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Clothing Time Periods
There are many differences in repairing and restoring doll
clothing than just making doll clothes/dresses and in sewing museum quality doll costumes.
The doll costumer must understand the clothing of the era.
In order to have authentic doll clothing, thorough knowledge of dolls is needed, as well as the periods the dolls were
made, and how they were dressed when they came from the factory. Many people dressing old antique dolls dress
them so inappropriately it is almost comical. For example: a bisque head child doll from the 1900 --1925 era would
never be dressed as an 1860's fashion lady! Not only is the time period wrong, but the type of clothing a child would
wear verses an adult is different! This devalues a beautiful heirloom. For museum quality costuming, it is essential
to have an excellent knowledge of antique dolls and fashion history.
Comprehensive knowledge
of doll clothing is essential. Antique dolls were dressed as dolls are today, in costumes reflecting
the human dress or costumes of the era. During the Civil War era, ladies wore hoop skirts -- Dolls at the height
of fashion wore hoopskirts under their costumes, along with corsets. In that same era, women wore "bloomers," long
underpants with ties at the bottom of the legs or gathered with a band of lace or eyelet. These bloomers were open in
the crotch! (cold in those privies!) Later "pantalettes," were shorter, falling above and below the knee,
no longer gathered or puffed at the bottom. White was the only appropriate color for these cotton undergarments -- it was considered "pure"
because it could be (!) boiled in LYE to clean and sanitize it. Since no fabric dyes at that time were truly permanent, even
if white was not considered the only "clean" underwear, there would have been serious problems with keeping colored
underwear clean, as boiling would soon fade and destroy any colors. White cotton that has been around for a number of
years may have yellowed, making people think off white was the original color. If those garments are properly cleaned (happily
we no longer have to boil them in Lye) you would see they were white!
In the later 1800's, bustles became fashionable. Dolls mirrored
the fashionable styles of the day and were dressed with bustles made of woven wire and heavily padded with cotton.
By the turn of the century, the bustle was gone and big sleeves were in. Dolls from 1905 would not have come from the
factory with a bustle and a child doll would not have come in a long dress like a lady, but wear a dress that was shorter
in length and loose fitting.
Original does not necessarily mean "hand sewn"! Most people think "all original clothing" on antique dolls is
all hand sewn with no machine stitching. This is nonsense. There are original clothes sewn by hand, but also many original
clothes, even back to the 1850's, were sewn with a straight stitch on a sewing machine. The sewing machine
was in common use in factories by 1870 and was marketed for home use by 1889. No one would pay ladies to sit in a factory
and sew by hand, when they could do the work much faster using a machine!
Since there were no machines that did a blind hem stitch or other machine
finishing stitches, such as sewing on snaps and buttons, finishing was still done by hand. Therefore, most old
costumes after 1870 have a combination of hand and machine work, although many, many dolls had their first clothing made at
home by the loving hands of a mother who didn't have a machine. Thus, clothing that is the appropriate style and fabric can
indeed be all hand sewn and completely authentic. It is up to the costumer to make the approriate mix of handwork and machine
stitching.
A working knowledge of fabrics, their history
and usage is critical! Before 1900, there
were only a few fabrics in use -- linen, cotton, silk and wool of various types. Thus, costumes from that period and
earlier, if to be considered Museum Quality, must be made with those fabrics.
This includes any trim! To use a lace made with any kind of synthetic would automatically disqualify the costume for
museum quality. Museums, above all else, want authenticity! In
the late 1800's, rayon fabric made of cellulose, (the first synthetic fabric) was first manufactured, and called imitation
silk -- being much cheaper than silk, it was greatly welcomed -- but it was so highly flammable, it was soon taken off the
market. It wasn't until about 1905 that a good, safer
rayon came into common use. This was pressed into service for all kinds of things, called "imitation silk" by most
people, it was not only commonly used for ladies fancy undergarments, but was used a lot for dolls. Old doll catalogs,
from the early 1900s, contain clothing descriptions that say "dress of imitation silk satin" -- these were
rayon clothes. All cotton
French Valencia lace was, in the beginning (back as far as the 1600's), made by hand and was the most expensive lace made.
Later when machines were made and turned Valencia out in voume, it became an inexpensive lace to use, and later
was mimicked by US manufacturers. French Valencia lace was produce in 100% cotton, which was also inexpensive. In the 1800's, and earlier, when commercial lace was not used,
skilled homemakers used crafted, hand-crocheted or tatted lace in costuming. None of the lace was synthetic. It was cotton, in weights choosen for doll costuming.
Appropriate Fastners Of course, when you repair a doll costume or fabricate authenic costumes,
museum quality doll costumes have appropriate fasteners, hook and eye or buttons for the early clothing, a little later
sewn on snaps came into common use.
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