From the Early Days

This is one of the first things I made for Anthea, cut from a torn velveteen pair of my pants and trimmed with homemade trim made from yarn.

The skirt is dead simple, made from two trapezoids, a triangle, and a hook and eye. There's no waistband, I just turned down both ends and hemmed. It largely exists to preserve her modesty when she wears the top half of the outfit. The overgown is the star of the show.

What makes the outfit is the contrast of the white on black. The trim inspired by a gown from Patterns of Fashion 3, particularly the curved back and the borders. For make it, I simply made crochet chains until I got the lengths I wanted. The frog balls are also crocheted, and the loops are bits of plain yarn with knots at the end.

Here, she also sports a cap and shawl. As a girl who hates the cold, layers are adored. The cap is called a sortie, and comes from the Godey's Ladies Book, by way of Koshka the Cat. To make it her scale, I did trial and error until it looked right. The shawl is a rectangle of knitted cotton in a basket weave stitch, with fringes at the ends.

The Winter Here's Cold

I recently finished a swap with the themes of lace and winter. My partner wanted a medieval inspired gothic dress, with the preferred colors of black, silver, dark purple, and dark blue. One of the sample dresses she showed had a built in hood.

My stash yielded a brocaded fabric with shot black and purple, along with a skirt I made for an outfit I've long since retired. The brocade went to the undergown, and the dark blue became the overgown and matching hood. To make things simple, and to fit with the medieval theme, I used geometric construction, which wastes little fabric and is visually appealing when its all marked out. Since partner stated that her doll is a princess, I expressed this in the richness of the trim and width of the skirts.

More Than a Little Bias

A while ago, I received some swap items, including a dress that didn't meet my standards. As the price limit for the swap was low and handmade items are labor intensive, I wasn't bothered. Even if I don't care for the items (which is uncommon,) I can have fun with the materials.


The dress quickly became acquainted with the seam ripper, and I laid out my sock pattern. Since this is plain weave and not knit, it's cut on the bias for stretchiness.

Here they are, modeled by the lovely Dalya:

Close up:

Theme and Variation

Here are a pair of alternate dresses made with the same patterns as these two, with different fabric and some light alterations. Instead of plaid, I took a fat quarter of Asian print fabric and some brown scraps.

Yu Wei is wearing the lapel dress, this time without a collar, and for a different solution to the front. The front bodice pieces are shorter than the ones in back. Last time I adjusted at the side seams, but this time I pieced in some brown cloth as a mock waistband.

Yu Lian wears the wrap front pattern, this time without a pocket, and the only contrast in the collar.