Civil War doll

Ladies and Gents!

For the past week my family and I have been snowed in! So I decided to work on a period doll for civil war reenacting, which my family does all year round. My sister and I wanted a doll that we could show to children and teens, and adult specators that would be period. I used Elizabeth Stuart Clarke's pattern and it was so easy to use and I was able to hand sew this project completely. I plan to use this doll and my sister's doll for demonstration purposes of the period undergarments and period toys. We will then have something that is a hands-on activity for another childrens event we are helping with for the girls. We are excited to almost have our dolls done except their faces and a few more garments!

Here she is in her underthings. I made a corset, chemise and a petticoat. I plan to make her one more white petticoat and a work petticoat soon. Oh and don't worry she will have a face and hair painted on her before the next event, I just need to practice on paper before I put her actual face on! :)

The back of the corset is below. It was fun making tiny corset!! I sewed it by hand out of a double layer of muslin, because I thought that the real type of fabric of a corset would be too bulky for such a small one. My sister used cotten twill for my own corset.

I decided to name my doll Rosette by the way! :)

A friend of mine said her name should start with the first letter of mine name Rebecca, so her name is Rosette in keeping with an R name.

Here is my doll and her brown work/everyday dress. I made the plaid dress out of some 100% cotten fabric from Joannes. I just love the way this fabric is so simple, but I dressed it up with puff sleeves and gauging at the waste and the sleeves are also on the bias. My sister wants to make my new dress just like Rosettes except, a front closure and a different fabric.

The dress closes in the back, typically most dresses closed in the front for lower class women of the 1860's, because they did not have servants to help them with their closure. So they it was impractical to have a back closure, unless you were wealthy enough to have servants to help you close your dress. So Rosette has a back closure, but my sister, mother, and I all have front closing dresses, as we are the middle class for our reenacting.

Well this is Rosettes wardrobe so far. I also plan to make her a party dress soon.

God bless and stay warm everyone!

In Christ,

Rebecca