Amelia Fashion Doll

While, I was making this particular doll. I had a general idea regarding the colors. I wanted a soft pink to go with the teal blue of the Liberty of London Ianthe pattern, silk satin fabric. I happen to sew her clothing while watching the 2024 Olympic Games, and didn’t realize how very regal her clothing was becoming. Nothing like some very epic sport to lend some inspiration Art. I acquired Amelia through a SCA friend. This doll was basically found amongst a relatives belongings and needed a new home. So noticing the status of this particular doll and that she was a fairly decent size, I accepted Amelia for free. 

Included a few inspiration pictures that I recently found on a few other historical sewing groups on Facebook. I really enjoy because you actually get to see a crown, even though it is sort of leaning on the back of the head of that particular noble person. Although we also see a veil with the crown, which I thought was a really nice touch. We do also see that in Elizabethan portraits with the Queen Elizabeth the first. Due to the dark background that is normally done with portraiture from this timeframe, sometimes the veils are not easy to see in photographs of the portrait. This is one showing a dark color as well. 

In the image right next to these words. Is  a side by side how Amelia looked before I procured her. She had on a green floral printed dress with a Peter Pan collar. It seem to be too big for her. I decided to keep the undergarments as they were useful with what I was going to do with the later dress. So I built the pink dress over her current set of under clothes. I was even able to sew the sleeves right onto the bodice which fits so nicely. I ended up stuffing the sleeves so you could get the sense of their fullness. I was concerned that this would really make them a little bit too wide in the shoulders. It turns out that with adding the tiara for height, it was a good way of distributing proportion.

It took me some time to formulate how I wanted the hanging sleeves to be arranged. There were so many different ways of doing treatments to show the use of these hanging sleeves. So I did something different than I normally do instead of leaving them completely open. I actually closed off the end and so did around the wrist just after the cuff. Which turned out to be a really great decision because it added texture and a focus for the length of the bodied under sleeve. Although still drew attention enough to the remainder of the gown. Not exactly like the inspirational portrait at the very top of this post, but definitely creates the textural interest I was looking for in this project. 

 This next inspiration portrait really gave me the idea for the puffed 1590s style sleeve for this project. And there’s some inspiration here with the Lacey headdress that really seems to work with the tiara. I know that Tara headdresses weren’t exactly something from this timeframe, they were definitely more of a crown like item for state occasions. In this case, I was trying to go with a more artistic version of a headpiece. So even though that this is a later style, it doesn’t completely jar the overall look, As the colors in the tiara are complementary to the colors in the garments. 

When I first completed Amelia‘s clothing look. I was a little worried. It might come off a bit too busy. Although with this timeframe in the 16th century, more was always more. That might be jarring to our modern sensibilities in fashion. I do have to take into consideration that concept whenever I create these outfits and accessories for my dolls.

 Most of the time I am fairly comfortable with what I create and tend to be pleased with it when I am done. This specific project I felt was not fully complete. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Actually, when the tiara came into use and drew my eye up away from the outfit and created an overall silhouette. Actually, when the tiara came into use and drew my eye up away from the outfit and created an overall silhouette. The only other piece I might add to Amelia’s ensemble would be available, but I don’t think I would go with a dark one. I will have to see what I can locate.

I enjoy the Ianthe patterned silk satin from Liberty of London. I’ve always been a fan of art nouveau so it’s nice to find a way of incorporating it even into a Renaissance styled outfit. Most of the 16th century floral patterns tended to be a bit more geometric. Depending on which region that the clothing was made in would determine the style. And sometimes the choice of decoration or texture fabric. I discovered that there is a beautiful yellow, like a honey mustard color in the same Ianthe pattern silk. I purchased about 2 to 3 m of it when I was there in London in 2023. I’m going to have to see if I want to get the same amount of this fabric for a future doll. They even have more of the two colors that I have used the purple and the teal respectively. While I do enjoy silk Satin fabrics they are a little challenging to care for. So I am perfectly fine using them in clothing, which is not going to be washed. If I was going to use them for costume purposes, I would make sure that they’re smaller pieces like a stomach or maybe for a hood or some sleeves. 

I’m just some final notes she is going to live in my collection. Just like all of my other replica fashion dolls do. And I do have quite a few that are collected in a tote for travel purposes for when I do teach at Academy.