An Edwardian Summer - Issue 4

Week 2, Issue 4

Presenting the Edwardian Pollyanna Pleated Dress in Orange Plaid by Bbeauty Dolls

Working with the Pollyanna Lemon Bay Doll Pattern

I am always overjoyed to sew something special from the talented pattern designers we work with like Lemon Bay Doll, and our collaborations provide that perfect opportunity.  What is great about the patterns that Lemon Bay Doll creates is that the pattern provides lots of different options and ideas for variations.  The Pollyanna pattern includes two skirt variations (a pleated and a non-pleated) plus ideas on making more casual looks vs more dressy looks.  I especially enjoy the ideas on variations because I use a lot of patterns as building blocks to create new pieces.  I enjoy stepping outside of what was created on the cover image and explore ways to create different and inspired looks.  The best patterns for me are ones where I can continually use them over and over to create many different pieces from, and this is definitely one that has that potential to create different looks for modern and historical.

Inspiration for our Dress

When I'm out shopping at a fabric store, I'm often envisioning outfits when I look at fabrics.  I try not to "collect" fabrics without projects in mind, but fabrics that work for doll scale and catch my eye are something I always purchase and save for later.  Plaids in doll scale I love to create pleated fashions from, so I always hoard them for later.  The orange plaid I had marked for fall, so it's a bit early for a summer collaboration, but I thought it would be a nice contrast for darker hair colors and it was a perfect outfit to show off with our new Jennifer wig in Auburn, so I couldn't resist.

As a blonde hair blue eyed girl at about age 11, my mom and grandma used to tease me to say I looked like Hayley Mills and so we would watch a lot of her movies.  Although I didn't agree there was a likeness, Pollyanna and other films became a soft spot in my childhood memories, and Samantha was my childhood first doll so there's a definite tie in.

Part of the reason I started my doll business was to continue to collect what I enjoyed and loved in my childhood.  After I collected all the pieces I wanted from Samantha's collection, I was almost disappointed when there were no more pieces to collect.  The Edwardian Summer collaboration does just that by adding beautiful pieces to the wardrobe and continuing on the story.  I like to think that this was a dress worn by a classmate or friend of Samantha's and there's an untold story that will come to life in someone's living room.

We hope we inspire you!

When I'm out shopping at a fabric store, I'm often envisioning outfits when I look at fabrics.  I try not to "collect" fabrics without projects in mind, but fabrics that work for doll scale and catch my eye are something I always purchase and save for later.  Plaids in doll scale I love to create pleated fashions from, so I always hoard them for later.  The orange plaid I had marked for fall, so it's a bit early for a summer collaboration, but I thought it would be a nice contrast for darker hair colors and it was a perfect outfit to show off with our new Jennifer wig in Auburn, so I couldn't resist.

As a blonde hair blue eyed girl at about age 11, my mom and grandma used to tease me to say I looked like Hayley Mills and so we would watch a lot of her movies.  Although I didn't agree there was a likeness, Pollyanna and other films became a soft spot in my childhood memories, and Samantha was my childhood first doll so there's a definite tie in.

Part of the reason I started my doll business was to continue to collect what I enjoyed and loved in my childhood.  After I collected all the pieces I wanted from Samantha's collection, I was almost disappointed when there were no more pieces to collect.  The Edwardian Summer collaboration does just that by adding beautiful pieces to the wardrobe and continuing on the story.  I like to think that this was a dress worn by a classmate or friend of Samantha's and there's an untold story that will come to life in someone's living room.

We hope we inspire you!

Exploring Versatility

As a doll collector that enjoys many different brands and sizes, I am always exploring fit and sizes for doll collectors and it's not always a topic that gets a lot of coverage.  At doll shows, I meet different collectors that often carry around their favorite and the first question they ask is "Will it fit my doll?"

After making this dress, I did first try it on my Pleasant Company Kirsten as she's the largest body I have in my collection and found she wore it well.  The slimmer newer American Girl dolls also could wear it.  I became curious so I tried it on a Madame Alexander 18" doll (cover photo) and then a Gotz Happy Kidz doll (above photo).  Because the styling of this dress (boxy) it looks on point with the larger doll bodies as well as the thinner doll bodies in the 18" doll category no matter the brand.  As well because this has a 3/4 sleeve, it works with the Gotz Happy Kidz super long arms and extra 1" of height. This is especially nice because a lot of fashions I have to take in for the Gotz body from an American Girl fitted pattern and elongate the sleeves for the arms.  Collectors will appreciate this, because purchasing a single dress can be used for all of these brands without a fitting issue.  If you are a collector like I am and have more than one brand of 18" dolls, it's fun to put the dress on multiple dolls to see which one wears it best!

We've added the dress to our store for purchase, we were only able to make a certain number of dresses before the fabric ran out so once we sell out of the dress it will not be available any longer, however we will be exploring more fashions using this style in the future.

See Listing for Edwardian Pollyanna Pleated Dress in Orange Plaid

Making Lockets

I love making and collecting jewelry for my dolls and when I was done sewing the first dress, I knew I wanted a necklace option.  I'm always amazed when the perfect supplies fall into my gaze when I have a particular design in mind, and this was no different.  It's a miniature and fully functional locket, which means it opens and you can put a very tiny photo inside.  It has pretty engraved flowers on the front and we paired it with a silver chain.  Each one we assembled in our studio as a perfect accessory to the Edwardian Summer collection to be worn with the dresses.

A limited number of lockets were made for this series.  The locket is available for purchase separately if you want to pair it with another outfit in your collection.

See the listing for the Edwardian Locket

Matching Shoes

When we set out to design historical shoes, we wanted to make things easier for the doll community and the sewing community to match shoes to their custom outfits so that doll collectors had options for head to toe looks.  Most of our historical shoes come in basic neutrals for that reason such as whites, blacks, browns, etc. and we throw some fun colors in every once in a while for a bit of fun.  As a regular exercise we test this theory with every custom outfit we produce to see that no matter the color or pattern, there is something to match at it's most basic level. 

The easiest match to our Edwardian Pollyanna Pleated Dress in Orange Plaid are the Edwardian Cut Out Boots in White with the amount of white that we used to accent and the white in the plaid itself.  But if we push the subject just a bit more, what if you just can't find that perfect match?  In the next newsletter issue, we will explore just how to get even more use out of our boots and shoes and spark your own creativity.

The Doll Forum

The Doll Forum is our blog and information center combined into one place.  We've posted DIY information on repair and restoration, customizing your own doll tips, brand reviews, doll measurements, hospitals and specialists, doll artist spotlights and resource information.  The Doll Forum is evolving and growing and this year we are archiving all our collaboration collections there too so they have a permanent place to view and share them.  Of course the limited collections that debut during our special series will have passed, but the photos and creativity shown by participants can continue to thrive long after the emails have aged.  If you've missed any part of the series, you can click on the Doll Forum header at the top of every email to visit past collaboration newsletters and articles.  

Instagram Photo Contest

We want you to participate!  Sharing photos of your work for the Edwardian time period and on your dolls is a fun way to spread positivity and creativity in the doll community.  Bbeauty Dolls is sponsoring the grand prize of a pair of our Edwardian Cut Out Boots in every color to the winner, so make sure you don't forget to #edwardiansummer and @bbeautydesigns on your photos.

Complete rules and information can be found in Issue 1 Newsletter archived on our website here.