Wearables Renaissance Woman

I found a beautiful Serenade Doll Apsara on ebay (with paperwork and original faceup!) and I'd been thinking about the kind of character/outfit I'd make to go with her. Luckily, while I was looking, I saw @MB Lilac 's tutorial/pattern for her Italian Renaissance-inspired gowns. I loved the idea of something that strays away from the usual gothic/fantasy style that most of my dolls enjoy, and the patterns are really fantastic.

To Do:
[x]Doll arrival--4/14/2022
[x]Fabric selection--4/14/2022
[x]Print out pattern(s)--4/17/2022
[ ]Make mock up pattern/test pattern--in progress (4/19/2022)
[ ]Begin under-dress
[ ]Make petticoats
[ ]Begin outer-dress
[ ]Acquire/make matching shoes
[ ]Wig arrival (Ordered 4/15/2022) searching again
[ ]Final styling

 

Doll Arrival
Adella arrived today! Honestly she's so gorgeous in person. She's also way slimmer than I thought, which means that making the test pattern is going to be worth the extra effort. Apparently she's closer in size (body-wise) to a slim MSD than an SD, but she measures around 56-58cm tall. Serenade dolls are extremely leggy and I'm going to need to figure out a solution to display her since her poor little legs just don't support her body weight.

Spoiler: Slight Doll Nudity Ahead

 

Fabric Selection
Originally I'd sprung for a saree for the fabric but upon closer inspection decided that it just wasn't quite her style of fabric (maybe in the future I'll make another dress for her). My crafting closet is filled to the brim with collected pieces of fabric from going out of business sales and general finds at thrift stores, and I found several gorgeous pieces in there.

However, our Joann's didn't have a single piece of brocade that I could match with the deep emerald green I had planned to use (and I took a swatch with me to check). The clearance section proved pretty useful though, as well as the remnants bin, since I found fabric that matched pretty darn well--as well as a massive piece of brocade that had been discounted heavily.

Spoiler

The brocade is actually a champagne/off-white color with a gold design; my lighting isn't the greatest (and it has a slightly yellow tint). However, the satin is pretty close to true color, and the labeled remnant (which is cotton!) is also pretty close in color. I'm particularly excited about the flower-shaped eyelets (a Michael's find) since they're gorgeous and aren't super large in comparison to the actual doll.

I do have iron-on interfacing which will be used later, I just didn't take a picture of it. I also have a piece of white chiffon, but I'm thinking that MB Lilac's puffed sleeve variation might be what I try instead (I'll make mockups of it as well, to get sizing correct/make sure that I've got the proper techniques down).

 

Thank you! It was honestly a heck of a deal to find. Brocade here is expensive and hard to find (we have maybe 2 fabric stores in total?), so running upon it was awesome. I wish there was better lighting, it really does look way more white than gold.

I had similar thoughts when I picked it up too. It really just makes the eyes wander around the brocade and the embroidery isn't extremely heavy compared to others I've seen, which made me really excited to sew with it. I'll probably make two variations on the underdress once I have the template piece fitted to my liking (and the skirt measurements figured out), because the emerald green satin I have is just gorgeous. Digging through part of my stash today made me pretty ecstatic since I found lots of little trims and things for future use on the final piece.

 

Pattern Testing--Part 1
When in doubt, test it out. And I've found that testing patterns in small scale is 100% worth the trial and error phase just so that everything appears correctly. This has been the case for the under-dress top, which ended up being very large on the slim frame. With a few adjustments to the bust darts and the back darts, everything lays correctly.

Spoiler: First Fittings

Note that this is from the original pattern (with seam allowances added in on the template piece) so it was sewn exactly as directed. It's definitely very large for the frame and doesn't quite sit as tightly as I'd prefer.

Spoiler: Second Fittings with slight doll nudity

After adjusting the bust darts (longer + deeper) and the back darts slightly, the piece fits better. I'm not finishing the neck because while that will tighten up slightly, it won't change things too much. I am leaving the back pieces longer so that they can be folded inwards to provide a setting point for the snaps on the final piece(s). Pinned together though, it looks nice. I am aware that the two darts aren't quite the same length, but they work for the test piece, and will be measured (with a chalk pencil) on the final piece.

Spoiler: Final Fitting for Underdress Bodice

The fit is nice and there is still plenty of room for the skirt to attach at the waistline. I haven't measure the skirt length yet just because things have been busy, but I'm pretty happy with the results so far. Now all I have to do is pick apart this test piece and trace it onto some cardstock for an updated pattern. I didn't change the shoulder pieces, because they actually fit quite well, and Adella's arms move a little funkily--she has something akin to a kip but made of resin, allowing extra movement at the shoulder.

Update on the wig: The wig I wanted for her didn't fit, so I'm going to have to order another one in the near future. Time to start looking for YoSD wigs! I could make her a wig myself, however, that's a long process and it's getting a bit warm in the house to be doing that sort of tedious work. And I really don't want to have to clean more alpaca and go through that process again (at least for the time being).

 

I have to agree! I'm excited to start on the skirt, it's much longer than what the template calls for (but then again, legs). I've seen people do dress forms out of tape for dolls, much like you would a human one. It apparently works pretty well!

Thank you for the encouragement! I'll have to do some testing on the outer bodice too, since it will also be quite large, and I need to figure out the sleeve poofs/ sewing the large poofy sleeves in place. It seems like I may need to grab some fray check as well, since I haven't tested out the brocade for possible thinning (although the composition appears to be doing fine with the cut edge, no threads pulling or major shedding as far as I can see).

 

I also love her clothes! It's been a minute since I've gotten to work on the dress pattern, but I have the testing one mostly done. I've had to take a pause since summer is the time I do a lot of sewing commissions.