After doing a little post on Annabelle yesterday, I decided to show you a little hat I had made her quite by accident. I had made it with one of the Poppy's in mind and was looking at her outfit and decided she needed a hat. Flipping through my antique reference doll costume books, I noticed some of the hats were big and sat on the head and had alot of flowers, feathers, ribbons on them like this one I had made and so I tried it on her. Voila! To my surprise, it fit her head! And here I was thinking I needed a complicated pattern, straw, etc. LOL...
Here she is in the previous dio that I did for Haunted beauty, Mistress of the Manor. I used the walls and a different floor, like an entrance hallway. Annabelle's hat matches her visiting attire. Now all she needs is a reticule. She is pouring tea for her hostess who has stepped out of the room.
Tea and cakes are served!
Uh-oh, is that a carriage outside I hear?
Annabelle goes over to the window to take a look...
She doesn't know who on earth it could be, or who is keeping the lady of the house...
It could be more guests to tea!
....and the back of Annabelle's gown, with the smart little flounce.
Back in the Victorian and Edwardian era, and around the early turn of the centuryin the early 1900's, women kept 'calling' hours, or receiving hours usually from 3 pm to 5 pm. in the afternoons. Ladies had 'visiting' attire, with hats, usually a suit or in the late 1800's full corseted dress, bustle, parasol, gloves, reticule, and calling cards. Your maid took your calling card and put it on a silver tray in the hallway if you were not at home or could not receive for some reason, and you returned the visit promptly on the ladies' day she received visitors, usually the lady would write on her card what day she received. A lady usually carried her calling cards in her reticule. They were also called Name cards, and printed up with lovely script, flowers and birds. I was thinking it might be neat to get a miniature silver platter and make up some calling cards for Annabelle to have.
I have a picture of the book that my doll is based on, written by Tasha Tudor. I got my book off of PaperbackSwap
I attempted first go to make the dress on the doll on the cover, and even found the perfect fabric, but never made the bonnet.
Here is one of the photos of the interior of the book, it is for the letter D, for the Dresses we like her to wear-
Tasha really had a way with her drawings and illustrations, the book is lovely and inspirational.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Lisa
9 comments:
I enjoyed this post very much! ^_^ I always enjoy a little history with my doll dioramas and a story to boot!
tHANK You Muff! Glad you enjoyed it! I love history and am a total nerdy geek when it comes to history- I love historical romance and biographies and history was one of my favorite subjects in school. I didn't care about the wars just wanted to know the details like what dress or outfit they wore and why and what food they ate and furniture they sat on, etc. lol. The same with the dolls, I love antique dolls and the history of french fashion dolls is fascinating. I have books on it and as a kid I would check out the books until my poor mother, exasperated gave up and purchased a couple of them for me one Christmas. I was in hog heaven at the age of 12 and this is where I taught myself to sew from pictures for my miniature dawn dolls. one thing leads to another, as the dawns lived in the dollhouse I had as a child.
Love this post! The outfit and the hat are perfect for her! Perfect color combo. Perfect style. Hard to imagine how happy seeing antique dolls make me. I may have to revisit mine.
Vanessa, so glad you enjoyed it! I know, since I made Annabelle her hat, I've been on a roll looking at other things I can make her. It's addictive. There's something about them that you don't get with the vinyl ladies.
Love everything about this - the setting, the outfits, the details. Lovely!
I love the setting and I confess - I checked the table for scones and clotted cream. If I were Annabelle, I'd be tempted to scarf them down before the other guests arrived. Kidding ;-)
I like the civility of calling cards. Like not having to deal with visitors when you feel "indisposed."
thank you! There were so many things that made so much sense in the way they were done, before the advent of technology, when our manners went down the toilet. lol. The history of etiquette back then was and is fascinating, especially in how it operated within the well to do society of America. I love to see how it integrated with these particular dolls, and their accessories for little girls in that era.
Annabelle is a lovely doll. I love her hat and jacket - very sophisticated!
Thank you Sam!
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