Reorganizing!!!

It looks like reorganizing is everybody's priority around the doll's collector community lately.....

And finally I decided myself and went to Ikea. I've been planning a reorganization of my collection for a while. and now here it is: my new Detolf showcase!

Ligthting is awful, but it gives you the general idea.....

that's me in the corner

It was not the easiest thing to do, but we managed to put it together, and the girls now have a lot (well at least enough) space:

This reorganization left me with my other showcase empty, and this is another thing a was looking forward for: now I have the place for a few dioramas!

I've been scavenging e-bay and etsy for months, and planned four different rooms

the Traveller's library, this was the only room I was able to do with the furniture I already had:

For the Norma Desmond's Lounge I bought on E-Bay:

This lovely side table from MiniPlacesStudio:

and a beautiful old phone from MiniPastisserie

For The sunny living room I ordered this great set from Miniio

Last but not least, for The Kitchen/dining

Table and chairs from miniCHAIR

and this fully accessorized kitchen table from bedsbystar

I'll have to complete the dioramas with some rugs and perhaps some more little piece. As for now I'm pretty satisfied and can't wait to receive all these items and to start to set up the dioramas.

See you soon!
Billa

Off to Uzbekistan!!!

Tomorrow Sasha and I shall be leaving for a  tour of Uzbekistan! We will visit Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, Urghenk, Shakhrisabz. Here's our itinerary:

So, finally, the boys and girls shall stay home and we will go around the world! LOL

See you all in fifteen days!!!

Flapper Girl Giulia!

The 20's and early 30's are a period I really love, I adore the late silents, the early talkies and those great pre-code movies. Stars like Louise Brooks, Clara Bow, Gloria Swanson, are absolute icons to me. Elegant and lively.

The first time I saw a picture of Trixie Speed Rider Model Muse I thought she looked a bit like Louise Brooks, probably the raven bob hair, possibly her eyes. She had these wide sparkling brown eyes. I simply had to have her! Since then I've been thinking to make a flapper dress for her, but in spite of the great amount of pictures I found on the web couldn't make up my mind and choose one.

Until I saw this.

This wonderful fashion is in Tonner Deja Vu Roaring 20's collection, it is called "dancing the night away" and is simply amazing. Anyway,  I mixed it with this original design of the era, I really didn't like the idea of a belt on a flapper dress as the whole idea of flapper fashions was to avoid to emphasize the waistline:

I used  two different satin linings for the dress and the exterior of the coat (I applied it on velvet to get the right thickness) and of course faux fur. I also added some touches of gold and a neck chain. The golden shoes are by Mattel  (Barbie Basics Collection 002.5) and are perfect!!!

Well, I was right, Giulia IS a flapper girl! 

a true diva

I also made some B/W closeups, I tried to obtain a sharp contrast to reproduce that wonderful old Hollywood B/W. By the way this doll is really beautiful.

here she's sweet

and here she's spicy!!!

Maybe one day I shall find a doll who looks like Clara Bow!!!!

urban chic....an original design

The  Nichelle face scuplt is amongst Mattel's most intriguing ones, along with the other two "Daria" and "Marisa" of the Model of the Moment MM line. But the Pirate Barbie Doll I own is also one of the hardest to dress in an effective way. She (Olga) is a pale doll, with light cherry lips and dark eye makeup, the long black/red hair with braids and the golden eyes don't help either.

Nevertheless it is a realistic and beautiful sculpt,with her wonderful high cheekbones,  and I tried several designs and colours for her, but nothing satisfied me. Until I thought of this:

accessories by The Vogue HK

A simple grey cachemere minidress, with high collar, a grey medium lenght jacket (a 60's design) with cachemere details and high crimson boots with matching bag.

Now she's perfect, it seems to me I've found the right mix of understatement (the simple line, the colour of the dress) and aggressiveness, that reprises and enhances her general looks.

Olga

chanel tailleur...fitting completed

it was really hard, but the outcome is pretty good.....

Vittoria

Egle (she really looks a lot like the model)

tres chic!

70's pinafore dress

Also this dress comes from an old Symplicity pattern, I'm going to do some "variations" on this theme, as I really like how these pinafore dresses suits the dolls. I choose a silk and wool fabric for the pinafore and a pique cotton for the underdress.

Here it is presented by Egle 

 

and Berenice, she's more of a 60's girl but she looks very fine

yes, I'm going to try to fix her hair.....

shopgirl barbie doll dress

I loved this dress at first sight! Actually I like all the fashions Robert Best designed for silkstone Barbies so far, but I'm really not into silkstones (and presumably I won't ever be) but I admit they are a big source of inspiration.

And in fact the dress was such a success that all the "girls" wanted to try it, but I had to choose only some of them:

Livia

Maddalena

Tecla

Rebecca

Iolanda

Rachele

Maybe someday also the FR girls will try it on!!!