1904 Christmas Outfit

[meltintall3]

That's kind of a sad picture of the finished ensemble, and I should get a better one, but it's taken me almost three weeks to actually write about the outfit.

The outfit is based on the antique one I bought earlier this year.


The skirt was simple. Use a smaller version of the pattern that fits me. (Truth be told, I made the doll skirt first.) Then embellish with French Knots for buttons and a row of lace for the taffeta bands.

I spent six months letting the blouse ideas ferment. I knew I wanted the majority of it red, and I thought I had a scrap of ivory something or other that would work for the center panel of the shirt waist.

I fit the outer shell to the doll and finished the back collar with a facing. The front sides were finished with a rolled hem. Rows of machine stitching in red mimicked the pintucks of the original.



I made a facing for the ivory piece instead of lining it because I thought the weight of the crepe-like fabric would make for some really awkward seams. I think I would have been a lot better off picking a different fabric altogether. Dealing with the crepe at that small scale made it slippery and quick to ravel.

The seams and raw edges are all whip stitched.



The sleeves are rectangles of fabric. The cuff is a rolled hem with two lines of machine stitching to mimic the velvet ribbon trim. If I were to do it again, I'd try to get the sleeve pattern to match the original sleeve which is two pieces with seams up the sides of the arm. The rectangle wasn't the right shape. I had to go back and shape it into something more like a triangle shape after trying it on the doll--the cuff was huge. Sure, I'd left what I hoped was enough so she could get her hand in and out. But it turned out bigger than that.

I'd also like to go back and couch a few strands of embroidery floss on the cuff to make the black lines thicker. They look more like an afterthought, or like I ran out of thread than legitimate decoration.

The lace is the same as was used on the skirt. It's a piece of tatting I found in my bag of trimmings. I think I have enough to do another row on the skirt. I wanted to enter the outfit in the county fair, and I was working on it right up to the time we left on entry day. Nothing like a deadline to get things done!

I didn't do anything for the center pintucks, though I do something like the decorative knot in the center. Not sure how that turned out either. It might have been better to use embroidery floss...? The doll has no neck, so I couldn't do the separate collar.


detail of the orginal


detail of the doll size version

I got a red for the ensemble in the category "Doll dressed by Exhibitor". I don't know what won, though, so I can't guess at what the judge thought I could do better.

Overall, I really like how the skirt turned out, and I'm pretty happy with the blouse.

Comments

[brier.livejournal.com]

Hii! ^^ Pardon if this seems super random but I found your profile cause I saw you're into sewing! I'm just starting out (as in I just finished my first project, yay), so I was wondering if you'd like to be LJ friends. ^.^

It's okay if you don't post about sewing too much, I like meeting new people and having an interest in common is a good enough reason (at least to me!). Er, let me know! <3 :D

[meltintall3.livejournal.com]

I mostly post about sewing... I just don't update very often.

Sure we can be LJ friends. I noticed that you're an artist too. :D