FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
The Little Doll
(click images to to enlarge)
Other Credits
Photography and picture edit is by Anna Fremrová (instagram.com/prijelanakole) and the model is Lýdie Švojgerová (instagram.com/lydiesvojgerova)
Outline the story …
I've found out about Foundations Revealed competition during Christmass and I got super excited. So I decided to go with the spirit and really wanted to design something from the realm of the Nutcracker, because I love the ballet. So I picked up the original novel (The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A Hoffmann) in English and put on some Tchaikovsky music and dived into reading. The character I chose from the book is Clara, but what I found really interesting is that in the book Clara is not the main protagonist, but a favourite doll of a little girl called Maria. That doll sits in a beautiful cupboard in her embellished house and is supposed to be really beautiful and frivolous, but with a good heart. She is in the novel just for a short period of time, but she saves the wounded Nutcracker in his first battle with the Mouse king. In the design I really wanted to go for pastels, because that is how I imagined the doll to look like. I wanted to design a dress every little girl would adore. But I still wanted to go for a ballet costume. So first I did some sketches and when I was satisfied I started sewing my dream little doll.
Outline the construction…
Since I really wanted it to be a ballet costume the first really important step were the right materials I went with lycra for the panty that hold up the tutu skirt. This was my first time using lycra and it was really difficult to sew, especially since I never did a tutu in my life. I had some images of how the process should go, but when sewing, the lycra panties stretched so much it didn't fit the ballerina, so I had to remove some of my tulle and re-do the fit so it sits perfectly. I was super glad that it worked out in the end. The panty that hold up the tutu are also the only thing I used a bought pattern for, mainly because of the lines where the gathered tulle is sewn (it has to be in the right spot or the skirt wont hold up). I got my pattern from tutu.com. The tutu itself is made from really soft tulle in two colours, that is gathered and sewn on in layers. The embellishments are made with gathered tulle strips ,and bows I made from velvet ribbon and decorated with Preciosa rhinestones. The bodice is made out of two layers of silk and is boned with plastic boning. The insides of the seams and boning channels as well as the binding were whipstitched by hand. The bodice pattern was drafted on the mannequin and than fitted to the model by me.
I’m blown away by the perfection of your tutu. And the colour combination is just so harmonious
You have created a sweet doll that will delight Nutcracker audiences. I really like the design of your bodice. The tutu is very pretty with its shading of colors. Well done.
The lines of the bodice are lovely.
Beautiful!
It is so minimalistic and elegant. And those little bows are perfect
So soft and elegant, beautifully done!
I love the idea you had to make a tutu, I haven’t seen any others in the competition so it’s very refreshing to see! I used to dance as a child and loved going to the ballet, so I find this dress absolutely charming, very cute!
This is a lovely rendition of a doll, and you did a great job with your first tutu!
this is absolutely beautiful! i love how delicate it looks