HI everyone,
I’m so glad everyone liked Violette’s dress and it seems quite a few viewers do too! :o) I think it was the perfect dress and time period to use some black and white pictures. As I was looking through some pictures of mine, I found a couple of black and white ones I particularly liked!
This one isn’t great, but it was my dad working on engraving or clock repair (maybe?)… he tinkered in his spare time. (kind of like me!) :o)
Here is another one… This was on our balcony in Italy. He was in the Air Force and I’m not sure what he was doing, but maybe studying for some correspondence course he was taking. May have been refrigeration, bronzing baby shoes, making gloves, small engine repair, leatherwork, engraving… who knows, as he took all those and probably many more!
Here is momma and daddy holding Cindy… one of my favorite black and white pictures!
This one isn’t black and white, but I had to show it. He and my brother, Bob, were probably having some discussion about his Alvin puppet and the way it worked. My brother clearly got his smarts from my dad… who could do and fix and take apart and put back together just about anything. (looks like Cindy, the “artist” may have made the Santa and maybe Bob scribbled on the wall! oops!) This was in Texas.
Okay, now how about some black and white dolly dresses? Anyone game?
Poor Elizabeth… I couldn’t find my pictures of her with her shoes on…
Here is Violette in her black and white set…with a touch of red…
Here’s Molly in her black and white dress with just a touch of pink… again, missing her shoes too!
This isn’t exactly totally black and white, but it came up when I typed in black and white… it just has a little bit of gold added. This was one of my very favorite Civil War dresses. I LOVED LOVED LOVED how that button became her brooch! It was made for that fabric!
Now it’s Kit’s turn to show you her black and white sundress!
Here is Isabelle showing everyone how cute she looks in Black and White! (again with that touch of red!)
I copied the idea of Isabelle’s dress for Molly…
It’s Addy’s turn again…
This is my 16″ Helen Kish Winter Chrysalis doll in her version of black and white “couture!”
Here is Bitty Bethany is black and white… with her spotted doggie! :o)
Well, I have many more, so I think I’ll continue this tomorrow…while I decide who is next for a dress! :o)
See you all tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
First of all, congratulations, Jeanne–four bids already!! I think Violette’s dress is going to be a real winner!
Such fun to see pictures of your family when you were all a Lot younger!! Yes, I can see where you get your talent for tinkering with things!
The black and white dresses were a treat!! I think my favorite was Winter Chrysalis’s jumper with blouse. I have always loved jumpers. I also love how well the print worked for Addie’s dress.
Ron seems to have perked up some once again. We will go out for lunch on Saturday to celebrate our 50th anniversary. We did a party for our 40th, and I’m glad we did it then.
Charlotte, I want to wish you and Ron a wonderful 50th. So happy for you. David and I still have six years to go – well maybe it’s 5 1/2 now.
Dear Charlotte, how wonderful! I am so happy for you. Have a great anniversary celebration.
HI Charlotte,
Not that anyone’s counting, “but” there are 5 bids now! I’m so excited to see where this dress is going and which dolly gets to wear it! :o)
Early Congratulations to you and Ron! What a milestone to make it to! We are 7 years behind you!
Thanks Charlotte,
Blessings, Jeanne
Well, if you aren’t your Daddy’s girl in looks and hobbies, Jeanne! You and your sisters really take after him, and I have never really seen your brother’s pictures enough to know if he resembles your father or mother, but you three girls sure do favor your father! I also see where you get your resourcefulness! It is fun to take a look back!
Of course, black and white pictures were really the only kind there were for snapshots when I was small and not so small, but there were so called color pictures, that really didn’t look very natural. I much preferred the sepia toned pictures, and that’s what my wedding pictures were. Since people took color snapshots too, we have both, but the really professional pictures were the sepia toned ones.
Oh my, all those black and white outfits you have made through the years! I especially loved Molly and Isabelle’s matching dresses and Violette’s touch of red outfit!
I can’t believe you have no cicadas! Ours just came overnight and it was an invasion, for sure!
I kept hearing there was going to be an invasion of cicadas and then I heard nothing more. It did mention your area was going to be hard hit. I guess they were right. Thankfully none here, but we have to contend with red wasps every spring and I think I’d rather have cicadas. They nest anywhere and we have to stay vigilant for several weeks to stop the nests before they grow. Last year while they were doing my addition, before they got the screen on the A/C vent, they got into the vent and made many little red wasps that eventually came through the ceiling vent into my second bathroom. It was not a fun time and I was thankful when they stopped coming. How long will your cicada invasion last?
They say about 6 weeks, so that long enough for me! The Butterfly House here is hosting a cicada cooking class, believe it or not! No, I’m NOT going!
My dad died when I was 17, Cindy was 18 and had just gotten married, my brother Bob was 15 and Deb was 10, I think!
I know if my dad had lived, we would have had LOTS of fun doing things together!
Just wait till you see the rest of the black and white outfits! I didn’t realize I had made so many…
No cicadas here… at least so far… I hope they stay up north… of course, it would be nice if they were a bit north of you, don’t you agree?
Thanks Linda,
Blessings, Jeanne
What nice black and white pictures of your family. You favor your dad, I think. It’s nice to see the one of your mom and dad and Cindy ( who is as cute as a button!).
It’s always fun to see your past designs and which girls modeled them. Some I’ve never seen. I really love the black and white check outfits the most, but they’re all so special.
HI Paula,
Yes, all us kids favored our dad, but I think I see momma in me some days when I look in the mirror! :o)
There will be more black and white outfits tomorrow… hope you enjoy them just as much!
Thanks Paula,
Blessings, Jeanne
I do love black/white checks. I enjoyed seeing Isabelle’s dress and would love to see it made in a Ruby Red Fashion Friends size, but with a knee length skirt. So cute with the scotty dog.
What year was that pic of your parents and Cindy taken? I don’t know about anyone else, but we certainly didn’t have many pictures taken during the 50’s. Just some snapshots. Probably because film came in rolls and had to be developed weeks later. No remote, like now, to capture good views of everyone so no eyes were closed. And, no more photo albums. Times certainly have changed. So great to see pictures taken minutes before or emailed in a timely manor. And I don’t miss crouching in the hall closet in total darkness loading film into a canister that I would develop in the bathroom in 70’s. But, making those black and white enlargements was a lot of fun. Oh, the old days. 🙂
HI Joy,
I made a note of the black and white checked dress on Isabelle for a RRFF doll one of these days. I did like it too! And there is one that I’m showing tomorrow that I’d like to make for the RRFF dolls too. I’ll see if you can guess which one! :o)
The picture of momma and daddy with Cindy was probably taken in 1955. Cindy was born in April of ’55, and it looks a bit cool there, so maybe it was October or November… she looks about 6-8 months old there. It’s funny…my dad had coal black hair and all us kids got the dark hair… but my mom had bright red hair like Rebecca’s and I got 2 kids with red hair.
I remember getting some place dark to load the camera’s too… those were the good ole days… well parts of them were. :o)
Thanks Joy,
Blessings, Jeanne
Your dad was a very handsome man and talented too. His inquisitiveness and desire to learn new things has definitely shown up in his children. How blessed you were to have him for your dad. Great pictures!
I love black and white clothes. All of them shown are beautiful and adding a little color here and there really makes the outfit come alive. Is the pattern you used for the jumper outfit for your Kish Chrysalis doll yours or did you use one already created? I would love to make this outfit for my Lark Pistachio. I would love for you to describe how you did Violette’s pleated skirt with the yoke. I love the look but I’m not sure how to create it and get the yoke just right.
Had a little excitement here yesterday. It could have been worse by far but it did interrupt my day. It was about 3:30 p.m. and I was about to go to my sewing room to construct my second embroidered pillow cover when David came in the back door obviously in distress. He told me I needed to take him to Bellville to emergency. Boy the things that can run through your head in just a few seconds. Finally I asked what happened and he showed me his elbow. It did not look good. He and Sean had been working at releasing a stubborn bolt on his loader so they could take the part into the repair shop. Sean was knocking it out with a sledgehammer on one side and David was pulling it from the other. It had been stubborn but then suddenly came loose. David fell backward landing on his backside but his arm went back into a pile of parts and something cut into his arm at the elbow. Fortunately after three hours at emergency (small town thankfully), a tetanus shot and some bandaging he learned there was no bone damage just some tissue damage and all would be well in a few days. He’s always done something like this from time-to-time over the years but as he gets older it tends to concern me more than it used to, especially when he comes into the house huffing and puffing like he can’t catch his breath. They say some stress is good but that’s enough for me for a while.
Oh, so sorry to hear about David’s accident. Glad it wasn’t worse, but so scary. At least he’s caught up on his tetanus shots. Poor guy.
I agree on the Kish jumper. I too would like that pattern. I understand that the Kish 14″ shoes fit RubyReds and wonder if the outfits do too? If I’ve asked this before, please forgive me, but I’d like to see one of the Kish outfits on a RubyRed for comparison. I’d love to see your embroidered pillow covers when they are finished too.
Joy, I don’t know about the shoes because I ordered the ones with the heels for my Kish (her feet adjust the RRFFs don’t) and as far as the clothes, I can try an outfit I made for Lark on one of my RRFF girls and see. The pillows turned out nice but if I were to do them over again I would not use a 19″ pillow form. They look huge. I wanted them for my settee on the breezeway but they will end up on my living room sofa. From now on I will use a 16″. Don’t know what I was thinking. But the pillows are pretty but now I feel I’m back to square one for my settee.
Dear Barbara, I am sorry to hear about your “excitement.” I sometimes feel like I want to bubble wrap the people about whom I care. I am glad that your husband is alright now.
HI Barbara,
Yes, we certainly had a wonderful dad. His life was cut too short by a brain tumor. He was the baby of his family and died at 42.
The dress for the Chrysalis jumper and blouse was made up by me… I always thought it looked like something from a Vogue pattern book or a Mademoiselle magazine. Silly me!
I’m sure I could walk you through how to make Violette’s skirt. I may have even shown it on a blog post when I did that set. I’ll check.
Barbara, being married to a “part time” handyman, I am used to seeing my hubby’s arms cut up and scraped and bruised. He gets more scrapes and cuts than anyone I know. This is how bad it gets… he picks his shirts by which ones have the longest sleeves when he is going somewhere where he doesn’t want his arms to show… He wants them to be long enough and comfortable enough that he doesn’t have to roll up the sleeves. I think if the average person saw his arms from elbow to the tips of his fingers, they would swear he was in a fight or mauled by a wild animal. When he worked at the University on the Farms, he would get so many cuts and scrapes, he was advised to get a tetanus shot every year… not every 10 years like normal.
I sure hope your hubby isn’t too sore the next few days… cuts and scrapes can really hurt!
Thanks Barbara,
Blessings, Jeanne
Dear Jeanne, I love the photos of your family. I always love the memories that old photos elicit.
Thanks for sharing your dolly dresses. My favorite is the one worn by the Helen Kish doll.
HI Dorothy,
Old pictures take me down memory lane too… you should have seen how long I looked at the pictures I found of my dad and then I discovered some Easter dresses of us kids a long time ago. I had to open them up and look at all the details in them.
I’m glad you enjoyed the doll dresses. There are more for tomorrow… I hope you find another favorite! :o)
Blessings, Jeanne