Altered dress form ( part 3)

The black and white altered dress form.

This version of the altered dress form may look complicated but it is way easier than you think

Once again I used a basic dress form and some easy to find materials to create the dress.

You will need some tissue paper. I used a plain black and a  black and white print.

Other materials I used are :
Mod Podge
Tacky glue
Tiny scrap of black netting (tulle)
A black pipe cleaner
Some black beads.

To create a bodice for the dress, cover the dress form with the printed paper using  Mod Podge. It is easiest to use strips of paper for this will help to prevent creases. Cover with a coat of Mod Podge to make is as nice and smooth as you can. Leave to dry.

For the skirt you will need two strips of tissue paper. The width will depend on how long you want the skirt.  The strips will be used folded in half. Make sure they are long enough to go round the hips of the dress form easily and with a bit to spare.

The way fold the first strip.  One half is slightly  wider than the other one.

Glue and drape one strip to the hips of the dress form.

The second strip is folded in half  and then again in half. This one is draped and glued over the top of the first one to create the top of the skirt. There will be a bit left over that you can use to make a loop and a strip for the bow at the back.

Two smaller loops  and an extra slip made out of the black and white printed paper are added to the bow.

Neck and shoulder area gets a layer of black net glued on with Mod Podge.

Neck and arm holes get finished with little circles made out of black pipe cleaner.

You can decorate the skirt with black beads if you like.

Altered dress form ( part 2)

I did make another altered dress form.

They are so much fun make and to show off.

 I had  a kit for making a plastic  dress form but there were some parts missing . I felt a bit sad but . when I gave it a good look again I thought :   what  if I  I used  the two plastic body parts as molds.  and make a few extra dress forms using air hardening clay ?  I can play now and  the good thing is I can still use the plastic bits later when I find the missing pieces of the kit.

I am terrible when it comes to working with clay. But I manged to make  a decent front body and  a  not too bad  back body. I glued the two halves together with Tacky glue and left them to dry overnight.


I used the finest sandpaper I could find and sanded till the dress form looked and felt nice and smooth.

I did not have a stand for it but I think this banister pole is doing quite a good job . The thingy at the neck of the dressform got replaced with a brass doorknob.  Must say I  am pleased by the way it looks.

The finished dress form got dressed in scraps of vintage lace that a friend gave me . It is an awesome lace with embroidery and sequins on it. I just needed a few tiny scraps that I draped around the dress  till I was happy with the look. The whole thing is one piece except for the two hanging bits at the front. The paper rose got treated with a bit of gold eye shadow to tone it down a bit.

Now all I need is a shop to show it of in.

My l little doll l, all dressed up and ready.

This is my latest doll creation.   She is a Heidi Ott baby doll with a soft cloth body.

These dolls are fun to dress because of the soft body and they are easy to pose in your mini scenes.


As usual I used DMC tatting thread ( fil dentelles) which is my favourite material for making mini clothes. I used 1 mm knitting needles and a 0,60 mm crochet hook.

The crochet dress ( my pattern) is a bit see through so I knitted a pair of painties for dolly to wear under it.

The bonned is crochet too as are the little flowers. Bottees are knitted.

All patterns are my design.

I wanted to show of the back of the dress too. The bow is silk ribbon.

Newest doll Margie.

Margie is my newest doll.

She is a  Heidi Ott doll dressed in a knitted dress with matching bonnet and boottees.

Pattern is my design.
If you are interested in buying a pattern do contact me .

 Would like to know how you like my litte girl !

A bag for every day of the year

I love bags. Not so much the expensive leather ones that cost an arm and leg to buy. But fun bags, bags that are a little bit different or bags that I can alter or even make myself .

 Knitted and crochet bags are fun to make both in  full scale and in miniature.

Here are some that I made .

This article was published in American Miniaturist.

Even if you are a beginner something like the blue purse  in the photo above is very easy to make. You just crochet or knit an oblong piece of material. It has to be wide enough for the purse you want to make and long enough to be  folded into a purse shape. Making one fold to  get the back and front of the purse with a little piece leftover to be the flap to close the purse with. Close the seems and if you like you can add a handle. I crocheted a chain from one side of the purse to the other.

You can make tons of different purses this way. Bigger and smaller of course. With different sizes of flaps. Try using different types of thread , different stitches fro texture  and of course you can add different trims and bits to your purses.  The orange purse in front of the mirror and the  ecru purse on the shelve are made the same way . To the orange one I added a crochet trim in black thread. The ecru one has a silk rose as a little decoration.


If you can crochet a granny square you have a great starting point for a shopping bag. The bag is just two granny squares  sewn together with a handle added. You can make it as big as you like and use one color but a  few different colors also look really good.  The shopping bag  on the floor on the right was made this way.

Hope you will have fun making some bags or purses. I would love to hear your comments and see your photos.

Altered dress forms part 1.

I visited a vintage shop a while ago and they had some lovely altered dress forms on display. I felt very tempted to buy one but I knew I would totally have no room for one at my tiny house. I could not forget about them and kept thinking how nice it would be to own one.

In the end  I decided to make my own in 12 th scale.  It was so much fun to do that I actually ended up making several.

Here is the first one I made.  This one is covered in decoupage.

I used mini printies I found on the net. All of them are labels and adds for soap and perfume. I picked very romantic pictures. But of course you can make  one in every style you like. I think Art Deco pictures would be lovely or even pictures of pretty ladies.

You will need a dress form of some kind. Mine was a Chrysnbon kit. I wanted to put the dress form on a shop counter so  I did not use the stand and the skirt bit.

Other that then you need some Mod Podge and some very tiny scissors. Cut out all the printies and put them in a container.

I added Mod Podge to each printie and glued them  on the dress form. To follow the shape of the dress form you will have  to slightly overlap your pictures here and there. Try to keep them as  flat and smooth as possible.

When you are finished , leave to dry overnight and then check for any lose bits.  Glue them into place. When everything is smooth and secure  paint the whole dress form with 2 coats of Mod Podge.
I decorated mine with a bow around the neck and some silk roses.

A very easy and really fun project !

A most inspring blog : Artfullymusing.

I do not follow a lot of blogs  but  http://artfullymusing.blogspot.nl/ is one of the few  that I read every week.

The blog is not really about miniatures but there are tons of things that will be easily adapted to  smaller scale or will inspire a project of your own.

The theme of the blog is altered art . Anything is fun to use from the humble match book to old dolls and books.

If you love Halloween Laura has tons of inspiration for you . Her instructions are very clear and she also has videos.

I am not connected to this blog in any way but I just wanted to share this source of inspiration with you.

This is a recent project that I really like. This alchemist shop is build into a boo.

The book pages and folded and cut to shape the shelving  and the book has  awesome  decorations .

The cover is also very interesting.

This photo shows how the pages from the book are used to create the shop. 

Enjoy !