Fashion Doll Patterns: A New Season, a New site

Happy Holidays, all Lord Perry Patrons..

All blog postings are now available at LordPerryPatterns.com...(Lord Perry Letters)

Our newest historical fashion doll pattern is Jane, The Achiever, based on the third wife of King Henry VIII...My last post showed the inspired View A based on a museum picture;  You can view the prototype for View A and the inspiration for View B at LordPerryPatterns.com , your premier source for historical fashion doll patterns as well as specialized fashion doll patterns such as wedding, fantasy, and holiday. All future postings will be to that blog on the web-site.

Fashion Doll Patterns: Jane, emerging........

The beginning of a Lord Perry Pattern design begins with a series of inspiration; no historical collection would be complete without the six wives of King Henry VIII, of England.  Because they are so popular, we know quite a bit about them from historical sources, movies, and television.

When I decided to create patterns for these ladies, I wanted to use quite a bit of accuracy yet incorporate those details with techniques that made construction a bit easier and provide an appearance more consistent with modern opinions of beauty and styling, etc. ( I'm sure most of you recognize the influence of "Anne of the Thousand Days" on the pattern "Anne, the Ambitious",)  You can view this tradition of styling on all costumes of re-makes of older period movies, etc; the original costumes are always used as models or inspiration for the updated versions of these costumes, yet look very different in each movie.

Several years ago in London, I collected several copies of costumes that were worn at one time or another of the wives of King Henry VIII of England.  One of my favorite costumes was this representation of Jane Seymour who gave King Henry his obsessively desired heir but died in the process (too bad so many of his targeted passions were unlucky enough to become his wives!) 

Lord Perry patterns fit Fashion Royalty dolls with only minor modifications; I have purchased eight different dolls to use as models, those with FR, FRA, body types little or no modification whatsoever (Vanessa or Veronique Perrin); the FR2 and FRT body types only need minor increases to length of lower leg and lower arm pattern pieces, so they should work beautifully with the existing Lord Perry patterns. (I took a dress off one of my Barbie dolls with the vintage body type and it fit perfectly ).  I will know more when I dress more of the dolls in my costumes.  

Moving forward, I will show these modifications on the new patterns Lord Perry will release.  I will also show a picture of both the Mattel Doll (Barbie) and Integrity doll (Fashion Royalty) in the garment I construct (usually, one will wear view A and the other will wear view B )-you already know Lord Perry patterns have at least two views of every costume.  

I have chosen the doll, chosen the costume I want to re-invent, and I will now begin the construction!  Hopefully, I will soon show you the result of the first effort.  Please remember you can see all of the Lord Perry Patterns @ LordPerryPatterns.com

Lord Perry tip for the week:

 When cutting out pattern pieces ( I have my pieces ready for the first proto-type),
I always use rotary cutters and a fabric glue such as Fray-Check to seal the raw edges of the pattern.  The pieces of fabric are simply too small to suffer seam damage, especially on the fabrics suitable for these costumes.

Fashion Doll Patterns: Local Boutique

It has certainly been a busy week for Lord Perry Patterns!  This past week we had a boutique sponsored by the HOA for the benefit of club members, etc. and I spent a lot of hours getting ready for it.

We actually had quite a bit of traffic.  To the left you see me starting to set up the booth for the boutique (held the following day).  This boutique gave me the chance to do a practice run for the doll show in the spring.  Lord Perry has not put on a show for almost fourteen years, so I needed to do a trial run.  The boutique offered the venue to do so.

I am sure you can imagine how much work it really takes to get everything ready for even a small show; even after all the dolls are dressed, groomed, and styled,  the patterns organized, etc.  It takes at least two hours just to arrange the merchandise, etc.

In the picture to your left, I am trying to decide if I want to dress one of the new Fashion Royalty dolls I just received.  I decided it was too late to do it for this show (hair gets messed up, etc.)

As you can see below, I also had plenty of "help" in getting ready for the show; I must have moved Jacques a dozen times while I was trying to get ready for the show.

The boutique was really quite a success; I did not sell very many patterns that day, but I did generate a lot of local interest and expect to receive orders after the first of the year. 

The boutique was in conflict with the San Jose Crossroads doll show, so that did not help in me getting the doll enthusiasts, but it was too late to get into the show as an exhibitor when I decided to do a show; as I mentioned earlier, the boutique was really a great opportunity to get ready for the 2017 season.  It also prompted me to finish a couple of the patterns I had partially completed.

Fashion Doll Patterns: Vanessa Perrin and Fashion Royalty dolls

Vanessa Perrin in Perfectly Plain

What a delightful bonus for Lord Perry Patterns!!  (LordPerryPatterns.com)A cyber-friend introduced me to the fact that Lord Perry patterns fit Integrity Toys Fashion Royalty dolls! (Vanessa Perrin, Monoco)  I just had to test this out and used my prototype for a soon to be released pattern (Perfectly Plain #0902) as a model. I am thrilled to find this to be so very true.  

The doll is really beautiful, porcelain, (or some other material that looks very like) articulated arms and legs, and proportioned much like the old style Mattel doll body.

I am delighted to be working with the doll for my future pattern releases (this doll is slightly taller (12 inches) so I will probably have to make some small adjustment to future patterns.  However, I believe that adding only 1/4 to 1/2 inch to the length of any existing Lord Perry pattern on the market today, and possibly adding 1/8 to 1/4 inch to some of my lower sleeve lengths (dolls are the same from shoulder to elbow) will work beautifully for any Lord Perry pattern you might already have.  I am really looking forward to using this doll as a model. 

Fashion Doll Patterns: Dolls love Halloween...

Don't we all love Halloween?  It is genuinely a time to be a kid again ourselves.  I have often used one of these dolls as an original dinner or party centerpiece (You probably want to keep it out of reach of grubby little fingers).

Here are the various Halloween costumes I have shown over past years; I would be using them at the craft show next Saturday, but Halloween will be over!

Cher is dressed in Lord Perry's version of a vampire

(Queens of the Night #3004)

Lord Perry version of  a lady Druid.....(Festive Femmes #3002)

LordPerryPatterns.com

Our Country Classic (#3001) lady is delightful in her orange gingham, and our Pumpkin Princess is from Magic Moments (#3003).  I have shown her two ways because she looks marvelous in each.

Each of these holiday collections contain a design for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.  I will post each season's costume as it arises (I know, I know, that means I should be doing Christmas NOW, but I just can't get into celebrating one season before another arises.

All Lord Perry patterns for fashion dolls can be viewed on LordPerryPatterns.com

Fashion Doll Patterns: Release of Gran Bellas

Reminder: You can view all of the Lord Perry Patterns @ LordPerryPatterns.com

Lord Perry is now releasing the long awaited arrival of its first Gran Bella pattern designed specifically for the larger fashion doll such as those produced by Tonner, Odom, and MME Alexanader.  This first release is one of our popular patterns in the Chateau series; "Versailles", Gran Bella is now available for the larger fashion doll as well as the 11 1/2 inch doll. (No, you cannot get the same result by just increasing the size of the pattern pieces in the patterns designed for the smaller dolls; the proportions are not the same, etc., and you will not get the same result.)

The photograph in the top left hand corner is Alexa Fairchild Ford, the photo in the middle is Gene, and the bottom photo is the ever popular Tyler Wentworth. As you can see, the gown's fit each doll perfectly based on the design strategy used by Lord Perry Patterns.

The next release will be a Medieval Princess available at the beginning of the new year.  

As I mentioned in the last post, previous posts are all available on the LordPerryPattern.blogspot.com site.  I will be transferring some of those posts to this website as I believe they will be of interest to those of you who may not be familiar with the old site. 

Fashion Doll Patterns: New Blogsite

Administrative Aggravation

Dear Lord Perry viewers;

Sorry for a little administrative inconvenience, but as you may know, this is a resurrected  site that has suffered some of the changes that occur with newer and sometimes better inconveniences.  This one is somewhat minor, but necessary.  

Several years ago I opened the LordPerryPattern.blogspot.site with  the "s" missing from the word Patterns.  I was told that I had no choice because of the availability of that name, etc., etc., etc.  I have now been trying to establish a link with my website LordPerryPatterns.com and for whatever reason it would not recognize the blogsite.  Without going into boring detail, I have now opened a new blogsite, LordPerryPatterns.blogspot.com that is linked to the website.  I really like the convenience of having the same name, and I suspect my readers will also, however, it does mean that I have two blogs, LordPerryPattern.blogspot.com and LordPerryPatterns.blogspot.com.  All the posting I have done over the years is on the old site (patterns without the s), and a new one begins today.  Over time I will move as much of the pertinent tips, etc. to the new site, but in the meanwhile, you can look at both sites.  The latest additions will only be to this new site.

Fashion Doll Patterns: Accessories for your OOAK

Just like styling for your your body, your fashion doll needs just the right accessories for her (or his) costumes or fashion ensembles; often finding them can become quite a challenge. Of all the accessories, I believe the most difficulty is in finding just the right shoes and jewelry.

Most of the shoes are much too trendy for historical costumes, and much too cheap looking for historical or couture OOAKs. 

I have been learning to make a lot of my own jewelry for unique fashion ensembles for both myself, and realize now how easy it is to make for my fashion doll (s). Actually, one has and advantage making it for the dolls because so much design can be adapted  from jewelry that is already made.

Today's post is going to apply to making your own special doll jewelry.  Fortunately, you really do not have to have either a lot of experience or to look very far to find jewelry that you can de-construct (adapt) for your doll, and you really only need a very few tools.  The best part is that you need NO experience and can usually make it for very little cost.

IN mall shops such as Icing or Claires you can usually find many earrings that simply need a snip or two, insersion of a jump ring (found at any craft shop,) addition of a small chain and clasp using the small wire cutters and needle nosed pliars found in most home tool boxes (or craft store), about 10 minutes, and voila!! a necklace for your fashion doll. Frankly, I can make most of mine for less than the cost of purchasing them (IF I can) at doll shows or doll supply outlets.

Nigerian Princess in the upper left hand corner is adorned with a small pair or circle earring that simply were replacements for the tacky plastic earrings originally worn by the doll.  The plastic ones were removed with needle nosed pliars, a small dab of instant glue was applied to the hole and immediately the metallic round replacements were inserted.  The necklace is 1/2 of a pair of adorned metal earrings that had the ear wires  cut off, the ends cut off, and inserted around the neck. The necklace has been resting comfortably on the dolls neck for fourteen years (part of my own personal collection).  

A versatile pair of earrings work wonderfully as a base for many items of doll jewelry; I have used them for earrings, bracelets, and especially necklaces.  The second picture shows one earring with four dangling featherlike designs; I snipped away at one of the dangles until I got the correct amount of neck space, added jump rings at each side, attached chain and clasp using the needle nosed pliars (btw, two pair work best when separating the rings and closing after working in the chain, etc.)  

I have enlarged the picture to your left so you can more easily view the placement of the pieces. in these necklaces.   Remember to leave enough space for your fingers to close the clasp.  (You usually need at least three inches of neck space for an 11 1/2 inch doll such as Barbie) If you do not plan on removing the necklace at any time, it may work best just to fasten with very thin metal wire and tying it.  You can usually find metal thread of .010 mm that is virtually invisible and quite strong.  I have added spring ring clasps to my examples as I will be selling some of them at a fund raiser craft show for my home owners association.  


The picture of the necklace to the left does not do it justice.  The necklace was created from a brooch in a glitzy arrangement of silver toned metal and immitation amythest.  It is made for a Tonner doll that requires a four inch chain.  

In the picture on the lower left, I have shown a selection of the necklaces I am making for the craft show (and also for some of the new proto-type dolls I will soon be adding to the Lord Perry Patterns collection. All of the items that I have shown have been easy to find (a Lord Perry tradition); I purchased all the original jewelry or jewelry products at 50% off sales (frequent in all of these types of stores). 

As always, the success of your creation depends upon the choice of materials, the correct proportions, and suitability of the material used.  It does require a little patience and imagination.

TIP:  You can often find great pieces at thrift stores for very little money that can be de-constructed to make original art for you OOAK.