Merry Christmas outfit for Gigi

I was looking for a particular outfit for my newest to me doll, the 8" tall Gigi by Ruby Red Galleria. It was the grunge outfit for Ten Ping/Gigi dolls. After making enquiries in a doll group, it turned out my Sasha friend Fran had two of the outfit and she sent me one as a Christmas gift all the way from the USA! 

As you can see, Gigi and Bouncer were keen to open the gift but had to wait until Christmas Day. It was only in the evening, after singing carols in the morning in church, Christmas dinner, all family gifts had been exchanged and we had watched the newest Wallace and Gromit adventure on TV, that I finally allowed myself the fun of photographing Gigi enjoying her new outfit.

Gigi and Bouncer contemplate the parcel from the USA

The exciting parcel from Fran

"Wow" exclaimed Gigi when she saw the outfit in its box

Gigi dressed herself as Bouncer looked on

Gigi just after she had put on the boots

Gigi in the grunge outfit from Fran

Gigi on Christmas Day in her new outfit

The outfit includes a tartan skirt, a black strapless tank top, frilly knickers, black socks, black boots with red hearts and laces, the brown leather jacket and a black studded handbag (purse).

Thank you so much Fran for your kindness and generosity. Both my daughters have voted this outfit as very cool and one they would wear themselves.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Trudi wishes Happy Christmas

Trudi, my beautiful C1 Sasha Studio doll, wishes everyone a Happy Christmas.

She is wearing a new dress I have knitted for her in off white 2 ply Jamieson & Smith wool (from the Shetland Islands), the pattern was designed for a First Love baby doll (I knitted it about 40 years ago) however I've made the bodice and skirt longer, plus I made the sleeves with slightly more room than skin tight. I finished the dress on Christmas Eve while watching Nine Lessons and Carols from Kings College Cambridge on TV, with my family.

Trudi admires the Christmas tree

Side view of Trudi in her new knitted dress

Trudi captivated by Christmas

New sandals to go with her new dress as she admires the tree

My Schildthorn bauble in the tree from our only trip to Switzerland in 2008

Trudi in her new dress and sandals for Christmas

Trudi looks wonderful in off white

Merry Christmas 2022

Just a very quick post to wish all my doll and craft friends a Merry Christmas 2022 and a Happy New Year for 2023.

I've been too busy with other projects and work to have much time for the dolls recently however during the past week I have taken out the wonderful Julie Ruleman smocked dresses which were souvenir outfits my daughter and I received at the 'Christmas in July Sasha Doll festival' and put them on Melanie and Florence. Tonight I dressed Reuben and Nicholas James in the two new Dollydoodles Christmas tops and the new trousers I bought at the Chat 'n Snap in October. Of course, we had to dress Laura and Edmund in their chorister robes from their Dress a Sasha appearance at this year's festival too. This afternoon I enjoyed listening to Carols from Kings on the radio with Once in Royal David's City starting Christmas for me (we watched the recorded TV version this evening too).

This year my elder daughter sent us a Seeds Advent Calendar, part of which you can see on the wall behind the dolls. I've just opened envelope 24 and it is the seed for a Christmas tree in 2028! 

The dolls are standing on a table beside our new potted Christmas tree which replaces the one we used for 3 years but didn't do well in the long hot summer this year.

Reuben, Laura, Edmund, Melanie, Florence and Nicholas James in their Christmas outfits

Reuben, Laura, Edmund, Melanie, Florence and Nicholas James at Christmas

Reuben, Laura, Edmund, Melanie, Florence and Nicholas James with the Christmas tree

Hopefully in the coming week between Christmas and New Year I'll find a bit of time to relax with the dolls.

Advent Calendar Day 24

The pocket for Day 24 of my elder daughter's Advent Calendar contained the angel for the top of the Christmas tree. So the pocket picture of Father Christmas gave no clue.

Day 24 pocket

I made the angel from an old brown t-shirt, it has pipe cleaners in its arms and legs and between the head and body, so is somewhat posable. The dress is golden fabric (the same fabric I once used to make an ice skating dress for a Gotz doll) overlaid with tulle which is flecked with gold. The wings are made from short pieces of gold ribbon which came off crackers one year, I stitched them with golden thread onto a doubled over pipe cleaner.

The hair was black wool knitted, dampened, ironed then unravelled to make it wavy. The headband is a scrap of fabric left over from my wedding dress and both the Christening gowns of my daughters (which I made) plus some beads which came from an old hair tie my elder daughter used to wear. She recognised it immediately.

The angel Gabriel

The angel's face

Close up of the angel

The angel's wings

Back view of the angel's head

Back view of the angel

Back of the angel dress, showing the opened fastening

Back of the dress showing the wings stitched to the dress

Undressed angel, wearing the headband

She had guessed that the final pocket would contain something for the top of the tree, The package was too big to fit the pocket so was one of those which had a numbered card. She examined all the details of the angel then carefully placed it on the top of the tree.

The angel at the top of the tree

The tree was shared with her landlord and landlady, so also has some of their decorations on it, including the former Archbishops of York (++John Sentamu) and Canterbury (++Rowan Williams).

The angel at the top, above the choral scholar with the two archbishops

The fully decorated Christmas tree topped with the angel from day 24 pocket

So the Advent Calendar is empty and Christmas 2020 has arrived. This project, first planned in September 2020, has been a helpful way of getting our family through a prolonged separation in a year of turmoil and anxiety for many people whose lives have been changed and disrupted by the global pandemic. The planning and secret making of many new pleasant surprises has helped me and my younger daughter channel our anxieties and love into some tangible lasting gifts, while our nightly video calls to watch the next pocket gift be opened has helped all four of us connect, discuss, laugh, cry, and cherish our time together. 

Merry Christmas.

Advent Calendar Day 23

The pocket for Day 23 of my elder daughter's Advent Calendar contained a scandinavian folded fabric star I had made. The picture on the pocket is a Christmas tree with stars.

Day 23 pocket

I used a YouTube video to show me how to make the star from four strips of fabric, folded (no seams).

Folded Scandinavian star decoration made of fabric

One side of the folded fabric star

The other side of the folded fabric star

The Scandinavian fabric star on her Christmas tree

She was intrigued by the star and kept saying 'how' (meaning how had I made it) before putting it on her tree.

Advent Calendar Day 22

The pocket for Day 22 of my elder daughter's Advent Calendar contained a wooden reindeer which I had bought at the York Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas shop when visiting there with my daughter at the end of September. She had liked it at the time, so when she wasn't looking it went in my shopping basket. 

Day 22 pocket

Furry side of the wooden reindeer

Back of the wooden reindeer

When she unwrapped it she couldn't stop stroking it as the furry side of the reindeer is very soft.

The reindeer on the tree

Advent Calendar Day 20

The pocket for Day 20 of my elder daughter's Advent Calendar contained a miniature shweshwe fabric Christmas tree. The picture on the front, of mistletoe, was a sort of clue to its contents as mistletoe is found in trees.

Day 20 pocket

I used a left over piece of two shweshwe fabrics which were already sewn together from making a red and green Sasha doll dress in 2019 for Theresa. I cut the left over strip in half and stitched it together to make four parallel bands then cut two triangles for the tree shape so the bands came out on the diagonal - a nod to tinsel or lights wrapped around some trees. Once it was stuffed and the trunk added, I stitched on some glass beads for baubles and stars at either side of the top.

Shweshwe Christmas tree shaped decoration

One side of the Shweshwe Christmas tree

The other side of the Shweshwe Christmas tree

She was very pleased with the miniature tree, to complement the little elephant from day 18, and it soon found a place to hang on the full sized Christmas tree.

The Shweshwe fabric Christmas tree decoration hanging
with three of the other decorations on the real tree

Advent Calendar Day 6

The pocket for Day 6 of my elder daughter's Advent Calendar contained snowflakes! The picture was a snowman with snowflakes so my younger daughter took inspiration from them and made a variety of crochet snowflakes with white sparkly wool or white cotton crochet thread. She found the patterns via YouTube videos (rather than reading crochet patterns). 

Day 6 pocket

The snowflake collection on the Advent calendar fabric

The larger crochet snowflakes

The smaller crochet snowflakes

She was very impressed with the snowflakes and their intricacy. Via our video call we showed her the even larger one her sister had made which would need stiffening with starch as it was too floppy and was too big for the pocket, so hadn't been included in her Advent Calendar.

Advent Calendar Day 5

The pocket for Day 5 of my elder daughter's Advent Calendar contained a honeycomb fabric bauble I made for her tree. As a bauble it would not have fitted in the pocket, so I made it fold flat then fold out to the bauble shape, fastened with a press stud (snap fastener).

Day 5 pocket featuring baubles

Fabric honeycomb bauble

Fabric honeycomb bauble which folds flat
when the snap fastener hidden in a honeycomb is undone.

While we watched online, as she removed the packet from the pocket, I asked her what the picture was on the pocket. She noted it was baubles but decided the parcel was too flat to be a bauble. It was so funny watching her amazement as she unwrapped it and unfolded the honeycomb bauble into a ball shape, her eyes went wide!