Pigs in Space

I mentioned that taking all these pictures of my Muppet action figures made by Palisades was making me want more of them. Well, ahem. A few things have been happening to me, so I decided to look at ebay and see what was going on in the second hand world of Muppets. I found a Pigs in Space playset going for a steal, and it is mine, all mine.

My friend Isha is annoyed at me because I didn't buy her set, but I did not realize she was selling one, and this was not a premeditated purchase.  Sorry, Isha!

This set was so cheap partly because it was not in the original box, although it had a lot of the inside packaging. This was fine by me. I don't want to pay for a box I am going to take it out of immediately.

Here it is, still attached to much of the packaging that it came with.

And look! Miss Piggy! That is one reason I decided to finally get this set- this was my favorite Miss Piggy figure made by Palisades, and therefore I did not have a Miss Piggy. (Besides, she is not my favorite character- gasp!)

August Mini Quilt-a-Long

Here are the blocks for August!

Not only am I all caught up, but now I am halfway through the quilt-a-long! Yay!

Here is one of my favorite blocks, the Ohio star. I would have been way too intimidated to try to scale it down to a three inch block, but here it is!

Here is the Double Pinwheel, another old friend of mine.

All of the blocks for August in one place! And not a speck of pink in sight!

July Mini Quilt-a-Long

I got a little bit behind on the mini Quilt-a-Long at American Girl Collectors.

So now I am playing catch up!

Woodbines does an outstanding job on writing instructions for these blocks and calculating the blocks to mini size. I really enjoy this quilt-a-long an am grateful for the work she puts into it.

On to the blocks!

This is the Churn Dash block, It is one I have made many times in full size.

This is the Greek cross. I have never made this block before. I really love the way this project is broadening my quilting horizons!

Here are the July blocks together. I know I said I was done with pink and purple, but I had been meaning to make blocks in this color combination, and the fabrics were already out.

Now I need to make the blocks for August!

Rebecca's Holiday Frock: Designing My Own Version

I thought I was done making dresses for my friend's daughter Rebecca. "That is enough pink and purple!" I said.

Then I remembered that I had a scrap of blue fabric left over from a quilt my friend made in grad school.

So I decided I wanted to make this into another dress. I didn't want this to be the main color of the dress for two reasons. One, I didn't know how much of this fabric I had- possibly not enough for an entire dress. Two, if this was the one dress the little girl had that was not in her favorite color, she might not like it for that reason. So I decided to make a purple dress  with blue accents.

I looked around at all the 1914-era dress patterns that I had not made yet, and none of them seemed just right. (Okay, too many of them had pleated skirts.)

Then I looked at dresses that American Girl had made for Rebecca.

I decided that I really liked Rebecca's new Beforever Holiday Outfit. It was even almost the same color scheme that I wanted to use.

Keeper's Dolly Duds Simplicity Pattern 1179: Pattern Review

I have admired Keeper's Dolly Duds for years, since she was selling doll outfits on ebay. I could only look and admire, as her outfits sold for far more than I could afford. Her doll clothes are beautiful, professional, and historically accurate. You can visit her website at this link.

I was very excited when her patterns became available to purchase. They are now available both on Etsy and through Simplicity. I have bought many of her patterns, although I have not used them all yet! When a new one becomes available, I just have to run out and get it.

Well, my friend's daughter getting Rebecca gave me an excuse to make Simplicity pattern 1179 for the first time. Once more I am sewing in pink and purple, and then I think I am going to need a break from these colors!

Patterns for Rebecca Rubin

Since I am researching and sewing for Rebecca a lot lately, (okay, I'm a little obsessed) I wanted to make a list of the patterns out there for her era. I do not own all of these. This list may be updated over time.

I feel that there are fewer patterns out there for this period, so it helps to keep track.

Also, why do almost all these patterns have pleated skirts? I'd like to see more dress patterns for this era minus the pleats, please. It gets repetitive.

I would also like to see more patterns for clothing items that are not dresses. Keeper's Dolly Duds Simplicity 1179 pattern has a coat, but I would also like to see patterns for pajamas and swimsuits and bathrobes and other things.

Please share any patterns that I have missed!

On Pixie Faire:

Crabapples Dress It Up

Crabapples Fancy Edwardian Doll Clothes

Crabapples Edwardian Fancy Bundle

Eden Ava Couture 1912 APRON DRESS 18" DOLL CLOTHES

Fashioned by Rebecca 1915 SWEETHEART PLAID BLOUSE

Forget Me Not Designs 1914 Girl Scout Uniform

Love U Bunches LADY LILLY'S TEA DRESS

Love U Bunches LADY LILLY'S WINTER EVENING DRESS

Thimbles and Acorns A Piece of History Dress

On Etsy:

Anne Van Doren Designs Edwardian Style Dress and Apron

Anne Van Doren Designs Victorian Style Underwear

Hint of History 1912 Kimono Variation Dress

Hint of History 1912 Shawl Collar Dress

Jen Wrenne Straight-front pleated skirt dress pattern

Jen Wrenne Irene Dress

Keeper's Dolly Duds PDF Pattern KDD08 "1914 Pleated Frock"

Keeper's Dolly Duds Simplicity 1179 Vintage Inspired Clothes

Mother of Nine circa 1910 Edwardian 3 Dresses

Elsewhere on the Web:


Jen Wrenne FREE Sailor Dress Pattern

Jen Wrenne FREE Stenciled Tea Dress

Primrose Lane Amy's Eyelet Dress Pattern

Primrose Lane Brittany Pattern

Primrose Lane Felicity Pattern

Primrose Lane Michelle Pattern

Sense and Sensibility 1914 Doll Dress Pattern

Sense and Sensibility Edwardian Doll Apron Pattern


Edit: Linouttematha from AGPT found the following patterns:

Ruthie, Emily and Me's Sleeveless Pleated Sundress
Bunny Bear's 1900 Sailor Dress Pattern
Med Welch's Mary's Dress No. 1001
Med Welch's Sissy's Favorite No. 1019

Thank you for sharing, Linouettematha!

Elsewhere on the Web: (I don't know how well some of these fit AG dolls)

Ladie's Home Journal Pattern for Lottie Lane Kestner dolls

Bluette 1913 Winter Coat Pattern for Small doll

Daisyette Vacation Clothes

The Mary Frances Sewing Book

Inspiration for further Rebecca dresses can be found at The Bleu Door. This shows dress patterns produces for Bluette dolls, and you can search by year and decade.

Melody Valerie Couture's Bluebell Dress: Pattern Review

Today I am writing about Melody Valerie Couture's Bluebell Dress, for sale here at Pixie Faire.

Birgitte Frigast Gnomes

These little cuties I blame entirely on my friend Sari.  Sari and I exchange Christmas presents every year, although not always around Christmas time. Last year I went to visit her in February and I got a huge box full of goodies. The highlight was a tiny little doll.

Ella is a gnome doll made by Birgitte Frigast. She makes dolls in several sizes, but these are about four inches high. The dolls are made of porcelain, an their clothes are entirely hand made, including her tiny knitted sweater.
These can be very hard to find in the US. Sari got this one at Kris Kringle Haus, which is only open a few months a year. It specializes in Christmas items from Europe. I really want to go some year.

I wanted Ella to have a friend, but it was frustratingly hard to find these dolls for sale in the U.S. Finally I found Mads, who was one of my favorite boys, on sale on Ebay. I also liked him because his name was close to my dog's name, Mattie. Unfortunately, Mattie died on the very day Mads arrived. It is bittersweet.

I have somewhat varied experience with them, One of the things I loved about Ella was that she stands really really super well. Mads, alas, does not. His elastic is strung wrong or something. It takes a lot of patience to get him to stand. On the plus side, with his curved arms, he can easily hold small objects!

The hats are non-removable, and I suspect that to remove the hats would also remove the hair underneath. I think they just have wisps of hair glued to the head, and the hats cover the bald spots. It would not be possible to remove the clothing without cutting it off and ruining it. And the shoes- they have little wooden shoes, like those traditional in the Netherlands- are actually part of the porcelain leg. Definitely not removable. If you like dressing your dolls, these dolls are not for you. On the other hand, I don't know where you would get other clothes that are this tiny. For that reason alone, I don't have a problem leaving the dolls as they are.

They are very charming little dolls and I wish they were easier to find in the U.S.