Katherine Louise Hudson, a 1920's Flapper

"I'm devastated!  Mother is sending me away to this horrible designer's home in New York City run by Madame Hoover, whoever that is!  As if 'coming out' and meeting the queen next Spring wasn't enough.  But, before this, my parents will be taking me on a Grand Tour of Europe to prepare me for sophisticated society, as if I really need this, and I do need a trousseaux to travel with.  There's only one thing I really care about, and that's traveling to the Valley of the Kings and going on a dig.  Archeology is the bee's knees!  I feel so wretched having to miss all the parties I've been invited to over the next couple of months.  Life as I've known it is OVER!"
From the diary of Kitty Hudson

"The late winter sunlight was coming through the beautiful new window in my parlor this afternoon.  I was catching up on correspondence and enjoying the jewel tones cast upon my carpet from the Nouveau window with its peacocks strolling in a garden.  This was a gift from a dear friend and was installed just recently.  Sophie came in bearing a letter for me from a young debutante in St. Louis.  It was a letter of introduction coming from the daughter of London's aristocracy, the Hudson family.  She introduced herself as Katherine Louise Hudson, but that I must call her "Kitty".  Her parents are taking her on a tour of Europe prior to her debut with the queen (in the hopes she will land a title), and she requires a trousseaux for travel.  

She'll be living with me as I design and create the garments she requires, and I fear she is doubtful of having a grand time.  What she doesn't know is that her parents chose me, not only for my craft, but for the salon I hold most evenings with a variety of my friends, who are mainly artists, one scientist and an archeologist who has been on several digs in The Valley of the Kings.  My hope is that between fittings and touring New York (and the gatherings I hold in my salon each evening with my terribly eccentric friends), she'll report back to her parents that all went well.  This letter arrived later than I believe she expected, and she is due to arrive early this evening.  I must ask Sophie to prepare a special meal."  Notes from Madame Hoover

And so it begins.  Just about the time I'd finished the portrait of Huguette, my friend, Heather, sent me one of her Flapper dolls to dress.  This meant I'd be stepping back in time 100 years into the fashions and lifestyle of the Roaring Twenties.  I loved the idea. Along with a step back in history, this would be the first time I'd ever dressed an antique doll.  Why not?  What a wonderful challenge.  The other interesting thing about this doll was that she not only had a young lady's form, but high heeled feet.  I've never made high heeled shoes before and this more than anything was intriguing to me.  This is also an interesting year, 2020, as it is the centennial of the Roaring Twenties.  How fitting!  I instantly picked up two magazines on a grocery store rack, and have been doing a bit of studying up on this fascinating era in history.

Kitty Hudson was made by Cuno and Otto Dressel, a German company that was founded in Sonnenberg in 1789 and continued business until 1942.  The company made not only dolls, but also metal and wood toys.  The dolls were marked 1469 and were distinctive for their lovely heart-shaped faces and slender lady bodies.  The head molds were purchased from Simon and Halbig, although heads marked C.O.D. 1469 differ from those marked Simon and Halbig 1469.  The Simon and Halbig's have a more serene expression and pierced ears.  The early 1469s were portrayed as demure Edwardian ingenues, while the later ones were presented as sassy Flappers.

Along with Kitty's arrival, Heather included a few books on 1920's fashions, and a couple of them had patterns in them.  Also provided were two patterns for this exact doll from an Australian designer.  Do we even need to once again address how I feel about using other people's patterns?  No.  But, one of the patterns had shoes for the high heel feet in it.  After looking at what she drew and how she described making them, and not even mentioning the heels except for "now glue the heel on", I did my own thing.  Like I always do.  To me, the shoes were the most important part in any of this.  If I could not make shoes for the doll, I would not bother dressing her.  So that is where I began.

Since the doll came dressed in a "maman made" onsie, or cami-knickers, I felt it best to begin with a new set of undergarments.  She would have a pair of dressing mules, or slippers, to wear from the vanity to the closet.  I looked up a couple of Youtubes on making high heeled shoes, and both were pretty bad, but I did come away with what people are using for the heels.  Golf tees.  Bamboo golf tees.  Cut them down, cut them in half and you have a heel.  This limits the kind of heel the shoe can have, but I can carve from bass wood, a variety of other heels.  It took three tries before I was happy with a pair of the mules, and the effort was worth it.  I'd made them up in white silk with fur puffs, but when I went to begin the new pair of cami-knickers, I needed them in pink.  So I put the white mules aside and began a full set of lingerie in light pink habotai silk.  In the reference book, the one in green seen above, these undergarments were described as pink, so I chose the color for authenticity.  This book, which I was wonderfully impressed with, was in my Amazon cart before Heather's copy arrived.  When I told her I was thrilled with it, she told me it was mine to keep.  Wow!  Thank you!

Kitty's cami-knickers were designed as a pair of wide legged shorts with a bandeau top sewn to the waistband.  If you look carefully at the illustration, there is gathering at the dropped waist, and the bodice is smooth.  The illustration shows open sides, but I didn't feel these were necessary, especially since these cami-knickers will never be seen.  Which is why I do not care for making under garments.  But, these were fun to do and I was especially intrigued with the dropped waist, which is what many of the dresses had in the 1920's.

The cami-knickers are edged in what I think was an old attempt at tea staining French cotton lace.  It looked warm and had that vintage look, so I used it.  There was also a medallion of sorts on the cami-knickers in the illustration, so I made one up from the same lace and sewed it on.  As I was hunting and poking for buttons to close the back with, I came upon these vintage lingerie buttons that I purchased years ago at a doll fair.  They are made up of rings that have threads embroidered over them like mandalas.  A image of the cards can be seen below.  They will wonderfully go through the wringer!

In the meantime, I was thinking of stockings for the doll.  I had purchased some very silky and beautiful nylons for Cissy, from a website called Doll Secrets.  She has an Ebay store where I purchased Cissy's, so I did a little digging and discovered her regular website where she makes nylons for dolls of all sizes.  I chose two pairs.  White and nude.  They have stretch lace at their tops.  These were the Rini size for a doll 14"-15".  What a marvelous find.

The next thing we needed was a dressing robe and the kimono style was quite popular during this time.  I was tempted to try and find a suitable printed silk or satin, but in the end, chose to fashion this out of the same fabric as the cami-knickers.  You might notice that the tie on the robe in the illustration is at hip length as well.  I would have loved wearing these fashions as I was unfortunately born without a waistline.

The kimono pattern is a basic one with the shoulders on the fold.  Designing and cutting this out was the easy part.  I decided to cut long strips of the silk on the bias so that I could finish the edges with "bias tape".  The first pass was sewn on the machine, and the folding and tucking under was all hand sewn to finish the gown.  I recall that I made Daisy a kimono costume one Halloween, so I quickly recalled what I had done with that and continued.

The last thing I did was make another pair of mules to match.  Both mules are made from fine, thin leather covered with silk.  The heels are also leather and silk covered to match.  For the lingerie, I added a piece of the lace to the front of the mules.  At some point I would like to write a blog journaling on how to make high heeled shoes as I fashion them.  There really is only one more step in the process and that is the aluminum sheeting used as a brace.  If you don't do this, the heel will bend out backwards when you stand the doll up.  I might do this when I make her next set of shoes.

Well, Kitty had her lingerie, and it just didn't seem right not to have a pair of pajamas.  So back to the book I went and found some lovely gowns and sporty looking two piece pajama sets.  I chose to do the later since Kitty is a thoroughly modern girl flouting the oppressions in fashion of the past.

Back to the  pile of white fabrics I went.  I have a ton of white fabrics, but some of my favorites are the Italian shirting cottons I picked up from Farmhouse Fabrics.  These were purchased back when I made Alice Liddell's outfit.  I like choices.  When I begin designing, my table is strewn with fabrics and trims and all sorts of nonsense as I mix and match and pair until I have the look I want.  In the illustration, the pajamas had this shiny diamond pattern to them.  Believe it or not, I  had just the perfect Italian shirting cotton to create this look, and ran with it.
I already had the beginning of the pants from the shorts I made with the cami-knickers.  I simply lengthened them and banded the waisted line.  The hems of the pants are edged in white French cotton lace.  The back is closed with a thread loop and mother of pearl shank button.

The top took a little thinking though.  Its a length of fabric, a bandeau, that is gathered, or ruched at the top and finished with the same lace as used at the hem.  The straps are lace as well.  I did notice the flutter sleeves, however I would have had to design a much different top to accommodate the, and I wanted to move on. Like the side slits in the cami-knickers, they were simply omitted.  Now I had an outfit for those white silk mules.  The illustration even shows the pajamas paired with such slippers.

Kitty Hudson and I are going to be spending quite a bit of time together.  There is a full trousseaux to be created for each step of her European Tour, and I may just be coerced into making the white gown she wears to debut for the queen.

"When Miss Hudson arrived at just half past six, she was flustered, and tired, yet excited all at once.  Sophie had greeted her at the door and took her bags up to her room.  She was then ushered into the parlor while I quietly waited with my correspondence and the setting sun.  One look at her and I knew we were in for some fun.  She stared at me with wide open eyes and exclaimed, "Why Madame Hoover!, you're not at all what I was expecting!"  To be continued...

 

 

 

Madame Hoover's Intimate Collection