I'm such a pushover..............
My girls definitely know how to handle me to get what they want~ here is Mifs Penelope Pringle Temper Tantrum~ess extraordinaire. She really does love her new hair, and so do I! You can see more of her in the 'Mantua Maker's Mercantile', link to the right, where she is available for sale......IF you can handle her that is!

A c1805 Child's Crimson Day Gown, Spencer & Bonnet
The Americans called it 'Federal', the French~ 'Empire', and the English~ 'Regency'.....whatever your nationality, these were the years from 1795~1825

I love this dress~ it's one of my favorites....but if you read my past posts, you'll find I have several favorites! Just take a moment to look at my precious Emma, and the gown that commands her. While your dreaming, add in the fact that when this gown was made, and worn, Thomas Jefferson was our third President, elected in 1800. In 1803, he would lay down a cool 15 million dollars to purchase Louisiana from France. We were coming out of the stuffy 'Georgian' period, and into a new century with many new found freedoms~ a large one very noticeable in the dress of the day. Jane Austen (1775~1817) would write her now famous novels~ Sense & Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), Persuasion (1817), and Northanger Abbey(also 1817). My own Emma would befit a character in any one of Jane's 6 novels.
Dress was very controversial at the turn of the 19th century.....no more rigid whalebone stays....no more petticoats~ why~ if the wind blew in the right direction, you could see the 'full body' female silhouette..... nearly all of it! It was all quite risque! White was the 'in' color for fashion, the new Grecian form was very simple~ the waistline had risen to just up under the armpits & below the bust line. This dress is so very rare~ and especially in this fabulous crimson red color. Its made of super fine & sheer muslin, and is together with its original 'Spencer' jacket.
The Spencer is fully lined in linen, with red silk ties in the front. The arms are quite long~ in perfect fashion for the era~ they were worn slightly pushed up the arm, with the frill on the cuff worn down over the back of the hand. This would have been a summer dress. You cant tell from the pictures, but the gown is so fine, it can easily pass thru a ring the size of a .50 cent piece.

Emma wears a black plush velvet bonnet original to the era~ c1805-10. Inside the crown is remnant of a makers label~ only a very rich little girl would have ever worn this bonnet. Its stuffed with horsehair & wool batt in both the brim & crown, and is trimmed just in the front in a very simple & stylish row of velvet covered buttons & black braid.
Don't ya wish you knew what she is giggling about???
Classic style and simple form. Simply Beautiful

Red Hair....Tantrums..... & Country Bunnies!

Do they have anything in common? Well, probably not, except I have had my fill of all today! Remind me, please, never again to make a dolly with RED hair. My son Josh has red hair, and on occasion, we are 'graced' with his ever so red temper.......so I would say I'm a connoisseur of the red hair temper.....but NOT from one of my own dollys! Sometime last evening past, Mifs Penelope Pringle decided she no longer liked the hair we had both agreed upon. I told her that her hair was very becoming, and was special because it was a reproduction of a real antique Queen Anne's hair. This did not work. We both went to bed rather displeased with the other, and I had thought, that after she slept on it, she would see things my way when she awoke this AM. I was soooo wrong.

Can we say shrieking???? To begin~muttering words most unladylike under her breath....only to begin shouting and throwing things all about. She had all the lids off the boxes that I keep 'dressing' supplies in thrown all over the floor.....bits and flouffs of hair & silke ribbons were flying everywhere~ if she would have thrown herself on the floor and began to kick and scream I would not have been any more surprised. I cant believe what a spoiled girl she is! I have created a MONSTER! I wont go into the nasty details....but after seeing her head shaved BALD....she did get a new Pompadour do......and in no other color than~ RED!

The boy's ~ Hogarth & Cruikshank....they were so frightened they dare not come out of hiding! Hogarth just couldn't take it any longer, and had to cover his eyes! LOL

The beginning of the year means fundraising time for the Museum! Running a privately owned Museum is expensive~ I couldn't do it without much help & support! I have added a "DONATE" button on the sidebar to make it easy for you~ so if you enjoy visiting the BLOG & would like to help preserve pieces of our past for future generations to enjoy & study, I hope you will take a minute to show your support! You can also help us by making a purchase at the 'Mantua~Maker's Mercantile', Diamond K Folk Art on the TDIPT Mercantile, or by bidding on an eBay auction!

This years 5,000.00 fundraiser will directly support the following:

*New point & track lighting for the gallery

*UV light filters for new lighting

*4x20' overhang porch over Gallery Entryway

*10 child mannequins

*5 adult mannequins

*archival materials including acid free buffered tissue for storage

*acquisitions fund renewal

And.....as a THANKYOU to my patrons, Once our goal is reached, I will be holding a drawing for a FREE MACHE DOLLY!!! Want to enter??? Its EASY~ here are the particulars:

**Each Diamond K Folk Art purchase, or special order will earn ONE entry to the drawing.

** EACH 10.00 DONATION will earn ONE entry to the drawing.

** There is NO limit to the number of times a person can enter!

The winner for the Grande prize drawing will get to choose an existing dolly for their prize, or, request a custom dolly!

All purchases made from Jan. 1st 2008 are eligible, and HAVE been entered allready!

Don't be shy~ every little bit helps!!!

And So.........The Mischief Starts already................
It has been horribly cold here at the Olde Madrid Plaza in Southern Colorado....it was minus 22 below zero this morning~ so when I heard shouting and overall disagreement coming from the studio, I naturally assumed that the gas heater had turned off, and the girls were chilly. It was just last week I caught Mary Easty trying to abscond with Ladye Elizabeth's wrap.....She looks so innocent, yet I find there is definitely a little devil in her! Oh~ but I'm getting off onto the wrong road......back to this morning. As I entered the studio, I was SHOCKED to find several of the girls crowding around the doll house...6 BUTTS~ yes, all I could see were 6 colorful hinies bumping about~ and I'm thinking~ why on earth are the girls trying to all get in there??? They KNOW they wont fit! As I made my way thru, I found the reason for their discourse. Just LOOK at that MESS! Flour all over.....my brand new bag of chicken scratch opened and spilled onto the floor~ and my ice box nearly wiped clean out! When I saw that all the carrots we put up last fall had disappeared, I glanced over my shoulder and the "boys" were no where to be seen...........they re not even painted yet and already up to such mischief! I KNEW they were going to be a handful.....and this is why I don't make up "boys" that often.
All I had do, was follow they're little messy trail of tidbits from the dollhouse... I found them 'hiding' in amongst my pine garland........Boy's definitely will be boys! Little stinkers!!!

A 'Tete a Tete'..............

The above hand colored engraving is from 'Le Supreme Bon Ton' c1815, plate no 16. Its one of my favorite images, and is a caricature exaggerating how long and straight the new 'poke' bonnets had become~ that in order to have a conversation, a "Tete a Tete" with someone, you would have to stick your head right down the bonnet! LOL The bonnets, of coarse, weren't that extreme.......wellllllllllllllll...........mabey

This is in turn, one of my favoritest pieces in the collection~ c1810~15, is an early poke for an infant! It measures just 7" from back to front, and is entirely hand smocked. The bonnet would extend past the face of the wearer nearly 4"!! In order to see this little baby's face, a person definitely would have had to stick their head right down in that bonnet!

Here is a similar one, adult size, in period fashion plate from the Journal des Dames et des Modes, 1806. Muslin bonnets like this were starched & also sometimes wired, to keep them jetting foreword without drooping down into the face.
The above view is our little baby poke from the outside. You can see the wonderful hand smocking, with a double frill around the face, all hand rolled.
Baby poke from the inside~ just look at the hours of love and work that went into this~ spectacular!
The crown has been corded in a circular pattern. Quite different from quilting~ the channels were stitched first, then several strands of yarn/thread passed thru to fill them.

It's Always the "Static" dilemma for me...........
Being Owner, Curator, & Director of my own collection is a dream come true...but its not always easy. I find myself often in conflict with my other 'selves'. The above picture being the point of a HUGE dilemma I often face......the 'static' display. Now a days forms and archival displays can be had in nearly any shape and form, and really are the best way to exhibit clothing safely, while giving a good period silhouette. From the above picture, you can clearly see the artifacts, and see how they would have looked when once worn...........or can you really? Case in point: The second gown set from the left~ the little gold lustring silk gown and Spencer jacket. See it there??? Just standing nice and quietly.....BORING!
This is the same gown on my daughter Emma~ it fit her perfectly. See how lively it is now??? What spunk~ what character! In static displays, we cannot see how the clothing moved...how it interacted with the person wearing it....how it ruled the person wearing it, even in its own day.
The cut and fit of the clothes made the body conform to them, not the other way around. They made a person walk a certain way...stand a certain way. Corsets and stays prevented bending over~ heck, they prevented sitting upright in a chair at the turn of the 20th century( Edwardian/Titanic Era...but thats a whole 'nother story). I will be the first person, if asked, to tell you to NEVER wear antique clothing.....but then............I break my own rules. A whole different aspect of history can be studied by observing the fit and movement of fashion, on a real person. BUT~ one has to realize that when dealing with clothing over 100-200-even 300 years old, each is a one of a kind masterpiece of art, and historical artifact~ that can be very fragile, and who's integrity could be compromised if put on a real person. This all I do take into account, and will only let one of the children model for me, if I have a collection of pieces to make up an entire wardrobe, and that are the right size~ which truthfully, doesn't come along very often. Correct undergarments are worn, to support the clothing as it was meant to be worn, and minimal stress from movement is always a must. I do not recommend wearing antique clothing in the slightest. See~ don't I contradict myself!

The only thing Emma is missing are her shoes~ there's no way a modern chubby foot could fit into straight lasted shoes a mere 2" wide! She wears petticoat, stays(tho without the wooden busk insert), gown, spencer jacket & matching pelerine, embroidered mull day cap, and plush winter bonnet. She holds a painted straw basket purse on her arm.
Can you just imagine, being on a busy corner of town, and seeing this charming las shopping with her mother???? A girl wearing a lustring silk such as this would have definitely had her own money in that purse, and would have been shopping in only the best establishments.
See how the bonnet, lovingly referred to as a 'poke', hid the face from view? One would literally need be looking straight on at another, to recognize them by their face.
The huge gigot sleeves give the most becoming form to the wearer, and makes the waist look particularly small and petite. Notice the back fastening~ on this particular spencer, is closes up the back with a row of hand hammered hooks & eyes, with another tab at the waist. The Pelerine is attached permanently to the front on one side, and wraps around the back, and hooks in the front again. There's NO WAY a child would be able to dress, or undress, themselves. There is so much that can be learned about our ancestors~ about their daily life, just by studying how they moved in their clothing.
Gold Lustring Silk Gown, short puff sleeves, c1830-35

Embroidered mull day cap with inset puffs, 18250

Plush Poke Bonnet , 1836

Spencer Jacket & Matching Pelerine, 1836

Hand Painted Straw basket purse, American or English, c1830