Historical Costumes (and dolls)

 You may remember that I posted photos of some of the materials and dresses that Mum had which had been passed down through the family.  Mum decided that she would like some dolls made up in historically accurate (or as near as possible) costumes and as luck would have it, a maker of such dolls lives in the nearby town.  Her details and more information can be found on her website:   http://www.costumecavalcade.co.uk/   So, Mum commissioned her and here are a couple of the results, with photos of the originals.  This Regency dress is intact and I did once fit in it (it was in 1988!).

It is hand sewn and made from pale pinky/beige silk, with cotton lining.

 Here is the finished doll, in a very similar dress, although the material is a little thicker than in the original. She wears a straw bonnet with feather and has a lace shawl and a reticule.

 The back view, showing more of the bonnet and shawl.

 The other piece of material is from around 1750 (there was a label pinned to the piece which said it was a wedding dress).  The colours are so vibrant and the pattern is so dramatic, it was hard to picture a dress made from it.

 Here it is, in the 1750 style, with laced bodice and stomacher.  The artist scanned the material into her computer and printed the pattern onto some material - you can see the swooping shapes, even though the colours are not as strong as the original.

 The back view shows the attention to detail (if you enlarge the photo).

This close up shows the detail from the original material. 
There is another doll too, but I haven't yet taken photos of the original dress to compare.  When I do, I'll post it.