Welcome and Inspiration

I've got to get back to welcoming followers! I identified with Kate, whose profile says that her dollhouse is in pieces , and that she is looking for inspiration to get her started again. That's where Gammage House stood, and even though it is very much still in progress, it has come a long way. It really helped me to pick a story and a place and a year. I love messing around with research and I've spent way too much time looking at websites about Providence, and 1885. But it keeps me going, even though I confess to being a little obsessive about sticking to 1885 .

Welcome Kate!

The Aviary

This weekend , one of our friends was married. The rehearsal dinner was held in the Aviary, in one of the local parks. A victorian structure, it was a delightful place for a wedding dinner.

I started looking for something similar in Providence, and came up with an outdoor aviary which was part of a zoo that was created in 1873. I have to say that it should no longer surprise me that people in 1885 weren't colonial, but I still continue to be caught off guard by details like zoos!

This is the only picture I could find of the Providence Aviary. I guess the Gammages will have to come to Virginia!

Thanks to All Who Participated in the Giveaway.

What a lovely bunch of people, who commented to congratulate the winner, and thanked me for participating.

Some day, I hope soon, I will answer a comment in Spanish. I drive a lot for work, so I downloaded an MPG to learn Spanish in the car. Frustrating, because it teaches all about airports, and numbers. What I need is Spanish for dollhouse bloggers!

Drama - Clothes Again

We thought the commotion that ensued when Althea insisted on wearing her flowered dress over an old pair of trousers was disturbing. She found the filthy pants in the shipmaster's quarters that are now going to be her workshop.

But when Julia found out that , instead of asking the dressmaker to make the agreed upon good dress , Althea had conspired with their usually trusty seamstress to make an outfit of her own design, the tension was almost unbearable.

Inspired by a portrait of a woman in a kimono, and the bloomers that had long gone out of fashion, the suit allowed Althea to work in her workshop without danger of catching a skirt, or even worse, a crinoline, in one of her creations.

Once the tirade paused, Althea fled to her favorite spot outside her workshop. Solitude was usually rejuvenating, but a combination of anger and self criticism brought a swirl of emotion.

Persis joined her not much later. " I don't understand". Julia doesn't wear long skirts herself! "

"If you could just add a skirt , you could wear an apron." suggested Persis. One consultation with the dressmaker resulted in an skirt that met both Julia and Althea's needs. The crisis is over!

Not too tight and not too fancy, Althea can still remove the pink skirt, leaving the original ensemble to be worn for woodworking and her handyman type puttering around the house.

Woodworking lessons for Persis soon!

The Winner of the Giveaway!

Is Maria Ireland!  Maria, please send your address to me at fddlj@aol.com and I will get the kits off to you as soon as possible!

And I wish I had 21 things to give away ! 

A Follower's Dilemna- Who Can Help?

Oh, I do hope I don't embarrass her terribly, but in her giveaway comment, Lucy Q, one of the blog's followers, said she had a 1920's dollhouse still in the box that was given to her by a friend, and was looking for inspiration to get started. She thought maybe winning the giveaway would do the trick.

Why do I keep remembering this, and SO want her to get that house out and get started? Yes, I'm a mentor by nature, and am always looking for a way to help someone meet their own goals. But I know too, that we all have little procrastinations in our lives , and sometimes need a kick in the pants to get started!

A dollhouse though seems to be a relatively reasonable thing to procrastinate on- unless you feel guilty or sad about it.

I bought a good friend a dollhouse kit two Christmas's ago. The real point was to have something to work on together, and I picked the house without consulting with her. We only have room for one house with my huge antique dollhouse in the living room.

I knew she wasn't terribly motivated , but couldn't figure out why until she confessed a year and a half later that she didn't get excited about the Antique Shop kit I bought her. So once I get Gammage House completely constructed, the plan is to shop for a house together, although she fancies building one from scratch.

Some of the things I am using in Gammage House are things that I have had, and have been meaning to use for years and years, What got me started- finding the little dolls, having an idea that they needed a home, then coming up with a story based on my genealogical research.

I have a fantasy that each of us would send Lucie a little gift for her dollhouse. Something to get her started, from the period of her choice.

Or sometimes a gift is a word of advice, some help , a story about your own house and getting started. Who can help?

One More Day to the Giveaway!

Make sure that you have followed the blog , and also commented,so you can be entered in the Giveaway! Drawing will be tomorrow at 6:30 PM my time.

See the Tutorial for Making Your Own Fabric to Scale

I have added a page (see the top of the blog) on how to make your own scale fabric. I was having trouble finding fabric both the right weight, and with a small enough print to make a dress for Althea, so worked on making my own fabric. There are three different weight fabrics represented. Check it out by clicking above, or by following this link. http://halfscaledollhousegammagehouse.blogspot.com/p/scale-historic-fabric.html

Althea's New Clothes

Now for a new challenge- making clothing for Althea . I made Persis a dress which I am basically happy with, but I have something in mind for Althea's dress that may be a little different .


I don't know if you remember, but as the sisters were getting ready for the family portrait, they had quite a spat, because Althea insisted on wearing her bloomers in the picture! We often use the word bloomers to mean underwear, but bloomers were actually outer clothing , and were named after Amelia Bloomer. Bloomers were trousers gathered at the ankle.

For more information on dress reform and bloomers, see
Dress Reform

Sensible dress for a woman physician at a time of huge skirts.

Less than attractive, but functional.

Poor Althea

I got the bottoms of Althea's legs made, and was excited to put them back on so that I can finish dressing her. Unfortunately , the fabric of her body is too fragile to sew them on. I really , really don't want to put a whole new body on her. You can see why people advertising dolls say "Her clothes are sewn on and I didn't want to remove them"!

I' m going to try adding some fabric stabilizer. If that doesn't work, i'll put new fabric over the top like a second skin. I want to experiment with putting a wire armature on the outside of the body so that she can be posed , so the body needs to be strong.

Interesting - see how her head is attached to the body. She doesn't have holes in her shoulder plate. I'm not sure what is going on with that- i will have to check to see if the twin doll has holes. Doll people say interesting things, don't they!