Gabrielle takes a bow!

Today Gabrielle got the chance of some modelling and some camera time.  I made this outfit for her last year but she never got to wear the shorts as one of my other Sashas stole them from her!!!!  But now she has them back and wanted to model for you!

Gabrielle is my Sasha Pink Dress, I think from 1979, she was obviously made before the Sashas became bigger because she is about the same size as my other older girls.  She has had her eyes repainted by Shelly, freckles and blush added by me and is wearing a lambswool wig. 

The Changing Faces of Gabrielle...

Gabrielle is my Brunette in Pink Dress that I bought about a year ago on Ebay.  She was an impulse buy as I was looking for a brunette at the time and she popped up with a buy it now, so 'buy it now' I did!  I've mentioned this on my blog before, but when she arrived, although she was in perfect pristine condition, being never removed from her box, I was disappointed in how flat her eyes were.  They completely lacked 'expression'.

So after some consideration, I sent her head off to Shelly to have her eyes repainted.  I was delighted with Shelly's work but still there was something "not quite right" about the doll.  I realised it was her hair.  Although it was full and thick and non falling, it was also very very artificial looking, it had too much 'shine' and to be quite honest, too much hair for a small girl, so I cut it into a very short bob. 

But still I couldn't bond with her.  I didn't want to sell her as I loved her new eyes.  I kept her like this for a while but all the time wondering if I should reroot her.

Finally today, I took the scissors to her and gave her a haircut....I removed all her hair and rewigged her with the lambswool wig I had made by Mary Madeco-Smith last summer.  And then I decided that I'd already done enough damage to her so I added some freckles and finally I gave her some blush!  I know the English Sashas don't usually have blush, but I gave it to her all the same.

Now I'm really pleased with her new look.  She finally has the character that I wanted and I feel that her look now really matches with her pretty eyes!  Eventually I might still reroot her, but for now here she is:

 This little Sasha really has gone through a transformation!!!

Gabrielle takes a bow....

I've had a busy week, what with cleaning the house and trying to also catch up on all the things I need to do.  I'm still rerooting my baldy Bailey, it is hard work but I'm enjoying seeing it all come together.  I hope I'll finish this coming week and will share photos of her on here!!

In the meantime, Gabrielle wanted to show her autumn outfit.  I made the blouse whilst we were still at the coast and then finished the outfit with the pinafore that I quickly made up last weekend.  I got the lovely 'retro' looking soft fine corderoy from Norway, I really like the pattern because it reminds me a bit of fabric from the 70s.  I added the beret, which I made from wool felt.  I would have liked to have made it in wool fabric but I didn't have any!!!  I think I'll reduce the depth of the band as I think it's too wide....reminds me a bit of one of those old fashions 'stove-pipe' hats!!!

A bit of sewing and a stroll on the promenade...

We are at the coast again, having come down here on Monday, and as usual I have brought with me all of my sewing gear and lots of fabric to work with.  I think my husband despairs of me sometimes because when we left here to go home the week before last, I said "I'm leaving this big bag of fabric here so that next time I won't need to bring any!" Yeah right!  I brought another large shopping bag full....he'll have a fit when he sees how much will need to go home again!!

Oh well!  So I've been sewing on our deck, I am much more 'productive' here as I love sewing outside rather than in my sewing/dolly room which, being a typical old Spanish house in a town, is quite dark....and rather cluttered with all my 'stuff'!!  I much prefer to sit here in the sunshine and sew to my hearts content.  I have made two outfits so far.  But I also spent quite a bit of time making some patterns from scratch.  I wanted something simple but that I could make as plain or as fancy as I wished.  I ended up with three different patterns....a simple A-line tunic/dress/top, a pair of capri trousers with openings on both sides at the waist, and a dress pattern to use with knit fabric. 

I used the capri pants pattern and the A-line one to make this very simple outfit for Gabrielle, my brunette with the Shelly repainted eyes.  I think this girl has a slightly more 'mature' look than my other girls, so she along with Ellory, my 'waif' redhead, might end up wearing different styles of clothing to the others. 

Today we went out to lunch in Nerja and I decided to take Gabrielle with us.  She wanted to wear her new outfit and have some photos taken.  It was very hot in Nerja, touching 40C, so I kept her well covered up whilst we were in the town, except for a few photos taken of her in front of the massive bouganvillia plants growing wild in the carpark there.  You'll see I added a headscarf to keep her head covered in the sunshine!

We then drove towards home, taking the scenic route along the coast.  As we drove through a small town called Lagos, I decided to stop the car and take some more photos of her by the sea.  It was sooooo quiet because it was during the siesta and in the summer months, most people do indeed take a nap inside in the cool instead of staying out in the sunshine...like us crazy Brits!!

Tomorrow I will take some photos of Jojo in her new outfit too!

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! I love the summer, it is my favourite season!

My Shelly repaint....

Today we came back from the coast after almost 7 weeks away.  I won't go into how untidy and dirty the house was on our arrival home, suffice to say that I nearly turned right back round and left again! 
And the heat!  Oh my goodness, who turned off the lovely sea breeze???? It is soooo hot and our thermometre which is in the shade has been showing just over 40C all day. 

Anyway, we had to come back because we've been invited to a party on Saturday night so I'm off to have my hair done tomorrow....although I'm sure it will be a waste of time as the heat will make it look as bad as it does now!  The party is to celebrate the 25th Wedding Anniversary of the parents of my sons girlfriend, Virginia.  It kicks off with a Mass at 9.15pm Saturday night, to renew their wedding vows.  Then afterwards a 'bash' at a local bar.  I hope the weather will have cooled a little by the time we're getting ready to go out, because otherwise the makeup just slides straight down off my face as I try to put it on!!!

On the dolly front, my lovely brunette girl came back from visiting Shelly in the UK and now has gorgeous 'Shelly Made' eyes!  You'll remember that I wasn't happy with her flat printed eyes and so asked Shelly if she'd work her magic on them for me, and she really has!  I'm very pleased with my girls new look.  I had sent just her head to Shelly to avoid expensive postal charges both ways, but when I came to reattach her head, so the darn elastic came apart at the metal clip.  I tried fixing it again but in the end I had to restring her with Super Dollfie sized elastic, but all now seems to be well.

I made her this outfit for her return from the UK and although I like it on her, I feel that the smocking is not very good.  It is such a while since I did smocking and even then I only did two dresses, that I'd forgotten what to do.  My smocking book was here and I was not, so I had to 'wing it'......it could have been better, much better!  But for now she's happy with it.  I think the colour suits her and the dress has matching pants, so she seems to be pleased with it!  (Socks by me, shoes by Ruthsdolls).