Rat Style - All Dolled Up

The Fancy Girls

I have not blogged in forever.  I don't know what has gotten into me today, but I feel like blogging!  So here goes.

Aggie

I have been working for a month on little mohair animals.  Bears and rabbits mainly.  This past weekend I got the idea that rats in fancy dresses would be just the thing.

Aggie

I knew I wanted them to have skinny limbs.  Rats don't have fat arms and legs like bears.  They have wiry limbs.  So, I drew up a long pointy nosed pattern and added in some skinny legs and arms.  The legs should have boots and heels, I thought, so I gave them that as well. 

Little Debbie

I have been messing around with traditional teddy bear making stuff - cotter pins and disks.  They make the limbs move, especially the head, around and around.  The rats should have movable heads, so I gave them those.  The legs and arms, since I like to pull them in tight and because they are quite skinny, I gave button twist joints instead, and put vintage buttons on the outsides of each limb. 

Little Debbie

The rats are between 5 and 6" tall.  That is roughly dollhouse scale.  They are probably a little fatter than most dollhouse folk, but it seems like the furniture fits them pretty well. That led me, of course, to look into making my own dollhouse setting for them.  

Francine

That will have to come later, as I did order a bunch of stuff for a roombox, but it won't arrive for another week or 2.  Hopefully I will be sharing that with you soon.

Francine

So anyway, back to the rats.  I gave them fancy dresses, which all good ratty girls should have.  The contrast is lovely, in my mind.

Martha

Fancy dresses for ratty girls.  I hope to make a bunch of them and then offer dresses for them in addition to the ones they come with, so that they are more like a small doll - with changeable clothing.  I think they will need other things as well.  Perhaps hats and maybe furniture.  We shall see what I come up with, but I am a little inspired at the moment.  It brings back childhood memories or little mice dressed in finery.

Martha

I have included some photos of the girls.  Hope you are all having a lovely season of creating!

Dancing the Can-Can