My Experience Making a Lady Paradise Crochet Costume

Like most thread crocheters that love dolls, I decided to try out one of the famous Lady Paradise historical costume patterns for a fashion doll. These costumes are often very elaborate and since this was my first, I opted to make one that looked 'simple'-the 1885 Countryside Attire. This richly pastel creation was perfectly designed to look like a lacy historical walking suit around the turn of the century. I purchased all the thread and set out to make the costume.

Composition of the pattern

The pattern is made into several different sections. You must make the underdress, three over skirts (two of which are attached to the underdress when crocheted and the train is sewn on later), a shirred lace overskirt for the bottom, jacket, hat, and parasol. I wasn't deterred by the aspect of making all of these parts as much as sewing them on, so I was glad that some of the layers were worked onto the actual dress.

Problems

This is probably not the first or last time you'll hear this, but one of the major problems with these patterns is obtaining the materials need. One fellow doll lover told me she stopped making those costumes because she just couldn't stand trying to find everything and not finding suitable substitutes. It is frustrating not to find anything likely to work for the small components needed to complete the outfit and even more frustrating to find that some of the perfect materials are extremely costly. I chose to use a very inexpensive lace for the accents instead of the costly type called for in the pattern and I find it a little less attractive because of it.

Another problem I ran into was with the underdress. I made sure to check the gage, but the dress did not end up fitting correctly to the 11 ½" fashion doll I had. I tried older body models and modern ones as well and none fit correctly. I ended up correcting this by adding on some rows to the opening. I had to do the same with the jacket to the opening, as it would not fit over the under clothing. The umbrella is very tricky because you need to change color nearly every stitch to get the swirl design right; it came out a little small looking in proportion to the rest of the costume.

Nice Features

I will have to hand it to the makers of these patterns because of their dedication to detail. Although this pattern didn't turn out to be 'simple' the directions had no mistakes and were clear enough for someone who is a beginner to follow. I've attempted many ambitious crochet projects, but this one turned out to be fairly unique. The finished outfit was elegant, and although it didn't turn out the same as the booklet picture, it was still a fair imitation of it.

The detail of the stitch patterns is marvelous for any doll admirer. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that the booklet gave a tutorial on how to create the authentic historical hairstyle of the doll on the cover.

Do it again?

While I don't think I'll start another one of these costumes anytime soon, I find the experience well worth the time and effort. The Lady Paradise website offers kits, and I will purchase one of these if and when I decide to make another one.

If you are a doll admirer, love thread crochet, appreciate historical reproductions, and have a lot of time on your hands you can put your interests to good use in making one of these costumes.