Tuesday, March 19, 2013

The Hills are Alive . . . Looking at Maria in "The Sound of Music"


"The Sound of Music" has been one of my favorite musicals for many years. Naturally, when we started making Minikins, Maria was on one of the first lists of prospective ideas. She was slightly challenging in the fact that her dress is one piece, and I had to make it without ever trying it on, as it took a bit of work to get it slipped over the doll's head! It looked really nice once it was done and the hem was trimmed, though. The apron was the really fun part. Wool felt doesn't come with stripes printed on it, so I had to decide if I was going to try and do stripes, just edge the whole thing in a different colour thread or eliminate the stripes altogether. 

I decided to try and sew my own stripes. Using a simple back stitch, I used a darker grey thread and created my own striped fabric. Her apron is actually made in three parts and then sewn together when I sewed it to the dress. The only hitch was that I ran out of dark grey thread halfway through, and we had to run to the store.

This is certainly one of the more recognizable of our Minikin outfits. When you think of Maria, it's always standing on the top of the hill with her arms outstretched, getting ready to sing the title song! (When they actually filmed that famous shot, the camera was in a helicopter. Every time they passed over Julie Andrews, the downdraft from the rotors would send her flat on her back in the mud! Not quite as dreamy as it seems in the film! However, it certainly made a very memorable opening to a memorable film!)

If you are interested in seeing more photos of this doll, just click here.

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