18th Century Fashion in 360

Have you been to this page at the Victoria and Albert Museum? I discovered it yesterday while searching for an image of an 18th-Century hoop petticoat like the one I'm making for a Queen Anne inspired doll. More about that in a minute. This page at V&A offers Quick Time movies offering a 360-degree view of period fashions from their collection. It's wonderful to see the front and the back of a particular garment. I'm especially fond of the brown wool riding habit trimmed in silver. I may have to try to recreate that for a doll one of these days. I haven't tried a riding habit as yet.

As for the QA I mentioned earlier, she is a stump doll -- but not in the typical sense. She was inspired both by the beautiful wood doll whose photo I posted a few days ago and by a QA torso I found on an auction site. The auction doll had no legs, just a long torso that tapered like a cone. My version is cloth, but with a clay overlay for the face. At present, she wears a very simple shift and I am working on a pink silk (French style) corset (stays) and, as I mentioned earlier, an authentic hoop petticoat. I'm once again adapting the pattern from my 18th-century costume book.

I've not yet decided on a name, but she is similar in style (except for the legs) to Anna Higgenbottom.

More later,

Nina