I was over at friend's house working on VBS craft projects. Later she gave me a tour her house. In her bedroom, sitting on a chair, was an antique doll wearing this christening gown. The doll and the dress had been in an antique cradle but she had moved it after the cats decided to sleep on the dress. OMG!
I very nicely volunteered to clean the dress....Ok, I was probably a little pushy but she agreed when she saw me doing the happy dance in her bedroom.
I soaked the dress in a Biz Bucket for 2 days. I changed the solution about every 8 hours(the water was brown).
I am making a guesstimate of 1880 or earlier as the date of the dress because it has a scooped neck and drawstrings at the neck and waist. Anyone else have any ideas?
There is some damage to the dress from age (not the cats). I am in the process of stabilizing the areas that are damaged.
Janet, what a gorgeous christening gown! Yea for you - blogging! Sooo, are you going to recreate this beauty? C'mon! You could do it in your spare time!!!! Hugs, Helen
ReplyDeleteJanet, this is just amazing! What a treasure! Now....you are going to give it back, right? So, copy what you can and then put up a tutorial, ok?
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you were able to get this lovely dress clean.
Hi Helen and Sivje, Welcome to my blog! I know I have to give the dress back:-(
ReplyDeleteI am making a pattern off the dress. I'll let you know how it goes.~janet
The dress is beautiful. I would love to see your creation when you finish. Thanks for the peek at this lovely dress.
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely! Did you ever complete the pattern? or a copy, would you be willing to share it?
ReplyDeleteThanks Teresa, I was finally able to purchase the CG after years of begging. It had been on a semi permanent loan.
ReplyDeleteSo long story short, the plans to create a patten from it is in the works.
My Natalie CG that was published by Sew Beautiful is some what similar to this patten if you need something right now.