This year (well actually the past year as well), Covid has meant that for me, many outstanding jobs have either been finished or reorganised. In going through & "sorting out" some of my numerous textile collections, I came across this outfit made when I was around 8 or 9 years old. At that age, I was quite a competent stitcher for my doll (called Lyndy in recognition of my older cousin) & wanted to make a sunsuit from some scraps. I don't remember using a pattern for this outfit but just cut some shapes that fitted & then hand stitched them together. I look at it now (many years later) & can see immediately how that interest grew into what I do today. I couldn't exactly match the patterns & vaguely remember being rather annoyed about that but after all, now I can see - they were just scraps! At that age (noted now), the fabric edges had been edged with yellow bias binding (as there was no spare for hems) & additionally, the 2 fabrics, although identical on first quick glance, are actually the reverse pattern! Detail like this has stayed with me all my life!
Finding this outfit reminded me that I should also look at my doll collection & possibly clean/display it. It's predominantly a range of 1950s/1960s vinyl fashion dolls of various heights together with a selection of period outfits. A large percentage of them are 'special occasion' outfits & again, my early stitching of this type of clothing has remained a firm favourite all my life. When I first started the collection about 20 years ago, the plan was to display it in a manner as per the 1945 fashion mannequins of the "Theatre de la Mode" (if you want to read more & watch the video, just click this YouTube link). An absolutely amazing display of miniature clothing of which I saw selection on display in London at the Imperial War Museum & Harrods during the 1990s.