Florence’s Bonnet

 Florence is finished with the completion of her bonnet, I had tried one of the other doll bonnets on her so it was easy to see what adjustment needed to my usual pattern. I was able to restore the fabric that had formed the long skirt on her previous dress, the wedding dress. Special to use as it was scraps from Joan’s own wedding dress, trimmings were lace, cream ribbon roses a lovely white feather that Ann had sent down specially and ribbons. Her trip home to Joan and Vicki has been delayed but I have shared photos with them first.

This is being put together on my iPad so I have no idea if  the photos will be shown in the order I want

An old dress becomes a new dress

I have chosen to make Florences dress from a dress I had here Its history will add to Florences story.

I know the age of the dress as it was a baby dress made  for me confirming it as 87 years old, made by mother who was Florences second owner, the gown is all beautifully hand stitched, soft cream silk with inserted lace. It also means that it would have been worn two years later by Joan, the third owner of the doll. I'm not sure why one baby dress survived all these years, it certainly did not fit any of our dolls. But do know I added it at some stage to my fibre collection, and have shown its fine needlework to others over the years. I’m now truly aware of those tinystitches as I unpicked each one ready to make the dress.

I needed to know what Joan and Vicki wanted the doll to look like so after much researching and finally giving them three to chose from that I knew I could make from the dress this was the one we all liked

Stage one before the final lace frill added

The final part of Florence’s story will be added shortly.she needs her bonnet to complete the outfit