It also means to decorate, to adorn, to improve or make more ornate. It also means to exagerate! And there is nothing more fun than exaggeration when it comes to embellishment.
Embellishment is one of the most healing, and relaxing of all the elements of doll making, and the materials and ideas are endless, when you set your mind to it. Beads, buttons, tiny silk flowers, fabric trims, ribbons, and appliques are some of the most common and most useful in making the doll speak for herself.
Some dolls wear embellishments as a costume. Some need just a touch here and there, some need more elaborate embellishment to set the tone.
MarieClaire is elaborate, that is for sure, and the picture does not begin to show the detail. Her headpiece is made of feathers, with sprays of silk flowers attached, the front line of beads is attached directly to her hairline, and strung in a scalloped pattern. Her necklace is a piece of lace trim,made into a choker and then beaded with black glass beads and crystal droplets. Her stockings are made of applied lace and her shoes some Christmas trim that I got a a premium.
Enchanted Garden
shows how embellishements are the costume of some of my dolls.
By using printed doesuede as the body, an tattering silk leaves and flowers, you can create a costume without much sewing at all. The addition of the bugle beads add some sparkle to the doll. Imagine!
