Pippa and Winter.
Pippa is a social butterfly. She receives many weekly invitations to attend soirées from all of her friends:
* Mr. Teddy-Winks-a-Lot is throwing a welcoming party for his new room mate, a detestably prickly cactus plush (made in China! the horror) with those always-on-the-move googly eyes.
* Dulcinea, the cloth waif with yarn hair, wants to host a night of cards. She always wins at Uno so Pippa is undecided of attending. Pippa likes to win at most games. Well, at all games, but most children are like that.
* The old Jack-in-the-box, albeit unreliable due to age (one just cannot expect him to be popping out of his box with such gusto after all these years of devoted service!), would like to have you for tea at his humble shelf. He has also invited the dollhouse dolls (they eat so little, poor things…good on the pocket though!), the knitted cats and a few other wooden animals. I think he likes quiet parties, where people don't ask for seconds. Don't you dare eat all the biscuits Pippa, I've warned you. Old age is not one for silly expense.
* Mrs. Puddleduck, the old sttuffed-with-sawdust personage of Beatrice Potter, is throwing a huge celebration to commemorate her re-stuffing. Word on the street is, the thing is going to turn into an evening of food debauchery, with everyone contributing their favourite dish. Pippa, a show-off, wants to arrive with the tallest turrets of meringues, with little swirls of cocoa powder, and a few crunchy bits of macadamia. I call that sybaritism, she calls it "La Dolce Vita".
Pippa, in her winter clothes. By Fig and Me.
Las invitation just arrived this month, is a small gathering of waldorf-inspired dolls. They do know how to party, these ladies. Instead of a movie, they act out a scene from their favourite book. They all dress up as characters and go to town, until the wee hours of the night, revising chapters and re-writing history. They plot alternate endings and giggle the night away. They remind me of those girls in Little Women, and like them, they improvise the deep male voices. This time they are doing The Secret Garden. One of my favourites, although a bit out of season I should say.
Pippa of course wants to attend all these parties, and since most take place once the house is asleep, how can I say no. She plans to wear this wintry number: a cotton jersey dress with fabulous cables, 3/4 length belled sleeves and a wide skirt with in-seam pockets. A matching bonnet with one lonely wool flower (sometimes simplicity is best). The bonnet's ties are made with golden ric-rac, to add a festive touch. Two wee glass buttons on her dress, to match the ginger locks of the lady. Some cabled long socks and wooly boots to match. Of course, she needed something to keep the core warm so we chose a fluffy vest, lined with cream ticking and a wee felt patch. Pippa chose this time to let her hair loose, she knows how much everybody compliments her long locks and how they all like to play with it when she attends an event. She is very considerate like that.
So there you have it. Pippa's social calendar and her winter outfit. We have just one more outfit to show you, and another one that will be kept for her mom's eyes only, so we shall be saying good-bye to this sweetheart pretty soon. I know she will be attending parties for years to come. Thank you for coming to see her.
