February 7, 2014

My Dress Form "Pally" and Her New Look

I have always wanted an antique dress form.  But since I haven't found one that I am willing to spend a large sum of money to buy, I decided to redo a newer one.
 
I painted the neck, finial, and stand with gold embossed paint.  Then, I decoupaged the body with pages from a book titled: The Sun is My Undoing by Marguerite Steen first published in 1941.  I found one copy of the book that was falling apart that I used for this project, and two intact copies all within about a week of each other.
 
Pallas is one of the main characters in the book, and her nickname is Pally.  This is the book where my mother got my name, Pallas.  Since Pally is also the nickname my family uses for me, I decided to name my dress form Pally.
 
I intend to read this book that takes place in the 18th century during the slave commerce in the English Port of Bristol, Africa and the Caribbean.  There is also the thread of love stories woven between the characters in the book.  If nothing else, I'd like to read the story that inspired my mother to name me Pallas.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 



Before
This is how she looked when I got her
 

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You did such a beautiful job on this. Thank you for sharing.
Lillian

karlascottage.typepad.com said...

How lucky you are to have such an interesting history to your name, and to be able to collect the book that inspired it!

karlascottage.typepad.com said...

You have won my giveaway! Can you please send me your address and I'll get it into the mail.

Marva Plummer-Bruno said...

Oh this is awesome! I hope to have one of these some day!

Doni said...

Pallas, your unique name was an inspiration of your mother, and so special because of that! It is awesome that you found books too that inspired her! How exciting! You did a lovely job on Pally who will forever be your alter-ego and live the dressed up life of pearls and laces and lovelies that make your heart go pitter pat! I just saw her on Pinterest and had to come by for a visit.
Blessings to you!
Doni