Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Wedding Day Izannah Bride Doll

Who doesn't love a bride, all dressed up in a beautiful dress? I have always loved seeing them and the doll's in the brides dresses too. Sometime in the past, I can't remember when the notion struck me to make an Izannah bride doll, but now I have made the first one. Well, you might say, Martha, you must love bows and ribbons, and yes I do. All the dresses the french doll makers have made using beautiful fabric, lace,  and ribbons twisted in wonderful bows and decorations have made a great impression on me. My skills in making these things are pretty close to non existent, only my desire to have a fancy dress for my bride drives me to try making the best fancy dress I can, plus the purchase of a very early antique skirt of a real brides dress. The skirt is a sheer lawn fabric with stitched dots. I used the wide hem for the dress hem, as well as the sleeves made out of the hem too. Making the doll spanned about three months from beginning to end ( which included several paint overs ) and the dress and unders took three weeks ( including many do-overs ). I believe the best way to learn to sew and lots of other things is to just start and ( by trial and error ) you will begin to improve and be motivated to try more daring projects. If a professional dress maker was to examine my dress, she would be amazed that I was able to make it or even a good simple dress, due to my lack of schooling on sewing, but it is pretty and I am proud of it. Marion is the first bride, there is a second one, and a third one too, which I will be making the dresses for next. Why did I decide to make three brides? Well, Agatha seemed as though she should have a wedding dress too, and looking over at Merietta, I felt she shouldn't be left out on the fine dress of frilly white. Searching for special fabric for these dresses has been fun, but the antique wedding dresses are two expensive to use for cutters and just good old fabric suitable for a dress that would be appropriate for the time period is really hard to find. It will be fun to start the next dress, as it is of different fabrics and design. I will have to study some old pictures of wedding dresses and jump start my brain to make each doll a pretty original dress and bonnet or hat of some kind. I did notice in some of the pictures I have been looking at that brides tend to have a dress  that they like, rather than what is strictly in style, so while keeping the fabrics to what they should be, style is pretty much up to the imagination. Wish me luck on the next creation.






4 comments:

  1. You did a beautiful job on this stunning outfit Martha.

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  2. Martha, I just love what you have done with this doll. Her wedding dress and bonnet is just so fine. Beautiful work...and lots of it! I can't help but wonder if Izannah Walker ever dressed dolls in wedding dresses...

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  3. Marion is lovely. I want to touch that delicious fabric! You complain about your sewing skills but I don't think you give yourself enough credit. Good job!

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  4. She looks like a frothy wedding cake. I bet you had so much fun with the frills and ruffles. The result is stunning. And ditto what Sherri said--give yourself the credit you deserve. Your work is gorgeous.

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