18th century doll dress, Part II

Progress has been made on the doll dress.  First I took the doll’s teeny measurements (waist 3.5 inches!) and made a muslin petticoat.

Then I worked on customizing the Barbie pattern.  I lengthened the skirt all over and added more length in the back for a slight train. I figured I would have a bodice/overskirt going over everything, so the waistband is just twill tape–didn’t want to add too much bulk.  When you’re working on such a small scale, hand sewing gives more control.

I love the yummy shimmer of this silk, and it gathers really nicely!

The underskirt waiting to be hemmed. The ends of the twill tape are just turned under and stitched, with a snap closure.

Next, I made a muslin bodice, not pictured here.  I realized the shoulders had to be dropped because of the doll’s ceramic hair being attached to her shoulders and getting in the way.  I wound up modifying this later, but here’s the first version.  I have to admit that I bought half a yard of green silk dupioni for the bodice and overskirt, so the dress is no longer totally recycled…..

I interfaced the back of the bodice pieces.  For scale, it’s placed on a 1-inch grid.

The silk diamond  pattern material is from a sample scrap from a tie factory, via Depot for Creative re-use (I have an entire storage bin full of such scraps waiting for some future project).

I lined it with the blue silk.  I sewed all this on the sewing machine, which I regretted later when I had to alter the thing….

Meantime I started playing around with the green silk overskirt material.

Here she is with the half-finished bodice.  There’s more to show & tell, but it’s late so I’ll save it for another post.  Stay tuned!

18th century doll dress–from recycled materials

This little 18th century reproduction doll belonged to my great-grandmother.  She was originally part of a lamp.  She sat on my mother’s bureau for many years, shamelessly topless, might I add.

About 10 years ago my mom’s housekeeper tried to fashion a costume for her, but the project was abandoned for some reason.  Then,  a couple of years ago, I announced that I would take on the challenge of dressing her.  Well, years passed,  guilt increased,  and I determined to finish the dress for Mother’s Day this year.

The doll, by the way, is about the size of Barbie, with a smaller bust, big ceramic hair and of course, no legs, due to her former life as a lamp.  Instead, her torso sits on this bell-shaped wire contraption, as pictured above.

A few months ago I found a couple of blue silk cushion covers at the Depot for Creative Re-Use here in Oakland. The depot is a trove of recycled art and craft items, including sewing supplies, and things like picture frames, old photos, magazines,  glass bottles from the local pharmaceutical companies,  and boxes, drawers and shelves of  je ne sais quois.

The silk is that pale blue that was the primary color of late 18th century clothing, at least among the French.  The covers are the perfect size to provide material for a doll dress. I cut them along the seams to prepare them for costume duty.

A while back I found this 18th century Barbie costume pattern on Ebay, Vogue 7039.  I planned on using it as a jumping-off point.

I also Google searched “18th century Costume” and found some fabulous examples of French, English and other costumes of the era, mostly from nobility and the upper classes. Mon Dieu, the time seamstresses spent embroidering, gathering, ruffling and frilling!  When you consider that everything was done by hand,  it makes my brain hurt.  And my hands.  There was no Singer, no Brother, not even a treadle machine.

Here are just a few examples:

Cartridge pleating on a 1774 Polonaise (type of gown)

The look of the era:  a fitted, low-cut bodice usually worn over a corset (stays), and a full skirt with an open-fronted overskirt.  Here’s a gorgeous embroidered version.

Check out the sleeve detail on this costume from the Met Museum:

I’ll do my best to tackle, in the next two weeks, this little doll’s dress.  It may not be as fabulous as those pictured here, but at least she won’t be naked!

Sick day….with recycled denim

It’s been quite a while since my last post.    I’ve certainly done a lot of sewing since then.  This week I was feeling under the weather with a sinus headache and had to cancel some obligations.  Head throbbing, I found myself digging through my closet full of fabric and discovered my box of denim scraps, including several pairs of holey jeans, that have accumulated over the past 5 years.  Here’s a blurry photo of some of them.

In the spirit of recycling, I didn’t want these to go to waste.  I cut them into more evenly shaped strips.  After doing some research on strip quilting with a foundation, I measured and cut out a base for a handbag from an old Ikea curtain I found in the garbage (it was washed, of course)

I then started pinning and sewing the strips onto the foundation.  

I wanted some wonkiness in the quilting, so I changed the angle of the strips as I sewed.  I repeated the process for the front and back of the bag as well as the flap.  When all the “bases” were covered, I cut away the excess fabric along the edges using a ruler and rotary cutter (great tool for cutting strips, by the way!)

Finally, I sewed the front and back of bag together and attached the flap.  Before attaching, I sewed a bias binding onto the flap to finish it off.

All that’s left is to construct the strap and lining and attach them, and I have a cute new recycled denim shoulder bag out of fabric that would have gone into the trash!  Can’t wait to do more with the rest of the scraps.

My theory is, we have so much fabric on the planet already, we could recycle almost all of it into accessories and clothing using this technique. Being a huge Dolly Parton fan,  I’m also reminded of her song “Coat of Many Colors”, based upon the patchwork coat her mother made from fabric scraps. I’ve seen the actual coat in person at Dollywood, but that’s a whole ‘nother story!

Paper napkins, meet Singer.

I’ve been going to Mama’s Royal Cafe around the corner from my apartment for over 10 years now, and have eyed their annual display of paper napkin art contest winners curiously,   thinking, “there’s gotta be something I can do with paper napkins that’s not drawing or painting”.

This year my painter friend Alice and I  took on the challenge.  After a mildly compulsive napkin-shopping binge at Ikea (they had about 30 different paper napkin options in a variety of sizes, patterns and colors) we emerged with 10 packages.  I took home most of the haul and created these items, motivated by the challenge and the possibility of $400 in prize winnings.  Neither of my entries got in the top 3, but I did receive an honorable mention. C’est la vie, I’ll be trying again next year.