Dressing Florence

 First an update to her story Vicki and I were able to work out when she received Florence  and we came up with 1971 which was after Paul and I came home from Australia in January that year Vicki’s sixth birthday was May that year. 

Florence is 48cm tall and has a very long solid bold, so different from the dolls I am use to dressing

This photo is Florence as she was  when I first undressed her after she arrived, I know her pantaloons are old and I wonder if her socks  are from when she was redressed 50 years ago, surprisingly with a wash they came back into shape and I added elastic lace tops to them.

As I am dressing her as a young girl close to what she might have been originally I replaced her singlet with a chemise.

I have now completed her chemise and petticoat, they are made with white lawn fabric and matching lace, the petticoat has been kept short so it won’t show through the lace hem of her dress

We are planning to take Florence back to my sister Joan in Napier on the 9th of next month, I would like the finished look to be a surprise for her so I will continue Florences story after then, I have the dress and bonnet to make and best of all to give her a new wig, making her more like the original doll.

Florence’s pantaloons

 Don’t you love the title of this post, yes this post is all about Florence’s pantaloons, but first a little explanation about my plans for Florence’s new outfit. I want it to include something old, something new and as much past history in connection with to those who have been part of Florence’s 140 years that  I can possibly stitch into the garments.

Her pantaloons are possibly as old as she is, although I don’t think they were what she wore originally. I have bleached them and pleased with how they came up although some repairs are needed, on examining them I decided that there were definitely two different needle women's stitching to be seen, at this point I realised they had been made from part of another garment and it was easy to know where they came from as I had a similar garment here a baby gown from the 1880's. (note the feather stitching on the sleeve band, same on the pantaloons.)

This is the sleeve of a christening gown known to have been worn in 1887 by Charles Reginald Westfield ( and again in 1968 by his grandson Barryn Westfield)

The sleeves of a baby gown had been used to make here pantaloons.  Turning them inside out the original seam of the sleeve is a tidy French seam with hand stitches so tiny I needed a magnifying glass to see them and the rest of the stitching includes some rather large back stitches that have definitely been done by a different needlewoman. I needed to unpick the waist stitching in order to make repairs and now the shape of the original sleeves can be seen. 

 My plan is to leave as much as possible of those stitches as part of the history of the garment and just mend the waist and  put it on a proper waist band with a button fastener.

 Research found this example of a child’s pantaloons from the same era as Florence’s.

Mending the damaged fabric, I could see where holes had been made to thread elastic through and there the fabric was in pieces, I was tempted to to treat them as would have been done in the past, which was what was done when a child grew a piece of fabric was inserted between the top of the pantaloon’s fabric and the waist band. In my research into pantaloons I found examples of this.

In the end I decided just to re-enforce the fabric with patches and add a waist band with a button closing, this extra fabric of the waist band made them a better fit as previously they had not come up to the waist on the doll. Florence has quite a long body. 

Next garments will be to make her a chemise and petticoat.

This is Florence

 I am making a new outfit for a very old doll, the doll we are calling Florence is about 140 years old. Her first owner was Gertrude Florence, my grandmother's youngest sister. Gertrude Florence Skinner known in the family as Flo, was born 9th February 1881 in Christchurch and was possibly about 4 or 5 when she got her doll.

This is the only photo we have of her as a child. Flo never married and passed her doll on to her niece (my mother) another Florence.

 Florence Mabel Haworth was born 12 December 1908 and when she was about 4 the doll was given to her, we know it was about this time that the first china head was replaced.  The stamp on the back of the head dates the head as between 1912-1915 and was made in Japan, This photo of Florence Mabel with her mother was taken in 1912.

The doll’s story now moves to 1945 when new clothes were being made ready for the doll to be given to the next generation and to my sister Joan. Joan’s memory of what the doll was wearing at this time helped date when she received the doll as she remembers  the doll came with a knitted singlet made by Mrs Dunic who was in the Bluff Maternity Home with Mum when our brother was born December 15th 1945. The doll was wearing a smocked dress a pale green jacket and a green bonnet.

This photo taken in 1946 is of  Joan age 6 with mother (Florence Mabel) and Joan was wearing one of the many smocked dresses mother made. Her doll's dress was probably like this one, a dress made for another doll one of several smocked doll dresses mother made that have survived. The insert photo of Joan suggests the two dresses Joan's and this dolls dress were made of the same fabric.

In the 1970's I was asked to dress Florence as a bride when she was being passed down to the next generation, Joan giving the doll to her daughter Vicki, this dress was made I think with fabric scraps from Joan's wedding dress and had an apron front embroidered with my signature Bullion stitch roses, a bustle back and lace trim. Now 50years late Florence is here with me have a new dress made, and I will continue to share her story over the next few weeks.