Pattern Review: Keepers Dolly Duds Pretty Pilgrim

 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.

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.

Pattern Review: Keepers Dolly Duds Pilgrim Boy

 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.

Kathe Kruse and Corolle dolls

I am not a huge fan of baby dolls. I have two that are very dear to my heart. Katie is a Berenguer doll who was my constant companion as a child. Brenna is a Corolle doll that I bought in 1995.

However, I have wanted for some time to add a German doll to my collection. I lived in Germany for some time and it seemed like an important gap in my collection to me.

Kathe Kruse is a famous maker of dolls in Germany. When I looked at the Kathe Kruse website, I particularly loved the Minouche dolls- but I talked myself out of it for the time being. Fast forward about three years later, and Kathe Kruse dolls were on sale on myhabit.com. I finally ordered one.

I am going to say that I am not a fan of the Kathe Kruse dolls that have fabric tubes for arms instead of plastic arms with hands on the end. It just looks odd to me, probably because I did not grow up with these dolls.

Here she is in the box. I have to show pictures of the whole box, because I love that the German is included, even for the American market.

The face is hand painted.

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This booklet was attached to her wrist. It tells the story of the Kathe Kruse company. As advertising, I prefer this to a booklet full of other dolls, which I was expecting, to tell you the truth.

Here she is out of the box. It was easy to open the box, and she was only held in by ribbons, which could be untied. No scissors necessary.

I thought she would be full of beans, like the Corolle doll, but she is full of stuffing. She sits up very well. 

I think I'm going to call her Inge.

The stamp on the back of her neck.

Nude.

Together with Brenna, the Corolle doll. The Kathe Kruse doll is a bit smaller. I like her outfit much more. It looks just like something a German baby would wear, and it does a good job of not being too pink. I love the bonnet, and the little pink shoes.

 The collar on the Corolle doll's onesie is a bit too clownish for me, and I like clowns. Just not on baby clothing. I have been considering trying to sew her something new. It's tricky to figure out her size because her body is so floppy.

Lying next to each other.

Both the Corolle doll and the Kathe Kruse dolls are very high quality. They both have good points that are very different from one another. 

The Corolle doll had inset eyes, which I usually prefer. The Kathe Kruse doll's hand painted face, however, is adorable.  I have a friend who hates dolls that have visible teeth, so the Kathe Kruse doll would win points with her for that. The Kathe Kruse doll also has a head that doesn't flop around like the Corolle doll does, and she sits up better. It's easier to pose the arms on the Corolle doll- the Kathe Kruse doll's arms tend to stick out from her body.

Both dolls are wonderful and would make any kid or doll collector happy. Corolle dolls, however, are much easier to find in the U.S.