Vintage Material and Lace BJD Dress

I wanted to start a new project for my Dream of Doll Leya. I thought something vintage would be interesting. I thought of something floaty in white.  I knew I had a vintage brodeire anglaise christening gown in my stash. The top half was not much use but there was a lot of useable material in the skirt. So I took the seams etc apart and took off the lace to be carefully pressed ready to be reused.

One of the joys I have in life is taking things apart! Give me some old dress, bonnet, or tablecloth and I will work away at it for hours. Carefully discovering how it was originally put together and deconstructing it into useable pieces again. Then the gentle washing, if needed and pressing to make something beautiful out of it again. 


This new trend of "make do and mend" is nothing new to me. I have been doing it and loving it for years.

The skirt more or less spoke for itself as the bottom of the dress was a perfect size and scale for a doll dress just had to select a section of it. The bodice I hummed and harred over for a bit.  I decided to do a separate bodice and unattached sleeves. I used a bit of orignal lace from the dress and some new lace I had in my stash.

I don't mind mixing new with old sometimes. As the dress was still pristine white the laces matched very well.

I found a nice piece of "drapey" lace material but have not as yet decided just how to use it. I don't want to make a veil or headress out of it as the whole thing might end up looking a little too much like a wedding dress which is not my aim.

I have made the sleeves so far and started on the bodice and skirt.

At the moment I have not got a wig which I think would be suitable but I will finish the wig then see how that looks.