Back to Misselthwaite Manor...
I don't know, maybe its Spring that inspired me, but honestly, it was and is, my true intention to keep making these lovely Peck Aubry paper doll outfits until Mary's closet is full. And, Mary is such a pretty doll that she makes for wonderful playtime, sewing time.
With roses in bloom and summer's apricots and peaches just around the corner, I decided that it was time to try and make the peach dress from this collection. I've long admired it, although I wondered time and again, just what it would take to bring it to life. Its a very unusual pattern, and it had all that detail on the ribbon bands. Its odd, but with this one, after the challenge I had with Alice By the Sea, I just launched into this and kept going without missing a beat. Of course I engaged in a little prep work beforehand.
I'd been fussing over what to do for the embroidered bands. And, I'm positive this was one of the reasons it took so long for me to even consider making it. They were not lace. It looked like a zig-zag pattern, but in Victorian times, perhaps this would have been called a chevron pattern. Either way, I was refusing to do that much embroidery, so I wanted to see if my sewing machine would do the stitch. This meant, of course, reading the manual. I don't like manuals, and I don't like pattern instructions...much less recipes that call for more than five ingredients. I generally have to read through these things ten times before anything begins to gel in my brain. I'm a "wing it" girl. But, I so did not want to do all that embroidery, that I forced myself to try.
I have a Juki Exceed Quilt and Pro Special. I love it. Most people love their sewing machines, and swear by them. I do, too, but I'm realistic. I think I've used a 1/100 of its capacity, and let's hope that's not what I'm doing with my brain! I did find the right stitch for an embroidered zig-zag though. It took about six steps to get there, so I wrote them down with sketches of the buttons I'd have to push and the stitch length I wished. I know how silly this sounds, but I really hate instructions. So I tried the stitch on different weights fabric. Tried it with a interfacing, tried it on a silk-satin ribbon...I tried it. But, every time I did it, the stitch pulled at the tips. Please don't say I should have read up on how to adjust the tension. The machine is supposed to be smart enough to figure it out. What I did figure out was that I would have to hand embroider all of this. So I began. Why not? Its not like I don't labor at these things anyway.
However, the bands were in the future. I first had to figure out what was going on in the dress to make a pattern. This was definitely a time when you insist on making a mock up. I had this lovely dark peach colored fabric that I'd put away with the others I'd purchased to make some of Mary's wardrobe. No problem. All set to go. However, the fabric, which is probably a chiffon like silk, would not hold a pleat no matter what setting I put the iron on...without melting the fabric. So off to Jo Ann's I went in search of a peach cotton to use. Of course this would have been the correct choice originally, but I was so set on the color of the fabric I'd purchased. I just don't learn sometimes. I did find a suitable peach cotton, so now I was ready to go.
I started designing the pattern with the triangular collar piece. This is one of the designs that first catches your eye, so it had to be done right. I was also concerned on getting the embroidered bands spaced correctly, and making certain that they were just the right width. They needed to be a little under a half an inch to look right on Mary. Again, the dimensions illustrated for a paper doll don't always figure for the doll you're sewing for, so you just make adjustments and do your best. The mock up was done just for the immediate-need details and a sense of what was required to put it together once the patterns were drawn. I always use a fabric of equal weight for this to ensure that it will look similar, drape right, pleat correctly.
Let me see if I can describe the parts of this dress. The base is a full bodice and there's a finished panel, a placket, that goes on top of the bodice where the embroidered bands are sewn on. On top of this is the triangular pleated collar piece, and the rectangular pieces that go over the shoulders goes under this. There is a high collar edged in lace, that is embroidered with the design as well. The sleeves have what I call "bucket cuffs" that turn up over the sleeve edge once sewn on. There's a lovely batiste Swiss lace that edges the center placket and the "over sleeves".
When it came to the bands, they had to be made by hand. They're not a bias tape, but were made on the grain, pressed over from right to left, then slightly less the width pressed left to right, under. This makes a nice band since the edges are clean and there isn't "fray to mess with on the underside. These bands were cut and hand sewn onto the placket, then embroidered. One of the things my machine stitch showed me was how it should be done using two threads. There are also wee dots at every interval of zig-zag. Just for the fun of it, I measured how much band I had to embroider and it came out to roughly 54". And, it took time. The collar band is embroidered the same way as the hem and packet bands. However, the cuffs were treated a bit differently.
Firs of all, with the cuffs, there are three bands of zig-zag, and the wee dots are only on the top and bottom, and the pattern is a bit larger. To get the stitches equidistant, I ran a gather stitch through the middle of the cuff to use as a pattern. The points are marked by the distance of the gather stitches, skipping one in the middle. This really helped, and the top and bottom row were measured out with a ruler. My eyes were going a bit wonky doing this, but it was worth it. The smaller embroidery design, which is dominant on this dress, was done by eyeballing it.
Again the bands on the hem of the dress were hand stitched on, and then embroidered. I can't tell you how happy I felt to reach the last two inches of each band. Almost done! Then I lined the skirt and attached it to the bodice. Its closed in the back with four hooks and thread loops from the high collar to the end of the triangular piece, then three buttons and loops to the waist. Of course, none of this shows with her long hair, but
I know its finished properly. Yes, there was a lot of embroidery to be done, but it was worth the patience and time to execute it.
So what else was in this illustration? A box. Mary was carrying some sort of little suitcase. It was too small for an over night case, and she didn't go to school, so she didn't need a case for books (she was tutored at Misslethwaite Manor). I decided it must be a Victorian art box. Something to put her sketching pad and pencil in, and maybe a small set of water color paints. Victorians did beautifully detailed botanical drawings, so this must be what Peck-Aubry had in mind.
Its been far too long for me to remember the last time I used my table saw to make anything like this, but I was happy to explore making one just the same. I do like accessories. I feel they complete the look of anything you sew. Otherwise, you just have a dress. No matter how pretty it is, its just a dress. The accessories tell the story. This little art box is 4" by 2 1/2". Its made from basswood and the color is derived from a mix of paint and gesso so the grain shows through. This is the second one I made. The first attempt was stained with Minwax and did not come out nicely at all. Nor did it look like the one Mary carries in the illustration. I'm very particular about this.
Upon close study of the illustration, I decided to use fine "rope" for the pulls that hold the leather handle to the case. I drilled little holes in the top to insert them through, then knot them off. The leather handle and straps are machine stitched with an off yellow thread, and the buckled straps are just that. Straps. Brass fittings for the hinges where set and there's a decorative latch on the top. Yes, the case is fully functional, opens and closes quite nicely, but getting the leather end to go through the buckle was a nightmare (even though this is thin leather), so it will stay closed. A real Etrenne would have contained a sketch pad and pencil, but I'm done. I will never display Mary sketching, so that case is closed, so to speak. Leather bumpers cover each corner. Those were fun to figure out. At least I can feel confident that I can still do this kind of work. Its all I did for years on end, so it was not a great departure for me from sewing.
Mary's hat was from her debut dress, and her Robin friend is always close by. Below is a Victorian botanical sketch of a peach colored rose. I'm most certain that Mary's art case carries such a pretty representation.
Love,
Melissa
So I headed off to my studio once I'd had my tea, and started puttering around. The idea for a true Etrenne kept niggling at me. What was I thinking?! How could I possibly make a doll accessory and have it be incomplete? So I began making a leather bound sketchbook to fit inside Mary's art sketch box. I lined the inside with a cotton dimity, cut the pages, made a cotton binding, covered it in a nice green leather, but I wasn't having fun. It was just something to pass the time. But, then I started really thinking about her pencil, and asked myself, "What did Victorians actually use for sketching those botanicals?" 
Although the history of pencils can be traced back as far as 500 years, the first mechanical pencil patent wasn’t applied for until 1822, when John Hawkins and Sampson Mordan patented an “ever-pointed” pencil in Britain. Vague details exist of a brass propelling pencil that used a spring as early as 1636, and an actual early mechanical pencil was found on the wreckage of the HMS Pandora, a ship that sank in 1791. The propelling pencils, or push button lever pencils had refillable graphite leads. As I was researching how these decorative mechanical pencils were rendered, I found some incredibly beautiful ones, some with fascinating details. But, of course they were. They were Victorian. It leaves me wondering how often these were used for writing as well as drawing, since they were far handier to carry along than pen and ink bottles.
So I got busy and picked up a little basswood stick and started carving a little pencil with my X-acto blade. I knew right away that I wasn't going to be able to create anything as decorative as a sterling silver mechanical pencil, but that was okay. I think the shape enthralled me as much as anything else. Its the shape of a pin vise. Its the shape of a hypodermic needle. Its a vial with a very narrow hole going all the way through it. Engineering wise, this makes me wonder if the latter implements were conceived from the general idea of the mechanical pencil. Think about it.
A couple of days before, I was changing out the costuming for my Ruby Red Galleria Ten Ping Family dolls and decided that yellows and greens would be a fine summer clothing theme for them. However, poor cousin Ping Li did not have anything to match. So I got busy and made her a summer set to coordinate with theirs. I used the same pattern for her wrap top, that I used under the smock for the winter set. I added a skirt for warmer weather, and made her a new pair of slippers to wear as well. Now the Pings can go on a picnic with cousin Ping Li.
