The dress I have chosen to present today comes from the latest collections hand-sewn for my doll-model. It features visibly higher quality “haute couture” of the costumes, with the use of a bodice pattern from a self-made cut as well as an establishment of a stereotype for the design and making of the dresses; moreover, with more versatility and a richer spectrum of combinations in the concept for the costume and the variety in combining its different parts to resulting in various final attires.
The main colour palette is white and red with dominance of their composite – the pink colour. May is the month we associate with love, nature blossoming in soft hues and the new beginning in life, therefore I consider this exact costume in particular harmony with the essence and messages of the season. This is a rich range of items comprising three basic groups, two external sets sharing one internal, with the combining of which two final attires are completed primarily. At least as many secondary can be added to them, enabled by the colour and construction options specifically selected and designed for combining the different parts. The internal set itself has a front finish in order to be used separately as well, rounding the number of possible variants to five at the least.
The inner set consists of a bodice and a visible underskirt from the same lightweight fabric in pastel pink colour with motifs in darker rose to red. The bodice has a lace neckline and sleeves, frilled above the elbow to recreate the presence of a chemise underneath. The underskirt bottom ends with a wide pleated strip of the same lace. A third part of this set is the petticoat, made entirely from lace, densely gathered at the waist in order to obtain the volume for padding of the desired shape of the upper parts of the attire and to reduce its transparency when uncovered. The visible underskirt is completely split along its vertical centre for more functionality.
In the case when this set is used on its own, as a separate dress, the splitting is frontal, uncovering part of the petticoat and thus turning into an overskirt. In combination with the other two primary sets, the petticoat and the split of the underskirt are covered, with the latter being with a non-split front in the whole vision of the costume.
This is an edited version of the original article from 2009. Read the story of my dream doll and follow up for more doll costume stories from the series:
