How to Re-Cover a Horsman Lounge Chair by Miriyum of Yum Yum Couture

1.

You will need 1/2 yard of fabric, 8" X 12" rectangle of 1/4" foam cushioning, 1/8" stiff cardboard or posterboard, Fabrictac glue, spray adhesive, small Phillips screwdriver, sewing machine and paper towels, marking pen whose marks disappear when ironed. Get them all together before you start to work. 

2.

Using side pieces of fabric peeled off the chair as templates, cut 2 side pieces from your fabric.

3.

Apply glue to cardboard edges ONLY of chair sides and press side pieces to chair. Notch inner curve of fabric to fit the chair and prevent overlapping fabric. Clip wider curved side of the fabric to fit the curve of the chair. Notch fabric at the front of arms so that you have smooth corners.

Apply extra glue as needed.

Let dry.

4.

Using cardboard from back as a template, create a fresh cardboard for the back of the chair. (15cm wide and 38cm long) Mark the holes where screws were on the template. Place new cardboard back on fabric and trace rectangle allowing about an inch of fabric on all sides.

Cut out back section of fabric.

5.

Spray cardboard back with adhesive spray on one side. Lay sticky side of cardboard on wrong side of fabric for back, making sure it is centered on fabric.

Smooth fabric to make sure there are no bubbles or creases. 

Make a line of glue on long sides ONLY of cardboard and fold the long sides of fabric onto cardboard. Leave short ends free/unglued. 

Let dry.

Use a tack or reamer to mark where the holes for screws are on the finished side of the back.

6.

Apply glue to rectangular top of chair and to the top of the inner edge. Matching cardboard of back to the top of the seat, press fabric overlap onto the chair and gently press back onto the chair, folding the back to fit the edges of the chair.

Apply more glue to the back of the chair and press the back section onto the chair. At the foot of the chair, once again apply glue to rectangle and a line of glue on the inner chair edge and press remaining back onto chair, pressing crease into back and matching cardboard to inner edge of chair.

Let dry.

Match up holes on legs to holes in back and screw legs of chair back.

7.

Upholster seat cushion.

Use cardboard peeled from seat cushion as a template to cut fresh cardboard seat. (It is 15mm wide and 24mm long.) Use new seat cardboard as a pattern for the seat. 

8.

Cut a section of fabric at least an inch wider on all sides than the template. Using disappearing marking pen, mark the template rectangle on the right side of the fabric. Mark the quilt lines on the right side of the fabric. The quilt sections on mine were 38mm wide by 48mm long.

Pin fabric to foam. Using a relatively long stitch length, sew first all around the edges of the marked rectangle. Don't stitch beyond marked lines or back stitch. You can pull the hanging threads to the back after you are done to secure them. 

Sew the long lines on the rectangle and then the short.

After securing all your threads to the back, trim the foam to the sewing lines.

9.

Apply glue to edges of seat cardboard and fit cardboard to the back of cushion, matching corners. Press unquilted fabric sides to the cardboard, trimming if necessary and notching the corners of the fabric to ensure a smooth fit.

Apply glue all around edges of chair seat and to the seat itself. Press seat cushion onto chair making sure corners are even with chair and that no raw edges of fabric show at corners.

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Thank you, Miriam, for permission to publish this!

If you'd like to visit Miriam's fashion website: http://www.yumyumcouture.com

Amazing Adeles 2017

I had completely stopped buying new releases of Fashion Royalty Adele as I was not fond of the sculpt change; however, 2017 was a banner year for Adele.

"Frosted Glamour" Adele was the convention gala dinner centerpiece. It took me one second to decide to purchase her from a collector who had attended. She is just gorgeous...princess gorgeous.
The gown is smothered in sequins and balloons at the bottom. Her platinum hair is simple which is perfect for her not-so-simple earrings and neckpiece.  I adore everything about her!

When Adele "Exquise" showed up as part of the FR collection, I was stunned. This fashion - the entire look of sophistication and elegance just knocked me out. I was very lucky to get one as she sold out lightning fast. Another perfect Adele joined my tribe.

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There was another Adele surprise, "The Faces of Adele Gift Set." IT has never done this before. It is a W Club exclusive which consists of one of each Adele sculpted heads on a special stand which displays both the bodied doll and the two heads the collector isn't using. The fashions are a gown, dress, lingerie and accessories to make three complete fashions.
Optionally, one could purchase an additional Adele bodies set in order to have three complete dolls!
I don't know when this will ship so I'm posting Integrity's promo photos here.
Price of the gift set is $200. Price of the additional bodies is $35.

A lot of thought and talent went into these three dolls.

There were many more in 2017 that I liked but my collection focuses on the 16" BJDs now and the dolly funds go there for the most part.

I would have loved, but did not get, Vanessa's, Erin's or Poppy's outfits shown below...so if you would like to send one or more, just do it.

A Look At Madame Alexander's Cissy

There are just two Cissy dolls remaining in my collection and although I think they're beautiful, I'm preparing to sell them. It gets even more difficult to part with a doll after handling her and photographing her anew.

This is Vice, one of three Cissy dolls designed by Jason Wu.

The other two were Lust and Envy.  Their names remind me of the dolls from the Kingdom Doll convention, Sinful. Left: Lust in pink jacket and (Right) Envy with a martini.

They were radically different from the sweet, baby faced Cissy dolls that had been around forever.


Sometimes it feels like a curse. I just want them. There's really no "good" reason to have more dolls. (Yeah, yeah, I know I don't need a reason so don't offer lectures.) I can barely play with a fraction of my collection. I want to sell off most of my non-BJD resin dolls but then I look at them and see their beauty and their lovely fashions and I put them back in their showcase and that's that.

My other remaining Cissy is Riviera Posh. She is so unlike the dolls I collect now it's like day and night. I love them all.

She is a sweet, baby-faced Cissy in a lovely two piece dress. The skirt opens up to reveal black sequin tap pants!

Above, an older photo when I still had her short, curly wig. So cute.

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Here are a few other Cissy Dolls.  I don't have these girls anymore.

Couture Noir accompanied by a reproduction Ginny and the same doll in her gown and 2nd wig.  The red wig is made from feathers! She was pretty amazing.

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Southwestern Style Cissy's is wearing something I'd wear. The fashions were of a very high quality as were the wigs and shoes.

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I call this IDEX Cissy. She was one of 6 centerpieces at the Madame Alexander 2010 event I attended in Orlando.

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This doll is called "Velvet Deco Dream." I never had her original outfit but the one she is wearing was beyond gorgeous. It was embellished with hand beading. The shawl was extremely heavy due to the weight of the beads.

Goodbye, Cissy!

Kingdom Dolls

I rarely post here these days. Much water has passed under the proverbial bridge. Today I thought I'd just show off more recent photos of some of my beautiful Kingdom Dolls.  All of the wigs shown are by Ilaria except where noted. Furniture is a mixture of Ashton Drake for Gene Marshall and Horsman.


In this photo, Eira is wearing items from Seren's giftset.

Guinevere in the foreground wearing Superdoll and Liberty in the background wearing Tonner.

Helen in her original fashion and wig.

Liberty wearing Tonner.

Marconi wearing Seren's dress.

Morgana in an Ilaria Wig.

Seren dressed in her own fashions from "Weekend in Bath."

More Seren wearing Antonio Realli gown and "The Queen's Necklace" from Facets.

Star Wearing Viola's Fashion.

Vanbrugh in her original fashion with a wig change.

Chaucer wearing one of Seren's dresses. Wig by Cheryl Wood.

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Note: These are my dolls and are not for sale.

If you are looking to buy Kingdom Dolls, you can sign up to be on their mailing list by going to their website and filling in the appropriate spot.

https://www.kingdomdoll.co.uk

or

http://kingdomdoll.us3.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=46e3f2935f55fa1d469d0778b&id=ba8eb3477b

Occasionally, a Kingdom Doll can be found on eBay.

Kingdom Doll Nimue

I just found this post in my 'Drafts' folder. It's strange that I never published it.

Nimue is wearing a gown by Antonio Realli. Her gold wing shrug came from Guinevere earrings from Facets.

Another Kingdom Doll shot:

Viola in Antonio Realli, Ilaria Wig, Facets Earrings

Outlander Claire Fraser Costumes

Since seeing Tonner's Claire Fraser dressed in the big gorgeous red dress she wore to attend the French Court in the eighteenth century. I've been obsessed with trying to find photos of Claire's actual costume including her shoes. There are hundreds of images to be found on the internet but none better than these that show the entire shape of the gown with detail.

In these photos, one can see that the voluminous drape of the skirt is not created with pleats but with insanely full and tight gathering of fabric which would be nearly impossible to recreate in a small scale. The waist drops to a V in the front and the bodice is very low cut. 

There is no opening in the fabric at the front of the skirt as there seems to be on Tonner's gown. 

Here is Tonner's gown with the two areas of concern. In order to create the fullness of panniers, their pattern maker created a seam with pleats. I think it looks awful. The other area is the flap at the front of the gown. 

I realize that production must take into mind costs of construction and the scale but I would have preferred some other solution. 

Do you think the photographer was inspired by the photograph below to have the doll holding her skirts up?

 The actual shoe worn by the actress:

For more information on Outlander's costume designer, Terry Dresbach and Season 2's inspiration, read this article from Vanity Fair:

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/04/outlander-season-2-costumes

Robert Tonner Presents Claire Fraser

Claire Fraser   16" vinyl  Edition Size 300     Price $235.

Happily Ever After sent out notification of the arrival of this long anticipated doll. Sadly, one still cannot see her face. Neither does the gown show well. What is going on with the pleating? It looks like one side is pleated and the other is mildly pleated.
I hope this is just the photographer's blunder and not the actual gown. This is a promotional photo after all and not the actual doll.
I did not order the doll. I'm waiting for Jamie.