Sewing in miniature

In mentioning that I do a great deal of hand sewing, I should also mention that some of that is in miniature. Miniature much smaller than Barbie. These dolls are 3" tall and typically, for a doll that size, the clothes are simply glued on. Not mine. Mine are removable and award winners.

The story of my little Katrina doll is one of great humor. My older sister sews for the 5 1/2" dolls quite easily. So, while at a doll show with Mom, she spotted a table with these very tiny dolls and decided to challenge her. She wanted to challenge her oldest and given the fact that I was bored that day, she bought a doll for me as well. Now, here's the best part: within about an hour of buying the little porcelain doll who was very much unfinished porcelain, I had made a tiny dress and hat for her. A corner of tablecloth, a price tag string and a post-it note was her first outfit. Mom went nuts when she saw the tiny outfit. Here was this raw, bald, porcelain doll who'd been in pieces and very much nude only a few minutes before and now she was put together with pipe cleaner and dressed. Mom had fun showing the doll around at the show and amazing even the vendor, who hadn't expected a kid my age, as I was still quite young, to be able to assemble and dress the doll. I believe I was sixth grade at that point. For that doll, it was just the beginning.

She's gone through several hair styles and suffered two broken ankles. I tried several times to use my own hair for a wig, with no success. I finally settled on some simple fake curls intended for little dolls so she has a long wig of blond curls. The very hairstyle I wish I had myself. In the meantime, she gained several dresses. I featured three of them on clay models in the county fair, where they won a blue ribbon.

In high school, I discovered an interesting trick: professional guide sheets for human-sized patterns show little images of the patterns. I had only to add seam allowance to make them work. Delighted with that discovery, and somewhat bored in school, I took this knowledge with me to school. I was working on a Simplicty French ballgown pattern (no copyright infringement intended, naturally) in math class and still taking notes on my teacher's lecture on the shrinking and enlarging formula, when he spotted the tiny patterns sitting out on my desk. He asked if he might use one of them for his example using the formula and picked up a bodice pattern. Here's the worst of it: the bodice of this dress is princess style and it was extremely tiny. After ten minutes trying to draw the shape of the pattern he could barely see on the board, he asked for a different shape. I handed him a skirt pattern with a slight giggle. It took me a week to finish the tiny dress made from silk essence. When I showed it to him, he asked which piece he had tried to draw (after going cross-eyed trying to see the details). I used a pencil to point to the center front piece and watched him groan. I put that tiny dress in the county fair and it won a blue ribbon.

More recently, in fact it was New Year's Eve for 2009/2010, when I showed Ashley how to sew in miniature. She'd gotten one of those Polly Pocket sized Cinderella dolls for Christmas with the soft rubbery plastic outfits. Nice as those outfits are, and well detailed, they do tear. What's left after that? A doll in her undergarments. Poor doll. I'd shown Ashley that I had a doll the same size and that I could dress her in fabric clothes. Keep in mind, she's now seven years old. I dug out my tiny trims and laces and some of my lightest fabrics, but she picked on a heavier velvety fabric for the dress. I have a very simple dress pattern that really only consists of two side seams. Ashley being Ashley, remembered how to pin down the pattern, cut it out and put right sides together to sew it. Me being the good teacher, hid behind the video camera to assure I didn't take over unneeded. So, I got a video of Ashley sewing this tiny dress (on Mom's site listed as "Ashley Special") with no help but the sound of my encouraging voice. She only needed help tying off threads and sewing on snaps. That's right: snaps. I showed her how to fray check the hemline, neckline and cap sleeves since they're too tiny to sew - although I've done it, she's not ready to try that. The dress was a success. It amazed her parents, at least, her mother. Her father wasn't the least surprised since he is my older brother. Shocked her maternal grandparents when they saw it. They had no clue I could teach her to make such tiny things and left Mom demanding I post it on a website. So, I posted it on hers with my other little doll outfits.

Another time I amazed people with this little doll was my senior year in high school. For fun, I took a class called "Regional Occupational Program: Construction." In all the years that class had been taught, no girl had ever enrolled in it. For my midterm, I had to design and build a small project out of wood. That same year, I had a fashion merchandising class. So, being the way I am, I decided to combine class projects. I designed a small fashion show stage in proportion to my Katrina and took the plans to my construction teacher, along with my dolls. By this time, I had added a little gentleman doll and a second lady, who were presents from my older sister. They came with a child doll as well. I had dressed the gentleman in white pants and at first glance, he did look like he was still nude. My ladies each had very lovely dresses on and I'd perfected the fine art of making long sleeves. My teacher took one look at the gentleman and decided to try an experiment. He stuck his head out the door of his office in the classroom and yelled, "NAKED MEN!" All the girls, not enrolled in the class but girlfriends of the boys in the room, came running. He looked at me and grinned. He poked his head out a second time and yelled, "NAKED WOMEN!" Boys literally came out of the woodworks including from under a shed in the back of the room the classes had been working on. He looked at me and said, "That's the fastest I've ever had a class come to roll call!" He finally assigned one of the boys to help me make my little stage but didn't stop cracking jokes about what had happened. The stage was finished in one class period with no trouble at all. The combining of talents for my fashion class was a little trickier.

With my little stage completed, I set myself to the task of making a miniature fashion show. I decided to do the tiny show in stop motion - meaning the animation is simply a series of photos to give the illusion of movement. With help from a couple of the Disney princesses modeling my dresses, the little show was a hit. It's featured on my website as part of my animation portfolio. I had once again caused a stir with my teachers.

Now, senior year of high school meant having to deal with what was called the "senior project." My love of animation could now make itself known. My project was a hit - it'll be the subject of another post - and my art teacher was one of the judges. I told him about my little fashion show and he insisted that I bring it in to class the next day. He showed it in class and we got to watch my classmates' faces and see reactions of awe. He'd admitted to me that he used to teach the basics of animation and have the classes make flip books, but he'd never seen amateur computer animation. For that, I was the hit of the class for a while. Everyone wanted to know how I did it. Even in college my dolls caused a stir.

In high school, I discovered a strong interest in Japan after reading Shogun. So, in college I took basic Japanese. I made myself a costume-style kimono for Halloween and my sensei's eyes lit up in amazement. For further reference, sensei literally translates to teacher or instructor. To amaze her further, I made a miniature kimono complete with paper cocktail parasol for Polly Pocket out of the same fabric as the one that fit me. She lit up even more at the miniature. Sufficient to say the doll has created her share of sensations over the years I've had her.

As funny as her story is, Katrina has had a long history with me and is a very precious doll. Her outfits are seen on Mom's site but those aren't the most recent ones. The gentleman and child are also not included in those outfits. Yes, I finally managed to make him a shirt and the child has a tiny dress of her own. These aren't even all the stories I could tell about Katrina's history. She's helped me with English class projects and baffled other math teachers. Anyone who looks at this doll goes instantly cross-eyed, too. Her stories are ongoing and continue to amaze.