My friends, this has been quite a journey, but I am so proud to say that Caroline is now fully clothed and ready to visit the shops or take a stroll with a friend. It has been a year of work off & on. I have challenged my skills and learned so much through this project. I hope you will enjoy the big reveal!
Silk brocade and taffeta
I have previously shared the skirt, made of silk brocade. Paired with this turquoise silk taffeta, the ensemble is going to make some of my other dolls positively green with envy.
Shopping ready
The book I used, A French Fashion Doll’s Wardrobe by Louise Hedrick, included instructions down to the little details such as how to make covered buttons and the “easy” way to make a rolled edge.
Back view
While the directions called for pleats at the hem of the skirt and polonaise, I really didn’t want to make a mile of tiny pleats. I chose this fluted silk ribbon to contrast and tie the pieces together at the same time. I used some 4mm buttons that are nonfunctional on the front, and hooks & thread bars to close the polonaise.
ChemiseDrawersCorsetHoopPetticoatSkirtComplete
The pattern for the reticule came from Brown House Dolls – BHD 334 Purses & Muff. It is a silk outer with silk lining.
The bonnet was inspired by a Susan Sirkis Wish Booklet but I don’t remember which one. I traced out the pattern ages ago and just upsized it for Caroline. The bonnet is made from silk taffeta in a gorgeous rust color with a lining that is shot with cream and rust. It uses hat wire on the front brim to hold its shape.
So there you have it. Caroline came to me naked except for the necklace she is wearing, a hole in her leg and who knows what else in her past. I wanted to dress her in finery, and while it was a long journey, we have made it!
We are in the home stretch now! I’m quite excited and already working on the next piece of Caroline’s wardrobe, but thought I’d take a moment to pause and share the finished skirt.
Front view
The skirt is a lovely silk brocade that I bought from a costuming friend a few years ago. The pattern is cranberry colored paisleys on a tan field with small golden threads shot through to frame the paisley motifs. I believe the pattern expected readers to use a lighter weight silk than this but I don’t thinks it is too much of a problem.
Back pleats
It is fully lined with white cotton batiste. this gives the skirt quite a firm body. I managed to get it to stand on its own.
Facing hemCenter back openingCenter back seamWhipped side seam
The seams must be whipped to control the fray – either pressed open and whipped to the lining or whipped closed. On the lower hem, I chose to use bias tape as a facing to cut down on bulk. It has the added benefit of making it easier to curve the hem – it’s not straight – so it doesn’t ripple. If you used a lighter weight fabric you could easily make a standard hem. I also chose this fluted ribbon trim instead of pleats or fringe. It suits my style and Caroline likes it too.
Side view
I will share the polonaise soon. It’s coming together quickly and I will hopefully be finished with it by next week! Exciting. There may be a hat and maybe even a reticule. Fun fact: in French reticule means ridiculous.
That’s a lot of math. As I prepare for the next steps in Caroline’s wardrobe, I had to work out the new measurements for the patterns. She is slightly larger than the actual patterns. 18.18% larger, in fact.
I had to ask my teenager for help. It’s been a long long time since I could easily work out the changes. If you are up scaling a pattern piece, here is a relatively easy method courtesy of high school algebra.
Find the measurement of one straight area of the pattern – I used any straight edge I could find.
Convert this measurement to decimal if you use fractions (US people, everyone else in the world uses metric, sigh). Multiply that new number by the percentage increase. Now add that number to your original measurement.
For instance, if your measurement is 2 5/8, this converts to 2.625.
2.625 x .1818 = .4772
2.625 + .4772 = 3.1022
Round that new number – 3.1
You can convert back to fractions if needed OR do what I did and eyeball those small numbers. .1 of an inch is a around an 1/8 plus a smidge.
A time saving tip is to add a 1 to your multiplication to save the addition step – 2.625 x 1.1818 = 3.1022
Once I completed all the math, I used my Pixelmator Pro to enlarge the pattern pieces, then printed them, traced onto tissue, and made all notes. I’ve also made a paper towel mock up of the bodice because the instructions just didn’t make sense at first. They include no illustrations of the sewing method, so gotta make sure I go slow and understand each step.
Hope this math workshop helps you in some way. Happy sewing!
This is another piece of Caroline’s wardrobe that came together fairly quickly. Unfortunately this is the first piece I don’t completely love.
Front view
I made this piece from lightweight linen and the three basic pieces are fast to construct. Frankly, the casings for the inside of the garment also came together easily and quickly. It’s not a difficult item to construct.
Side view
The frustration began with the overlapping of the wires at center back. This was sooo fidly. The instructions say to overlap by 1/4” and bind the two pieces together with thread. I found this to be tricky at best. Because the gauge of hat wire used, it is not very flexible and so quite difficult to manipulate into place, then get it to hold still while tying it together and not accidentally stitching the piece to the body of the garment. All this machination mangled the raw edges of the casings. Since the instructions are a bit sparse here, should you want to make this item I recommend leaving some length at the ends of the casings, shaping the wire as desired, and then sewing the casings closed. These are doll clothes and it’s not like Caroline is going to be walking around causing the wires to shift. I wish I had thought about that before I spent so much time at this juncture of the project.
Back view
The second area of frustration was the binding of the side openings. I believe this pattern is based on recreating an original and honestly, maybe this bit should have been updated. Rather than four individual pieces of binding, it might be easier to use one longer piece that would also encase the lowest point of the opening. This raw edge is left exposed by following this pattern and I would prefer it to be encased.
Final critique, no where in the instructions do they tell you to hem the garment. I recommend doing this before you add the boning. And maybe even add the lace trim at the same time. Once the boning is in, the skirt behaves very differently from an unstructured garment. Just my two cents.
I don’t super love the outcome based on these issues and I can’t seem to get the wires shaped the way I want them. Maybe I’m overthinking it.
Hello again, doll loving friends! A variety of side projects and real life stuff has kept me from this particular project, but I’m so thrilled to have completed it!
Caroline’s new corset
This little project felt intimidating at first, but once I did up a mock up and made a couple adjustments, it came together in a few hours.
If you have ever made an IRL corset, this one will feel a bit incomplete because it is made with only one layer of fabric. IRL corsets are made with several layers and no thread tails will be visible. Since this is not in fact a real corset, there are some differences. :-)
The five pieces come together very easily. Boning channels are added to the inside with colored thread, which has the added benefit of the decor color. The flossing is added after the boning and since the instructions didn’t give any detail, I used the flossing to secure the boning in place inside the boning channel.
The book included no photos of the inside of the garment, so I’ve taken some for your viewing pleasure.
It is necessary to make the inside very tidy.
The brass eyelets were quite easy to add. I think if I were to make another of these, I’d extend the center back by about 1/8”. The boning channel is supposed to stitch down the raw edge of the fabric, but with only 1/4” folded under and the need to allow for the 1/8” eyelets, it’s a little more crowded than I’d like.
But ooh la la, it’s so sweetly pretty! This garment is particularly useful for Caroline since her body is sagging a bit from age & settling inside (sounds a bit like me, too haha). You will want to bind the ends of the twill tape ties in a faux aiglet to they will thread through the eyelets and not fray. To do that, bind them in thread several times and knot it once or twice very neatly & tightly.
Next for Caroline will be either her hoop skirt or a corset cover. See you again soon!
I threatened you with a tutorial on how to make these cute $2 craft boxes into hat boxes for your dolls, and here it is!
Naked boxes
To make these specific hat boxes (also called band boxes) you will need 1 larger sized piece of fancy wrapping paper – 18×24 is plenty. The reason for this is the outside measurement is greater than 12” which is the standard large size you will find at your local big box store. Original Victorian hat boxes came in many different shapes and sizes, but the ones we are most familiar with today are the round variety. I found reference to an enterprising young woman who created beautiful boxes covered with wallpaper so I tried to find papers that looked a bit like doll-sized wallpaper. Unfortunately I lost track of the website where I read this and can’t give you more detail.
If you are looking for a source of large format paper, you might be interested in the site Mulberry Paper and More. It’s a bit overwhelming at first, but they have an amazing selection of papers that would be perfect for this use case. This tutorial is being shown with Japanese Chiyogami Yuzen paper. I’m visual so there will be a lot of pictures to illustrate this project.
Supplies
You will need:
Tape measure
Pencil
Scissors or exacto knife
15” ruler
Sewing ruler for small, precision measurements
Craft glue
Paper towels
Craft paper
Measure your box carefully. Allow for overlaps and edges! These boxes from Dollar Tree are 3 5/8” diameter on the lower box portion and 3 7/8” diameter on the lid. The circumference is equally important. Use your tape measure to find the circumference (outside and inside) plus a 1/2” overlap. I wound up cutting the following pieces:
(1) 12 1/2” X 3 5/8” rectangle (box outside sidewall)
(1) 11 3/4” X 2 1/2” rectangle (box inside sidewall)
(1) 13” X 1 1/4” rectangle (lid outside sidewall)
(1) 12 1/2” X 5/8” rectangle (lid inside sidewall)
(2) 3 5/8” diameter circles (box inside bottom and underside)
(1) 4 1/2” diameter circle (lid outside)
(1) 3 3/4” diameter circle (lid inside)
Each piece was labeled so I would know where they went.
Pieces
Once you have everything cut the assembly goes quite quickly.
1. Glue in the box inside bottom circle (for fun you could make this piece from a newspaper print which was done in the past)
Inside bottom
2. Glue in the box inside sidewall. Be careful to overlap and press out any excess glue. I forgot to take a picture of this step, sorry!
3. Glue the outside box sidewall. This piece should extend past the box edges on both top and bottom. These extended sections will be folded down.
Lower edge extension
4. Run a bead of glue where you will fold down the extended section on the bottom of the box. Then press down the paper into the glue, making overlapping wedges so the paper confirms neatly to the round shape of the box.
Lower edge gluing & folding
When it is folded down, press the paper flat firmly so the glue squishes into all the places it needs to be, and then use a paper towel to wipe off any that oozes out from under the paper.
Upper edge extension
On the upper edge, run your glue onto the paper extension. This piece is going to be folded to the inside of the box. You may want to prefold it before putting the glue. Once you have run the glue, fold the paper inside the box and press, making sure it conforms to the shape and working the glue into place with your fingers. Wipe away any that oozes out.
5. Turn the box upside down and glue on the circle to the underside. All the folded edges should be covered by this circle. Set the box piece aside to dry.
Bottom of the box
The lid will follow a similar method, except in a slightly different order.
6. Glue in the inner circle to the lid.
7. Glue in the inner lid sidewall.
Lid inside
8. Glue the outside lid circle. It may be helpful to trace the lid onto the plain side of this circle so you place the lid right in the center.
Lid centered in the circle
Next, place the glue onto the box side and fold down the paper around the circle of the lid, again working the glue evenly and wiping off any excess.
Lid edges
9. Glue the outside lid sidewall. To do this, put glue on only half of the paper – the other half will be folded inside the lid.
Lid sidewall
Place the paper edge just a smidge under the top edge of the lid.
Lid side placement
As you did with the box sidewall, carefully fold the paper edge to the inside. Press firmly and wipe away any glue that oozes out.
Set the pieces aside to dry thoroughly. The lid will be tight at first but as you use the box it will ease. Use the box for hats or any other storage.
Your finished fancy box!Filled with doll treasures
The third installment of Caroline’s undergarments is this ruffled petticoat.
You will see it mirrors the three tucks seen on the drawers and also the insertion lace. The lower edge of the petticoat is made of a doubled piece that sandwiches the lower edge of the insertion, making everything nice and clean on the inside.
The ruffle is made by gathering on a narrow cord. Depending on the size of your doll, you could use pearle cotton or even some embroidery floss if you don’t have a narrow enough cord. The gathered ruffle is then stitched onto the lower edge.
The waist is gathered with 1/8” twill tape inside a casing. It calls for worked buttonholes but for some reason I am better at eyelets so that’s what I did. The benefit of a gathered waist here is that the petticoat can change shape for different eras. Right now I have much of the petticoat to Caroline’s back since I’m making her a bustle dress, but I could easily reshape this to the nice round shape of the 1860s.
Up next will be a fun one – a boned hoop skirt and then her corset. See you again soon!
My Gram used to say “ah loverly loverly” sometimes when she saw something pretty or made her happy. Today I am saying loverly loverly about the latest finished item for Caroline.
A full set of drawers!
What with various demands on my weekends I finally got some “me” time Saturday and finished these drawers. I just love how they turned out! the front is pleated to the waistband for a tidy appearance.
Lots of tiny tucks
As you can see here, I used Swiss cotton insertion and edging. I felt like they would give me a better result and I’m very pleased with how they look.
And here is the back where the fabric is gathered to the waistband. Also a worked buttonhole and antique mother of pearl button.
The next piece of the project will be the petticoat. See you again soon!
I was watching an eBay auction recently of a doll listed as a 19th century antique. I screenshotted all the posted images because she was lovely and I found inspiration in the clothes perhaps for Ruby.
The doll was only $9. How is that even possible? Poorly listed? Not photographed or described well?
I threw a bid in there and promptly forgot about it. Until I won it. Whoops! At least she wasn’t hundreds of dollars.
As yet unnamed
When she arrived I discovered she is the largest doll in my collection at 25”. She is lovely and I’ll have the ability to study her clothing at my leisure and close up. It looks to be silk and machine sewn. There’s a bustle and drape, putting it into the 1880s fashion wise. Her foot is broken but I really don’t care.
My accidental $9.00 treasure could use a name. Have a suggestion?
Sometimes, mistakes are needed to make you slow down, pay closer attention and really focus on details. When I made the lovely but too-small drawers recently I spent a lot of time thinking about how I’d do them differently. I realized I’d made some errors on the tucks. I didn’t like the way the insertion turned out. (My doll Mernie however, loves her new drawers lol.)
So after many side projects and time to consider things, I’ve started a second pair of drawers for Caroline. I tried on her the 1875 drawers I made for Emma a couple years ago and then adjusted the waistline per that pattern. No, the drawers aren’t exact to the book I’m working out of, but it’s not like there are Doll Drawers Police ™️ who will be checking them haha.
I decided to go with Swiss cotton insertion and edging. It’s more sturdy for this tiny project and I think it still gives a lovely result. Sadly this is only one half of the drawers and I’ve been terribly busy so not gotten a chance to make the other half. Soon, I promise! Check out Farmhouse Fabrics, the source of this lace, fabric and much more that I use for doll clothing.
Notes from the Melody Maker 