Saturday, April 9, 2011

A DRESS FOR CLAIRE








A few months ago one of my Sasha friends asked if I would create a dress for her doll. Ginger is fortunate to have a lovely studio doll, created by Sasha, in her collection. Claire, the doll in question, has the fabric body typical of one period of studio dolls. This body presents certain challenges for the designer because of the shape and position of the arms. And, add to that challenge the fact that I would not have the actual doll to measure and fit the outfit on.
First there were sketches showing how I hoped to minimize the effect of the arm position by using a long full sleeve and an Empire A-line shape dress which Sasha often used as well.

Measurements came and I made a full size paper model of Claire and sent off the first "muslin" to Ginger for a fitting. The dress was less of a problem than the pantellettes which were hard to fit because Claire had no defined waist.

The outfit was finally completed and I think Claire looks quite lovely standing by the stained glass window.