Tim Holtz Sewing Room - A Modification Story

I'm obsessed with the decorative dress form. You may have already noticed. (tee hee :) Sizzix put out a dress form die designed by that god of steampunk, Tim Holtz called "Sewing Room."

Tim Holtz sewing room die

Of course I HAD to have it and it was just like me to alter the design ever so slightly to suit my own needs. I made it a little more symmetrical because frankly, symmetry is my comfort and joy.

Tim Holtz modified sewing room dress form

Just look at the digital collage possibilities! I will not be posting my version of this outline for your use but I do plan to turn it into something yummy that you can have. For now, it will remain my surprise!

Note: Coping of the image above is strictly prohibited without my permission. Proper credit back to this post will be required once permission is obtained if you plan to post this online.

Catholic School Girl Dress Form Doll Donation

As it turns out, my catholic school girl dress form doll is not so reinvented. She looks pretty traditional with a few new twists like the rose at the neckline. All in all I think she's cute as a button!

catholic school girl dress form doll

I have lovingly donated the Catholic School Girl dress form doll to the Rooted in Spirit Auction benefiting St Joseph School in Issaquah, Washington.

School Girl Doll Sketch

I like to begin a new piece with a sketch so I have kind of a road map of what I'm going to do. This is what I came up with for my school girl doll that will be auctioned off next month.

A plaid skirt is a must and the top will have a sailor type neckline. I think It will be just adorable! It's amazing how much inspiration sketches and other visuals can provide.

Reinventing the Catholic Schoolgirl

I volunteered to donate one of my dress form dolls to a charity auction coming up next month for a private Catholic school. The only question now is how will I design it? A pleated paper skirt in a plaid pattern is a must but I'm conflicted about what to do for the top.

pattern from Karen's Variety

I'm not particularly wild about the whole catholic schoolgirl look because it's too plain and rightly so. I like the neckline of the green polka dot dress above which I could combined with capped sleeves like the dress shown in front.

Catherine Cottage (site in Japanese)

Here's another possible look for the neckline that I think is very very cute. I could somehow mix and match elements from each dress that I like to make it my own. It will be interesting to see how this evolves. What do you think?

What's on the Craft Table Today?

Today I'll be working on my latest dress form doll, arranging the roses around the base and otherwise playing around with paper and fiber combinations to use in the skirt. This is a snapshot of my craft table today.

I hope to provide some photos of my inspiration for this project with images of some very lovely corset dresses. We'll see how that goes. For the moment, enjoy!

Unfinished Vintage Mini Dress Form Dolls

Introducing the unfinished mini dress form doll now available for your decorating pleasure. This is the first of what I hope will be many and the beginning of a long and deeply satisfying selling relationship.

unfinished dress form doll available on Etsy

You can find this sublime creature for sale in my Etsy shoppe aka the Kell Belle Boutique for the very reasonable song of $16.00. At this price you might even start a whole orchestra! Haha!

Mini Vintage Dress Form Dolls in Progress

These mini vintage dress form dolls are so much fun for me to make that it occurred to me that others may wish to decorate their own dress form dolls.

That said, I have decided to offer some plain dress forms for you to embellish. Look for these to hit the shelves of the Kell Belle Studio boutique very soon.