Project: Pippi Longstocking 4

Well she's finally finished.

According to the story Pippi is dressed in a blue dress with red patches, all because she ran out of blue fabric. Realistically if you ran out of fabric, you would not add patches to a completed dress, you would simply cut the parts where you were short in a different fabric.

So that is exactly what I have done with my Pippi's dress. :)

Instead of patches, she has an odd red strap and a patch pocket.

It's a beautiful day here in Melbourne, the sun is shining and there's very little wind, so I'm off to enjoy it and perhaps take a few dolly photos. I hope you are all enjoying a relaxing weekend too!

Big hugs,

X

Project: Pippi Longstocking 3

This is the second time I have attempted this post! The first time I accidently zapped the whole darn thing after I had uploaded photos and typed a good four paragraphs . . . was NOT HAPPY JAN!

-------------------------

I began my post with an excerpt from Chapter One (Pippi Moves into Via Villekulla) in my Pippi Longstocking book by Astrid Lindgren.

"Her hair was the colour of a carrot and it was plaited in two tight plaits that stuck straight out, Her nose was the shape of a very small potato, and it was completely covered with freckles. Under her nose was an exceptionally wide mouth with nice white teeth.

Her dress was quite odd. Pippi had made it herself. It was supposed to have been blue, but there hadn't been enough blue material, so Pippi had decided to sew on little red patches here and there. On her long thin legs she wore long stockings, one of them brown and the other black. And she wore black shoes that were exactly twice the length of her feet."

As you are already aware, my Pippi has carrot red hair. I have since combed out the curls, plaited and wired them. Freckles are now scattered over her nose and she already had a wide smile that showed off her tiny white teeth, so that needed nothing.

I've begun from the bottom up, although I have selected the fabrics for her dress too, but more on that later.

 I didn't have any brown socks, so I tea dyed a white pair of baby socks and the black doll stockings I found in my stash were far too long, so I cut the top off one, made a hem at the top and threaded elastic through to hold it up.

The extremely large shoes Pippi wears in the story, were hard to come by. I had lots of large shoes, but not black, though I did find a pair of long boots that were large, but not quite twice as long as my Pippi's feet. They are, however, certainly much bigger that her feet (probably half the length again). I thought they would be okay if I cut the height of them down to a size that looked reasonably like shoes.

So that's what I have achieved so far, pictures of the dress will follow later.
Big hugs,
X

Project: Pippi Longstocking 2

For my Pippi, I purchased an Australian Girl (Matilda) doll. I had seen a few of these dolls online, but never actually seen one "in the flesh" before and I was very pleased with her when she arrived.

Her vinyl is smooth and an attractive colour. I've never been keen on fabric stuffed bodies, however, her firmly stuffed fabric torso only extends from just under the bustline to her crotch. Her limbs have an acceptable degree of movement and her head can be rotated in several directions which is critical when photographing a doll. 

She has a very pleasant face with a lovely smile. Her shoulder length hair is curly and reasonably soft to touch. I like her big green eyes and those little teeth are perfect . . . not too large or intrusive.

Lashes are a soft, but I would like them better if they were more shapely. She can sleep on her back and she has body blushing in the right places.

She has a little gap in her toes, so she can wear thongs (flip flops) on her feet. 

The fingers on her hands are quite nice, not too pudgy with beautifully shaped fingernails.They are partially curved, so she can hold things, like a ball or perhaps a teddy bear.

Overall, I think she was the right choice for my Pippi. What do you think?

Project: Pippi Longstocking 1

My Pippi (yet to be completed) is inspired by the Pippi Långstrump books written by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, which were first published in 1945.

REFERENCE WIKIPEDIA: Pippi is red-haired, freckled, unconventional and superhumanly strong – able to lift her horse one-handed. She is playful and unpredictable. She often makes fun of unreasonable adults, especially if they are pompous and condescending. Her anger comes out in extreme cases, such as when a man ill-treats his horse. Pippi, like Peter Pan, does not want to grow up. She is the daughter of a buccaneer captain and has adventure stories to tell about that too. Her four best friends are her horse who is nameless, a monkey called Mr. Nilsson, and the neighbours' children, Tommy and Annika. Pippi's two main possessions are a suitcase full of gold coins (which she used to buy her horse) and a large chest of drawers containing various small treasures.

The first U.S. edition was published late in 1950 by The Viking Press with illustrations by Louis S. Glanzman.

My edition is more recent, it was published in the UK in 2007 and is illustrated by Lauren Child.

All the illustrations of Pippi vary from book to book, and there have even been different versions of Pippi dolls (on eBay) from time to time. However, I shall use my own imagination and a little creative licence to bring you my version of Pippi based on descriptions of her clothing in the book.

Her full name in the original book is Pippilotta Comestibles Windowshade Curlymint Ephraims daughter Longstocking. Which is quite a mouthful, I must say!

This will be an ongoing project over the coming months and I will often be so engrossed in this project I may not be here for days or weeks on end . . . but I will return, I assure you.

Big hugs,
X