A Tudor Doll project
(Crossposted from my blog: http://www.kimiko1.com/blog/?p=143)
So, another project has been started, since I have one final baronial entry required for our A&S Championship, and it has to be a spiffy one, as this entry will help to determine who is the winner. While I thought about not entering, and would be fine not being champion, I think it would be a disservice to the other contender to simply walk away from this. And I wouldn't like myself for not at least giving it my best shot.
So, it took me a long time to consider what in the world I wanted to enter. Do I create another embroidery piece? Do I try to make some piece of costume? How- when it takes me a long time to make suits of garments (I rarely start off with plans to make just one item). Do I create something else? Bobbin lace? Scribal? what???
And then it finally came to me, as I was drifting off to sleep one night, make a Tudor doll, and show off the fashion of the period in small scale. And after a bit of discussion on FB, I may eventually make a series of them, showing the garments of each decade or something. Just not the wives of Henry VIII - so many folks have done those. But I digress.
So I started by going through The Tudor Child book, and figured out how the patterns worked for the doll, then printed it out at the right scale using Photoshop. I was a bit stuck for the pattern scale for the gown, so I asked Ninya for help, and she sent me the right files to print out in Photoshop (Thank you Ninya). I do plan to make a mockup bodice to make sure I have the right scaling, but the book noted 160% and that's what I went with. They were printed onto cardstock to make tracing easier.
This weekend I spent Saturday cutting out the cardstock pattern pieces. Then traced onto the muslin scrap I am using for the doll body. It will be all fabric, as I don't have time to order the nice doll kit that is available for sale by the TT ladies. I decided on cotton muslin instead of linen, as the linens I have are either bright white, or a very dark natural color, and the muslin had a better natural skintone look to it. The base fabric is a cotton canvas scrap.
After tracing, I cut the pieces out with about a 3/8" seam allowance, as I found some time ago I really have a hard time hand sewing on a 1/4" allowance. Then I hand sewed all of the pieces as directed in the book, using a backstitch for strength. After all those pieces will be stuffed and will need to not come apart or let the fluffy bits come through (another reason for firm muslin even if not period). The sewing took me through last night's game session, and was finished off this afternoon before dinner.
Then it was a good pressing (especially on the one arm that I started a running stitch and found it ended up wrinkling the fabric when I made that into a double running stitch), some snipping into curves, and trimming the seam down to 1/4" or less. I took a photo of the pieces, sitting on the proposed gown fabrics, and thought I'd share the unturned, unstuffed doll pics before I got to work putting the parts together.
Warning, naked inside out doll photos ahead (and fabric p0rn).
Tudor doll pieces, hand sewn, on pile of possible gown fabrics
Pile of possible fabrics for the Tudor doll
The possible fabrics include (left to right, top to bottom)
Blue & gold silk & cotton damask; white silk satin; blue/purple shot silk dupioni, gold metallic & black silk dupioni (a modern type of cloth of gold).
The inspiration image for the design is the well known c.1545 Princess Elizabeth. However because this is for the Baronial competition, and the theme is Blue & Gold, I am going to use blue and gold for the fabric choices. The damask I have is almost too big really, but their pattern weaves were on the oversized scale back then (really look at her gown). The blue shot dupioni is very light, and slubby, but it is very blue and lovely. I don't know if I have enough. I am not sure if the cloth of gold I have is too, well, too sparkly (can gold be too sparkly?), but the other cloth of gold I have is either sheer organza (I use that on French hoods as the crimped part), or not really gold but more a yellow-cream sorta gold, and entirely the wrong pattern. The white satin will be for the French hood, since those do not come in blue (or I've never ever seen it in blue except in modern reproductions).
I will sleep on the fabric choices, once I've double checked that I have enough of that blue dupioni. I may have to buy something else at the local stores. Thankfully I won't need more than a yard, maybe only half a yard. I will also have to hunt down something suitable for lining the skirts if I do use the thin dupioni.
And did I mention that I have not made any doll clothes since I was a very young girl, for Barbie's basic wardrobe??? Yeah, this will be an adventure.
So, another project has been started, since I have one final baronial entry required for our A&S Championship, and it has to be a spiffy one, as this entry will help to determine who is the winner. While I thought about not entering, and would be fine not being champion, I think it would be a disservice to the other contender to simply walk away from this. And I wouldn't like myself for not at least giving it my best shot.
So, it took me a long time to consider what in the world I wanted to enter. Do I create another embroidery piece? Do I try to make some piece of costume? How- when it takes me a long time to make suits of garments (I rarely start off with plans to make just one item). Do I create something else? Bobbin lace? Scribal? what???
And then it finally came to me, as I was drifting off to sleep one night, make a Tudor doll, and show off the fashion of the period in small scale. And after a bit of discussion on FB, I may eventually make a series of them, showing the garments of each decade or something. Just not the wives of Henry VIII - so many folks have done those. But I digress.
So I started by going through The Tudor Child book, and figured out how the patterns worked for the doll, then printed it out at the right scale using Photoshop. I was a bit stuck for the pattern scale for the gown, so I asked Ninya for help, and she sent me the right files to print out in Photoshop (Thank you Ninya). I do plan to make a mockup bodice to make sure I have the right scaling, but the book noted 160% and that's what I went with. They were printed onto cardstock to make tracing easier.
This weekend I spent Saturday cutting out the cardstock pattern pieces. Then traced onto the muslin scrap I am using for the doll body. It will be all fabric, as I don't have time to order the nice doll kit that is available for sale by the TT ladies. I decided on cotton muslin instead of linen, as the linens I have are either bright white, or a very dark natural color, and the muslin had a better natural skintone look to it. The base fabric is a cotton canvas scrap.
After tracing, I cut the pieces out with about a 3/8" seam allowance, as I found some time ago I really have a hard time hand sewing on a 1/4" allowance. Then I hand sewed all of the pieces as directed in the book, using a backstitch for strength. After all those pieces will be stuffed and will need to not come apart or let the fluffy bits come through (another reason for firm muslin even if not period). The sewing took me through last night's game session, and was finished off this afternoon before dinner.
Then it was a good pressing (especially on the one arm that I started a running stitch and found it ended up wrinkling the fabric when I made that into a double running stitch), some snipping into curves, and trimming the seam down to 1/4" or less. I took a photo of the pieces, sitting on the proposed gown fabrics, and thought I'd share the unturned, unstuffed doll pics before I got to work putting the parts together.
Warning, naked inside out doll photos ahead (and fabric p0rn).
Tudor doll pieces, hand sewn, on pile of possible gown fabrics
Pile of possible fabrics for the Tudor doll
The possible fabrics include (left to right, top to bottom)
Blue & gold silk & cotton damask; white silk satin; blue/purple shot silk dupioni, gold metallic & black silk dupioni (a modern type of cloth of gold).
The inspiration image for the design is the well known c.1545 Princess Elizabeth. However because this is for the Baronial competition, and the theme is Blue & Gold, I am going to use blue and gold for the fabric choices. The damask I have is almost too big really, but their pattern weaves were on the oversized scale back then (really look at her gown). The blue shot dupioni is very light, and slubby, but it is very blue and lovely. I don't know if I have enough. I am not sure if the cloth of gold I have is too, well, too sparkly (can gold be too sparkly?), but the other cloth of gold I have is either sheer organza (I use that on French hoods as the crimped part), or not really gold but more a yellow-cream sorta gold, and entirely the wrong pattern. The white satin will be for the French hood, since those do not come in blue (or I've never ever seen it in blue except in modern reproductions).
I will sleep on the fabric choices, once I've double checked that I have enough of that blue dupioni. I may have to buy something else at the local stores. Thankfully I won't need more than a yard, maybe only half a yard. I will also have to hunt down something suitable for lining the skirts if I do use the thin dupioni.
And did I mention that I have not made any doll clothes since I was a very young girl, for Barbie's basic wardrobe??? Yeah, this will be an adventure.