As promised last time today's post is all about accessories.
What comes to mind when you think Flapper? Headbands, feathers, long necklaces, earrings, crystals, pearls, shoes, bracelets ....
These shoes were a donation by my sister. I didn't have an extra pair of vintage black heels and many of the modern shoes don't work well on the bigger and harder vinyl feet of the old dolls. Golden instead of silver sprinkles would have been perfect, but not only did they fit, Barbie could also stand in them on her own if you did it right. Of course I use a stand anyway.
To make the shoes more 20s, I sewed on straps from the beads that I had also used in the dress.
I didn't have to go far for the necklaces. In my stash I have tiny beads and pearls. For these four strands in two different lengths I chose black onyx and golden freshwater pearls to pick up the colors in the dress.
For the headband I made a simple brick stitch band and added some decorations.
And once again my sister pulled a rabbit out of her magician's hat ... or rather peacock feathers from an old carnival costume. Of course a whole feather would have been much too big, so I cut one up instead and sewed the parts to the headband.
I felt more would have been too much, so I did without more jewelry. Instead I just re-painted the fingernails and turned my attention the head.
That will be the story for the next post then. I hope I'll see you there again!
If you missed the earlier posts, you can find them here:
Part 1, The introduction
Part 2, The dress
Barbie is a registered trademark of Mattel, Inc. I am not affiliated with Mattel.
We have been waiting more or less patiently, and now it's here. Spring.
What is it that makes you feel spring? The flowers, the colors, the scents, the light or the song of the birds early in the morning?
Over at the Jewelry Artisans Community it seems to be about flowers and colors as you can see in these pictures that were posted at the new Oldies but Goodies Challenge.
If you want to see more to inspire you for spring, you can find the whole thread with more pictures here.
1 MC Stoneworks
2 The Crafty Chimp
3 Violetmoon's Corner
4 Cat's Wire
5 Jewelry Art by Dawn
6 2 Fab Fristers
In part 1 of this series of posts I told you a little about how the "Bead loom a Barbie outfit" project got started.
So what was actually the first step?
Even without being a seamstress I know you can't just whip up a dress without some kind of pattern, and you can't make a pattern without having measurements.
Of course first of all I had to pick out the kind of Mattel doll I wanted to work with. I decided on a Straight Leg Midge with serious hair problems that had been waiting for a makeover far too long. I'll come to the head in a later post, though.
Back to the dress.
I wanted to loom it in one piece and then sew it together down the sides. Now that I knew what doll I would use, I could start measuring.
It being my first beaded dress project, I didn't want it to be too difficult, just a basic straight dress with straps, a rounded neckline and a low cut back. Sounds rather easy, doesn't it?
When I started measuring, it didn't seem that easy to me anymore. After all I couldn't keep taking the dress off the loom and try it on, so it had to be right from the beginning.
Barbie's bustline and hips were the basic measurements for the whole dress. As it was to be straight, I had to measure carefully to make sure it would fit around Barbie's body, but still wouldn't be too bulky.
The armholes would have to be big enough, but not so big to allow glimpses into the dress from the sides.
And of course the straps would have to sit just right which also depended on the size of the neckline, the back and the armholes.
To be on the safe side I rather made the pattern a little bigger than smaller. Many of us know the feeling when you want to button up a pair of jeans and there are just millimeters missing. I couldn't take that chance on Barbie, after all I am not that fond of ripping up a project.
After having fiddled with the outlines for many hours and almost obsessive measuring I was finally ready to design the pattern itself, done in black and metallic medium bronze AB which is an absolutely stunning color, inspired by pictures of dresses from the 20s.
Almost 7,700 beads and a few hours later - also due to the fact that I still kept measuring again and again - I could take the dress off the loom and drape it on the doll for the very first time if you can call pulling her head off and putting the dress on with her neck knob standing out between the warp threads draping, that is. Yes, it sounds terrible, but what can you do?
You should heard my sigh of relief when things looked promising!
The next big task was to weave in all of the warp threads, 196 of them to be precise, and to sew up the sides.
Not only was it a dress, but it also fit!!
I felt it needed a little decoration, though. I added two rows of beads in the back. They keep the straps from moving which might reveal just a little too much back.
The three rows of beads over the shoulders make sure the armholes don't open up too much, but mostly I just liked the look of it.
I am sure I'm not the only one who connects the 20s with lots of fringe, but for this dress I opted for a small fringe of dagger beads instead.
Wow. That was a long post, but designing and making the dress was a long process, too. Thank you if you made it all the way through.
Next week's post will be all about accessories (and shorter, I promise)!
Barbie is a registered trademark of Mattel, Inc. I am not affiliated with Mattel.
I seem to remember that they always showed a certain movie on Easter when I was a child. I also remember reading the book. I was lying on my parents' bed on the belly, my feet up in the air, and I can still feel the thick, cool and satiny quilt bedspread when I think of it.
Many people agree that one actor is stealing the show here, the great Peter Ustinov as the crazy Emperor Nero.
Nero (looking at burning Rome): Petronius, look what I've created! Tigellinus, my robe of grief. Terpnos! Lyre. History will judge my song, Petronius. Will it be great enough to match the occasion? I'm seized with the fear that it will not be great enough.
Petronius: It will be worthy of the spectacle, as the spectacle is worthy of you.
Nero: You ... you encourage me, Petronius. But I'm aware that I must compete with those who sang of the burning of Troy. My song must be greater, just as Rome is greater than Troy!
(singing) Silence, ye spheres, be still, ye hurtling stars, open wide-vaulted skies above me. Now at last, lo, I see Olympus, and a light from the summit doth illumine me. I am one with the gods, immortal, I am Nero, the artist who creates with fire, that the dreams of my life may come true. To the flames now I give the past, to the flames and soil. Take thou this Rome, oh, receive her now, ye flames, consume her as would a furnace, burn on, o ancient Rome. Burn on, burn on!!!
Quo Vadis, USA, 1951
You have seen this tiny Cantera opal before, in this post where I showed the magic world you can see in it.
As you know, tiny cabs or faceted stones are a bit of a challenge to use in wire knit or crochet. To do the opal justice, but also keep it safe in its bezel, I made very small knit stitches. That way I was able to only cover the matrix, but leave the window to the magic world open. Actually I keep staring into that window! I just love opals.
For that little bit of movement that I like so much I added a small amber bead dangle. It's a pity I only had one opal in that size, I think this would make a beautiful pair of earrings if I had two.
To compliment the delicate pendant, I crocheted a slim rope in the same color.
To my friends it is not new that I have a small, but sweet vintage Barbie collection (and a bunch of newer ones).
I got my first Mattel doll, a platinum blond Stacey, when I was five, and the story behind that I told in an earlier blog post is not very flattering for me and my behavior at that age. I never thought about starting a collection, however. Barbies and their outfits were just not in my budget.
Then my sister (both of my sisters still have their childhood dolls as well, a TNT Barbie and a red haired Stacey) got the book "Barbie - her life and times" by Billy Boy. The German version came out 1988, and 18 years after Stacey had arrived in my life, I was fascinated by Barbie all over again.
No one would call me a fashion person. Jeans, sneakers, t-shirt - that's me. As much as I don't dress up myself, though, as much I do love the Barbie fashions. Tiny zippers, tiny buttons, 50s and 60s chic, wild mod designs.
And I learned about vintage dolls that I hadn't heard of before, merely because I was too young at that time or not even born yet.
Not that much later we were at a fleamarket and having studied the book paid off when I found a bendable leg Midge. Not mint in condition, but at an absolutely fantastic price. That's when my collection started. I got more dolls, I started buying the most important price guides, I learned more about Barbie's history and about her German predecessor, the Bild Lilli, and dreamed of owning a #1 Barbie one day.
I can't sew. I don't crochet with yarn. I had never made any Barbie outfits that could even be called outfit. When I started working with wire, however, I had to try and crochet wire dresses for Barbie. The problem was what to use as an undergarment because wire crochet dresses tend to be see through. Although I finished a few, I was not happy enough with them to pursue that.
Then I started bead looming and the idea to loom Barbie dresses kept running through my head. At an early stage I made a tote bag for one of my Francie dolls.
We all know that Barbie has curves, lots of curves. How could I loom something without the curves being a problem?
That's when I had the idea to make a Flapper outfit.
This post is just the introduction to the story of Barbie, tiny glass beads, fringe, shoes, peacock feathers, Ponder (one of my cats, for those who don't know), Christie, Francie, and a new obsession.
The story is too much for just one post, so stay tuned if you want to follow the journey. I'd love to take you with me.
Barbie is a registered trademark of Mattel, Inc. I am not affiliated with Mattel.
To inspire me for this post I just clicked on an 8 hour video with birds singing. Now I'm not so sure anymore if that was a good idea, not because I don't like the sound. My problem is that it is so relaxing that I feel the urge to drop on my bed for a nice, long nap.
Where were we? Birds. Birds are this week's topic for the Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge.
Although my home has seen lots of animals over the years, starting with gerbils, ending with cats, birds were rare guests. There was a pair of button quails and there was "Schneggle", the baby duck, that kept running after me and slept in my hand at night with my arm rested on an aquarium that was her dining room ... gosh, she was a little pig (no worries, eventually she found a real duck home with a pond and everything)!
Our JAC members, however, found some more birds. I hope you'll enjoy the variety of items.
1 Robin's Jewelry, Antiques, & Collectibles
2 Jewelry Art by Dawn
3 MC Stoneworks
4 2 Fab Fristers
5 Violetmoon's Corner
6 Cat's Wire
