What's been going on...

Happy Teusday! I thought I would explain why there has been so little going on at Doll Clothes of Yore this year.

The main reason is that I have been working on updating yoreclothes.com. There are many, many things that I could add to it, but so far I want to add the following features:

• A section on each product page where customers can add comments and reviews


• 3 information tabs instead of 2. Right now I have 'Product' and 'History'. I want to have 'Description', 'History', and 'Fashion'. The 'Description' tab will have all the information about the dress, just as the 'Product' tab does now. The 'History' tab will have information about the product's name. For example, the 'Clara Barton' Dress will have a whole tab on Clara Barton, instead of just a few paragraphs. This will allow me to do more justice to the people, places, and things that inspire my designs. The 'Fashion' tab will have information about the fashions of the time period. This, I hope, will become a valued resource to anyone interested in period clothing.


• A search engine that will allow customers (and anyone else) to search for particular things, such as 'ball gowns'.


• more product pictures!

Unfortunately, because of the amount of work that will go into this, I will be a little slower than I would like in getting out my new designs. I am also using this project as a homework assignment (for a college class). It's due the end of April, so hopefully by then the site will be completed. Thanks in advance for your patience! In the meantime, I will be writing a bit on this blog about new designs, ideas, and other things.

Getting ready for Spring!

For the past few weeks I have been rushing around trying to prepare a new Spring 2012 series of dresses to introduce as soon as possible. It has been exciting and lots of fun! I have completed a few of the dresses on my list, but there are so many possibilites! So far I have made:

• The 'Cinderella' Dress - a remake of last year's 'Carolina' Dress, only this year it's not peach. It is pale blue and white, which made me think of Cinderella from the old Disney classic. I have also been researching the history behind 'Cinderella' and many other fairy tales. It has been fascinating, and I can't wait to share some of my findings with you!


• The 'Antonia' Dress - named after Marie Antoinette (her German name was Maria Antonia). I have had a beautiful piece of fuschia damask fabric in my possession for several years, and I have always wanted to do a Georgian, or Colonial dress out of it. I finally designed a dress that I thought best fit the fabric. Unfortunately, there will only be 4 of these dresses because of the lack of material, but I am very excited about how the design is turning out.

I have several designs that I want to do as well. I want to have at least four before I release the Spring 2012 series. Hopefully that will be in April. Here is what I have planned to create in the next few weeks:

• A tudor-style dress. It will be a beautiful combination of colors with forest green, gold, and brown. I believe I will call it the 'Anne Boleyn' Dress, but I am not sure yet.


• A new style of walking dress for the Civil War. I am experimenting with covered buttons for this one, as the aqua color I am using is very hard to find! I don't know what I will call this dress - Mary Chesnut lived in the South during the war and kept a very detailed journal. Her journals have given great insight into the political goings-on in the 1860's. I might name the dress after her!


• A mid-1880's walking dress. I found an old design of mine a few weeks ago and I would like to recreate it. I am also working on a mid-1890's dress - leg-of-mutton sleeves and all!

I am also going to try to do a blog post every week. I am not much of a writer, but I hope you all enjoy reading about my little endeavors!

A Tudor Outfit - in progress!

I have been frightfully busy over here in Virginia - working 2 jobs and going to college will do that to you. I am just now getting to new Spring 2012 designs (I usually start this process in February). I'm sorry for the lack of blog posts and anything else!

But, I thought it would be fun to let you all know what I am working on today. I have wanted to do a Tudor outfit for a long time - despite the fact that I think the fashions of the 1500's are ridiculous in many ways. However, I am always excited about new designs! It keeps my life with my business interesting. I found a beautiful fabric at the local fabric store that I thought just screams Renaissance! I have been researching for months to find the best way to use it.

And just for the record - the entire process of finding a design, fabric, and eventually making the dress and getting it out on the internet usually takes months. It's a long time.

I'm doing a classic Tudor dress design that will be mostly a deep green. It's really a lovely fabric. However, I thought that the outfit wasn't complete without a headdress! I have decided on a French Hood, a style that was made popular in England by Anne Boleyn. Thus, the outfit will be called the Anne Boleyn Dress. I can't wait to make this and get it out on my website so you can all see it!

Winter Clearance is Here!

Four beautiful outfits are now clearanced. Save up to 15% - but hurry, supplies are limited!

Go to the Clearance Page >

New Renaissance Dress!

This beautiful dress reminds me of the Rapunzel costume in Disney's 'Tangled'! My little sister saw it and immediately begged me to do my blond doll's hair in Rapunzel's style! I wasn't able to do it, but she sat down and made her hair look great! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a picture of that style, but the dress is still beautiful!

Out of all the dresses I have made, this one has probably been the hardest to figure out. Slashes in sleeves are somewhat easy for adult clothing, but completely impossible for dolls. I spent hours brainstorming on just how to accomplish this, and I went on to make several mock-ups and experiments. I am so pleased with the results! It's not simple, by any means, but it looks great! I was also thrilled to find some beautiful glass beads that matched my brocade perfectly! I couldn't be more excited about this dress!

Brand New!!

New items are finally out! Many of these outfits have literally been in the works for 6 months. I am very excited about many of these, but especially the 'Annie Oakley' Dress. The skirt is made to look like the split riding skirts of the time, and the lace on the blouse adds just the right touch to make it feminine!

More posts about the other dresses coming soon!

Festivals and New Items!

I have been very busy preparing for my next Fall festival. I will be a vendor at the Chateau Morrisette Black Dog Wine and Classic Rock Music festival. It is in Floyd, Virginia, if you live in the area and want to stop by!

Because of the festival, I have many new outfits that I have not been able to post on the internet. Here is a list of the names of the new outfits- can you guess what they might look like?

• 'Annie Oakley' Dress


• 'Clara Barton' Dress


• 'Catherine the Great' Dress


• 'Katherine of Aragon' Dress


• 'Maria Theresa' Dress


• 'Elizabeth Monroe' Dress


• and more!