Hi everyone,
On Friday (May 22nd, 2015) we'll have a wonderful historical pattern available for free. So, this week there is no voting - just a "heads-up" that a nice pattern is coming your way on Friday - free for one day only. Do us a favor and help us spread the word.
This free gift is courtesy of Shari Fuller from Thimbles and Acorns. Be sure to leave a comment below this post and thank her for generosity!
More About Shari Fuller and Thimbes And Acorns, (in her own words). The name “Thimbles and Acorns” comes from the story of “Peter Pan” and has has an affectionate personal meaning to me. When my daughter was three-years-old, she fell in love with the story and its main character. Her favorite activity was to “be” Peter, and we happily indulged her fantasy world with books, costumes, and other props.
Here is more information about the pattern:
[This pattern will be revised and relaunched on Friday, May 22nd, 2015]
1870's Bustle Dress For 18 Inch and 16 Inch Dolls: Fashion is where expression meets practicality and lures it into the realm of the extreme. Though fashion trends have a tendency to push the limits, practicality always manages to bring them back into balance... at least for a time. Full skirts were the hallmark of the early Victorian era and by the 1860s they had expanded to as wide as six feet in diameter. However, as railroads began forging paths around the world, women began to travel more and more. Full skirts and crinolines made for poor traveling companions and the boundary for this fashion trend had been reached. Still, it would be a gallant exit. The 1870s saw a great boom in the textile industry. Hand looms were replaced by more efficient steam driven power looms which resulted in a larger supply of cloth and fancy trims at greatly reduced prices. The great cage crinolines were shed and the surplus fabric from the full skirts was draped in elaborately decorated layers and pulled toward the back in large bustles that were reminiscent of those worn a century earlier. The fashionable silhouette had become smaller and more mobile, but what was lost in size was more than made up for with the elaborate trimming which would become the hallmark of the later Victorian Era.
This multi-size PDF pattern is designed to fit 18-inch American Girl, 18-inch Gotz and Kidz 'n' Cats, 18-inch Carpatina, and 16-inch A Girl For All Time Dolls.
Recommended Fabrics: Dress and Lining in lightweight woven fabric such as cotton, cotton blends gingham, lawn, linen, or silk. Not suitable for knits.
Expressing Gratitude:
Shari, on behalf of all of us at Liberty Jane Clothing and Pixie Faire (and all the people that will download this pattern for free on Friday) we want to thank you for your professionalism, dedication to your craft, and generosity! It's a joy to work with you!
Cinnamon
139 Comments
Thank you for offering this wonderful pattern and the history about the trends. Can the pattern be easily altered to fit the Journey Girl doll? Thank you again.
Thank you so much for sharing this pattern!
Gorgeous! Thank you so much!!!
I could have said ‘ditto’ and left it at that, but decided to do my own thing. Thank you so much for your generosity in sharing your talents with all. I am getting ready to start in on historical clothes…just had a thought…I am doing a history of my husband’s line for my kids and a pic of this dress on one of my dolls would be neat and would fit right in with the history I am writing.
Shari, your pattern is historically right on. Thank you for your generosity! Love your name spelling – same as my daughter’s :)