey. Gee, this goes with about 90% of my wardrobe. The jacket is a smock design with darts in the front, back and bottom of the bracelet length sleeves. And bracelet length sleeves are one of my favorites, because, as the name implies, you can show off your bracelets!

A back view, to show the slits I put in the back of my capris. Read below for more about that.

And now to the other choices I made for this look. I was drawn to this particular straw Fedora, because a Fedora always has a masculine flair about it, yet the large straw bow just sort of thumbs its nose at that notion. I picked it up at my favorite KC hat store Exclusively For You.  

The four textured sandals from Liz Claiborne picks up on the textures where the hat leaves off. With jute, suede cloth, straw and vegan leather, they manage to tie it all together with the the neutral tones. I wear them a lot. 

The bag is one of my Eric Javits eBay purchases. This is one of his smaller Squishee bags. Again, a straw texture. I love Javits bags for the summer. This one is such a "ladies who lunch bag".  

The jewelry is silver. There was a time when I was really a purist and would not mix gold with silver. Those days are over. I wear whatever with whatever, whenever -- as long as I feel that they can play nicely together.  

Now you can see the shoes

Now on to my capris, which I made. I used Vogue 2948, which is  discontinued,  unfortunately. I like this pattern because it has princess seaming, and for us who have no fannies, princess seam pants are great for getting a good fit. This point brings up something else. The reason I have always sewn is that my body is a very hard fit. Besides making original looks from scratch, it's nice to have skills to alter something off the rack (which is about 95% of the time when it comes to dresses).

The fabric is 100% Linen and I got it online from Vogue Fabrics out of Chicago. As I alluded to in the back view photo, I did change the pattern a tad. The pattern does not show a Capri style, so I just made them shorter and for some reason, I decided I needed slits up the back. A whim of the moment, I suppose. 

I made a top for my pants using another Vogue Options pattern (also princess seaming), and I found this photo from last summer to show you both pieces together. Wow, my hair was so blond. I started going natural back in February and think I have more of a mixed blond/silver tone now.

At a Claire McCaskill book signing through KC's Rainy Day Books

A scan of my pattern. I really want some pants like the sketch. Oh, I need so much more time!

I found one other princess seamed pants if someone was interested in trying to make a pair. I would first search eBay and ETSY for the original pattern because it is out there. These by Burda look a little more time consuming than my pattern. But, wow, they are stylish. It's a PDF so there would be a lot of taping together after you downloaded it.

Did I mention I made these pants twice? I made the longer version (as the pattern) in a 100% Linen black/white plaid that I purchased at a beloved but "oh, no more" fabric store Cy Rudnicks that was located in Kansas City. I need to do a styling with my longer version this Fall because I wear them all the time. 

And Then There Is the Polish............

I have to show you Zoya's Aster from their 2016 Spring Petals collection. This is another winner. It's Periwinkle (one of my favorite polish tones) with flecks of fuchsia. You can't get more Spring than that! 

I will say goodbye for now. This was suppose to be a short post, but, by the time I talk about styling, sewing and my beloved Zoya, perhaps short posts just aren't in my future. Well, I hope you enjoyed it.

Take care until we meet again. I will be back around the same time next week. I usually publish on Sunday afternoons.

This week, I am linking up with Judith of Style Crone's Hat Attack HERE, Patti's Not Dead Yet Style's Visible Monday HERE, Cherie's  Style Nudge's Shoe and Tell HERE, Catherine's Not Dressed As Lamb's I will Wear What I like HERE, Color and Grace's Link Up Party HERE, Elegantly Dressed and Stylish Turning Heads Tuesday HERE, Shopping My Closet's Style Me Wednesday HERE, Living On Cloud Nine's Style Perspectives HERE, Sydney's Fashion Hunter's Fresh Fashion Forum HERE,   High Altitude Style's Link-Up HERE, Fashion Should Be Fun's Fun Friday Fashion Link Up HERE and Style Diary By Osy's Friday Link Up Party HERE. 

My Seamstress Heritage

My Mother was a knowledgeable, technique driven sewing  teacher when it came to her oldest daughter.  She held every project up to the highest expectations. Many a seam would be ripped out if it didn’t meet approval. I was that daughter.  She always wanted my garments to be the best I could sew and always said, “and don’t forget that the inside needs to look as good as the outside".

 I inherited her patterns. Sometimes I go through them just to look. 

My green Asian blouse was created from one of these patterns.  Pictured is the blouse and pattern.  I kept the neckline, which I thought was wonderful.  The sleeves are the same.  However, I recut the bodice into a blouse shape, added darts around and am very happy with the results. 

The material showed a tendency to fray.  So remembering Mom’s words, I bound all my interior seams, for a very finished look.

 Happy sewing and always take a re-look at those old patterns. You never know what inspirations you will find.