Allegorical Henrician Tudor Fashion Doll

 

Collective Fashion Dolls

 

Henrician Tudor Fashion Doll

 

Henrician Tudor Fashion Doll

 

Hilary- 17th Century French Fashion Doll

 

Veronica- 1530s Henrician Tudor Fashion Doll

 

Roselyn- 1520s Henrician Tudor Fashion Doll

 

More Dolls with English Hood

In original condition

This time I’m working on quite a few dolls that I had purchased on Facebook marketplace. These happen to be ones that were secondhand and a person was getting rid of a larger collection. The original owner does know that I am going to be creating medieval and Renaissance clothing for the dolls and that they won’t be in their original condition. About $12 apiece still affordable.

A selection of faux fur

The main goal with this round dolls was undressing original clothing creating linen shifts ‘the skin layer’ of clothing over the weekend. In the above picture, the dolls with the hats so the dolls that are in the green dresses with the white brim, hats, and the doll with the pink brimmed hat are the ones that are currently being worked on. Also, the doll that’s dressed in white is getting redressed too. 

In progress dolls

The other doll (front right) has already been redressed and images have already been posted here for that project. This time I will be creating Henrican Tudor gowns, Two of the dolls at least I am planning on gabled headdresses also known as the English hood. And I’m debating whether or not I want to do the same for the remaining three dolls. More than likely, I should for the sake that I tended you French more often. All of the gowns are going to have fur lining the skirts and hanging sleeves. I’m very pleased with the first selections that I was able to find locally. They are the right size and variation colors for this kind of project. Best of all they are super silky soft. Which really creates a nice texture in addition to the velvet for these current two dolls.

From a sewing aspect, the French hoods are much easier just because the crescent shape is a little friendlier on the amount of fabric one needs. Other than a veil to cover the back and any underlying Hairstyle, along with some stiffening and pinning into the wig for stability. 

The English hood requires a bit more under structured to be created before it could be covered with fabric. Although I always enjoy the look of these particular hats, do need to add more of them with the amount of dolls that I have created. I do have lots of good silks in order to cover over the under structure. I still have to locate my stiffened felt amongst my crafting items.

Well, of course post once they are each complete. Dolly goodness is being created. 

Maureen 

A Doll and her Dragon

 

Mahogany Antique Sewing Cabinet

3/4 View Side

So for something a little different. While I was out antiquing, I happened to come across this wonderful sewing cabinet. I have been looking for a good one for the past decade, but hadn’t found some thing that really struck me that I had to take home. 

So this particular one passed the dad test. And what I mean by that is my father was a woodshop teacher, and even worked at Pennsylvania House Furniture in his early career. My father had exquisite taste especially solid hardwood furniture. And that definitely has passed on to me and my tastes in furniture. My father particularly liked the bicentennial style from Pennsylvania house that was in a catalog from 1976. Most of my parents furniture in the house was actually from that catalog and everything was gorgeous and unfortunately, a lot of these pieces I was not able to take once my parents passed. 

3/4 View Top

This tends to be a challenge for a lot of children in general once their parents elderly, and also when the household items be sorted out. I already had pieces of my own ones that my husband already had there changing or upgrading. The pieces of furniture my husband has are also solid wood and came from his mother’s furniture that she got over the years. 

So getting back to this particular item, it actually is made by Ferguson and Brothers furniture company out of Hoboken, New Jersey. They made furniture from the 1890s till 1953. This piece would definitely be early turn of the century. And it is actually made out of solid mahogany. The reason I can tell this is because of the inner tray is normally made out of the underlying wood if there was more than one used in a piece of furniture. Most commonly popular tends to be an interior solid furniture. In this case, it was such a small piece they use the fine wood throughout. 

The finely turned legs on the bottom of this piece is what really sold me. It has these beautiful feet as well as the tuned crossbar even has some extra decoration that you don’t tend to see as many versions of these freestanding sewing cabinets.

Here is a great shot of the makers, mark and serial number on uthe bottom of the piece. The company name being Ferguson B.M. Co. If I’m able to locate a catalog of their pieces, I might have an idea as to when the exact year of manufacturer happens to be. 

So this piece is going to live in my bedroom right next to my work desk and I am going to fill it with all sorts of notions and treasures. Recently procured many antique looking scissors, thimbles, awls, pincushions and other wonderful sewing items that I will use regularly. Keeping her close by so it is going to be well loved. I definitely think both my parents guided me to this particular piece because it is definitely something I could see them having amongst their kind of furniture if mom had done more sewing. I happen to have a sewing cabinet of hurst that holds a vintage sewing machine that I definitely will not get rid of. 

When I brought this home. I did have to thoroughly clean it. I do use a special beeswax restoring finish, really put moisture into the piece. There was a sliding mechanism that the doors simultaneously open and closed. I had to take the tacked panel off and fix that sliding mechanism. Then was able to put the panel back. Luckily there was some loose screws already in the piece that I was able to Secure these sliding bar and then also screw in the mechanism on the right hand panel. I used some tiny dowels to fill the holes so then when I put the screws back in, it had some bite. And all of this little bits of knowledge that I have about fixing simple things like this comes from my dad so thank you, dad!

Hoping to find more items like this that have meaning, but also have some connection to family even if it is just in spirit.

Thoughtful,

Maureen