They Have Arrived!

Yes, after a month touring the world my Kitty and Sindy have finally come home. I'm sorry the photos aren't better, but I am still looking to find a decent photo editing program.

I'll take some more photos of Kitty later when I change her into the lilac outfit and hopefully by then I'll have better photos to share.

I'm happy with both dolls, though I cannot for the life of me manage to put Sindy's earrings in. I think I'll have to try using a hot needle to pierce all the way through her vinyl, but if someone else has any better suggestions please let me know.

I hope you are all enjoying your dolls, I'm going to enjoy some down time from blogging for a few days, so I can finish off some overdue projects. However, I will be popping in now and then to catch up reading your blogs. :)

Cissy's Underwear

After some discussion regarding a name for my Cissy doll, hubby and I have thought seriously about the name Rita, but in the end Cissy kept her name. Looking at her hair and pretty dark brown eyes, she reminded us so much of a young Rita Hayworth. Although Rita's hair wasn't naturally red and her eyes were actually hazel-brown, we still felt there was a resemblance. Can you see it?

For the benefit of my younger readers, who may never have heard of her, she was an extremely beautiful American actress and dancer who achieved fame during the 1940's as one of the era's top stars, appearing in 61 films over 37 years. She was also the first actress to be partnered with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.

Thinking about Rita and the beautiful costumes she wore in those early movies, I am inspired to make clothes for my gal along the similar lines.

However, Rita's clothes were not always slinky like the one above, in private she preferred more casual attire, and for her wedding to Prince Ali Khan in 1949, she wore a dress with sun-ray pleats, which like her pants, are once again fashionable.

Before beginning her outer wardrobe, I made Cissy her undergarments.

Using a translucent cotton batiste to make her cami knickers, fitted waist length camisole and ballerina length half slip, I trimmed them with lace and ribbon roses. After adding the finishing touches to the camisole, I thought the lace looked too heavy for an undergarment, so I shall put it aside for now and make a shorter, more delicate version in keeping with the cami-knickers and slip.

I'm still waiting on dolls to arrive, though they should be here soon. Kitty and Sindy finally made it to Perth on the 24th, and are currently in Sydney.

Cissy's Arrival and Review

Cissy arrived safely on Monday (23rd June) and I immediately stripped her of her clothing so I could see what her body was like and was mostly happy with what I found.

She is jointed at the neck, shoulders, waist, hips and knees. Her head can turn to look up and down as well as side to side, and all of her other joints are sound, so she poses quite well and can stand in her boots unaided.

Her face is beautifully painted with not too much blush and her deep brown sleep eyes open and close smoothly. She has painted eyelashes top and bottom with additional lashes inserted into the lid of the sleep eye.

Cissy's head and arms are vinyl, and the head has a  matte finish like her hard plastic torso and legs. Her arms are a little shiny and feel slightly oily to touch, but I shall give her a spa treatment later to hopefully resolve that issue.

Her hair is extremely fine and felt like it had been sprayed with hairspray, but after several minutes of brushing it was much smoother and free from the occasional knot. Though I must admit this hair could quite easily become entangled, so once I have settled on a style, I'll keep it that way.

I love her glistening stockings and lovely silver grey faux suede boots, though the pants (which are attached to the stockings) are a little loose and tend to slip down just below her waist. So before I begin on her outer garments, I'll be making her some new underwear.

The clothes that came with her were well made, but a little grubby so I have removed the silk flowers and soaked the clothes to see how they'll come up.

A little more information came to light when I opened her tag ~ her Style # is 27005, she was introduced in 2000 and retired in December that same year. My Romantic Dreams Cissy was part of The Couture Collection which also featured Cairo Cissy, Evening of Romance, Hollywood Cissy, Ivana Trump, New York Cissy, Rome Cissy, Shanghi Cissy and Vienna Cissy. She also had her price tag from Nordstrom (with the logo which was used from 1991–2019), the store where she was initially purchased from.

Over all I am happy with my purchase and am looking forward to sewing her complete wardrobe.