A most beautiful and serene William and Mary Lady

Our newest William and Mary period English wooden is dressed in a lovely antique wool paisley. We are so pleased with this one in so many ways, including her very beautiful and expressive face and serene expression. Understated elegance for sure.
She is on her way in a few days to her new home in Australia.

300+ years old? or a 30 day old (Old Pretender)?

On occasion I still have to set down and make a doll just for me and it has to be a challenge. This particular challenge was to create a W&M period doll that has the most authentic 300+ year old patina but also to carry and create that same 300+ year old patina right into her dress as well. I wanted this doll to look like her dress has been on her for 300+ years and I am very pleased with the results. I think everyone will agree, its very hard if not impossible to tell this doll and dress are only a month old.


Hope everyone enjoys the photos.

David

A new life for a lovely old 18th century dress

Introducing our newest William and Mary Period doll loosely based on late 17th century antique referred to as Lady Elton.
I am so pleased with this doll and her dress for several reasons. The doll herself looks so much like the antique Lady Elton and her dress, although not an exact copy, is based in part on the style and silhouette of the original.
Nothing is more satisfying for me than to have a doll turn out so well in all aspects but even more, to be able to dress one in a wonderful dress fragment of mid 18th century fabric and trim. We were lucky to get this amazing English bodice piece from a ladies dress, basically the right side and sleeve of a 18th century silk taffeta bodice and the 18th century English fly braid trim that was with it.
Its so rewarding and satisfying for me to be able to take this piece of a dress and give it new life on one of our dolls, a fitting tribute I think to the person who put so much work into this dress originally. The original stitching was so intricate and amazing as was the ruching and I have done my best to preserve and save most all of it right as it was on our dolls dress. The original ruching is still intact as well. Every element of this doll's dress was on the original lady's dress from the 18th century.
I think this doll dress is proof that if we do use fabric from a existing garment, it is a garment that is at the end of its long life and worth as a rare intact garment, and what we do with it gives it a new life for many years to come. Wouldn't it be wonderful to know what the dress looked like on the lady who owned or made it in the 18th century and the long history of the dress?
We hope everyone enjoys the photos. The last photo down is the bodice fragment as it came to us.
The Old Pretenders

Good things come in small packages!

UPDATE! MARCH 1st.

We are pleased to present the newest Old Pretenders, and we think they both are little gems and we do mean "little" as they are all of 7.5" tall.

The first is dressed in a really rare and beautiful 18th century silk so delicate with tiny roses and buds in perfect scale for this lovely little doll, in the palest shades of rose and celery green with a pale mushroom background. She is so detailed that without a reference to scale in a photo, one could easily be fooled into thinking she was a larger doll. Her hair colour is the perfect compliment to her completion and dress.

The second is lovely in tone on tone shades of ivory with the ever so subtle hint of colours brought in from the tiny floral in the rare 18th century silk brocade of her dress. She has lovely pale complexion and her wig is fashioned from antique pale blonde hair. She is just a lovely wash of tone on tone ivory and blonde and every element on her is perfect to scale.

They both have fully jointed legs allowing them to sit beautifully... Oh and did we mention they both have shoes?