Braids, Ribbons, and Buttons: Clothing a China Doll for Success

Proudly displaying her third place white ribbon

An antique china doll is a treasure in whatever way she makes her appearance. Yet, dressing for success is always the best way to get noticed in a positive light. This unmarked 19 inch Kestner lady, circa 1850s, is an extraordinary example of a rare early china doll.

This elegant lady has a fancy braided bun hairstyle with molded brush marks in her hair and side waves.

She has beautifully detailed hands with molded fingernails, inner knuckle lines, and palm creases.

Her flat-soled boots have painted red laces.

The doll as she was dressed upon arrival

A china doll in original, or contemporary to the doll, clothing is the best of finds! Yet, as with many of the antique dolls that come to stay with me, this lovely lady came in less-than-optimal clothing. This newer made dress is not bad, yet as an 1870s style, it is a generation too young for this 1850s doll. Also, the fabric choice is not very becoming for her complexion. The fit is not quite right. It was added, and not made for her.

The petticoat that she wore is ill-fitting, with an awkward tuck at the waist to make it fit.

The drawers that she came in will work for her new outfit.

The first order was to undress the doll and examine her underpinnings. I prefer to keep as much of the original clothing for my dolls as possible. Her drawers are good. She came in a petticoat that was ill-altered for her. The tucks and tatting trim are nice. I took out the awkward tuck at the top of this petticoat, gathered it, and set it into a new waistband. Now it fits her well, but it is too short to hold out the new dress style. I decided to make her a new petticoat that holds the silhouette of the dress I was planning better. Now she wears both petticoats. And alas! As with almost all of the china dolls I find, she had no chemise!

I use this simple two-fold and cut from one piece of fabric style for many of the chemises I make for china dolls.

Because this doll from the 1850s is before the time that sewing machines were widely in use for home sewing, I sewed all of the pieces for this outfit by hand.

The chemise, made from vintage cotton batiste with antique tatting and a silk ribbon tie, is finished.

The new petticoat has an antique lace remnant inset, and a ruffle at the bottom to hold out the full dress that she will have.

Now that the underclothing is in place, it’s time for the fun part of making the dress.

This antique fabric for the dress? Though I love the fabric, the color is not right for her.

Or this reproduction of an 1860s print? Printed stripes with florals were common for dress fabric in the 1840s through the 1860s. This color really makes her face glow. Yes, this is the one!

I wanted the dress to have the tight gathers at the front waist, which was a common dress style in the mid 19th century. I used Susan Sirkis’s Wish Book for the morning visiting dress style which has a plastron (a same-fabric piece that fits over the bodice for the gathers) and piping at the seams.

Now the fun sewing begins with luminous colors in the threads!

Yes, being all hand-sewn and with several new techniques for me, this project took a long time. And, of course, life situations happened, creating delays of months at a time. Yet, the dress was completed in time to accompany me with the doll to my first UFDC Convention, relatively close to where I live, in Bellevue, Washington, in 2023.

The piping is visible at the neckline in this photo.

This detail shows the tight gathering at the waist of the plastron, the cartridge pleats at the waist of the skirt, and the piping at the waist and shoulders.

The bodice closes in back with hooks and eyes. Little antique glass buttons accent the closure.

Proudly exhibited in the UFDC competition for unmarked china dolls

Even though this Kestner lady is a fabulous early china doll, you can see in this photo that the competition included some rare and unusual china dolls that received blue ribbons.

My china doll entries proudly received blue (reproduction), red (antique covered wagon hairstyle) and white (unmarked antique china) ribbons.

In the photo above, my covered wagon china doll wears an original, or at least contemporary to her, indigo blue print dress. It has become sun faded, yet I did not want to replace it because it is part of her history. I do not want to remove it from her since it could be original.

So which doll is the best? Why, the one I’m holding, of course! May you always have your favorite doll near to hold and love.