Happy New Year! Meet Hetty!

I'm a morning person.  I used to look forward to the first day of school.  I love Mondays!  The beginning of a new month...that first day of the month, always lifts my spirits.  And, so does the beginning of a new year.  I like fresh starts!  And 2018 has a nice ring to it.

Winter, where I live in the Sierra Foothills of California, is not like most winters others experience.  We don't get snow for one thing.  In a good winter, we'll get plenty of snow in the upper elevations of the Sierras, and this ensures a good water supply to many parts of California, and also happy times cross-country skiing.  But for the most part, our area remains sunny and moist, with leafless trees to expand the horizon, and green grasses growing aplenty.  The inescapable presence of blue as seen through the wintering trees, the ever-green of the pines, and emerald of the grasses, are the colors most vivid on any given day.

As solemn as January can often be after the frivolities of Christmas, we must find ways to cheer our spirits, and for me, color is one of them.  So when I began pulling out silks to dress my new reborn Lawton doll, Hetty, it was the color of this striped silk that drew me in and inspired me to make her debut dress.

I'm always on the look out for inexpensive Lawton doll offerings listed on Ebay, to rework and begin dressing anew.  Hetty began her life as the 12" Victorian Christmas doll.  She's the same size as Illustrated Alice, and a fun size to sew for.

In her former life, she lived as a blue eyed blonde.  Finding a nice wig for her wasn't easy, as most of the wigs these days are styled for BJDs, not Victorian misses.  So when I came upon this one in a different color, I asked the seller if she had any others.  She found this one for me, and I bought it.  I think I bought four wigs total to try on her, but this one was quite similar to the styles the girls wore in La Mode Illustree during the early Victorian years. 

Her dress is also from La Mode Illustree, in an illustration from 1874.  What I liked most about it, was the cut-out in the bodice-jacket-vest, whatever you call it.  Seriously, I have no idea what you would call it.  As with most of these dresses, I just design it from careful study of the illustration.  It did not appear to open in the front, but had the lovely details of decorative buttons down the front of the "vest" and the skirt.  It also boasted the bias cut of same fabric, edging the "vest" as a decorative touch.  I never shy away from this type of hand-work, but it does require patience and dexterity.

I began with a nicely front pleated chemise to go beneath the dress.  Not really knowing if the skirt had a waistband, I decided to design the dress for a doll, rather than a person.  In doing this, I attached the hem of the chemise to the skirt's waist edge.  I also felt that the "vest" would lay more nicely over this, instead of trying to tug it around a waistband.  Make sense?  And, as usual, I always design the dress to fit nicely over the metal wire bends of a doll stand. 

I wasn't sure what it was the original dress design intended for the button row, and I tried many different ribbons, including grosgrain, as a "row" to sew the buttons on to.  None of them looked quite right.

The main problem was that I didn't plan well.  I really didn't have enough fabric to play with, did not make a mock up of the "vest" (shame on me), and made a first "vest" that was too small.  Too small in the arm holes, so I had to rework my pattern and make it again.  The sleeve bits, again I have no idea what you call this piece of the garment, are in two pieces, and both edged with the bias cut banding.  All that bias cutting really chews up a small piece of silk quickly, yet I was able to do it, reluctantly so, but necessary.

I had just enough fabric to make a placket, cut horizontally, for the button placements.  I also needed a wider length for the skirt, but resolved this by piecing another width to it.  I cut that in half, then sewed both to the longer length, giving it a look that could have been "intended".

The buttons are little brass ones, and the chemise is closed with five little pearly buttons and thread loops.  The "vest" closes with hooks and thread loops.  The result of all this work is a little frock that rings of evergreens and blue skies and new year cheer.

If  January's palette in nature begins to bring on the doldrums, try spicing up your surroundings with a bit of color.  Open the drapes and let the natural sunlight in.  Immerse yourself in a good book, curled up in a cozy corner, and dress your dolls in colorful frocks.  Hetty can agree that it "does the trick"!

Happy New Year, my friends!  Resolve to make January a "favorite" month!  Find a little magic in each day and celebrate new beginnings.

Love,

Miss E. Mouse