a manteau de lit

I'm not really participating in the #fallforcostume challenge... or whatever it is. It just happened that I have a manteau de lit, or bed jacket (several, actually). I'm not overly fond of it. There just happened to be this beautiful celery green wool fabric, and it just happened to be two yards and 60" wide. 

And it just HAPPENED to pass the burn test.

18th century bed jacket it is. Yes, I could have made the JP Ryan jacket or a short cloak from Nora Waugh's clothes. There's other wool in the stash for the cloak, and I'm hoping that either the purple or the green will be enough for the JP jacket. The last time I made this garment, it came out wrong. 

Using the instruction's over at this fabulous website, the name of which I *think* is Marquis? I did a little digging and I'm not clear on that. All their measurements are in centimeters, so I stuck with that when I drafted my own scale pattern with graph paper, and assumed that one square measured 5 cm. 

I really needed to see this go together before I made it, and it helped confirm that the measurements I took were correct. 

*I did not look at the instructions when putting together the shawl collar neck, and with the lining, it came out a little wonky. But it still fits. I did it backwards from how you're supposed to do it, that's all I can remember because again, not looking at the instructions!

It's easier to see on the right side of the garment what the seams are doing. I'll probably pick the stitches out and hand stitch that spot. 

new outfits for old dolls

My mom got me this doll as a 'congratulations, you've left your [toxic] job!' present in July. Girl needs a little love - she came with an outfit, but not noted in the eBay listing was the small detail that she was coming from the home of a smoker. And she reeked. Badly. 

I aired her outside in a protected environment with minimal direct sun exposure. (The wig I left outside, in direct sun, for about three straight days, and it still smelled off. Blech.) The original outfit was stiff when I took it off her and it reeked of cigarette smoke as well. I'm pretty sure that the soak I gave it made the nicotine and/or tar clump up in the hem, and the wash water was the color of sun tea. Immensely disgusting. The original dress wasn't original, probably made in the 1970's or 80's, so new outfit in order. 

I looked at advertisements of outfits for little girls spanning 1900 - 1920ish and made something up. I'm thinking maybe it needs a pinafore? She also needs socks or stockings and I'm not sure where to find those. I may take a stab at doll shoe making.