Katherine Louise Hudson's Shopping Day

I just made myself a mug of Matcha tea to begin writing this blog with.  I love Good Earth's blend, but I especially enjoy the "fortunes" written on each of the tea bag's tabs.  "When the past calls, let it go to voicemail.  It has nothing new to say." unknown  Well, yes.  For my own past, which I sometimes spend too much time in, hit delete.  But, fashion's past?  That's a place that I can travel to and spend countless hours in.  I enjoy not only looking at the details of costuming, but noting and making comparisons to the fashions of today and those I wore years ago.  For instance, drop waist dresses had returned in the 60's.  How do I know this?  My grandmother sewed my clothing and I had two dresses like this.  They certainly didn't compare to the dresses from the 1920's, but the basics were there.  And, Mary Jane shoes were the style of both these decades, too.  There's no sweeter sound to a deb or a child, as the clack-clack-clack of a pair of shiny shoes on a hard wood or tiled floor.  (I tap danced as a child and young adult, too.  Love that noise!)

After finishing up Kitty's lingerie, I needed color to sew with.  That's another reason I hate making underwear.  White, white, white, and occasional pink or blue.  Boring! I don't care how fancy it is either.  Unless you're into boudoir dolls, ladies lounging in their unmentionables, all that work goes under a dress and you'll never see it.  So now was the time to get busy with color and a bit of dazzle.

I went back to my now favorite fashion book, that green one titled Flapper Era Fashions From the Roaring '20s.  (see previous post).  This book simply has everything in it, even if some areas, like purses, were only given half a page.  I'm a day dress person.  Fancy gowns and evening wear are lovely in their own right, but how do we spend most of our time?  Right.  And, that is exactly why I chose to build a little day dress fashion for Kitty from the ground up.  Park strolls, museum touring, tea in the café, and most importantly shopping!  Kitty loves to shop.  The 20's saw girls wearing make up, and they needed cash to shop for all the essentials.  So I designed something that would be appropriate for the afore mentioned occasions, as well as shopping in a market stall in Cairo, to a boat ride in Venice.

The image that most popped out at me, inspired me, was this simple, yet fashionable day dress shown in the right lower corner of this advertisement.  The skirted portion of it looked like a challenge, and it certainly was.  But, I also loved the details of the belted hip, the buttons and the tucks down the front.  I'm not into ties at the neck.  Haven't been since women tried to wear them in offices in the 80's to look "professional".  Barf.  Shoulder pads and ties.  Double barf.  Yet, this dress can be easily dressed up with a white silk scarf at the neckline and look fabulous.

I'd just bought this gorgeous peach colored Liberty Lawn, and it had a bit of a Japonaise look to it.  Perfect for the 20's.  I'd already decided, needing color on my table, that Kitty should have a red hat, and the outfit would be designed around the red hat.

I had some lovely red silk that had an extremely light hand and wanted to try this for the cuffs, collar, trim and borders of the dress.  I know what some are thinking.  Peach and red?  Yes.  These colors are paired quite often, although when we sit to design something, we seldom think of them as going together.  There was a bit of light red to the centers in some of the white flowers on this fabric, and they'd pop with the red trim.

The first thing I needed to do was figure out the skirt.  What would give the dress the drape as shown in the advertisement?  No pleats.  No gathers.  Its a smooth attachment of the skirt to the bodice.  A circle.  A circle with a hole cut in the center, then a cut up the back so that you could attach it to the bodice.  This took a bit of effort to get exactly correct, as the hole will seem smaller, not enough, but cut the circle up the back and the circle becomes a length on the bias that pins remarkably well to a straight bodice.  The only issue is that on a little doll, you can't get the flowing drapes you'd find on a human or a much larger doll.  There's only 3" of skirt length to work with .  You can overcome this, once its attached, with steam and some manipulation.

The bodice is a beautiful thing with centered pintucks, some space, then opposite pleats just at the shoulder to the dropped waist.  These latter ones are simply ironed and sewed, while the ones decorated with the buttons are sewn.  Eight little buttons tack down the centered pintucks, and two little red buttons sit just below the peaks on the belt.  These peaks are repeated in the back of the dress as well.

To trim the belt, I cut strips of the silk on the bias, and hand sewed them to the edges.  Patience is my middle name.  At times.  While the bottom edge of the belt is sewn to the skirt, the top edge is sewn to the dress just at the peaks.  Were this a house dress, these openings might be nice as pockets.

Of course we had to make an annoying collar.  I don't like making collars, but everything I do like comes with one it seems.  The sleeves were banded, and the last use of the silk was the border at the hem.  This is where the fun begins.  As you know, I line all my dresses.  So what I did here was, sew the bias cut border to just above the hem on the front of the dress, then sewed the edge into the seam of the lining so that it would be hidden.  I made that up.  So what?  I'm sure its been done somewhere in time.  It created a nice, smooth finish.

I knew the shoes would be difficult to make, so I took a break and spent a day making the hat.  I used a Bleuette hat mold by PNB in a cloche style.  I had no idea if it would fit Kitty or not, and the only way to know was to make it.  There was barely a flip to the front and not much of an edge to the back and I wanted a much fancier hat that the mold would give me.  So I added hat braid as needed.

For some silly reason, my fringe glue, which is what "they" all use, was not adhering each round to the next.  I thought my glue had gone bad.  Does glue go bad?  I have a huge bottle of this stuff and would hate to toss it.  Personally, I think it was the braid itself.  The dye in the braid?  Some kind of chemical there that refused to behave the way these hats are made on those molds.  The biggest trouble was with the turned up rows.  So I gave up and started hand sewing those areas.  They will hold now.

After the hat had cured overnight, I decorated it with the same silk as the dress's trim.  Have you ever tried to put a flat ribbon on a round hat and didn't like the way it looked because it didn't sit nice against the crown?  So here's what I did.  I once again cut the silk on the bias, pleated it and pinned it to the crown before stitching it on.  The bias hugs the crown beautifully, and I'll remember this to the day I die.  Or at least stop sewing.  Heaven forbid!  Since I had a pleated band cut on the grain, I used it to make a half fan and stitched it to the band.  I love this hat.  I wish you could see the samples in that green book.  If you love the 20's fashions, find yourself a copy on Amazon.

Now we needed to pull this altogether with a snappy pair of shoes and a matching bag.  As I've been designing this Euro tour wardrobe in my head, I knew I'd want to try bi-colored shoes.  I love t-straps, and Heather had sent a pattern for an outfit with shoes in it and I was over the moon.  How wonderful not to have to design a shoe pattern from scratch.  This entire pattern set was supposed to fit this exact doll, and what a load of malarkey.

You know how I feel about other people's patterns anyway, but this shoe pattern was ridiculous.  I knew something was up when I looked at what she'd drawn for the inner sole, but (I'm scratching my head here), this just wouldn't do.  The sole of Kitty's foot bed in only just over 1 1/2".  I knew this from the mules I'd made already.  And the whole t-strap shoe pattern would need to be redefined.  see below for how different the drawn pattern is to the white patterns I made.  In fact, the example of the photographed shoe on the front of this pattern set could not have been made with this pattern.  Why do they do that to us?!  It happens with clothing patterns, too, and I learned this nine years ago when I tried to sew for Daisy.

Anyway, I chose red for the shoes and I also had this lovely orange leather I wanted to use as trim, keeping with the color scheme.  The shoes at the bottom of this advertisement were my inspiration, but I dressed them up with the orange for the straps.

While I was top stitching the shoe uppers, I had an idea to punch little holes in the leather to add some pizzazz.  I did all this work under my mag lamp because it was tiny detail work and I had to center the punch over the dots I'd made on the front of the leather.  Teeny strips of leather getting teeny holes punched in it. Good grief.  But, they came out darling.

It took me a full day and a bit longer to make these shoes, but this is what it takes.  This is new territory for me, and I hope that with each pair I make, they'll get nicer and nicer.

The heels are covered in the red leather and I chose silver for the buckles because that's all I had in this tiny size.  I have super tiny shoe buckles, and had used them on Huguette's shoes, but the straps are glued to those shoes.  I needed a buckle that I could get the strap in and out of.  I still use a fine pair of tweezers to do this, but it works.  And, fairly smoothly.  Sometimes I forget that I'm sewing for a doll.  It's just me, but I want the clothes and accessories I make for dolls to make the doll look like a miniature representation of a real person, and not a doll.

I'm proud of how these shoes turned out.  Its okay.  We can take pride in our work when it comes out well.

Finally, this morning, I made a purse to match.  Earlier I'd had a senior moment wondering if women eve

n carried purses back then.  You seldom see them holding one in illustrations.  Parasols, yes.  I think my mind has been stretched too far with all that's going on in the world right now, and I got thunked on the head for it, too.  However, their purses were used more as small accessories, rather than the luggage we carry today.  They were fashion accessories just large enough to carry a compact, a little money and maybe a cigarette case.  I'll get more into purses later, but I've done a lot of reading up on them since my solid thunking.  Believe it or not, there are ten pages of hats in the green book, and barely a mention of purses.  However, the "mention" was enough to inspire me to make her a wallet.  I'll call it was wallet because it looks like a big wallet.  The one in the top right of the illustration was my inspiration.

While this flap over bag has a tassel for decoration, I wanted the doll to be able to hold the purse, so I made a wrist loop for it.  From other examples I've seen, wrist loops were used as well, they just aren't described in this advertisement.

The purse is decorated to match the shoes from the orange trim to the silver buckle.  I sewed a small snap on the flap and front so that it closes nicely.  If Kitty were my doll, she'd be dressed in this outfit for the next six months, but there is still the rest of the trousseaux to get under way.

"The other day, Katherine, pardon me, Kitty, was sulking about the parlor waiting for the rain to stop.  She's been spending her days seeing the sights of New York, and has made a few friends along the way.  She was the life of the party at a salon I held the other evening, and was fascinated with my friend who has recently returned from an archeological dig in Egypt.  He took her out to meet a few friends of his, and she has since been going out in the evenings to some of the clubs nearby.  This has lifted her spirits immensely.  I trust her, as I trust Charles's associations.  I just completed a day dress for her European tour, but she wished to wear it today to meet with one of the young ladies for lunch.  The rain will stop and a taxi will be hailed.  She's been wonderful company, but I have so much to do.  I'm glad she's found friends to socialize with."  Madame Hoover

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 

A Portrait of Huguette Clark and Her Favorite Doll Suzette

Just after finishing Cissy in Aqua, I launched into a project that would test my "slipping" skill set after joyfully using someone else's patterns, and on a much larger doll.  But, it was simply something that I had to do as a gift for a special friend.  Creating Huguette Clark as a portrait doll was pure inspiration at the onset.

Back in December I learned about this upcoming auction through Theriault's of Annapolis, Maryland, that would offer to the world, for the first time, the doll collection of Huguette Clark, the copper heiress.  It would be held in Santa Barbara, California, the home of the Clark's summer home.  My friend, Heather, would be attending this come hell or highwater, and it was through this she had to go to get there.  She'd had some health issues that threatened to prevent her from attending, but I know she would have crawled there if it was the only option.  Not wishing to interfere or be a pest, I did not offer to take her there, and only found out after that she had hoped I'd offer!

She did attend, and by the end of the auction, she would become known as the Queen of Bleuette, for having won a bidding war with a Japanese collector bidding online, for Huguette's Bleuette.  She also won a gorgeous Rosette, both dolls complete with trousseaus, and I was thrilled to pieces for her.  Heather is one of the foremost collectors of Bleuette dolls and owns one of every mold, antiques all.  And, now she owns the prized Bleuette doll once owned by Huguette Clark.

During this time, I'd picked up the book Empty Mansions that was written by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newall, Jr., a biography on W.A. Clark, Huguette's father, and "the mysterious life of Huguette Clark and spending the great American fortune".  The book was wonderfully entertaining and followed W.A.'s rags to riches story that began in the late 1800's.  I won't spoil it for you should you like to read it.  I typically don't read non-fiction, but I was enthralled by the story.  And, utterly charmed by the life story of Huguette Clark, a sensitive and artistically talented child born in

Paris, France, on June 9, 1906.  She took on a very private, and very reclusive life in later years, and died on May 24, 2011.  It was my inspiration and task to treat Heather to a portrait doll of Huguette and her favorite Jumeau doll (which was also sold at auction), to commemorate the auction event, her wins, and celebrate the life of a dear little girl who loved dolls.

I spent a good deal of time researching Huguette (pronounced hew-get), and photographs of her, and chose to work from what may now be the most famous one, at least among doll collectors, of the child and her doll Suzette.  I had a 12" Wendy Lawton Prim and Proper in my stash with a brown wig and pink eyes, and one of the two remaining 2 1/2" mini Bleuettes that an acquaintance made for me what seems like a millennium ago.  That was about the only luck I had in creating the doll.

The first task was to see if I could made a doll close in resemblance.  The only saving grace was that this was a gift and not a commission, so if the doll didn't come out "perfect", so what.  Right?  This is just one of the reasons I don't sell my work.  Paying patrons can be a real pain in the popo.  If its free, why complain?  And, I only do this kind of work for friends.  

The first piece I attempted to make was the blouse.  I'd been studying this portrait of Huguette daily.  At first glance, a person sees a white blouse and striped jumper on a blonde girl with her hair pulled back.  Sounds easy?  Well the blouse is actually a dolman sleeved blouse with a winged collar.  Try looking that one up for examples.  None to be found.  Lots of dolman sleeved garments, but no blouses like this.  I also half suspect that this may have been a dress with the bodice of the blouse attached at the hem of the bodice.  This was my take on it, and I was going to try this, but after a week or two of trying to make this garment, I chose to make them separately.

The blouse pattern took me no less than a week to design with several mock ups.  I simply could not figure it out after the easy peasy days of patterns for Cissy.  I was terribly frustrated, but still determined and pushed through it.

There were a lot of "sleep on it" moments, then I tried a collar that would have a facing that ran down the front of the blouse.  I'd studied patterns of just collars, but they were mostly for men's shirts.  At any rate, I designed a one piece dolman sleeve pattern, a collar that attaches to the neckline, then a long collar pattern for the facing that is cut on the fold.  The other thing is that when you line the blouse with the facing on a pattern such as this, you have extra width in the back.  I solved this by sewing in one long fold-over pleat down the back.  It could have been split and sewn, but this was neater.

The next task was to create the jumper.  I purchased no less than six different striped fabrics in royal blue and white, and navy blue and white.  The best stripe was not 1/2" or 1/4", but something in between and not quite 3/8".  This fabric was also whispery, probably rayon, and was difficult to work with.  I was also pained by the color.  A portrait like Huguette's was done in oils.  When you look at it, you see the color cream.  Was this the true color for both her dress and the doll's?  Who knows?  Paintings are also sealed and this sealer often yellows.  Not only that, but the artist may have painted with the "warmth of the sun" in reflection that would also make the colors not so stark, but softer, creamier in color.  I had to wing it.  Interpret it.


The bodice is a two piece band that the little straps are set into both in the front and back.  They needed to be positioned and sewn in between the two pieces.  This was frustrating in both length of strap and positioning and many seams were undone and resewn in the process.  Interpreting this dress again, the bodice does not come down to the natural waist, but is almost "empire".

The skirt then needed to be attached with the opening in front.  One of these days I will try this entire pattern again and see if I can attach the blouse where the skirt attaches to the bodice, but that's for another day, and another doll.  All this attaching wasn't a problem, but the length of the bodice kept needing to be shortened to get the empire look, and the skirt was often too wide, too many gathers and pouf (another Cissy setback), an the length needed to be correct. (While the photos don't really show this, the skirt does come mid knee.)

I can't tell you how many times I've had to do something over because the skirt was too short.  So I made it a little longer to be on the safe side.  I also did something I don't normally do, and that was not lining the skirt.  I hand hemmed it.  With nice, neat tiny stitches.  And, guess what?  The skirt was too long.  Back to photos of Huguette and the length of her dresses!  Just below or to mid knee.  So I carefully pulled all the stitches out and discovered that rayon runs.  There were three distinct runs, like pantyhose runs, in the fabric.  Once a needle goes into fabric, its there forever.  So off the skirt came, and the second one got lined with a thin, white batiste.

It may not be readily noticeable, but I did get the arrow point at the center of the bodice in there.  I also had some prized vintage teeny tiny mother of pearl shank buttons that I sacrificed for this project.  They have been used on Louise Godey's costuming and I think the sleeves of Alice Liddell.  I still have some left, so that's nice.  They're terribly hard to come by.  Buttons.  Well they sure do look blue in the painting, don't they?  They are not.  That is the reflection of the sky in mother of pearl.  Or color picked up for the blue in the dress, shadow and light.  Mother of pearl also has its own rainbows in the shell.   If I were not a painter, I would not know these things, so it is helpful.

Huguette's human hair wig was restyled.  The bangs were trimmed and the hair was pulled back in two sections.  At the top and lower at the neck.  I like to use the tiny clear rubberbands to begin with, then use sewing thread to tightly wrap the hair in place.  Rubberbands disintegrate over time and thread lasts.  He hair is then topped with a silk satin white bow.  I made her little black shoes with cotton ribbon bows.  I would have liked to have made them from patent leather, but its hugely expensive per hide if you can find it.

The tiny doll, Suzette, was dressed in white batiste, as close to the doll's dress worn in the Theriault's photo as possible.  Dress pleats and lace.  White leather shoes and socks.  Even wee bloomers.  She was wigged with blonde mohair.  I haven't dressed a miniature in quite awhile and would like not to have to do this anytime soon again.  But, it went well and only took a day.

I was tickled to pieces that the doll arrived on Heather's doorstep much earlier today than expected.  I think she's pleased.

Below are some lovely photos I found of Huguette Clark and also with her sister Andree (hyphen over the first e).  Isn't it fun that they had sister dresses?  There are two photos with Huguette and her father, W.A. Clark.  Rather "Mark Twain" looking!  And, one of the doll Suzette, from which I worked.  My favorite photograph is that of Huguette with her daddy, wearing the indian headdress.  I was so very tempted to do this one.

Now, back to sewing some Hitty doll garment pieces for another friend of mine.  We shall return to Cissy soon!

Love,
Melissa