Louise Godey's Winter Skate - Sapphires in the Snow

Winter has arrived.  A new year is well under way with January snowfall heavy in some parts of the country, while rain persists to saturate the thirsty earth in others.  I love snow.  I believe anything, any landscape can be improved by a deep, pristine layer of white.  And, winter costuming is my favorite to create due to its layering, richness of color and cloth, and of course design.  Hoods and boots.  Ice skates, sleds and snow shoes.  Always the accessories excite me, but before the item, the doll must be dressed for the occasion.

While finishing up the bits and thread snips to Marigold's wintery costume, I was purchasing some beautiful, finely thin velveteens from Ralston's in the U.K.  For quite some time, I'd been wanting to create Louise Godey's Winter Skate set, yet as with all my creations, time, planning and close scrutiny to the illustration came first.  Its not that I won't, on occasion, just pick up a fabric and make a little dress, but when it comes to designing these costumes from the 1860's, every detail must be right.  And, what precedes it is careful study of the subject to be created. 

I recall very distinctly wishing to make the dress on the right of the illustration as I loved the mantelet (cape), and the diamond insets in the skirt of the gown.  Yet, the other dress in the illustration was so unusual that I felt a desire to create this one as well.  For some reason it escaped me that the mantelets, both worn by the girls would be the same.  How often do you run across an illustration that shares both the front and back of a costume?  For me, not often.  I usually have to make the back up as I go along.

I don't read instructions.  I've an artist's severe handicap in that I create only by what I take in visually.  Most of time this serves me well, yet undoubtedly I do some research when in doubt.  So I read, again, the descriptions of the gowns that the illustration provided.  What I discovered was that the mantelet was the same one both front and back, just shown on two styles of dress.  So I decided to do both dresses.  I'd picked out a pale opal-pink for one of the dresses, and a pale morning glory blue for the second.  But, then I thought, if I'm really going to do this correctly, I should stick to the colors the description called for.  Blue and grey.  Civil War uniform colors.  Authenticity, to some degree, was how I approached this.  To some degree in that I don't really like working with wool as I'm allergic to it, and I felt velveteen would show up richer in the doll costuming.


I had this interesting discussion with my husband about the blue and grey Civil War uniform colors.  For one thing, dyes were not easy to obtain back then, especially in war times.  While there were yellows and reds from ochre and minerals, the advent and range of the colors we see today began with a factory in Germany much later than the mid 1800's.  As with Louise's all blue dress, I kept thinking of Bonnie Blue Butler, Scarlett's little daughter in Gone With the Wind.  She wore a blue gown on her famous and fatal pony ride.  And, of course Gone With the Wind took place during the Civil War.  I must do a study of color and costuming some time.  Anyone know a good research book?  I was also struck with the trimming, the lines within these costumes and all the buttons, as they "felt" rather military.  What came first?  The costuming or the design of the uniforms?

I began with the tough item first.  The mantelet.  What on earth was I looking at?  One pattern piece?  Two?  Naturally, an illustrator who is not providing a pattern will draw a lovely picture and in so many cases leave out the details of seams.  So I made the pattern up on the fly.  After several tries, the area that was most confounding was the back which forms both a scallop shape and two pleats.  I knew I was "in for it" with the scallop edged hood, but getting just the right shape for the cape-base of the pattern was tricky.  In order for it to lay nicely on her back, as in the illustration, a bend would need to take place, with the scallop fanning out - like a kick-pleat.  So a seam was definitely going to occur down the back of the cape.  It could not be on a fold. 

The hood pattern, I made from copy paper.  I needed a stiffer-than-paper-towel pattern to cut the precise scallops needed in the fabric.  You'll notice the half scallop shape at the top where the seam goes.  The two pieces together make for one smooth scallop, and this was the same for the back, lower edge of the mantelet.  I am not asking a professional pattern maker who's studied real museum costuming to give me the thumbs up, but I do think I came up with a pretty cool pattern piece for this cape.  Putting it together was another matter.

I had purchased 10 yards of 3mm black velvet ribbon for all three pieces (both dresses and the mantelet).  All the trimming was hand sewn on, one edge and then the other.  I must have three thousand tiny stitches put into these pieces.  It took patience, fiddling and pinching and turning, and more patience to get just the trimming on.  Curving the ribbon over the shoulder in just the right placement took a couple of hours.  All I had was the illustration to go by.  How far does it come down on the shoulder?  Where does it hit at the waist?  How can I pin it on without the pins interfering with the hand stitching?  Then there are the jet glass bead buttons that decorate the mantelet.  I used 3mm beads for this.  (Click on the photo of the illustration to see better all the details they added.)

The dress called for "pleats at the hem adorned with velvet ribbons fastened with large jet buttons".  For these trims I used a 4mm velvet ribbon and 4mm jet beads.  As with Marigold's green velveteen coat, I was once again gathering this thick fabric, but this time for the skirt of the dress.  How was I going to create "all those pleats" at the hemline as shown?  Here I had to fiddle with the width of the skirt.  The normal width, gathered, wouldn't even sew into the bodice.  It had to be much smaller, hence less pleats.  Measuring the pleats so they came out "even" and well spaced took another couple of hours.  Just to pin them!  The pleats are tack stitched.

The ribbons are simply one short length bent right over left and tacked to the center of the pleat, "fastened" with a large jet bead.  No wonder I didn't get fancy with the bodice!  No.  That's not why.  I knew the dress would be worn with the mantelet over it and the bodice wouldn't show.  And, would need to be a smooth layer beneath as well.

I might add that this dress was trimmed in a cabin at Sorenson's Resort, deep in snow, in the Sierras south of Lake Tahoe.  I took with me, on our four day cross country ski holiday, a sewing box for the quiet times.


Louise would also want a sled to push her petite Chiffonette over the ice in.  I found this little sled on Ebay, needing a bit of work naturally.  I upholstered the seating in black leather, then added a string of jingly bells to it.  Each little bell is sewn on to a leather strap that ties to the handle bar.  As much as I would have enjoyed finding a wooden sled like the one illustrated, I'm afraid I would have needed to wood-shop this, and we do have our priorities.  This little sled was the perfect size for Louise to push, and would do just fine.

Of course I was looking at antique postcards of skating/sledding scenes to inspire me, and there were some fabulous ones.  In some, the sled is nothing more than a chair fitted with runners!  Others have swans in the front, or lovely carvings and gildings.  Someday I might try to make one.  When the garage is not a mess, and its warm outdoors.

While preparing for our snow trip, I quickly made up the second dress to take with me as well, and trim if there was time.  As it turns out, this velveteen was slightly heavier, and therefore the skirt would need to be even shorter in width.  I think its about 2" shorter in width than the blue.  Still, even with the gathered thickness at the waist, I was able to get it sewn to the bodice just fine.  I love velvet!  I'll make it work.

I was enchanted by the diamond shaped insets on the grey dress.  These, I made up in the blue velveteen the other gown is sewn from, and naturally matches with the mantelet.  The trim was something that took four days to sew on.  Here I was concerned I'd run out of the ribbon.  I barely made it as it is.  I think I had about seven inches left when I was done.  I'd experimented a little with the bodice to make the dress a bit fancier.  I added a stripe of the ribbon just above the skirt waist.  It also has bands of ribbon at the wrists, which I detected in the illustration.  Such a pretty dress.  Sapphires in the snow.  I won't lie.  The banding was troublesome.  The even spacing of the rows, the slopes to the diamonds, and the bending around the diamond insets are what took most of the time.  Both dresses, and the mantelet are fully lined in silk.  Pick stitching the ribbon so as to only catch the upper fabric, not the lining, also took some patience.
 
There are smaller jet beads that adorn the ribbon points as well.  I used the same size beads as were used on the mantelet. 

Here I would like to back track a bit and describe how the hood of the mantelet was made.  As you've noticed, there are scallops along the edge.  First we'll talk about the lining.  The lining is both velvet and silk for the hood.  In order to be folded back with just the velvet showing, a velvet band of the scallops was sewn about 2" into the rest of the lining.  The lining is all one piece.  Sewing the velvet ribbon on the scallops was interesting, too.  Lots of little curves in a ribbon that doesn't lend itself to curving.  I took pinches in the edges of the ribbon where necessary.  I think this is where I would have enjoyed a little help from someone who has sewn this kind of detailing before.  Yet, I consider it all a challenge and it exercises the grey matter in my head.

Of course, petite Chiffonette needed a new winter outfit for her little mother to take her sledding in.


I once again opened that lovely book by Sylvia MacNeil to find some inspiration.  Interesting that her doll really doesn't have a selection of wintering costumes.  But, she did show a little capeline that she made to go with a silk dress with silk cape.  A capeline is a little hood that rests on the shoulders.  I was enchanted with the quilting done on hers, and decided to try a little bitty one for Louise's doll.  This would be the signature piece of the outfit. 

I used a piece of cotton diaper fabric under the silk to give it the effect of  padding.  Anything thicker for a tiny doll would not have worked.  I marked out the diamond pattern of the quilting and stitched the lines on the machine.  The capeline is really just two pattern pieces.  A length with a domed top, and the band that goes base to base over the crown.  This was lined with silk, turned inside out and hand stitched on the bottom.  Instead of the pleat, which would not have worked due the thickness, I made a few gathers then added the silk ribbon bow. 

The edge is a thin strip of real fur.  This is a sheared fur so more dense in appearance.  Sylvia used swan's down for her much larger hat, as described in her book.  Two little silk lengths in 2mm ribbon make up the ties.

Her dress is a silk skirt with a white bodice "blouse" sewn to the waist.  Remember, she's only 4" tall.  The sleeves are puffed and end in wrist bands.  Her little cape is of the velveteen I was originally going to make one of Louise's dresses from, and this is fully lined in silk as well.  Two little gold buttons adorn the neck front, and a tiny thread loop closes over the second button.  As funny as this may sound, I almost enjoyed making this tiny outfit more than Louise's two gowns. Tiny eyelash trim decorates the skirt's edge.  Two rows might have looked sweet, but her other dress has two rows of black eyelash trim and I wanted this one to be different.

Lastly Louise needed her skates.  The boy's skates are probably made of wood with metal edges, but I had these metal blades and they fit beneath Louise's shoes just right.  So I made a leather base and did my best to get the straps to look the same. 

In my observations with the antique postcards, I've seen similar skates, but honestly, the artists draw them all differently.  The skates in the postcard I included in this post, where the girl is wearing a capeline (below), are most like the pair in the Godey's illustration.  For the sake of interpretation, I omitted a strap around the heel, but I do believe I'll add one to keep them on Louise's feet better.

Thank you Jenni, Lori, Ruth, Kathy and Kiki for leaving those most appreciated comments!  You are so right Ruth.  There was a time when I refused to sew.  Had no interest in it whatsoever.  But, I do enjoy it (due to designing my own patterns), just as much as the accessories I used to "only" make.  The joy is in the detail work.

I hope you'll enjoy these select photos from Louise Godey's Winter Skate (albeit a lot of them!)

I've no idea what I might do next, but Alice Illustrated might get her Gwynedd M. Hudson (white with black trim) dress next.  Best order some more of that 3mm black velvet ribbon.  Right now, the new winter issue of Doll News arrived in the mail today, and its begging a look through.

Love,
Miss E. Mouse
(In the photo of Louise in just the blue gown, she is holding a teeny "her size" mignonette that I dressed in blue for her to play with while she underwent the many pinnings and fittings.)




Louise and her petite Chiffonette

Civil War Uniforms



Sapphires in the Snow

Bonnie Blue Butler



She wears a capeline. Notice his skates.




Cute as button!
 

Louise Godey's Winter Skate



To the ice! Skating away!  Jing-jing-jing!

Marigold and Polly, A Winter Holiday

"Here we come a-wassailing,  Among the leaves so green;  Here we come a-wand'ring, So fair to be seen!"  And, the Christmas season is upon us.  While many a merry soul is out shopping and decorating for the celebration ahead, I reside studiously in the comfort and warmth of my little hole in the wall, and play with my dolls.  Children with dolls, adults with dolls, dolls with dolls!  What a happy and pleasant pastime to hold close to our hearts this time of year.

It is in this spirit that I selected my last design for 2015.  Marigold Greenaway was patiently awaiting a new costume and would require a coat, at the very least, for the chilly months ahead.  I'd had my eye on this delightful illustration from the poem Mamas and Babies, from Kate's book of verse, Marigold Garden.  I must give credit for the inspiration as well, to Betsy, who loves Kate's work and at one time was expounding on the beauty of the fancy coats and bonnets women and children wore.

I knew I would make this costume for Marigold at some point given my love of coats as well. And, bonnets, of course.  I suppose I always, also, intended to make her the doll, for I love dolls with dolls.  And, so "Marigold and Polly, A Winter Holiday" began.

The attraction to this coat, which seems to be the object that draws the eye in, was the extent of ruffles, which I have not found present in other coats by Kate.  Most have the shoulder cape attached (edged in ruffles at times), but the coats are generally edged in fur.  I had this pretty pine green velveteen on hand, and felt it might be thin enough to handle ruffling.  I chose a heavy yellow cotton sateen for the gown, and aqua blue silk for the bonnet.  Brown leather shoes seemed appropriate for winter, since undoubtedly Marigold might be slushing through snowy streets, and silk slippers would not do.

The dress was pretty easy to put together.  I'd already had a pattern from one of the gowns I'd made her earlier.  The white dress with blue floral print and green sash.  The heavier sateen also seemed to be appropriate as this was a winter garment. 

I edged the square neckline in a white English lace, and closed the back with color matching buttons and thread loops.  Again, this is fully lined, which prevents the garment from showing hand-stitched hemming tacks.

With the under garment created, I began the pattern for the coat to fit over the dress.  So important since the sleeves of the dress must slide nicely into the arms of the coat, and the coat must close around the fullness of the gown.  While I'd been studying the illustration for over a year, when it came to designing the pattern, I was stumped.  For some reason my eye was telling me that the way Kate drew this, the ruffles going down the front should be offset to the side of the coat.  I tried this and failed miserable, since it would be impossible to connect the double tiered, ruffled shoulder cape suitably.  So I tried again (with less fabric to work with!), and this time positioning the ruffles and closure right down the middle. 

No part of making this coat was fun.  This was one of the most difficult garments I've ever made.  The velveteen, thin as it was, still became much thicker when gathered.  I must have over 100 inches of fabric in all the ruffling, including the tinier ruffles at the sleeves' ends.  I lined it in Kauffman's cotton silk, in celadon.  The slippery texture allows the heavy cotton sleeves to glide in easily through the coat's.  And, it has a luxurious look to it.

The double ruffled shoulder cape is lined in this celadon as well.  There is a ruffle at the hem of the cape, as well as one at the neckline.  I closed the coat in a fashion I felt would maintain a clean line when worn.  Two little matching green buttons with loops are sewn to the area closest to the neckline where the cape will close in front.  Then two more buttons are spaced equally to just above the knees to keep the coat closed.  Two hooks and loops fasten the capelet in front.  What a job!  As much work went into this coat as all the other parts combined.

In doing my best to stay faithful to the illustration, I might have chosen a green cotton instead for the coat.  It certainly would have had a smoother line in the end.  However, I love velveteen and felt this would be (or wool, even worse to work with given the ruffles) the best and most authentic choice.  On a child, it would have worked beautifully.  On a 16" child doll, a little more of a challenge, to say the least.

Marigold's little doll is named Polly.  The beginning of the poem, Mammas and Babies begins, "My Polly is so very good, Belinda never cries; My Baby often goes to sleep, See how she shuts her eyes."  So Polly it was.  Her little Polly is also a Wendy Lawton doll.  As I was searching through my boxes for an appropriate little doll to dress for her, I knew that an all-porcelain one would not have draped in Marigold's arms well.  I happened to have an extra "Jewel", which is a 5" doll with a porcelain head and shoulder plate, forearms and lower legs, on a leather body.  Nice and floppy. 

Her gown and capelet are of ivory silk.  Again, there is a ruffle around the neckline of the capelet in theme with "mamma's".  The choice of silk rather than a cotton gown for Polly was based entirely on self preference.  I could not decide whether this was indeed a baby, or a lady doll, so I opted for a middle ground of the two.  I also made her wig.  What a nightmare.  It was too large for her head, but the perfect look and length.  No other tiny wig had this style.  I had to cut it down to fit her head, sew it back together, then heavily trim the bangs.

Her bonnet is gold velveteen and silk ribbon.  This was a fun little bonnet to make and its base is thin cardboard rather than buckram to hold its shape well.

The shoes may have been the quickest piece of this ensemble to construct.  I'd made two silk slippers of this pattern for Marigold earlier, and I find leather much more forgiving...easier to work with.

Finally we have Marigold's bonnet.  This hat was created with a buckram base.  Its been a long time since I've worked a hat or bonnet in this size, and the practice was necessary.  It may seem odd, but for as many bonnet patterns as there are out there, I had to design this one from scratch.  Its more of a stove pipe hat with a crescent brim.  Do I ever have it easy?  No.

One thing I tried with both bonnets, was creating my own ribbon by cutting silk taffeta strips on the bias.  I chose to do this rather than double fold the edges and stitch them down.  Why?  Because that edging adds bulk and tends to lessen the crispness of the fabric.  I also tried this rather than being frustrated in not finding the exact colors and widths I required - and of course, the shipping time around the holidays. 

When we look at the fashions illustrated by Kate Greenaway, we might naturally assume that the designs are simple and would be a snap to make.  In most cases this is correct, but with this costume, it was a labor of love.

Kate's summer experiences in the Nottingshire countryside formed the basis of the Greenaway style.  Kate usually objected to painting winter scenes because she said the cold made the children's complexions go a "horrid bluey-red".  Yet, she was asked time again to create these precious scenes for calendars, magazines, books and almanacs.  These are some of my favorites, the winter scenes, though I had a difficult time finding Christmas specific illustrations to share. 

The first one, below, is one of a few.  It is titled Christmas at Little Peopleton Manor, and appeared in the Christmas edition of The Illustrated London News, the same year Kate's first book was published.  The top left illustration is titled Christmas Day. On the top far right, you have Christmas Eve.  Lacking is a display of ornaments, garlands and Christmas trees, and this might attest to the times.  Even Supper, bottom left, is devoid of garlands in the dining room.  While thumbing through a book of her work, you might pass this one up when looking for illustrations with a Christmas theme!

Following are a few of my the favorites I found depicting the Christmas holiday and winter.  I hope you'll enjoy them.

This is my final blog post for the year.  Plans for Louise's Winter Skate are underway, and will surely be my first post in the New Year.  Thank you all for following my progress and creative process through world of doll costuming and accessories.  This chronicling has been a joy to share with you.  "We wish you a Merry Christmas!, and a Happy New Year!"

Love,
Miss E. Mouse

Merry Christmas from Marigold and Polly!

Louise Godey's Opulent Holiday Toilette

Earlier this month, I'd been contemplating how the holidays might have been celebrated in the 19th century.  This was a time when our present day Christmas traditions and literature were becoming established.  Charles Dickens would write the eternally thoughtful A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, one week before Christmas.  Even earlier, Clement Clarke Moore would pen A Visit From St. Nicholas (The Night Before Christmas).  The poem was first published, anonymously, in a newspaper in Troy, New York, on December 23, 1823.

American cartoonist Thomas Nast is generally credited as having invented the modern depiction of Santa Claus. Nast, who had worked as a magazine illustrator and created campaign posters for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, was hired by Harper’s Weekly in 1862. For the Christmas season he was assigned to draw the magazine’s cover, and legend has it that Lincoln himself requested a depiction of Santa Claus visiting Union troops.

The resulting cover, from the Harper’s Weekly dated January 3, 1863, was a hit. It shows Santa Claus on his sleigh, which has arrived at a U.S. Army camp festooned with a “Welcome Santa Claus” sign.

The holidays were an exciting time for adults and children alike.  Victorian opulence was at its height, and when I decided to design a toilette for Louise Godey, all these factors played in.  There was no "one" costume or illustration that inspired me, but rather a collection of attitudes and designs that formed her holiday finery.  I worked for two weeks, almost without break, as one design concept followed another, and the toilette was constructed as ideas would form.  It was hard to call it quits, yet I understood that this was but one more costume for her, and others would follow.  Perhaps sooner than later. 

I was not concerned with my historical accuracy (yes, of course I was), because I'd been studying and creating these costumes from the inception of Alice Liddell's wardrobe and into the Queen Alice costume I'd created for Alice Illustrated.  What I allowed myself to do was play, and create solely from how I wished to dress Louise, and not strain-faithful to a detailed illustration or someone else's antique doll costume.

What I had on hand was a garnet silk taffeta, and the lush wine cotton velveteen I'd used in Lettie Lane's autumn outfit a few years back.  Trims.  I had back soutaches, and silk ribbons, feathers and fine black leather for a pair of boots.  I began with the holiday dress.  I wanted pure fancy and opulence-apparent for Louise.

The gown's bodice has a slightly higher "scoop" to the chest than her Court Jester costume.  This I fashioned hoping to give her a little more coverage and warmth due to the season.  A row of tiny black glass beads marches down the center towards the two skirted flounce below.  The underskirt is all taffeta with a row of knife pleats at the hem.  The top skirt is a scalloped affair timed with small ruffles.  Black silk ribbon bows dot the tops of each scallop point.  I'd noticed in many of the illustrations that white stockings appeared above dark boots, so I allowed her to remain in the stockings I'd made earlier.

Next, I made her a pair of black side button boots for crossing snowy pathways.  I was sorely tempted to make them of burgundy leather, but I couldn't justify the amount of the leather piece I needed to purchase for this small extravagance.  Slippers were often the same color or fabric of the dress in French fashion, but this was winter, snow...black boots seemed most appropriate and they can be worn with many other outfits.  I'd made the right choice, as I'd then decided to try my hand with the black soutache on the sac (jaconet, or jacket), and the boots would coordinate.

The jacket, again, is of wine colored cotton velveteen.  I had this gorgeous rose embroidered silk which I'd intended for a skirt or jacket, and chose to use it for the lining.  Elegant.  When I dress a doll, I often think, "What would I personally like to wear?"  "Well I think she'd like that, too".  I had this soutache with double loopy sides and thought I'd try it on the sac's edges.  While hand sewing this on, I went a step further to teach myself soutache loops.  There is one on each sleeve edge.  These were fun to do.  I'll admit that more than one, evenly made and centered, spaced on a dress will be a challenge, but at least I have an understanding of how this is done.  I also used these tiny black cloth antique buttons on her jacket that do not have a shank.  Instead there is a fabric on the bottom you thread the needle through.

While I'm firm to the conviction that you can assuredly make correct period fashions with modern fabrics, using antique trims sometimes boots the effect, and is always lovely.

Next came the hat.  I had an idea of what I wanted, but wasn't quite sure how to approach it.  Bonnet vs. Hat.  Hat vs. Bonnet.  Small or large?  Millinery hat wire or no?  I was hoping to make sense of a Bru hat that the fabulous seamstress, Georga Fedorchak, had made.  (I miss you Georga!  She passed away several years ago, God bless her.)  The wiring was such that you'd sew channels into the fabric, insert the wire, and tape or twist them at the ends, then sew the fabric ends over them.  I'm laughing as I write this, because I spent two days in agony trying to figure out exactly how she achieved the look she got without deconstructing one of her glorious chapeaus. 

This was supposed to be a band of a hat, but it turned into a bonnet.  There are four rows of wire in the bonnet with ruching between them.  Ribbon rosettes decorate the points at the chin, and a large fancy bow with a feather center the top.  I know what happened.  The football pattern of the hat was too wide in the center leaving more space than required to provide for the middle ruching.  Instead, it created a bonnet effect, and this was perfectly fine with me.  Someday I'll try the hat-band again, and when I do, I'll share Georga's work with you.

Lastly I added a dark mink muff.  The silk lining of the muff  is the same rose jacquard I used in lining the jacket.  A silk bow trims the center for a bit of elegance.

While working on the outfit, I'd been contemplating a gift for Louise.  Earlier in the year I'd purchased a Lisette by Cathy Hansen.  This was about the time that I'd finally purchased Sylvia MacNeil's Chiffonette book.  With Lisette's short blonde curls, she resembled the Huret Sylvia used in producing The Enchanting Trousseau of Chiffonette.  The long term miniaturist in me saw an opportunity to turn the 4" Lisette into a mini Chiffonette for Louise.  Of course that meant sewing 1860's costuming for a little bitty doll.

About the time I was to begin her costume, I'd been in touch with my friend Kathy who was eager "to see how I'd sew for a 4" doll".  There.  She challenged me.  I'm always up to a challenge, especially when it comes from an esteemed seamstress such as Kathy O' Malley of Bluebird Textiles.  So with task in hand, I decided that this costume should be made no differently than one I'd make Louise.  That is, not "doll house style" with glue, but plain old machine and hand stitching.

I can't tell you how many hours I've poured over Mac Neil's book, but if I was going to do this for a 4" mini Chiffonette, I was going to do it right!

I began with her underclothes.  The bloomers and slip were made from white Swiss batiste with lace edging.  This lace edging is done by placing the raw edge of the cloth against the edge of the lace and doing a machine zig-zag to attach it.  It finishes the raw edge of the fabric and tightly secures the lace at the same time.  The bloomers have a fitted waistband with silk ties in the back.  The slip is a full 7 1/2" wide and gathers with a thin cord of floss that runs through a channel at the waist, then ties in the back.  I was watching Claire dress on Outlander and this was how her full skirt fastened.

Actually, I take that back.  I started with her boots.  And, these were made "doll house style", as in not removable.  I can make them removable.  I'm admitting to "having a moment" of, well not laziness, because they're not easy to make doll house style either, but ease-of-effort.  Its been a very long time since I dressed a doll this size. 

Her skirt and jaconet are silk taffeta sewn exactly the way Louise's costuming is made.  Just super tiny.  I used this itty bitty fringe soutache for the trim.  Two hooks close the jaconet with thread loops.  I'm admittedly out of practice sewing this small and in such detail, but I promise to rid myself of that affliction.

Mini Chiffonette's hat was inspired by one of Sylvia's.  In a photo below you'll see the resemblance.  After attempting the straw hat free-hand, I found a bald porcelain doll with roughly the same size head, and used her head as the hat mold.  Silk ribbon replaces Sylvia's velvet which would have been too thick for the tiny hat, and a wee snip of feather.  I was going to make a cape for her to wear on her sleigh ride, but truly felt I needed to stop somewhere.  As these clothes are a meant for a trousseau, she'll have other pieces to wear in time.  My goal is for Louise to have her own French Fashion doll with trunk and trousseau, fully dressable, playable.

One last thing I'll share is that of Mini Chiffonette's sleigh.  This is a little antique from France that I didn't question purchasing.  Its simply fabulous with a silk seat covered in tiny gold buttons for the quilting effect. 

In the background you can see a pair of silver skating blades.  I almost made Louise a pair of ice skates for this outfit, but will save them for another costume devoted to 19c. ice skating.

The jaded artist in me fully expects that at some point someone is going to come along and make tiny Hurets and call them Mini Chiffonette's - like its a great discovery.  Watch.  It happened when I made a mini Daisy.  It's happened other times.  What I can say is that there is never too much of a good thing.  Art is like a signature and no two are alike.

Louise is delighted with her new doll.  A Huret for the holidays. 

I've been blessed today to write in the warmth of my home while a cold and very wet storm chases about outdoors.  The leaves that finally turned gold and red last week are scattered across the ground.  Autumn has finally arrived.

Love,
Miss E. Mouse

Windsor Castle 1880

Shopping in New York City 1848

Sylvia MacNeil's Chiffonette (Huret)

Louise's doll with hat.

So far...

Happy Holidays Louise Godey!