In a message dated 3/12/2007 2:48:01 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
We recently gave her an > American Girl doll, Felicity. Felicity is 18" tall, and is the > centerpiece of a collection of books, furniture, clothes, etc., all > styled after the American Colonial era. The spoiled part became > apparent when she looked at the cute little gown that the doll had > on and asked me if I could please make her some *real* clothes. So, > now I am on a quest to try to build some at least reasonably > correctly styled 18th century clothing that would have been > appropriate wear in the Colonies. Sorry I missed the original post on this. First, Pleasant Company did consult with Colonial Williamsburg when making Felicity. I haven't examined the clothes in detail, but, I know from making other doll clothes that sometimes you have to sacrifice some accuracy when working in such a small scale. For example, it is extremely difficult to put a sleeve in, in the round--you almost have to put it in flat and then sew up the underarm and side seams. However, this would be easier in an 18th century dress if you put the sleeve in by hand, in the 18th century manner. (I'm sure the company had to sacrifice more accuracy in order for the clothes to be mass-produced. ) That said, Past Crafts Patterns is developing lines of patterns and kits for historic doll clothes. They call what they are doing "evoking period style for dolls." These products will be available wholesale only, so look for them at your local museum shop. I work at a mid-Atlantic Federal era house museum. Many years ago, I asked a representative from Pleasant Company (before Mattel bought them) why they didn't do a doll in our era. Her response was, oh, they were just about to do so--her name was Josefina and she was from Santa Fe. Well, not much help for me. But, the moral of this story is, I took a basic Simplicity pattern and used it as a "sloper" to make my own, more period appropriately shaped pieces. And yes, girls wore "training" stays. There used to be a whole set of underpinnings for each doll. Of course, you can do just as well, or better, and a LOT cheaper. Ann Wass <BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com. _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
