I recently bought several Red Ruby Fashion dolls due to a recent sale.
I have always thought that these dolls were very pretty. The high prices were a bit of a deterrent, and I am pretty loyal to American Girl.
The sale made me decide to get some!
The first doll that I opened is Stella. She is gorgeous! I love her hair.
I REALLY love her eyes. The description says that she has green eyes, but I think that they are blue and hazel, like mine.
I posted about sewing the Keepers Dolly Duds Pilgrim Boy pattern and turning it into a folk costume from the German city of Braunschweig.
I also made the Keepers Dolly Duds Pretty Pilgrim pattern and made it into a female version of the Tracht costume originally worn in Braunschweig.
_LACMA_M.83.161.102.jpg)
I am going to post the caveat again that no one dresses like this anymore! It's a historical costume.
This is actually not the first time that I sewed a version of the Braunschweig Tracht, but it's the first time that I have made it in American Girl size.
I made a Wellie Wisher sized version before, using the Keeper's Dolly Duds Spring Dirndl pattern for Wellie Wishers. You can read that post here.
So there are multiple options for sewing your own traditional German's girl outfit.
The Pretty Pilgrim pattern has a lot of pieces. I made a chemise, a neck ruffle, waistcoat, apron and petticoat.
I did not make the coif, because the headwear that goes with the German Tracht is more like a pillbox.
I think that the end result is adorable, and I love it!
My German boy and girl look really cute together.
So when I set myself the goal of sewing ALL of the Keepers Dolly Duds patterns, I was not very enthusiastic about making the patterns for the Pilgrims. I knew it would drive me crazy if I decided to omit these two patterns from my goal. However, the Pilgrims, while they were just trying to survive, did set off a set of events that led to genocide.
One of my friends suggested that I look at European folk costumes. I decided to make the Pilgrim patterns and turn them into the folk costumes, or Tracht, of the German city Braunschweig.
I should make clear that I lived in Braunschweig for a year and I never, ever saw anyone wear Tracht there. It would be kind of embarrassing. I just love the city so much, I wanted to research what would have been won there historically.
After all that explanation, here is my version of the Keepers Dolly Duds Pilgrim Boy.
I didn't realize how many pieces are in this pattern! It includes a shirt, breeches, jacket, hat, stockings and shoes.
I omitted the hat and the jacket, as they did not match the outfit I wanted to create. I was really glad that the stocking pattern was included, otherwise I didn't have a way to obtain blue stockings as used in the Tracht.
The shoes I made are not going to pass for professionally made shoes AT ALL, but they are less of a distraction than making him wear sneakers with this outfit.
He borrowed Felicity's tricorn hat to top the outfit!
I am pleased with how this project turned out. I hope to eventually make him a coat to match.
I loved the Keepers Dolly Duds Rising Star pattern as soon as it was released!
I was a big fan of Shirley Temple as a little girl. I was pretty certain that the name and style of the dress was a Shirley reference.
I was intimidated by the pattern, however, and it took me a while to tackle it.
The part that intimidated me the most was the pleats in the middle. And I have to say that, yeah, my pleats aren't quite playing as nicely as I would like that to.
But I can keep working on setting the pleats and it will not hurt the rest of the dress.
The rest of the dress was quite easy, including all of those zig zags.
I would be willing to try to make this dress again!
I made the Keepers Dolly Duds Double Cape.
Mine is blue, like the one on the pattern cover. I like blue.
This pattern has three pieces: the bonnet, the cape, and a mini cape which is more over the big cape, but is a separate piece.
The pattern was easy to follow and to sew. I am very happy with it.
As you can see, I did not add bias trim. I think it is fine without it.
I am happy to have this finished, and to post it. It took me a couple of weeks to post it after sewing it.
Today is my friend's birthday. One of her favorite dolls is her Disney Animators Rapunzel.
I used a Requiem Art Designs pattern to make her several dresses for her Punzie.
All of the dresses are purple, to go with the Rapunzel theme.
And this is very much inspired by Rapunzel's classic dress, but meant to be more of an everyday version.
None of these are exact matches for anything that Rapunzel wears. It's more of a fun inspired-by collection. Even princesses need casual wear sometimes!
And here are the adorable pictures my friend took of her Rapunzel in the new dresses!
I finally finished Keepers Dolly Duds Sunday Stroll!
I had a spot of trouble with this one. I had almost finished it, when I had some trouble finishing the bottom of the jacket with the ruffle. The lining of the coat and the outside did not match up, so I must have made a mistake cutting somewhere.
I had to set it aside and calm down so that I could do a good job of solving the problem.
The calming down period ended up lasting three weeks. This was longer than I had intended, but I had family visiting me.
I chose solid red, because I thought it would match nicely with Christmas outfits and possibly some non-festive ones as well.
I chose cotton fabric because it would hold the shape of the jacket. Something like velvet wouldn't work as well on this one, in my opinion. Plus, making the ruffle out of velvet would not work.
I was going to make the bonnet solid red with a solid red ruffle. I then realized that it was going to look like something out of The Handmaid's Tale. So I added lace around the brim and a red and white ruffle to soften the look.
The back of the jacket is just as cute as the front!
I may try this pattern again someday and see if I can do a better job. For now, I am so happy to have it done!
I made a quick sleeveless sundress for the Disney Animator dolls.
I used the pattern Requiem Art Designs Disney Animator Toddler Basic Dress.
This dress is to match one I made in AG size a few years back. You can see that dress at this blog link.
Hmm, I guess I could have added a waist band to make it a closer match. That's what I get for not checking pictures before sewing.
The dolls are ready for summer!
I made the Keepers Dolly Duds Parade Day pattern.
This was a quick and easy pattern.
The top of the blouse has some pleating, but it was easy to do.
The skirt and jacket were very easy.
If you are intimidated by sewing asymmetrical patterns, I think that this jacket would be a good one to start with.
I really wanted to make the jacket a solid color, but I was using what was in the house. I couldn't find a solid color fabric that coordinated.
As a result, the blouse, skirt and jacket are all three different florals. I think it works.
Anyway, it can be used for mix and match.
Here is a picture of the dress from Parade Day with the jacket from Church Tea. This combination works too!
I made Keepers Dolly Duds Tea with the Governess!
My goodness, this pattern is so elegant and fancy, and it was so easy to make!
I was especially intimidated by the pleats o the bodice. It turned out not to be that bad.
I also did the fancy ruched sleeves, and that was also easy to do!
Honestly, I had more trouble trying to get a picture that would clearly show the pleated bodice than I did sewing it.
I love this pattern! Caroline is going to have such a great wardrobe!
This is my first time making the pattern Keepers Dolly Duds 1850s jacket and bonnet.
It came out beautifully!
I used wool pants from the thrift store for the jacket and bonnet. This is the third jacket that I have gotten from the same pair of pants.
In this context, they were giving me real Jane Eyre vibes.
I decided to leave the ruching off the outside of the bonnet because of the Jane Eyre vibes.
What I wanted to make was a nice but plain jacket and bonnet that could be used with a variety of dresses.
I used snaps instead of making buttonholes. The nice thing was that if I had made a buttonhole and messed it up, I could have easily replaced the tab with the buttonhole on it instead of ruining the whole garment.
I am so happy that I have conquered this pattern! I won't hesitate to make it again.
I also made matching blue dresses for the little girl who has an 18 inch Madame Alexander doll and a Disney Animator Tiana.
These dresses are roughly inspired by Tiana's Evening Star dress.
The Disney Animator doll dress was made using a Requiem Art Designs pattern.
The 18 inch doll dress didn't really follow a pattern. I used the bodice from the Joan Hinds Sailor dress, because that was what I had out. Any basic doll dress bodice pattern would work.
I lined it in cotton for more stability.
I think I made the skirt about 40 inches wide by 8 inches long.
I bought a new spool of ribbon for the sasses on these dresses, and it was all used up. There is maybe enough left to make a matching headband.
I actually like the smaller blue dress better than the 18 inch one. The proportions look better. But it's all just meant to be fun to play with. I think I achieved that.
I made the Keepers Dolly Duds Buttoned Belle pattern.
I am giving this dress to Kit because I don't have Ruthie. I admit that it is more of a Ruthie dress because of the color scheme. Hey, it was free fabric. I will turn down free feedsack print fabric when I am dead.
This is another asymmetrical bodice.
It is a very cute pattern with very cute details.
I think that I may have made one or two mistakes, because it just doesn't have that nice A-line look to it.
After a day, I thought, aha! I did not do the darts! But no, this pattern has no darts. It's the Side Tie Collar Dress that I forgot to do darts on. And that one looks great.
I was pleased with the green fabric that I found to coordinate. I just had a long skinny, scrap of it left from another project, and it was perfect. And it matches her compass necklace!
The pattern has two sleeve options. I went with the long sleeves. Kit lives in Ohio, she needs some long sleeved dresses for winter!
I made the Keepers Dolly Duds Side Tie Collar.
This dress has an asymmetrical bodice. I remember hearing people complaining about it when it came out.
However, I didn't have any problems with it.
It was quite tricky turning the ends of the collar inside out. I also found it hard to get the collar tie to lie nicely, and I can't tack it down because that's where the dress opens.
It has the option to add sleeves or sleeveless. I always prefer sleeves!
I made matching yellow dresses for the little girl that I know. One is for her 18 inch Madame Alexander doll, and one is for her Disney Animators Tiana.
The Disney Animators doll dress is made with a Requiem Art Designs pattern.
The dresses aren't exact matches, but I think it's cute. It's harder to do the really fancy details on the smaller dolls, especially if you don't have an exact pattern.
This dress is inspired by Tiana's yellow work dress. It is sized for the Disney Animator dolls.
It's not really a sailor dress collar.
I kind of felt like, at this smaller size, this was close enough for a play dress for a Tiana doll.
I used the pattern Requiem Art Designs Disney Animator Toddler Basic Dress.
I made the sleeves longer and used the dropped waist.
It's a cute little dress!
Snow White is my model, because I bought her at the thrift store for modelling purposes.
Seeing Snow White in this dress with her hair in braids makes me want to sew her a Wednesday Addams dress, haha.
The dress will be going to a little girl that I know who owns the Disney Animator Tiana.
I made a rough version of Tiana's Evening Star blue dress for the Disney Animator dolls.
Mine is not as fancy as the American Girl version. I knew it would be different, but I thought that this is a good play dress version.
I used the Requiem art Designs Disney Animator Toddler Basic Dress pattern.
The pattern has different lengths for the bodice. I felt that either the natural waist or the dropped waist would work. I used the dropped waist because it's the 1920s and it would provide for room for the wide ribbon sash.
I made the skirt longer than the pattern- I think I cut it at 6.5 inches by 30 inches.
I even had the perfect blue satin in my stash! I just bought some glittery blue ribbon for the sash.
The satin is challenging to work with. I lined the dress with white cotton to provide stability, and did a zig zag stitch around the edges of the skirt before I started sewing with it.
Snow White is my model, because I bought her at the thrift store for modelling purposes.
The dress will be going to a little girl that I know who owns the Disney Animator Tiana.
I did a lot of sewing this weekend!
I was inspired by the new Disney release to make some Tiana inspired dresses. These are not exact matches for the AG versions. It was much more fun to use what I had in the house and see different combinations come together!
I was lucky that I went to the thrift store on Friday and found a big piece of plain yellow fabric that I used for two of the dresses. It was only $2!
The pattern that I used was the sailor dress from Joan Hinds Heritage Doll Clothes.
I bought this book used. The pattern pieces were not in the book, they were on a CD. I was able to get the patterns off the CD with the help of the library, but a lot of laptops no longer have a CD player, so be aware of that if buying the book used.
I made the skirt 1.5 inches longer than the pattern because it looked to me like Tiana's work dress skirt hits her at mid-thigh.
I also added a sleeve cuff by cutting strips of fabric 1.25 by 5.25 inches.
Other changes that you could do to make the pattern closet to the work dress would be shortening the top a little bit and shortening the sleeves about 1.5 inches so that they are 3/4 length.
The collar is only on the front of the dress and does not extend around to the back of the dress.
I had so much fun picking out different color combinations from my stash. It was hard to stop!
I like all of the combinations.
Claudie is my model for Tiana. She is so cute, and so is the Tiana doll.
I made two pioneer ensembles using Kirsten's patterns from the Pleasant Company.
I have used these patterns before.
This time, I made sets with her school dress, birthday apron and bonnet. I did use the bodice for the apron dress to make it a bit easier.
I am going to send one of these sets to a friends who just did a homeschooling unit on Little House on the Prairie. One of the dresses is read because we know that in Little House on Plum Creek, Ma dressed Laura in red.
I am very happy with how this turned out!
You can see a dress that I made before from this pattern at this blog link.
I recently bought several Red Ruby Fashion dolls due to a recent sale. I have always thought that these dolls were very pretty. The high pr...
