clothes for Arietty...

Ouch. It has been a while since I posted here- almost a week. I had finished a test or prototype of dress I created with fabrics and mateerials on hand from the pictures of the covers of the books. 
On research, Arietty's dress with the long torso, somewhat baggy/tucked and a short skirt and sash appeared to be from the 1880's- to the turn of the century- more around the late 1890's to the early 1900's. I have an American Girl doll, Rebecca Rubin with this type of dress and she wears the little black and white spat boots. I used a pink gingham cotton I had on hand with some ruching I had. I think for a first try this dress turned out pretty good. I used the cover pic of The Borrowers Afloat to go by, as Arietty's dress in the first book is more beruffled than the later ones. 

I used a very thin piece of silk ribbon for her hairbow and I think this turned out so very period. The dress pattern (I did this by eye, just looking at the pictures and putting the doll on the fabric and measuring what her bodice, skirt length and sleeve length should be). I used a piece of muslin for her square collar, which did not turn out exact but looks like it works in the pics. Young Sophisticate has such an innocent young teen look that she is perfect for Arietty- who was fourteen when the storyline in the books start. Many people forget that young girls did not put up their hair and skirts until 15-17 depending on what mothers decided back then. (Sort of like when I was growing up- you did not begin to wear pantyhose until you could wear heels) 
I did a test shot or two of her in front of our front door like last time, and putting a ornament on the tree. The only thing is the colors will have to be a tad darker on the fabric, light pastels will reflect/shine back on the camera and she will look like an inkblot so the fabrics will have to be a bit darker. 
Hope you enjoy my progress- Lisa