Poldark inspired wool jacket for a doll

Some words and photos about making this jacket.

Wool fabric which I used for the jacket is loosely woven, so I used very tight woven cotton for the lining. As wool jacket with all the seam allowances is quite bulky thing for a doll to wear (even for Diseny Animator doll), I decided that I won't use stays under the jacket. I mean. The doll won't wear stays. But the cotton lining luckily gives a bit 1800th century(ish) posture or profile for the jacket.

 My present assistant, Astrid, has some issues with sewing. As lovely companion and assistant she is, there is this problem that she loves wool. Like. She loves to eat it.

Yes. Nice. Not.

I cutted an other of the back pieces and an other of the front pieces again. I left an other of the back pieces as it was and hoped I can hide the hole (made by wool eating monster) into seam allowance.

I'm still learning totally basics. Like should the short and tiny skirt part of the jacket (or should I call it flounce?) be made from a curve or straigth piece? After tests (made from cheapest felt) I realised that obviously from a curve piece.

I decided to take a risk and attach the skirt-flounce-thingy to the jacket's lining straight from it's raw edge. All kind of folds would have meant too much bulkiness to the waist.

It doesn't look totally neat, but it doesn't look that bad either.

This was my first time working with wool fabric. I was first very nervous, I was sure that it will tear to pieces (well, to yarn) in my hands. But no, it worked so nicely. It was easy to mold and it was overall so very lovely to work with.

18th century short jacket (pierrot) for a doll

This is one of my favourite outfits. Maybe it is because of jacket's lovely silk ribbons (this was first time for me to use silk ribbon in my sewing) or maybe it is because of that jacket's white and fresh lining. Or maybe it is just because the jacket is cute. But. Anyway. Here is many pictures of the outfit.

I don't know the English name of that instrument, but it's a lovely tool.

I have sewed a lining to all period costume bodice parts, but in this jacket the lining is.. I don't know. It is just sweet.

I remember that I got a feeling that I need more sharp pins. I don't understand how pins always become unsharp. (Those pins in the picture are sharp ones, but the rest 200 are not. I made a sorting.)

It's quite nice. But I don't like those wrinkles near armpits. Partly the probem is with too light fabrics, and partly with stays: I have an other pair of stays, and the jacket fits better with them. And I made a dress with same bodice pattern, and there is not as visible wrinkles in that dress as there is in this jacket. But the dress is made of linen, and it's lining is heavy cotton.

I think the profile of this outfit is... perky?

She looks like she has a happy happy tail.

I have sewn doll clothes not so many years. Ok, I did try it as a kid, but I and sewing machine didn't get along. Somehow it flattened my spirit and for many years I thought that I'm rubbish with sewing and stuff like that (so I let my elder sister to do all sewing). But about... oh! already! seven! years ago I gave an other chance for sewing. I borrowed my granny's sewing machine, and it worked like a dream and I begin to feel like a champion, and here we are. I'm not a brilliant seamstress (and I can't sew anything for humans), but I may say I have learned a lot. (These days I mostly stitch by hand. It wasn't possible past days because my hands ((joints)) were almost always inflamed, but luckily I got help for them, because nowadays my brains doesn't like the noice and resonance of a sewing machine, and a sewing machine has too many moving parts, so it's a quite wearing machine. Hand stitching is so wonderfully calming and silent and slow!)

Sorry, I get lost. I meant to tell, that I have sewn doll clothes now about seven years, and after about two years I got enlightened and I understood the Importance of the Undergarments. That's why some of my doll outfits take a pit of time to put on. Here is an example:

Chemise.

Stays.

Bum roll.

Petticoat and pocket.

This time I forget an other petticoat, but here is an older picture where you can see it. At least a quarter inch of it.

Skirt, jacket, apron and fichu (I forgot her false sleeves), and job is done. It takes easily 20 - 30 minutes to put that all on. But I admit, I'm quite pedantic.

Here you can see her false sleeves.

And then just some more photos.

These last four pictures are taken with my sister's camera. Oh, I miss it so much! (I miss my sister also!)

Silk ribbons!!!

1800th century doll's dresses in (mostly) rural sceneries

And just photos again.

I will add blue silkribbons to Evangeline's jacket's front for closing.

I think this is as provincial as it gets. (She is in the walled garden of the Ardgillan Castle.)

Here we have Cinderella and a pumpkin.

Roísin in the front of Castletown House, Celbridge, Ireland.

More pictures of the dresses, Ardgillan Castle and Castletown House you find here and here.

Pet-en-l'air for a doll

Yippee! I'm back from Ireland with 160 (or something) photos of dolls in beautiful sceneries! I didn't manage to finish all my sewings for the trip, but I managed to photograph my dolls dresses outside four different manor house, by the sea and in the mountains.

Because I'm not in condition of (?) translating my thoughts to English, it's better to just load pictures now and write about sewing later. So. Here is some photos of Roísin's pet-en-l'air. There aren't any pictures from the back of the jacket, which is a bit stupid, because the point of the pet-en-l'air is in the back of the jacket. But there is reasons for that. I'll take backside pictures later.

Roísin in the front of Russborough House, Blessington (aa-aa-aaachoo, bless you), Ireland.

Because the silk brocade (synthetic) is heavy, the back pleats of the jacket doesn't fall beautifully. (I think the problem is in the material, not in the pattern. But we'll see it after I have made another pet-en-l'air from another fabric.)

More photos here, in my blog in Finnish. (But you know, pictures are multilingual!)