The Middling Sort

 After some consideration, a middling sort of doll will be made with the wooden blanks I received the other day.  With the inspiration from the Bartholomew fair being an annual festival/ cloth market, I was able to make some decisions. Also where this style/reference of doll comes from, I am looking at making the Bartholomew dolls dressed in woolen and linen fabrics. Yes, other fabrics like silk might be available in such a large city like London, especially at a well known venue like this festival. Although I am taking into consideration the Tudor time frame as a focus; the fair was not as well known then, at this time wool was king of cloth for the average person. 

This would have been a somewhat a different sort of purchase for a middling person. Its not a needed item but rather a want.  There is the forward task of having a blank wooden doll to clothe and decorate. Although most children would jump at customizing a toy, they do so modernly in many ways.  The purchase could been more expensive, if one had bought a dressed doll to bring home to a little one. I wonder how long the pre-made clothes lasted? Till the child decided they wanted to dress dolly in another way.  It's not unrealistic to impress that a pre-dressed dolls cost more, as there was more investment by the maker/seller. As compared to the naked doll, that could be clothed with scraps out of the cabbage bin. Either way shows a certain type of investment in play/imagination, let alone domestic skills of sewing. 

Not that any middle sort dolls have survived to modern times, at least to my knowledge. The dolls I have collected images over the years; were always affluent children noble or royal with a delicately dressed doll with silk, lace, velvet and other finery.  For a child in a middling sort of family, having a doll or toy would been either created by their selves or purchased/ made by a parent.  I wonder if setting the child set to the scrap bin to make their own clothes for the doll would been realistic? Possibly for an older child?

To make outfits more of the middle sort. Plans are to sculpt the face, as the oak is not soft for carving easily Resolve the arm creation, then set to make a shift, kirtle, gown, coif and hat. The other doll will have a shift, kirtle, waistcoat, gown, coif and hat.  These would have been some layers to a nice best outfit. Armed with some new information from the Typical Tudor, I can set some patterns for clothing the dolls with layers. Although its important to keep in mind details, as these dolls are only 7 1/2'" and 8 1/4" tall. I will use fabric tapes for trim or ribbon in this scale. Also have hair for wigs already, so that helps.

Inspiration images for 1540's English dresses. Although debating 1570's its favorite, such lines and fitting.

Here is to the Creative Process,

Marrin