A Few More Dolls from My Gene Marshall Collection...

Still messing around in the "Redneck Photo Studio!" The dolls are "Iced Coffee," "Crème de Cassis" and "Breathless."

A New Dress for Gene...

I made this dress yesterday from the very first Gene doll pattern I ever purchased a few years ago. It was designed by Gerry Broerman and inspired by a vintage Vogue pattern. Don’t know why it took me so long to get to it! It was easy to sew and fits her beautifully. The fabric I used was vintage handkerchief linen (from my mom’s old stash). The belt was made from a strip of bonded leather pulled through a doll-sized buckle. I love how it accents Gene’s tiny waist.

Vintage Barbie Clothes for Gene

Well, I wondered if the old Barbie patterns would work, scaled up, for Gene. Yes, they do! I enlarged the dress pattern 130.5% to fit my 15 ½” Gene doll. The fabric is a lightweight wool challis – a joy to work with! I’m going to make the matching coat like I did with Barbie, but I think I may make it shorter than the dress for even more of a retro look.

It’s important to remember that when the patterns are enlarged, the seam allowances get bigger, too! This is my second attempt on this dress because I forgot and used ¼” seam allowance the first time and the garment was too big! The adjusted seam allowance for Gene is 3/8" which is the default seam allowance on my sewing machine.

Violet Waters "Glissando" Wearing "Gold Sensation"

Here’s the newest addition to my doll collection, Gene Marshall’s BFF and famous jazz chanteuse, Violet Waters. She was very inexpensive on EBay but I bought her an articulated replacement body (see previous post to see what I’m doing with her old body).

Recycling Old Vinyl Doll Bodies

There are new articulated replacement bodies available for Gene Marshall doll collectors to upgrade their old beloved Gene dolls for more pose-ability. I just performed that easy operation on one of my dolls and was wondering what people do with the old bodies. I belong to a Yahoo group for Gene dolls and someone in the group suggested adding Styrofoam or wooden eggs to the necks and turning them into mannequins to display extra outfits. I found an abandoned needlesculpted cloth cat head (from a pattern in an old dollmaking magazine) and placed it on the neck of the old body. Perfect fit! Now, I have to figure out how to finish it. I will either add cloth ears and then paint it or I will add paperclay on top of the cloth and refine the sculpture a little more before painting.

Anyway, here are a few photos of the muslin-sculpted head. Check out that overbite!

Hope everyone is having a safe and happy holiday!

A New Dress for Gene

I just made this sheath for one of my favorite Gene Marshall dolls. The pattern was in the April issue of Haute Doll magazine. I had made this type of dress before from another pattern, but it called for lots of darts to make it fit perfectly. And it wasn’t lined. This dress, designed by Randall Craig, is very simply constructed and has a full lining. And Gene and I are both very happy with the way it fits!

A Dress for Gene...

I tried out one of my purchased dress patterns for Gene. This darted dress was a little challenging, but I love the fit and how it emphasizes her tiny waist.

Sewing for Gene...

Awhile back, I mentioned that I had started collecting Gene dolls, based upon the film stars of the thirties and forties I found a seller on EBAY who was liquidating some old store stock for a friend and I got brand new dolls, never removed from their boxes, for $25.00 each! I bought four different ones (I could kick myself for not buying more, but I was exercising restraint!). I also bought some clothing patterns and finally carved out some time to start sewing for them. This is a simple leotard made from a cheetah print knit (with an Angora fur texture). My “American Countess” Gene is modeling. The original pattern is meant to be the basis of a skating or dance outfit – but I think it might be a nice layering piece under a suit.