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.