Sew and Sew Couch, Part 2

Last we left we had the most of the bulk done on the 65 year old couch, I had to do the skirt. I love a piece of furniture that has a frilly skirt but, man! What a slow process and a hard task to fit it through a normal sewing machine, I must of broke 4 needles. It took me all day as I had to reposition pleats every two inches as the machine would shift the fabric to a smooth surface, by the time I finished, I felt beat up!

Did I mention my lovely blue fabric is wool? Yep, a big, ole' whooping purchase at Goodwill for 9.99 and there must of been 35 yards at 65'' inches wide, an amazing buy for a stitcher!

The arms were pretty easy as I knew they would be, this is a comfortable couch as Madame said she would sleep on it. Yep, I've done that many times after 2 c-sections, a couch comes in handy over a waterbed where effort is needed to ''rise and shine.''

Special pillows and a coffee table. Drats, Madame set the bottle of orange glow for hardwood floors down on the side of the table! Oh. Well. C&G Design.

Sew and Sew Couch, part 1

I say sew and sew because this is the second time I've recovered this couch, this time though it is going to need extra help with the arms, they really need to be re stuffed. This sad ole' couch is from 1945, I have the set, one chair with it. The reason why I want this bad piece of furniture is because it is seven and a half feet long, I challenge anyone to find a couch of that size because I have not been able. The reason why the frame has lasted through, 3 moves, a 65 lbs dog and two kids that thought it was neat to launch themselves off the arms onto the cushions, is because it's hardwood. They don't make them like they use to.

I'm off to shampoo the seat before traveling further! C&G Design

Pink Floyd

Okay, I may be running out of pink! Life is so incredibly fast now-a-days that it's hard to stop and take a look around, but, I do say BUT! I have this post for pink Saturday and ohh, con'tare (hard to put on a french accent when your writing!) it is not the ordinary Pink Saturday post, it is a post with PINK as a title. These are photos in honor of Pink Floyd, one of my favorite musical groups that was a very popular when I was in my teens.

The above picture is a concept on "The Dark Side of the Moon", a album that includes the song..."Money! It is a crime! Can't keep me away from my dime." Yeh, everyone knows that tune. (or something like it.)

Division Bell is another favorite, lots of instruments and musical duets that Pink Floyd is known for.

Interesting.....

And who could forget "The Wall'', the album which told a story of a disturbed life ending with however meager we mostly are, gets me jiving every time!

Join this group of unique people at Beverly's, people posting "PINK". C&G Design

The Big Reveal!

Today is the day to finally show you how the composition doll #1 from Kathleen turned out. When I first introduced you to her she had a chipped chin, deteriorating dress and very bad hair. I finished her a couple days ago, I had to spray her hair though because after all the handling she had by me, it lost alittle of her style, not much! Just alittle.


It was August 11th I starting posting on the process it takes to restore a composition doll, it is no easy project but one I really like. I am a self taught restorer, (feeling sheepish about calling myself that!) this doll took me about two weeks to finish and I decided to try something different for the repairs, I polished a base coat of acrylic paint in all of her cracks to act as a filler, it worked beautifully but the blending became quite extensive. Most composition dolls are painted with air brushing or a closely resembled method, I don't have such a device and wouldn't know what to do with it if I had, my retouching was done on the face only.



I am going to let the photos speak for themselves, I believe some of you will feel that this doll doesn't look like the same doll, I feel this way because I can't believe it's the same one myself, I am very happy with the results.

I call her Mary. C&G Design

11 Years!

Happy birthday to Madame! Boy! You really look nothing like your newborn photo!

But you still have the same disposition! C&G Design

Cute Cookie Jars

I found these on About.com under collectibles, no prices just photos. I thought I'd share how cute they are. Who wants a cookie? These two are my favorite.

These two are a special, custom make.

Just are not to many African American Ann and Andy's around although there should be more.

She's a cutie!

And so are they!

The next two almost look as if they go as a set with the one above. Must be a common pair.

I'm guessing from the seventies.

She is different, almost a Japan quality to her, which BTW Raggedy Ann is very popular in Japan.

I have to love Beloved Belindy, Ann and Andy AND Marcella's nanny (maybe just Marcella's). Isn't she wonderful? I believe she is the first primitive I fell for.

We have to have the regular cylindrical cookie jar too!

Would Raggedy Ann and Andy think poorly if they had one with a lock? Hummm...

C&G Design

Souvenir Dolls, Dolls of the Nations

I want to talk a little about souvenir dolls, many collectors think of them as junk, but I say they have their place and while representing different places of the world, some are very beautiful. When I think of souvenir dolls I think of the little 7 inch or 5 inch dolls that are made from celluloid, you may remember the post I wrote on celluloid a few months ago, if not click here. Souvenir dolls come in various sizes and sometimes will represent a event such as Barbie turning 50.

The first two photos are lifted from my second posting of this blog entitled "Who's that girl?" She is a perfect example of a large souvenir doll and I've since found out she is coming up on 20 years old! She's a common Russian doll.

She looks like these two who were photographed as part of a site, both personal and added to by Internet followers, the owner of the site had about 50 or 60 souvenir dolls from as many countries. I was tickled to find more Russian ladies that look like mine.

I'm selective about the nations dolls I have, I like the flowing gowns,the Eskimos, the geisha's or the nation brides. A lot of my nation dolls have a tag with the assemblers first name imprinted on it, I find that personal touch, endearing.

Below is a pair I recently purchased at a Goodwill, I almost didn't notice them as they were on the second shelf laying down, they took second to all the porcelain beauties that were priced high. My little pair were $1.98 and probably the most valuable of them all. I believe they are a Scottish pair evident by their clothing.

The little girl needs washing as her ascot is very dirty, they both have wonderful expressions!

Some collectors of souvenir dolls feel they do it because they hope a "Around the world trip" is in the near future for them. Wouldn't that be sweet! C&G Design

Composition doll, Dress

I'm almost done with the composition doll #1 that Kathleen passed onto me, I really love the little dress she was wearing and at a attempt to save it, I hand washed it with Woolite in cold water. But my efforts could not mend the little holes on the bib ruffle.

The slip/pantaloons washed up really good, seems I would have to replace the little yellow party dress though.

Which looked awful after I hung it up to dry, Maine weather....if you don't like it wait 5 minutes and it will change, true on this day, not a cloud in the sky until I hung out the dollies laundry to dry!

So down at the machine I sat. No bother, I have the perfect fabric to make another dress for doll #1 (I need a name), it's the same fabric, rayon, and pale pink. It's so pale it can almost look white.

If you enlarge the close-up photo of the yellow dress you'll see part of the reason why I'd hope this little thing would be good, it has a scallop edging on the bib ruffle. I was pretty sure my machine could do a better, much thicker, scalloping. Trouble was, I'd never used it before, especially on a tender fabric as rayon.

My husband likes to tell people that I didn't, or wouldn't use this brand new machine for a couple of years after he bought it for me. He was so proud of the purchase and being very informed and knew it would do many more things that I would enjoy. But for years I used my old machine, I was very intimated but all the electronic and worried I'd break it.

This was the day of truth, see that my machine was clicked over to scallop stitch? There are a few more things that need switching, size of the stitch, both length and width. I had done the swan stitch and the tulip stitch this way and didn't have a issue. Simple.

No, not so easy, all the machine would do is zig-zag, *sigh*, I resorted to reading the instructions. Which seemed to be of no help. The stitch I wanted was classified as a decorative stitch (letters C to I), falling within the satin stitch program, "Place dial on F". Well "F" is the shell stitch and that was zigging and zagging all over the place. The beautiful lighting stitch didn't work either, that's the drop down box looking shape you see on Indian blankets. Anyway, "decorative stitches" weren't computing. I got so frustrated with it and I tuliped stitched the hem of the dress, I chose a contrasting color thread.

I felt pretty silly when I took the time to really review the directions in the manual, I was not going to not do the scallop edging! The "F" dial was on the stitch length, well! That would make sense since satin stitch is a side by side stitch and has no length!

Finally.

I used hem tape on the bib ruffle, I did so because with rayon, it is harder than heck to get a even hem let alone on something as small as a ruffle. Hem tape is ironed on then the paper is removed leaving a small rubber like line holding the hem down.

(I guess my thumbnail is still jaundice from dyeing the wig!)

I was quite happy with the bib,

and even happier with the dress.

The flower stems....

and the done dress! It's cute, it's so cute....

I decided, after I made the repairs to the shoe, they needed alittle juicing too! C&G Design.