Anybody Got Another Pin?

After going through an inordinate number of pins, I got the pleating done for the valance and the side curtains.

I am using every scrap of a fat quarter of the black and white. I have maybe a piece 1" by 9" left....That can go in the box that is labeled "Scraps too small to do anything with.". It is also called a waste basket...

I did run a basting thread through the top of the ruffles. They will have to be folded over the rails of the canopy and have to be fairly flat. Now I am going through the spray and wait routine. I am going to have to do a bit of piecing on the valence, just as I did on the skirt at the bottom. No worries though. I have just enough. For the side curtains, I did the pleating just the same as I would for window curtains.

The only difference is, I didn't put a wooden stabilizer in the one straight pleat. I do that on regular curtains so that they will hand right.

I use a wood strip that is 1/16" by 1/4" by however long the curtain is. It makes the curtains hang naturally.

For the bed curtains, I didn't do this because The straight pleat will be glued directly to the headboard side post. As for the skirt, I glued on the strips of ribbon at the bottom before pleating.

Someone asked if the hairspray messes up the glue under the ribbon. The answer is no. I have never had anything come loose with the hairspray process.

This part is going to take a while to dry and I have some real life things that have to be done, so I am going to leave the rest of the bed for tomorrow's blog.

Now my only problem is getting Tessie to move so that I can use the hairspray on everything again. I won't say that she is anxious to have this finished, but she is ready to pull out the pins at a moment's notice.

I guess that I am going to have to distract her with something on the iPad. I noticed that "Practical Magic" is one of the "new arrivals". Maybe that will do it..... I have to go spray now.

See you tomorrow.

"You Disassembled MY Bed!!!"

"Why??? How could you??? Fix it!!! Fix it NOW!!!"

"OK, Tessie. I didn't do it on purpose. I was just trying to unbend the bottom bar on the foot board."

I really didn't mean to do it. One of the cross bars on the top was already loose. I gently bent the foot piece and the whole thing fell apart, much to Tessie's horror.

At first, she just stood there with her mouth open, imitating a guppy...."Oh! Oh! Oh!"

Then she settled down into a mild rage. "You broke it on purpose, so that you wouldn't have to dress it for me!", she accused.

I calmed her and explained that it could be easily fixed. She was having none of it until I sat down and put it back together. Then I weighted it down with the gesso bottle and let it dry.

That made her feel a bit better, but she stood guard over it and watched the iPad through the bars until she was sure.

It made her feel even better as she watched me glue the three pieces of the bed skirt to the sides and start trimming the top. I discovered that the way that this mattress is done, I can't tuck the top edge between the layers. So I simply trimmed the top where the foam start,s so that I wouldn't have to bend it. I will show you the other way soon.

Of course, Tessie had to test it for bouncing. I held my breath whilst she jumped up and down on the mattress. I was just keeping my fingers crossed that she wouldn't break it again. It held. Thank goodness!

After it passed the bounce test, I started making the bed coverlet. I discovered that the fabric that I had picked out was way thicker than I usually use. I guess I didn't unfold it after I purchased it. I just stashed it. No three layer quilt with this stuff.

I tried quilting just through one layer. That didn't look right...No puff to it. I pulled that out and then tried French knots all over....Too heavy or too light. Just not right.

Then Tessie solved the problem....."I want a large, fancy monogram right smack dab in the center of the blanket! A big, "T"!

To humor her, I tried it. Actually, it doesn't look half bad. At least if the owner of the bed is an egomaniac. Who? Tessie? Nah......

I am not happy with the whites though. The white in the skirt and sheet are VERY white. The white in the monogram, not so much. I am debating looking for something else...

Anyway, That's all I am going to do for now. With my luck, if I work on it any more, I will surely re-disassemble it....That wouldn't be a good thing at all.

See you tomorrow. P.S. I just winged the T on the bed, but if you are interested in doing something similar, this blog has hundreds of patterns for alphabets for stitching. http://patternmakercharts.blogspot.com/

Giving In....

Tessie wins again! Last night I couldn't stand the wailing, whining and whinging anymore.

I made her a new blouse, as well as a new apron. She did agree to keep the skirt. She opted for "something springy". Her words, not mine.

She found an old string of beads that I made years ago and insisted on wearing those.

Surprisingly enough, as soon as she got up this morning, she was in a better mood and immediately started helping with the bed work. Kathi asked about the ribbon trim on the bed skirt. As I said before, I did put it on with glue. However, I didn't tell you about this handy little gadget. I always have a couple of these Monoject 412 syringes filled with Aleene's Fast Grab. They are wonderful for putting a thin line of glue where you want it.

I got mine at various mini shows. I would imagine that you could buy then somewhere on line. I have never tried. They last a long time.

You need to keep a stainless steel pin in the tip when not in use. I have been known to forget to put the pin back. The tip gets clogged.

Sometimes, if it hasn't been too long, you can simply pull the dried glue out through the tip.

If you get one, only fill it half full.... You have to fill it more often, but it saves time and a lot of fighting with the plunger. And I always clean them out between fillings.

Simply rinse with hot water and if there is any glue stuck in the tip a small crochet hook or some other pointy object will unplug the point. OK. Enough about glue syringes. In case you can't tell, it's one of my favorite tools.

Back to the subject at hand....The bed. I finished putting a second coat of black on it this morning. It is drying now, as are the pleated bed skirt pieces. The bed skirt pieces have been sprayed thrice( Love that word) and are now drying. As soon as they are totally dry, I will cut and glue them to the sides of the bed.

Tentatively, the black patterned material to the left of the photo is what Tessie has chosen for the quilt. It's a little dark, but we have plans....

Tomorrow I will show you different methods of attaching the bed skirt. Then we will proceed to the quilt and pillows.

Last but not least, by Thursday, we should be to the bed hangings or curtains. Whatever you call them, I will show you those and the top treatment.

By Friday we should have a finished bed....That is only if Tessie doesn't decide that she needs more new clothes......

See you tomorrow.

Skirting the Issue....

OK. Here we go again....When I first learned this technique back in the 80s it was lots of sewing and complicated. I have simplified it so that just about anybody can do it.

First of all, I am basically lazy, so I don't always run a line of stitching at the top as I am doing here. The reason for the stitching on this is, it is for the bed skirt and I will be trying to make it as flat as possible to go under the quilt.

The first thing that I did was measure to see how long the skirt had to be. In this case it was 2 1/2" high by about 18" long(finished).The piece that you cut should be at least twice as long as the finished measurment. I usually like to make allowances for a little extra for side hems and other silly things that can go wrong.

Unfortunately, I am working with a fat quarter, so the length is on the short side. I am going to have to do two of them. I cut the fabric, on the grain, about 3" wide. This is going across the fabric. Not along the selvage. Then I turned under about an eighth of an inch hem with Aleene's fast grab.

In the first photo you can see that I have added two strips of grosgrain ribbon as decoration. This was also done with glue.

I then ran a double basting thread about 1/4 to 1/2" from the top. Leaving both ends free, I can pull from either end to get the gathering that I want.

Starting with a bottom pin on the left side of the pin board, I line the bottom of the fabric up with one of the lines on the graph paper. This will be my base line for all of the pleats. The pins are all pulled downwards at a pretty low angle to the board, outwards. Away from the edge. Once I have the first bottom pin in place, I also anchor the top with a pin stretching in the other direction. This is also at a slant away from the fabric.

Now....To form the pleats, stick a pin lightly into the fabric two lines to the right of your base pin and drag the fabric back to the middle line to form a pleat. It will look like an upside down U.

When it is where you want it, stick the pin into the board through the fabric.

What you are doing is taking two steps forward and one step back with every pin. Your fabric should be 1/2" in length between the pins, but the pins are 1/4" apart when you stick them in. This forms the U.

Alternate, first a bottom pin and then a top one. Don't gather the top of the fabric with the thread.

Just make the same pleats that you are doing at the bottom. On the top, stick the pins in above the thread and make sure that none of them splits the thread. That will stop the pleating action....Make sure that the bottom and the top of each pleat are the same. And do stretch the fabric just a bit with the top pin to increase tension.

If you do it right, it will look almost like you are using one of the rubber pleater thingies.

Just keep plugging away. Bottom pin. Top pin. Bottom pin. Top pin until you run out of your fabric. Then you can gently Pull the thread to get the gathers in. If you are having trouble getting it to gather, sometimes you can nudge the gathers with a pin to ease them into place.

Once you are satisfied with the way it looks, use PUMP hairspray. NO aerosol! It doesn't work, because too much of it floats away in the air.

I use unscented, extra hold, White Rain. You can experiment with different brands. Unscented still has a smell when it is still wet. It does disappear when dry.

You want to saturate the fabric pretty well. Then let it dry. I usually do it twice, sometimes even three times. It should be pretty stiff when finished. You don't want it fanning out when you remove the pins.

If you are in a great hurry, you can use a hair dryer to speed the process.

A couple of tips, while I am thinking of it. Please use 100% cotton, silk or linen. It must be a natural fabric to hold its shape. If you use any synthetics, expect to be a very unhappy pleater. That's just how it is.

If you don't know what the fabric is that you want to use, try the wrinkle test. Grab the material and crush it in your hand. If it is cotton or even mostly cotton it will hold the creases from just a second or two of crushing....Usually, if it has synthetic in it, it will do the "permanent press" thing....It will unwrinkle in a matter of seconds. Run the other way! It won't stay pleated if it doesn't stay wrinkled.

The other thing about using natural fabrics is the gluing. They will glue like a charm....Synthetics, you can keep adding glue until you are blue in the face...It will come unglued or start showing through the fabric. Most irritating.

One more thing, get yourself some ball headed quilting pins. They will save lots of sore fingers!

Now I have to go do the whole thing again. Remember? I need two. Please let me know if you try it. I would like to see how you do.

See you tomorrow.

A New Pin Board...

Today is about tool making, instead of mini making. The pin board that I use for making pleated bed skirts, dressing table skirts, and regular draperies, is all important.

My old one was getting a bit worse for wear. I think that I have been using that one for about 6 or 7 years. Maybe even more.

I have tried other materials for pin boards and they simply don't work as well as ceiling tile.

Styrofoam and foam core are really bad. They don't hold the pins as taunt as they need to be to make good pleats, so don't bother to try. You will just be frustrated and wonder why it isn't working.

This is a photo of the stuff that I am using. You can usually find it at home improvement stores and larger hardware stores that carry building materials. As I said yesterday, if you buy one sheet you will have a lot of stock for various uses.

For the new pin board, I cut a piece that was 12" by 18". I wanted it long enough to be able to pleat a piece to go around two long sides and one short side of a bed.

The mini beds that I make are 4 1/2" by 6". The pre made beds may vary and you will have to measure as you go.

In the case of the brass bed, I will be cutting three pieces to fit the two long sides and one short end. I will still pleat the strip all in one continuous piece. Then I will cut them to fit with a bit left on each end to turn under a hem on the sides.

After the board was cut to size, I took four pieces of 1/4" graph paper and covered the board. I carefully lined up all of the squares. Then I fastened the sheets down with transparent tape.

Next I covered this with waxed paper. You can still see all of the lines, but this protects your fabric whilst you are spraying it with hairspray. The hairspray will cause the lines to run a bit, but it won't leak through to the fabric .

I plan to go through the different steps of different types of pleating next. Hang in there. You will probably get sick of pin boards before I am done.

I have the feeling that I am going to have to take a "dress Tessie break" soon though. She got up from inspecting the new board and I noticed that she has dried gesso all over the hem of her dress. Just look at her!

Her only comment was, "See? I have proof that I work!" For some reason, I have a slight suspicion that the messy skirt was deliberate. She keeps making comments about missing her aprons. Maybe I can get to that this afternoon....Do you think that she would be really annoyed if I just washed the dress and got it out? I don't thing that would do at all.

When she gets it into her head that she wants new, washed just isn't going to do the trick. Back to the sewing room.

See you tomorrow....

Once Upon a Mattress.....

I realized that the raw linen mattress cover that I had on the bed before wouldn't look right if the color scheme was black and white, so this morning I ripped the old one off and started from scratch.... If you want to do a mattress with this method, you need an acoustical ceiling tile panel. You can get it at any home improvement store by the 2' by 4' sheet. It is inexpensive and will make many beds, chairs and other kinds of mini furniture. You will also use a piece of it for making a pleater if you use the method that I do. Get the smoothest one that you can. It comes in different textures. The smoother the better for our purposes. For this particular bed, I cut the tile just big enough to sit inside of the rails. Depending on the thickness of the foam, I use one or two pieces of tile...In this case, I had one inch foam, so I only used one thickness of tile. The tile is about 1/2" thick. Since I am trying to stay with black and white, I covered the mattress with white cotton. And since the bed will not be taken apart after it is finished, I just glued it right to the underside. I didn't bother with hemming it as I would if it were going to be removable. I folded it almost like I would if I were wrapping a package. I didn't make it overlap on the bottom. That would just add to the bulk. Since I haven't decided if I want the top sheet to show over the top of the quilt/bedspread, I just pinned it in place to show you how you would do it. I folded and glued a narrow hem at the top edge and folded the sheet over so that the raw edge was inside the fold. If I wanted a lace edge on the sheet, I would glue it under the hem at this point. Again, the folding is similar to a package. In this photo you can see the raw ceiling tile in the center of the bottom, if you click the photo. Tessie is getting anxious. It looks like she is going to be holding the mattress down whilst I go do a dust ruffle for the bed. I will show you how I do that tomorrow. I think that I am finished for the day. The temperature outside is a perfect 70 degrees. I am going out and do yard work for a while now. See you tomorrow.

Minis, Kits and an Instrument of Torture.....

I took your advice and went out to play for a while this morning. As I had to wait for the antique mall to open, I did some mini-ing to fill the time.

I painted the doors on the 1/144 house green and glued the two layers together. I painted the inside walls white. I have no idea how I am going to decorate the inside. I may just leave that part to Tessie, since it is her house now.

While waiting for paint to dry, I decided to experiment a bit. I have a big Clairebell Brass four poster bed. It has gone through several incarnations. The last one was a bed for Harry Potter after reading the first book....Way before the movies. I dropped the idea when the movies came out and you couldn't shake a stick without beating Harry Potter to within an inch of his life. I took all of the bedding off and it has just been setting on a shelf since. Once in a while, I would take it out and try it for size in a house or room box.

I have never really liked the brass finish on it. Too shiny. Tessie spotted it and declared, "I would like it better if it was mostly wrought iron, with just a little of the brass showing. It will serve in my bedroom at the townhouse if we can paint it." I do believe that was the "royal we". She has no intention of crawling under the bed to paint or even getting her hands dirty.

She is not very good at painting. She helped with the mannequin and I was pulling gesso off of her hands and out of her hair for two days after. She even ended up with gesso on the bottom of her left foot!

I am not sure why, but this bed has always had a problem with turning green and crusty at some of the joints. You can see it on the ends of a couple of the spindles. Very weird. I am going to have to see if I can get that off.

Anyway, I got the head of the bed painted before I left. It will need a second coat and maybe a mat spray sealer.

Tessie is now talking black and white in the bedroom to kind of go with the bathroom upstairs and the kitchen table and chairs. I just hope that she doesn't get it into her head to have the whole house in black and white. I am NOT going to redo her workroom. It is staying midnight blue with bubbles around the upper edge...Period!


I strolled around the antique mall for about an hour. I did find two House of Miniatures kits. One is for a lowboy and the other one is for two chairs. I will now have a set of four when I finish.

Maybe I can leave the arms off of two or them and make them into a dining set.

Last, but not least, I found a Birthday present for April. April, if you are reading this, stop now!!!

No April, my daughter, beyond this point!!!!

This is something that I don't remember seeing before. April kind of collects old 60s and 70s kitchen items now and then.

Here it is.....Mint in the box....I have a theory that the former owner was a bit afraid of it. It looks like a lethal weapon of sorts.

The surprising thing is, the name on the box. It is called a "Food Glamorizer".......???? What is that, you ask?

It seems to be a combination potato peeler, zig zag blade for running along cucumbers to make the sides fancy, on one end. You slip(tug, pull and struggle with) the handle off and under that, is a tool for making fancy, pointy edges on melons. I wish I had the original directions. I am sure that there were a million or so uses for this little gadget. It was put out by Kitchen Magician.....Aren't they the ones that used to have all of those weird infomercials with strange gadgets?

April had better appreciate this. I practically had to fight two of the shop people for it. Everybody within hearing distance was laughing. "Food glamorizer"???? I think that they were just jealous that I found it first....Maybe....(I just looked this up on the net. I found out that it was from 1963 and is now being sold for 7.99. Boy did I get a deal! I paid 2.oo for this one.)

April may have to fight Tessie for it. She sees it as the start of a really great torture chamber in the basement of her next house....Just for show. She would never use instruments of torture. She has too much fun just doing the torturing without the benefit of instruments of any kind.

Now I am going to go do something constructive. I will not play with the food glamorizer....I will not play with the food glamorizer....I will not...play....

See you tomorrow.

The Deed is Done.....

I sent out the bassinet and the chair this morning....!!! Yay!!!

Now I have nothing to do....Well, OK, that's an out and out lie. I have plenty to do, but it is just such a feeling of relief to have the things in the mail that I feel like I am free...for today anyway.

Of course, as soon as Tessie found out that I was done, she started in about her latest dollhouse. It was mine until she saw it. Now it is hers....no arguing about it....HERS!

I took the pieces out of the bag to make sure that they were all there. They were.

Then I started painting the outer shell. The parts weren't even dry when Tessie started trying to put them together. All the time, she was complaining that they were wobbly and warped. I had to sit her down and explain that they wouldn't be if she would just let them dry.

I don't remember who makes this kit. There was no label on the sack. I think that it is Laser something....or something Laser.

It is too bad that they don't make the pieces out of thin plywood like some of the railroad models are. I have to admit that these really do warp a lot! They will flatten out when they are dry, but it is a nuisance.

One thing I do like about the kit is the windows and doors. They are cut from a separate sheet and fit behind the brick wall. That part can be painted and then glued to the back of the brick wall. Therefore the windows are set back from the brick and look very good.

That is as far as I have gotten today. I am contemplating either doing some yard work or cleaning the workroom....Have you looked in there lately?

I don't understand how it can look like this when all I am doing is a couple of pieces of wicker....

I tell you it is a nest of gremlins that come out at night and mess things up for the fun of it!

Honest!

Oh! One thing I forgot to show you. Yesterday, after I finished the wicker, I made a place for the weaver's room box. I still have to do a few things to it, but at least it now has a place to live.

I rearranged things in the bookcase so that it can sit next to the Early American kitchen. At least, now it won't have to sit on the family room table for the next six months....I can easily slide it out if I feel the need to work on it.

I guess that I should go back to work now....I don't wanna!!! I want to vegetate. That would be a lot more fun....Decisions....Decisions....

See you tomorrow.

tessie here.....

hi all, i had to keep out of casey's way to do this. i managed to set the camera on a pile of books and snap these while she was out of the room. i used the timer thingy on the camera. it works pretty good.

this won't be too long, because i am having to do it by pogo stick, in a great hurry. my feet hurt from all of the jumping up and down. i am not bothering with caps. it is too hard to keep jumping back over there and changing things.

please don't rat me out. i am sending secret photos of the wicker. casey won't look back at this for a day or two. by then the furniture will be almost to where it's going and she can't do anything about it.

here's the finished chair. i really hate seeing this go. it is very comfortable. i am going to have to see about getting one of these for myself. claudia, maybe you can have this one.....maybe.

here's the bassinet. sabiha, you can have this with no reservations. there are no babies around here, so it's not needed.

oh...i hear casey coming. i had better zap my way out of here now. bye. have a good day.



OK. I saw that! The pogo stick person just zapped around the corner! Don't tell her I know. I will let it pass. I need the time to finish the bassinet and get it in the mail.

I am going to have to put a very complicated password on this computer! She is getting to good at jumping up and down on the keyboard.

I need to go back to work now. I will finish and send today!!! Real life keeps creeping in...Now about that password.....

See you tomorrow.

The End is Near....

OK. Claudia's chair is finished. Tessie won't let anyone see it. At least that was her excuse when I snapped this photo just as she was settling into it. Personally, I think that she is just having a bout of seperation depression....She knows that it is leaving tomorrow.

I don't want to make two trips to the post office, so I am going to get Sabiha's bassinet finished today and make sure that it is nice and dry. Then tomorrow I will pack them both up and send them out bright and early.

I am still having trouble getting Tessie to believe that the things that I am putting together are going to end up looking like the bassinet behind her. Sabiha, I am still having trouble getting a good photo of the fabric. It is cream with snow white sprigs on it. I think that you will like it. I hope.

I got the deleted bead jar out to find some feet for the bassinet. Tessie was delighted to see that.

Every time I pull it out, she gets excited because it is full of all kinds of beads, large and small, that have found their way in there because it was easier than sorting the colors and putting them back where they started.

You know her. Anything that is shiny, on a string and fitting around her neck is considered jewelry for her.

I am going to leave the jar open for the rest of the day. It keeps her occupied for hours.

Anyway, I have to go back to work now. Tomorrow I will be back to whatever is considered normal around here.....

See you then.

Flinging Spring!

It's that time of year again.....for the past five years, Greenleaf Dollhouses has had an annual "Spring Fling"contest with a specially designed kit as a base.

This morning, they introduced this year's kit, or should I say kits? This one is the best one yet.

First of all, it is laser cut.(no splinters or sanding) And as I said, "kits". This introduces a lot of possibilities.

As the web page explains, you can start with just the basic building or you can do it with several additions. There are wings for both sides, in two styles. There are outside stairs and railings. There are dormers and cupolas. They seem to have added everything to the "tricked out" version.

For those who are curious, here is the inside view. The dimensions are quite manageable You can make it as small or as large as you like.

I will send you to the website http://shop.greenleafdollhouses.com/Spring-Fling-2011.html and you can sit and dream for an hour or two about what could be done with this building. I have several ideas floating around my brain already. Of course, I start imagining every year as soon as the kits are released. Sometimes I buy one. So far, I have never entered the contest.....The six year old can never stick with the one project long enough to get it done before the deadline. The Russian cottage is one from a couple of years ago.

This year I want to at least order a couple of the kits. I have been wanting to try a laser cut kit. This is a great way to see if I like them.

In answer to your next question. No, I don't work for Greenleaf and am not being compensated for this. I just think that the kit is a good deal for anybody, even if they aren't entering the contest. Did I mention that the first prize is a $500.00 shopping spree at Greenleaf? And there are other prizes.

Tessie saw what I was looking at and got really excited about it...."Oh! You can add and add and add things to it. Can we get a bunch?"

As usual she can't stop with just one.

I do think that the tricked out one is a bit much, but they just wanted to show everything at once.

I went through and looked at everything and then went back to finishing the wicker pieces that I want to send out tomorrow.

I have been looking in on Tessie every once in a while.....She now has a list a mile and a half long. I think that she again has delusions of grandeur.....

For once, I can see how that would happen. The possibilities are endless.

Go look and dream.

See you tomorrow.

A Little Smoother.....

Compared to the old dress form, the new one made with floral foam is much smoother, but I think that it is still going to need another coat of gesso. The stuff that I have is too thick. I am going to go to Michael's tomorrow and pick up a new bottle.

Besides, I noticed that I should have shaved a bit more off of the left side of the bust, under the arm. That's the nice thing about this method. You can go back and make changes at any time.

Here's one of the old Styrofoam forms. I never did finish this dress. I should do that one of these days. Like the rest of this series, the dress is a copy of a real one. This one is 18th century English. One of these days......

After Tessie got all of the awful, icky gesso off of herself, she went hunting for some of the other historic costumes.

I think that I showed them in one of the early, early blogs, but rather than go hunt them up, I will just show you new photos.

The first one is a walking suit from 1895. I found that one in Harper's Bazaar. I would make one for Tessie, but she refuses to walk anywhere. She prefers to zap in and out.

The second one is from 1840, also a promenade dress. This one is really authentic. The white collar is made from a piece of fabric that I purchased at an antique fair. It was in a bag of scraps. When I got it home, I found that this particular piece was from a hand stitched night dress. It's hard to see, but leaning against the bottom step is a photo of part of the fabric in question....The owner of the nightgown had, in minute cross stitch, put the date on it in red....Yup. It is 1840! The hand stitching of the seams that were left was amazing. Too bad that the whole thing wasn't still intact.

Tessie keeps hinting that she really, really, realllllly likes that one. I imagine that she would keep it on for about two seconds.

I made a real life one of these 1840s dresses when I was in college. I drafted the pattern from a book, just like the ladies would have had to do back then....No life sized patterns for them.

I wore it one year for Halloween. It was the most uncomfortable garment that I have ever worn. Cinched in at the waist and then they turned around and made huge sleeves. The top of the sleeve on that dress was 60" around and had to be gathered down to armhole size! The hole was about 16" around.

And they wonder why women started fighting for liberation and the vote!? They had to walk sideways just to get through doors!

OK. I am going to get down off of the soap box now.

Have a good Sunday. See you tomorrow.

Another Tessie???

No. Not really. I just decided to show you how I make the dress forms that I use for my historic fashions.

For years I used regular Styrofoam for them. Last night I had one of those 3:00AM "Aha moments". For some reason floral foam, the dry kind, popped into my head,,,,Hey! Sometimes those 3:00AM ideas work. This one did, so I thought you might like to try it.

Feel free to use the drawings. Just blow them up to 4 1/2 inches and cut a piece of foam about the same size I used a piece that was about 4 1/4" high, side view 1", and front view 1 1/4".

I took a pencil and drew the shapes into the foam. I wouldn't be surprised if builder's foam would work as well.

Then I used a steak knife to cut away the four sides just a bit outside the lines.

After I got it cut out, I started chipping away at the corners with an Exacto knife. Do it just a little at a time. You can cut away, but it is hard to put back.

When it is close to the right shape, take another chunk of foam and use it just like a sanding block.

I'll warn you. This step is very messy. Do it over a paper plate or a newspaper or something else that you are willing to throw away. Good luck with static cling!

Next you have to brush all of the fuzzy bits off of the form. Then make sure it stands up straight, by itself.

Then you hire Tessie to do the icky gesso part. My gesso has been left open to the reallllly icky stage. It is about the consistency of peanut butter. It would definitely stick to the roof of your mouth, if it were edible.

Get the first coat as smooth as you can and you may not have to do a second coat.

You do have to sand it carefully after it is dry....The object is to make it smooth without cutting through to the green. If you do, just paint it again and sand it some more.

I can see all kinds of possibilities for this technique. Let me know if you come up with other things. I would love to see.

I am going to have to wait for it to dry for at least 8 hours.

Tessie and I both have to go wash our hands up to our elbows now.

See you tomorrow with the finished mannequin.

Another Step Closer.....

We finally decided to have someone else finish the front yard. It was just too much. So, all morning long, I kept peeking out the front windows to see how it was going...Walter couldn't stand it either. He came home for lunch. It's a good thing that he did. I talked him into going out to see if they were going to take away the rocks that we asked them to take....Long story short, if he hadn't come home, they would probably have left them and I would have had to be the bad guy.
Anyway, while they were doing that, I decided to stick close and clean the utility closet by the garage door.

There was a large toolbox at the back of the closet where I had stored extra tools that I don't often use....In fact, it was mostly just taking up space and getting in the way. I pulled it out and emptied it.

Tessie was rolling on the floor laughing at me. She found a bunch of the above calendar cards in the tray portion of the toolbox. If you look closely at the left side, you will see that the thing is for 1999! I guess that it was earlier than that when I last cleaned it. Hey! I never said that I was neat....or tidy.

At the very bottom of the chest was something that I thought I had lost forever. Zar, usually a gentleman and very polite, got really excited and grabbed it.

This is a screwdriver that was my great grandfather's. At least that's what my dad told me. It is obviously Victorian and it is a real gem.

I am sure that there are others out there in the world, but this is the only one that I have ever seen. It is a screwdriver with various bits that can be changed. They are stored inside the handle. You twist off the end, and as you do, it loosens the chuck that holds the bit. Thus, you can remove the bit and replace it with a different one. There is a total of seven and a half bits....One was broken when I got it. Half is missing. Unfortunately, it was the business end, so I will never know what that one was.

There are several screw driver bits, a couple of drill bits and even a couple of carvers.

If you enlarge the photo, you can see more clearly that the handle has scroll work in the casting and the end cap is very fancy.

Can you tell that I am very pleased with myself for finding it? Please. No lectures about how I would have found it sooner if I had cleaned the toolbox sooner.....I know...

The only thing that I have to report on the wicker is that it is finished and now I can start on the cushions and draperies.

Claudia and Sabiha have made their choices of materials.

Sabiha chose a white on white print for the bassinet. It is very hard to photograph. You will have to take my word for the fact that it is very delicate and pretty.

Claudia picked out a very nice off white and green stripe with pink rosebuds.

Tessie says that Claudia has very good taste....One of the dresses that hangs in her townhouse closet is made of the same material. If you want to see how it was made, go here. http://caseymini.blogspot.com/2009/01/guess-who-won.html

Ladies, I am going to give myself the weekend to get the two pieces finished. I will probably aim for sending them out on Tuesday.

The guys left with their truck loaded. They will be back tomorrow. No more peeking out the window. I can go do something else now. Like, maybe some wicker.

See you tomorrow.

Unseen Minis...

I am still cat and chicken sitting every morning, bright and early. While checking April's house for cat burglars....I spotted some of the minis that I have done for April and Seth. I don't remember if I showed them to you or not, but I am going to put them in here for today. I still have some finishing to do on the chair and bassinet and I really need to do that instead of a tutorial today. So you are stuck with photos for one more day. Be sure to poke them to make them larger.

This first one is a birdcage that I did for April one Christmas. It is pretty much all my work with the exception of the parrot on the back of one chair and the cat on the other one and a couple accessories on the shelves at the back. The rug is cross stitch on #22 hardanger. I designed it a long time ago from a photo in a book on Chinese rugs. I have since done it several times in different colorways. These are the original colors.

The parrot doesn't seem to care that there is a kitten in the chair eyeing him....He is, after all, larger than the cat by double.

The next one is a perfume shop that I did on the blog a while ago....I think that you have seen it, but I decided to throw it in for good measure.

It was a gift box with toiletries in it a few years ago. I think that I showed how to make the bottles on the blog at one time...

This last one, is a quarter inch scene that I did for Seth, the same year that I did the birdcage for April. It is in a 1" scale trunk. The whole thing fits into a Beanie Babies display box. The bed posts are toothpicks. The wrought ironwork is from the model train store, as is the window.

If you look closely, you can see the Sorting Hat sitting on a stool at the far right. His owl sits atop the clock in the second section and all of his other school stuff is in the closet to the right.

The rug is another one of my own designs. It is all done in blackwork stitches(mostly back stitch)on #22 hardanger.

Tessie is somewhere pouting again. She found the mesmerizer and had the nerve to accuse me of using it on her....Thank goodness, she can't seem to remember what I am supposed to have made her forget. Anyway, she is refusing to come out and play. I will work on her. I am sure that she will be more agreeable after I cajole her with cookies....Wish me luck!

See you tomorrow.