Lots of Bloomers and a Custom Order...

Looks like I am going to go with "shorts" for the short underpants and "bloomers" for the longer ruffled pants. I must have 4o different colored sets for the shorts. Now I have to stock up on the long ones. I wonder how long it will take me to make a set of each color...But they look so sweet peaking out from under the dress! I am so pleased with them. I have decided to offer free shipping on them while I am phasing them in!

What lies Beneath...Unmentionables

I am confused with the English language once again. For a few years now I have been labeling this set of doll clothing that I sell as a "Bonnet and Bloomers" set. The reason I named the underwear part "bloomers" was because I had a strange experience on my flickr site. I had posted some pictures of doll underwear there and immediately got spam messages from various sites advertising Russian mail order brides depicting scantily clad women. Seriously...Wow! After that experience I thought long and hard about how to label my product differently to prevent this from happening. It had just never occurred to me that the usage of the word "panties" could trigger such a reaction. I am sure when I post this article I will get plenty more of this type of spam. At least I have a filter on my blog. Nanananana!

It appears there are tons of different words for underwear in the English language. Do we have that many in German, I wonder? For the English language I found the following: undergarments, underclothing, unmentionables, lingerie, intimate apparel, underlinen, underclothes, panties, panty, undies, underoos, shorts, lingerie, drawers, briefs, slips, delicates, bloomers, and knickers. I guess I have a better understanding of the word unmentionables than I used to...LOL. Feel free to add to the list in your comments.

I looked up the word bloomers. Webster's dictionary defines bloomers as
a : full loose trousers gathered at the knee formerly worn by women for athletics
b : underpants of similar design worn chiefly by girls

Looks like I have been mislabeling my sets. The undies I sold were really shorts and didn't reach the knees. But now I have created sets that are longer and reach past the knees to the ankles. What should I name them?

I am totally lost here. What would be the proper word to use for the doll clothing items I make? Plus I need words that won't lead to the afore described troubles...I'd be grateful if somebody helped me name my sets correctly. Kindly leave your suggestions in the comment section. And no indecent pictures, please! =)

Ballerina Clothes - Dance Recital 2010

This weekend was my daughter's 5th dance recital. I can't believe how quickly time is passing. It seems like only yesterday she was a little toddler who was lost on the stage. With every year she is getting more sure of her place on that big stage - and in the world. I am so proud of her, and it is such a joy to watch the children grow and come into their own. I really loved this year's blue and green costume, too.

I have not made any ballerina outfits for my dolls in a while. I think the CPSIA scare is the main reason why I stopped making ballerina doll outfits completely. Lots of the materials used on kids' ballet clothes - tulle, glitter, flowers - are most likely not considered safe for a child. But I have yet to see a dancewear maker stop making dance clothes for kids who are under 12 years of age. I wonder if all the materials used in yesterday's performance had been tested for lead. Frankly, I think by the time the kids have learned their recital piece, they know not to chew and eat their pretty dress and accessories. But I must keep trying to find some natural materials for doll ballerina outfits so they can get in some stage time again!=)

My Doll Clothes on Miss Corolle and Madame Alexander Dolls

Recently I have received more orders by people who don't own Waldorf style dolls. To my own surprise the doll clothes I make looked great on various types of cloth and vinyl dolls. Just because a doll is made of plastic doesn't mean she won't enjoy a German Dolls Pocketdress... The Miss Corolle Dolls look so sweet wearing my pocketdresses....=)Last fall I made some doll clothes for a Madame Alexander Baby Doll. My 12 inch pocketdress and diaperset fit the doll perfectly!

Hedgehogs / Igel

As I was making this adorable hedgehog dolldress set I showed it to my daughter. She asked me:" What is that animal? A porcupine?" She has never seen a hedgehog in her life. I guess hedgehogs don't live in Colorado. At least I have never seen one around. Now I am wondering if and where they live on the continent. Please, let me know if you have seen one lately.
In Germany hedgehogs are quite common. I grew up around these cute fellers. I remember our neighbor taking one in one winter. The law said that if you found a hedgehog in fall and it wasn't fat enough(under 500 grams) to survive on his own you could take it in and keep it over the winter.
Too bad I don't have pictures of real hedgehogs. But they sure live on in my memory and imagination. I had lots of fun making the set shown in the pictures...

Chinese New Year

I recently received a custom order to make a custom dress to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Since our family loves Asian food, and we regularly drive to Denver to visit Asian restaurants and markets I decided to write a blog post about it to go along with this lovely dress I made.
My signature Pocketdress you see below features cute little black and red goldfishes swimming about. Goldfishes are considered very lucky by Chinese people but particularly lucky during the time of Chinese New Year's!

Chinese New Year's day coincides this year with Valentine's Day!
On February 14th 2010 the year of the Tiger starts according to the Chinese calendar.

Quote from Wikipedia:
" Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the "Lunar New Year" by English speakers. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxī. It literally means "Year-pass Eve".
Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Lunar Calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Ancient Chinese New Year is a reflection on how the people behaved and what they believed in the most.
Celebrated in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction. These include Koreans (Seollal), Tibetans and Bhutanese (Losar), Mongolians (Tsagaan Sar), Vietnamese (Tết), and formerly the Japanese before 1873 (Oshogatsu). Outside of Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, Chinese New Year is also celebrated in countries with significant Han Chinese populations, such as Singapore, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. In countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States, although Chinese New Year is not an official holiday, many ethnic Chinese hold large celebrations and Australia Post, Canada Post, and the US Postal Service issues New Year's themed stamps.
Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also the tradition that every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of “happiness”, “wealth”, and “longevity”. On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will range from pigs, to ducks, to chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. The Chinese New Year tradition is a great way to reconcile forgetting all grudges, and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone. "

Sorry about the long quote! But I found all that information so interesting and totally fascinating. I particularly like the idea of throwing out the grudges and getting rid of emotional baggage. Is this where the idea of that good old spring cleaning came from? Not only will the house be much cleaner but it will bring you Good Luck for the year. Of course, don't do it on February 14th. From what I have read, it is considered really Bad Luck to clean house on the Chinese New Year's Day itself!

Happy New Year!

Custom Doll Clothing

Happy November! It's been busy in my little doll studio. After an eerily quiet October and September, all of sudden the orders started pouring in... Christmas is on it's way.

I am having a hard time with some requests I am getting this time of year though. I receive many an email these days, from people who want to buy my doll clothes for dolls they ordered from another Waldorf doll maker. I find that it is just about impossible to change or adjust a pattern to make my clothing fit another doll. Let's say, even if a doll is the same height as my doll: I don't know if the limbs are skinny or chubby, shorter or longer, or whether the torso is the same length? The shoulders may be wider. The doll may be more chubby around the waistline... Handmade dolls are very much like people in that way! They are little individuals and you must try on the clothes to make sure they fit. Unfortunately I cannot invite the dolls into my home to try on the clothing. The clothes I make pretty much come in one size: The size that perfectly fits my 12" doll model. So I mostly discourage people from buying my doll clothes for other dolls since I cannot guarantee the fit even if they give me the measurements of their dolls...

I am really feeling bad for all the poor dolls who'd like to wear my rather fashionable doll clothes. But I'd rather not have the sale than an unhappy customer!