Saturday, October 15, 2011

Halloween Costumes For My Dolls

Here are the costumes that my dolls are wearing this year. Some have been used before & some are brand new.
Here are Fleeta & Ann in their 50's outfits. Fleeta's felt circle skirt is pink with a pompom poodle applique. She is also wearing a Jantzen-like sweater set, a pale green scarf & black & white saddle-oxford. Ann's felt circle skirt is sparkly orange with leaf appliques. Her sweater set in yellow, with an orange neck scarf & orange-black saddle oxfords. Not all felt circle skirts were pink with poodles.

These 2 clown costumes are new. Nathan's clown suit is black with bright colored polka-dots on one side & stripes on the other with matching neck ruffles & fun pompoms. There is a magenta flower sticking out of his bowler hat. Donny is in a Halloween colors outfit. His black & orange gingham pants have a hoop waist. The shirt is a Halloween print. A pink & orange cat-in-the-hat Hat tops his outfit & big orange shoes finish it off.

Here is Charlie, Ben, Lottie & Howdy dressed as Dorothy & Friends - Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, Dorothy with Toto in her basket & Scarecrow. They are ready to head down the yellow-brick road.

Edith is a beautiful bride in a ruffly modest wedding gown.

Heber is a handsome Superman with his red boots & cape. He is ready to go to the rescue.

Gretchen & Winona like being pretty princesses. Gretchen's gown in Gold. She wears gold shoes & carries a gold basket. She has a sparkling tiara. Winona's gown in sparkly red. She also wears red shoes & has a sparkling tiara.

Sam's costume is new. He is a Safari Hunter. His pith helmet is woven straw. He has a nice set of binoculars & a wooden rifle.

Bitty Twins Timmy & Thomasina are dressed as Raggedy Ann & Andy. I think they are cute.

Sarah likes being a Mermaid. Her crown & necklace are made of shells. There are starfish, crabs & a seahorse caught in her net. She has a pearl in her bellybutton.

Here are the Oz witches. Naomi as the Good Witch is wearing a pretty pink gown & tiara. Katrina is the Wicked Witch in a nice black dress with silver waist corset & a shimmery cape. She sports a feathery hat & has her trusty broom.

Jacob is a Fireman with a nice Fireman hat & shiny black boots & a red bucket.

Bonita's bright pink ballerina outfit is new.

Cassia is having fun as a Golden Fairy. This is a new costume.

Isabella is nice a warm in her pink bunny costume.

Willy is also warm in his E.T. costume. Note is heart-light that flashes.

Here are 2 more new costumes. Patrick in a Ghost & Fred is a Skeleton. Are they scary?

Matt is a Cowboy with his cowboy hat & boots & his trusty 6-shooter at his side. Midgie is a pioneer with a pinafore to match her bonnet and petticoat & pantaloons under her dress.

Montie is dressed in his pajamas with blue slipper & his teddy bear. He is pushing Valerie in a wheelchair. Valerie is wearing a blue rosebud nightgown & pink bunny slippers. She also has a teddy bear.

Andrew is a Scotsman. His kilt, plaid & tam are Sutherland tartan. His sporran is fur.

Edward is a Wizard with a crystal orb-wand.

Odette is another princess, a Medieval Princess.

Dianne is wearing an old style Nurse costume. This is new. Ken is a Doctor, complete with black bag & stethoscope.

I hope you get some ideas of what you want to be fore Halloween.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Doll Scene History

When I was a little girl I had a Sweet Sue doll I named Linda and a Howdy Doody doll. I loved playing with them. I enjoyed making doll clothes for Linda. I remember Howdy having to go to the doll hospital a couple of times because his head would get chipped (it is composition) & his mouth would get very full of raisins & cracker crumbs. I don’t know what happened to Linda, but I kept Howdy. His body deteriorated, so I discarded it, but kept the head.


My daughters bought a Today girl American girl doll for me for Christmas in 1995. I named her Charlotta but I call her Lottie. I decided to make a new body for Howdy so he could play with Lottie. I made him a cloth body. Later I would redo his cloth body with a plastic armature inside so he would be posable.


In 2000 I went to Europe with my parents & my sister Beckie. While in Oberammergau I bought another doll. An Engel-Puppen doll I named Gretchen. Here she is holding a small doll.

Gretchen

After I got home, I decided that I needed another boy doll, so go with Lottie & Howdy & Gretchen, so I saved my money & bought Jacob. He is a also an Engel-Puppen doll.

Gretchen & Heber

I had a son serving a mission at this time, so I made missionary outfits for Howdy & Jacob.

Jacob & Howdy (Elder Bonnett & Elder Doody)

This is a display I did, on a round table in our famiy room when my son came home from his mission

Welcome Home for Elder Jesse Taylor

I had a room in the basement where I stored my doll clothes & the few pieces of doll furniture I had acquired. Here are some scenes that I photographed down there.

Summer
Missionaries teaching

For a few years I would put up a Halloween display in my front window & in the window seat in the family room.

Halloween in my front window

Halloween on the window seat

And at Christmas time I would sent up a Christmas scene on a round table in the family room.

Christmas on the round table

One year I set up a Pool Party scene out in my backyard & a Camping scene on the front lawn.

Pool Party in the backyard

Camping in the front yard

Then I started setting up scenes on a rectangle dining table in the family room. These evolved over a few years.

When my one of the bedrooms became vacant, I took over that room for my dolls. I put a board across the bed & put a table up on cinderblocks, using all of one wall & 2/3s of another wall. I put up some boards over the windows so that I could better control the lights (for photos).


Then I moved my doll scene stuff into another, smaller room. Again I had the tables up on cinderblocks so I could put shelves under them for storing my furniture & such. This is were all but the lastest of my doll videos were taken.


Recently that first bedroom became available again. It has a nice walk-in closet. I had my husband cut the posts for my shelving so it would fit under that tables without them having to be on cinderblocks. Now all of my doll clothes, furniture, walls, fencing, & such is all in one room. This will make it so much easier to set up my scenes. Please check out my videos on YouTube (click on the link at the right).