Saturday, November 10, 2012

Victorian dress from Gildebrief pattern project...

I haven't posted since my last quick pictures of a Halloween setup, and here we are into November. Needless to say, I have not been able to have that much doll time. I am still working on the Nativity scene, and have almost finished one of the Kings' costumes.
Recently I have become enthralled with Barbies and Fashion Royalty dolls dressed in Victorian dress. There are a few people out there who are dedicated to their 1:6 scale dollhouses, and what amazes me is their attention to detail.
My newest project I finished today and started yesterday was a dress for my Anja club doll. Her upswept chignon and coloring demanded a particular color of fabric that would compliment her. I have long wanted to dress some of my Fashion Royalty dolls in Victorian garb, and decided since I also collect reproduction French Fashion dolls, why not resize the Gildebrief patterns down tot heir size? Easy enough, right?
For now, I won't show you the beginnings of cutting down the patterns, but will show you the finished product, Anja in her new gown. I found this tan or beige cotton remnant of 3/8 of a yard at a local Walmart craft department for .86 cents, and figured I could use ribbons, embellishments and cording I already had in my stash.











I may add two more buttons on the right side of the ribbon lines on the front of her bodice. I feel like it should be a little more embellished, but the more I look at the pics the more the gown grows on me. The bodice was one of the hardest parts to configure, I had to tuck, trim, and cut to make it fit. I think I will take the bodice patterns and compare them to the body when I do another gown. It came out much better than I expected. Here Anja is having an afternoon cup of tea, the tea table is Bespaq.

The issue of Gildebrief Magazine was volume 26, winter 2009 and it had two patterns in it for a 12 inch french fashion poupee. The skirt worked perfectly with a couple of tucks, but the bodice is the main part that needs to be resized. I have a reproduction Francois Gaultier on a Seeley body that I sew for, (when I have time) and one of my to-dos I have wanted to complete for some time is resizing the Gildebrief patterns to the FR girls.

I hope to do another gown for my Royal Monaco Vanessa, her black hair is also upswept into a bun and she would look astounding in a Victorian gown. I was browsing Ebay and found two Victorian styled Barbies from 1996 so I am expecting them soon. As a child, I remember pouring over doll books from the library and trying to sew Victorian clothing for my dolls in my dollhouse, I would sit and sew for hours as a kid. Maybe it never goes away, and that was why I was able to finish the dress in a 1 and a half. The buttons were plastic ones but I painted them gold with rub n' buff.

Enjoy the photos, I hope to setup a tea scene when the other Victorian barbies arrive.
~Lisa
 

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hello from Spain, I really like those pictures with the cup of tea. The dress is beautiful. Keep in touch