#zoominag

This is part of a series in which I am posting clips of my larger project by decade as I finish them. For more about this project, or to ask me to include your doll or OC, check out my pinned post.

Previous posts:

17th century

1700-1739

1740-1769

1770-1799

1800-1849

1850-1899

Next post:

1995-1999

The OCs in this post that are mine are Hannah and Delia, He-Mei and Florence, Gertrude and Mabel, Hattie and Mattie, Diya and Medha, and Bernice and Lawrence (they're in pairs because I did the Best Friends series based on @americangirlstar's suggestions, and in the process created a Best Friend for each of my own characters). Aoife, Francesca, and Honoka belong to @autistickirstenlarson, Lilyann belongs to @kirstenlarsons, Violette belongs to @getintothesun, Charlotte belongs to @gardner-n-pardner, Hope belongs to @Lorsdolladventures, Francie belongs to @futuristicsaladparadise, Alice belongs to @mapleleagirls, and Adrienne belongs to @addywalkerstan. If you'd like your historical doll or OC included in this project, HERE'S THE LINK; more detail about that at the end.

While putting together previous installations I became aware that I have the birth dates wrong for several of the canon characters. I'm planning a redo for the canon character set, eventually, so please do let me know if I'm wrong about anyone. I might already know, but since I have pretty severe dyscalculia as well as ADHD it's not bad to have the info available in multiple places.

I also feel that I should repeat the statement I made before that I had a hard time finding accurate, non-exoticizing references for Kaya, Speaking Rain, and Singing Bird's wardrobes without embarking on a level of research way beyond the scope of this project. If someone is reading this who has familiarity with and access to visual references for 19th century Nimiipuu, Salish, and Dakota/Lakota clothing, and the time and patience to help me understand them, I would be very interested in learning.

1900s

Caroline Abbott: 99 Clara Montoya: 88-97 Josefina Montoya: 86-95 Hannah Kane: 76-85 Delia Freedman: 76-85 Violette Metoyer: 76-85 Aoife Callaghan: 64-73 Cecile Rey: 58-67 Marie-Grace Gardner: 58-67 Kirsten Larson: 56-65 Singing Bird: 56-65 Charlotte Devereux: 51-60 Addy Walker: 46-55 Sarah Moore: 46-55 He-Mei Hsieh: 35-44 Florence Coburn: 35-44 Lucy Morgan: 35-44 Gertrude Levy: 25-34 Mabel Kaplan: 25-34 Medha/Mahtab: 23-32 Diya/Nasreen: 20-39 Harriet Shapiro: 15-24 Matilda Greene: 15-24 Samantha Parkington: 6-15 Nellie O'Malley: 6-15 Rebecca Rubin 0-5 Ana Rubin 0-5 Alice McDougal 0-5 Frances Elizabeth Whitman 0-1 Francesca Vitale 0

The 20th century begins with some of Samantha's more iconic outfits, but I'm also a fan of the way Addy's school suit translated to 1905, and Kirsten's summer dress to 1908. I took a long break from drawing these because for a while there the world seemed to be improving and I didn't need the regulating effect of this project as much, but hey, looks like we're back. That means I don't have a lot of process comments about the first couple of decades of the 20th century, since I finished them more than a year ago. I'm finding my way back to this project now, and I'm planning on starting again from 1668 with the siblings collection soon.

1910s

Clara Montoya: 98-99 Josefina Montoya: 96-99 Hannah Kane: 86-95 Delia Freedman: 86-95 Violette Metoyer: 86-95 Aoife Callaghan: 74-83 Cecile Rey: 68-77 Marie-Grace Gardner: 68-77 Kirsten Larson: 66-75 Singing Bird: 66-75 Charlotte Devereux: 61-70 Addy Walker: 56-65 Sarah Moore: 56-65 He-Mei Hsieh: 45-54 Florence Coburn: 45-54 Lucy Morgan: 45-54 Gertrude Levy: 35-44 Mabel Kaplan: 35-44 Medha/Mahtab: 33-42 Diya/Nasreen: 30-49 Harriet Shapiro: 25-34 Matilda Greene: 25-34 Samantha Parkington: 16-25 Nellie O'Malley: 16-25 Rebecca Rubin 6-15 Ana Rubin 6-15 Alice McDougal 6-15 Frances Elizabeth Whitman 2-11 Francesca Vitale 1-10 Claudie Wells 0-6 Nina 0-6 Dinah Hope Bellini 0-5 Bernice Wright 0-4 Lawrence Ross 0-4

1916 is a unique moment in fashion and it was fun to adapt some of the more elaborate Victorian outfits like Marie-Grace, Cecile, and Violette's formal winter outfits. The 1910s in general are an underrepresented fashion era and I'm enjoying looking back at these.

1920s Hannah Kane: 96-99 Delia Freedman: 96-99 Violette Metoyer: 96-99 Aoife Callaghan: 84-93 Cecile Rey: 78-87 Marie-Grace Gardner: 78-87 Kirsten Larson: 76-85 Singing Bird: 76-85 Charlotte Devereux: 71-80 Addy Walker: 66-75 Sarah Moore: 66-75 He-Mei Hsieh: 55-64 Florence Coburn: 55-64 Lucy Morgan: 55-64 Gertrude Levy: 45-54 Mabel Kaplan: 45-54 Medha/Mahtab: 43-52 Diya/Nasreen: 40-59 Harriet Shapiro: 35-44 Matilda Greene: 35-44 Samantha Parkington: 26-35 Nellie O'Malley: 26-35 Rebecca Rubin 16-25 Ana Rubin 16-25 Alice McDougal 16-25 Frances Elizabeth Whitman 12-21 Francesca Vitale 11-20 Bernice Wright 5-16 Lawrence Ross 5-16 Dinah Hope Bellini 6-15 Kit Kitteredge 0-7 Ruthie Smithens 0-7

Finally, the 20s! I'm really disappointed that Claudie hasn't gotten much in the way of a collection yet. When I drew this decade a year or so ago I had put off adding Claudie and the Hoffman twins to this project because I was waiting for more outfits to be released for each of them, but that doesn't seem probable right now so I filled out Claudie's collection with a mixture of fashion plates and designs that AGblr members have made for their own Claudie's. Check out the real life versions by @futuristicsaladparadise (here) and @doll-princesse (here)! They're both really spectacular designs. I left my pre-Claudie 1920s Harlem OCs, Bernice and Lawrence, in the rotation as well.

1930s

Aoife Callaghan: 94-99 Cecile Rey: 88-97 Marie-Grace Gardner: 88-97 Kirsten Larson: 86-95 Singing Bird: 86-95 Charlotte Devereux: 81-90 Addy Walker: 76-85 Sarah Moore: 76-85 He-Mei Hsieh: 65-74 Florence Coburn: 65-74 Lucy Morgan: 65-74 Gertrude Levy: 55-64 Mabel Kaplan: 55-64 Medha/Mahtab: 53-62 Diya/Nasreen: 50-69 Harriet Shapiro: 45-54 Matilda Greene: 45-54 Samantha Parkington: 36-45 Nellie O'Malley: 36-45 Rebecca Rubin 26-35 Ana Rubin 26-35 Alice McDougal 26-35 Frances Elizabeth Whitman 22-31 Francesca Vitale 21-30 Bernice Wright 15-26 Lawrence Ross 15-26 Dinah Hope Bellini 16-25 Kit Kitteredge 8-17 Ruthie Smithens 8-17 Lillyann Bonney 0-9 Nanea Mitchell 0-8 Lily Suda 0-8 Emily Bennet 0-7 Molly McIntire 0-6 Honoka Oishi 0

In the 1930s skirts get longer again. I imagine Rebecca thriving on the romantic bias cut gowns and Samantha appreciating the freedom to experiment more often with trousers. Speaking of trousers, I'm glad I left Bernice and Lawrence in the mix despite how close they are to Claudie because now we get to celebrate Lawrence's move from knickerbockers to long pants! Very grown-up. One thing you probably can't tell at this scale is that Alice is very slightly taller than the other characters. As always, I love an opportunity to make small alterations to the model, especially since Charlotte is at an age where her using a cane doesn't make me change the model for her. Between AG having a lot of 20th century characters and AGblr having a lot of 20th century OCs, it's getting a little crowded in here, but it makes for a good party!

1940s

Cecile Rey: 98-99 Marie-Grace Gardner: 98-99 Kirsten Larson: 96-99 Singing Bird: 96-99 Charlotte Devereux: 91-99 Addy Walker: 86-95 Sarah Moore: 86-95 He-Mei Hsieh: 75-84 Florence Coburn: 75-84 Lucy Morgan: 75-84 Gertrude Levy: 65-74 Mabel Kaplan: 65-74 Medha/Mahtab: 63-72 Diya/Nasreen: 60-79 Harriet Shapiro: 55-64 Matilda Greene: 55-64 Samantha Parkington: 46-55 Nellie O'Malley: 46-55 Rebecca Rubin 36-45 Ana Rubin 36-45 Alice McDougal 36-45 Frances Elizabeth Whitman 32-41 Francesca Vitale 31-40 Bernice Wright 25-36 Lawrence Ross 25-36 Dinah Hope Bellini 26-35 Kit Kitteredge 18-27 Ruthie Smithens 18-27 Lillyann Bonney 10-19 Nanea Mitchell 9-18 Lily Suda 9-18 Emily Bennet 8-17 Molly McIntire 7-16 Honoka Oishi 1-10 Adrienne Davis 0-5 Maryellen Larkin 0-5 Davy Fenstermacher 0-5

All right, we're almost caught up with where I was when the project paused, so the next post in the series will have more to say about the fashions, since it'll be more recent in my mind.

This is part of a series in which I am posting clips of my larger project by decade as I finish them. For more about this project, or to ask me to include your doll or OC, check out my pinned post.

Previous posts:

17th century

1700-1739

1740-1769

1770-1799

The OCs in this post that are mine are Charlotte and Jane, Rachel and Abigail, and Hannah and Delia (they're in pairs because I did the Best Friends series based on @americangirlstar's suggestions, and in the process created a Best Friend for each of my own characters). Héloise and Aoife belong to @autistickirstenlarson, Violette belongs to @getintothesun, and Charlotte belongs to @gardner-n-pardner.

While putting together previous installations I became aware that I have the birth dates wrong for several of the canon characters. I'm planning a redo for the canon character set, eventually, so please do let me know if I'm wrong about anyone. I might already know, but since I have pretty severe dyscalculia as well as ADHD it's not bad to have the info available in multiple places.

1800s

Charlotte Finch: 85-94 Jane Finch: 83-92 Héloise Cormier: 46-55 Kaya'aton'my: 45-54 Speaking Rain: 45-54 Felicity Merriman: 35-44 Elizabeth Cole: 35-44 Rachel Gabay: 20-29 Abigail Schorr: 20-29 Lydia Livingston: 1-10 Caroline Abbott: 0-8

This is it, as narrow as skirts are going to get for about a century. Everyone was really into looking like Greek and Roman statues, so white dresses in drapey fabrics were the rage for young women. Caroline and Lydia are a little young for that style though. Before I decided to add the Best Friends to the project, I put Lydia's dress in Caroline's collection, but then I did make Lydia and made the green dress her meet outfit. Now that I'm thinking about a redo, I want to give Caroline a completely different dress, maybe that also has those sheer sleeves.

1810s

Charlotte Finch: 95-99 Jane Finch: 93-99 Héloise Cormier: 56-65 Kaya'aton'my: 55-64 Speaking Rain: 55-64 Felicity Merriman: 45-54 Elizabeth Cole: 45-54 Rachel Gabay: 30-39 Abigail Schorr: 30-39 Lydia Livingston: 11-20 Caroline Abbott: 9-18 Clara Montoya: 0-7 Josefina Montoya: 0-5

The switch from wearing their skirts calf-length with visible pantalettes to ankle-length might have been an exciting growing-up moment for Caroline and Lydia. At the same time, the silhouettes are getting less flowy with stiffer fabrics and little puffs on the sleeves. Meanwhile, in New Mexico, I gave Clara styles based on illustrations of Ana and Francisca as well as leftovers from Josefina's collection, and then afterward decided to do a siblings series, so...whoops again, I guess.

1820s

Héloise Cormier: 66-75 Kaya'aton'my: 65-74 Speaking Rain: 65-74 Felicity Merriman: 55-64 Elizabeth Cole: 55-64 Rachel Gabay: 40-49 Abigail Schorr: 40-49 Lydia Livingston: 21-30 Caroline Abbott: 19-28 Clara Montoya: 8-17 Josefina Montoya: 6-15 Hannah Kane: 0-5 Delia Freedman: 0-5 Violette Metoyer: 0-5

The early Regency was all about long, narrow lines, but now the width is coming back, along with growing sleeve puffs and lots of horizontal lines. Frills, lace, and bows are starting to show up on skirts, and hairstyles are starting to get tall again. It's coincidence that @getintothesun's Violette is the same age as my Hannah and Delia, but drawing them together is turning out to be a fun exercise: Hannah and Delia are comparatively plainly-dressed kids, appropriate to their hardworking lives on the Erie Canal, while Violette has a richness in her wardrobe that works with her comfortable life in the Louisiana warmth.

1830s

Héloise Cormier: 76-85 Kaya'aton'my: 75-84 Speaking Rain: 75-84 Felicity Merriman: 65-74 Elizabeth Cole: 65-74 Rachel Gabay: 50-59 Abigail Schorr: 50-59 Lydia Livingston: 31-40 Caroline Abbott: 29-38 Clara Montoya: 18-27 Josefina Montoya: 16-25 Hannah Kane: 6-15 Delia Freedman: 6-15 Violette Metoyer: 6-15 Aoife Callaghan: 0-3

This decade for the first time we have two members of the @autistickirstenlarson extended universe in play! Each of her characters has a strong color palette for their collection: not every outfit incorporates the theme colors, but enough do to feel like the character herself has a preference. For Héloise, the go-to colors are blue and brown. For Aoife it's green and cream.

1840s

Héloise Cormier: 86-95 Kaya'aton'my: 85-94 Speaking Rain: 85-94 Felicity Merriman: 75-84 Elizabeth Cole: 75-84 Rachel Gabay: 60-69 Abigail Schorr: 60-69 Lydia Livingston: 41-50 Caroline Abbott: 39-48 Clara Montoya: 28-37 Josefina Montoya: 26-35 Hannah Kane: 16-25 Delia Freedman: 16-25 Violette Metoyer: 16-25 Aoife Callaghan: 4-13 Cecile Rey: 0-7 Marie-Grace Gardner: 0-7 Kirsten Larson: 0-5 Singing Bird: 0-5 Charlotte Devereux: 0

I struggled a lot with finding accurate, non-exoticizing references for Singing Bird, as I did for Kaya and Speaking Rain. As a result, it feels necessary to include a disclaimer to the effect that this project should not be viewed as an accurate source for Nimiipuu, Salish, or Lakota clothing. Please do not cite me as a reference. While it was easy to find examples of modern-day Nimiipuu , Salish, and Lakota regalia, and there are photos of individual garments from the 18th and 19th centuries on display in museums, it was hard to get a feel for what an outfit might accurately have looked like, without entering into a level of research that would have been way beyond the scope of this project. That said, I do intend to eventually go back and redo the canon characters, so if someone seeing this does have access to and familiarity with good 18th and 19th century Nimiipuu, Salish, and Lakota clothing references, and the time and patience to share it with me, I will absolutely use them in the redo. For now, please know that the probable inaccuracies in my drawings of these characters are not intended as disrespect, and as always I am open to knowledgeable correction.

Here are the canon, main historical characters, by themselves.

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Here they are again, now including the Best Friends dolls.

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And here they are, including a Best Friend for each character, following @americangirlstar's fantastic Best Friends inspiration post series.

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Last, here are all of the above, plus my own OCs and their best friends!

Editing with links to the next posts: 1700-1739, 1740-1769, 1770-1799, 1800-1849

1650s Susanna Hanchett: 0-5

Susanna belongs to @desertdollranch. Learn more about Susanna here.

1660s Susanna Hanchett: 6-15

Styles didn't change much around the end of the 17th century, especially for a young Quaker girl like Susanna.

1670s Susanna Hanchett: 16-25 Mazal Cardozo: 0-5 Agnes Jonker: 0-5

When Susanna was a child, she wore styles very much like the adults around her, but by the time Mazal and Agnes are children, there's beginning to be a separate style of dress for children. Mostly, their clothes look very much like the adult versions, but they fasten in the back and are covered by an apron in the front, and although I didn't draw them, they would probably have had attached leading strings for parents to hold on to them by.

Mazal and Agnes are my own OCs.

1680s Susanna Hanchett: 26-35 Mazal Cardozo: 6-15 Agnes Jonker: 6-15

As Mazal and Agnes get older, the mantua comes into style, an open gown over a matching or contrasting petticoat. The mantua was often tied up in a loose bustle in back, but could also be worn hanging down. Mantuas were worn with a tall, lacy cap called a frontage. In the 1680s, the neckline was wide and round, and sleeves were very short, with soft sleeves showing underneath.

1690s Susanna Hanchett: 36-45 Mazal Cardozo: 16-25 Agnes Jonker: 16-25

This is part of a series in which I am posting clips of my larger project by decade as I finish them. For more about this project, or to ask me to include your doll or OC, check out my pinned post.

Previous posts:

17th century

1700-1739

1740-1769

Following posts:

1800-1849

The OCs in this post that are mine are Mazal and Agnes, Charlotte and Jane, and Rachel and Abigail (they're in pairs because I did the Best Friends series based on @americangirlstar's suggestions, and in the process created a Best Friend for each of my own characters). Héloise belongs to @autistickirstenlarson.

1770s

Mazal Cardozo: 96-99 Agnes Jonker: 96-99 Charlotte Finch: 55-64 Jane Finch: 53-62 Héloise Cormier: 16-25 Kaya'aton'my: 15-24 Speaking Rain: 15-24 Felicity Merriman: 5-14 Elizabeth Cole: 5-14

I talked in another post about the decision to give Elizabeth Felicity's Beforever meet dress and move her meet dress to go with other party clothes, but the long and short of it is that, like the other Best Friend dolls, Elizabeth's collection is smaller than the number of outfits in the pattern I've been following, so I gave her several of the dresses that I hadn't used for Felicity. I also used photos of costume hobbyists and employees at Colonial Williamsburg to fill out her collection.

1780s

Charlotte Finch: 65-74 Jane Finch: 63-72 Héloise Cormier: 26-35 Kaya'aton'my: 25-34 Speaking Rain: 25-34 Felicity Merriman: 15-24 Elizabeth Cole: 15-24 Rachel Gabay: 0-9 Abigail Schorr: 0-9

There's a significant shift in the silhouette during this decade. Skirts are getting narrower, hairstyles and hats are getting larger, and casual styles like the round gown are starting to come into vogue. Rachel, my OC representing the Jewish community of Rhode Island, and her best friend Abigail, are most often dressed in simple, high-waisted gowns with colorful sashes. Their formal dresses are white with pink or blue sashes, a common style for girls of all ages and for very small boys--both colors were popular for either gender.

When we talk about a company like AG trying to correct for its lack of representation for any marginalized American population, it can be understandable and simultaneously frustrating for the one example to focus on a major turning point in that population's history. Addy and Rebecca are similar in that way: on the one hand, if there's only going to be one period in history to represent this population, the end of the Civil War and the Jewish immigration boom from Russia in the early 20th century are obvious choices, but does there have to only be one? Cecile and Melody--and Claudie, one hopes--show otherwise. So if there were going to be a second Jewish historical, Rhode Island in 1790 is my first pick. George Washington's letter to the Jewish community of Newport still resonates with American Jewish communities today. His promise of a government that gives "to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance" is a dream that has never been fully realized, but has never been forgotten.

1790s

Charlotte Finch: 75-84 Jane Finch: 73-82 Héloise Cormier: 36-45 Kaya'aton'my: 35-44 Speaking Rain: 35-44 Felicity Merriman: 25-34 Elizabeth Cole: 25-34 Rachel Gabay: 10-19 Abigail Schorr: 10-19 Lydia Livingston: 0

The period of English political history known as the Regency and the period of fashion history named after it don't perfectly align: although the political period had not yet begun, when we look at the high waists and narrow silhouettes that begin during this period we usually describe them as being Regency fashion.

This is part of a series in which I am posting clips of my larger project by decade as I finish them. For more about this project, or to ask me to include your doll or OC, check out my pinned post.

Previous posts:

17th century

1700-1739

1740-1769

1770-1799

1800-1849

The OCs in this post that are mine are Charlotte and Jane, Rachel and Abigail, and Hannah and Delia (they're in pairs because I did the Best Friends series based on @americangirlstar's suggestions, and in the process created a Best Friend for each of my own characters). Héloise and Aoife belong to @autistickirstenlarson, Violette belongs to @getintothesun, and Charlotte belongs to @gardner-n-pardner.

While putting together previous installations I became aware that I have the birth dates wrong for several of the canon characters. I'm planning a redo for the canon character set, eventually, so please do let me know if I'm wrong about anyone. I might already know, but since I have pretty severe dyscalculia as well as ADHD it's not bad to have the info available in multiple places.

I also feel that I should repeat the statement I made before that I had a hard time finding accurate, non-exoticizing references for Kaya, Speaking Rain, and Singing Bird's wardrobes without embarking on a level of research way beyond the scope of this project. If someone is reading this who has familiarity with and access to visual references for 19th century Nimiipuu, Salish, and Dakota/Lakota clothing, and the time and patience to help me understand them, I would be very interested in learning.

1850s

Héloise Cormier: 96-99 Kaya'aton'my: 95-99 Speaking Rain: 95-99 Felicity Merriman: 85-94 Elizabeth Cole: 85-94 Rachel Gabay: 70-79 Abigail Schorr: 70-79 Lydia Livingston: 51-60 Caroline Abbott: 49-58 Clara Montoya: 38-47 Josefina Montoya: 36-45 Hannah Kane: 26-35 Delia Freedman: 26-35 Violette Metoyer: 26-35 Aoife Callaghan: 14-23 Cecile Rey: 8-17 Marie-Grace Gardner: 8-17 Kirsten Larson: 6-15 Singing Bird: 6-15 Charlotte Devereux: 1-10 Addy Walker: 0-5 Sarah Moore: 0-5

Charlotte is a fun and interesting character: I made small edits to some of the base poses I use to accommodate her cane, and larger edits to others. I looked up some photos and videos of children with juvenile arthritis, which Charlotte has, to help get it right. Some of the outfits in Charlotte's collection were repeats, so I picked out a few more outfits from the same period that seem like they fit Charlotte's frilly, floral aesthetic. Meanwhile, this decade, Addy and Sarah are both born into slavery, Héloise, Kaya, and Speaking Rain say goodbye, Cecile and Marie-Grace begin wearing full-length, grown-up dresses, and Clara Montoya, ever sensible, tries out a Bloomer suit but finds that it doesn't make her work enough easier to offset the teasing and doesn't make any more of them.

1860s

Felicity Merriman: 95-99 Elizabeth Cole: 95-99 Rachel Gabay: 80-89 Abigail Schorr: 80-89 Lydia Livingston: 61-70 Caroline Abbott: 59-68 Clara Montoya: 48-57 Josefina Montoya: 46-55 Hannah Kane: 36-45 Delia Freedman: 36-45 Violette Metoyer: 36-45 Aoife Callaghan: 24-33 Cecile Rey: 18-27 Marie-Grace Gardner: 18-27 Kirsten Larson: 16-25 Singing Bird: 16-25 Charlotte Devereux: 11-20 Addy Walker: 6-15 Sarah Moore: 6-15 He-Mei Hsieh: 0-4 Florence Coburn: 0-4 Lucy Morgan: 0-4

He-Mei is a placeholder name that probably isn't right for her character. It's a Mandarin name, and she should have a name in Cantonese. Unfortunately I just don't know enough to be able to pick one out without help, so if someone seeing this who speaks Cantonese has a great idea, I'd love to hear it. Ironically, although AG has never made either a Chinese or significantly Disabled Historical doll, He-Mei and Florence owe the most to existing AG characters out of all my OCs. Maybe it's their dedication to getting into trouble.

1870s

Rachel Gabay: 90-99 Abigail Schorr: 90-99 Lydia Livingston: 71-80 Caroline Abbott: 69-78 Clara Montoya: 58-67 Josefina Montoya: 56-65 Hannah Kane: 46-55 Delia Freedman: 46-55 Violette Metoyer: 46-55 Aoife Callaghan: 34-43 Cecile Rey: 28-37 Marie-Grace Gardner: 28-37 Kirsten Larson: 26-35 Singing Bird: 26-35 Charlotte Devereux: 21-30 Addy Walker: 16-25 Sarah Moore: 16-25 He-Mei Hsieh: 5-14 Florence Coburn: 5-14 Lucy Morgan: 5-14 Gertrude Levy: 0-4 Mabel Kaplan: 0-4 Medha/Mahtab: 0-2

The First Bustle Era, with its big, poofy, drapey bustles, shrinks down into a tight, structured column shape. Florence's chair is based on historical examples: it has two large wheels that she can push in the front and one small wheel in the back. It's heavy and difficult for her to push as a kid, and when He-Mei pushes it she can't always see where they are going. I feel like Addy's school suit, in particular, translates well into these stiffer and more structured styles, and Caroline's Christmas dress isn't bad either. Another one that worked out well is Cécile's parlor outfit.

1880s

Lydia Livingston: 81-90 Caroline Abbott: 79-88 Clara Montoya: 68-77 Josefina Montoya: 66-75 Hannah Kane: 56-65 Delia Freedman: 56-65 Violette Metoyer: 56-65 Aoife Callaghan: 44-53 Cecile Rey: 38-47 Marie-Grace Gardner: 38-47 Kirsten Larson: 36-45 Singing Bird: 36-45 Charlotte Devereux: 31-40 Addy Walker: 26-35 Sarah Moore: 26-35 He-Mei Hsieh: 15-24 Florence Coburn: 15-24 Lucy Morgan: 15-24 Gertrude Levy: 5-14 Mabel Kaplan: 5-14 Medha/Mahtab: 3-12 Diya/Nasreen: 0-9 Harriet Shapiro: 0-4 Matilda Greene: 0-4

There's a lot still undecided about the sisters I originally called Diya and Medha but then considered renaming to Nasreen and Mahtab, depending on what kind of backstory would work best for them. Unfortunately, I know more about clothing history than I do about historical waves of immigration. I still think these characters have a good dynamic with each other and I love how their outfits turned out, but I probably won't be fleshing them out much unless I happen to learn a lot more about their potential backgrounds. For the time being, I'm leaving them in the project but I'm focusing more on characters I don't need to do a lot of original research to develop.

The Second Bustle Era is far more stiff and structured than the first, with heavier fabrics and narrower lines. Even the older girls are wearing bustles, while the younger girls often have large bows at the backs of their dresses in imitation of the bustled silhouette. This project first saw a bustled style in the 1680s, they were most famous in the 1880s, and even today we see them now and then on bridal or red carpet gowns.

1890s

Lydia Livingston: 91-99 Caroline Abbott: 89-98 Clara Montoya: 78-87 Josefina Montoya: 76-85 Hannah Kane: 66-75 Delia Freedman: 66-75 Violette Metoyer: 66-75 Aoife Callaghan: 54-63 Cecile Rey: 48-57 Marie-Grace Gardner: 48-57 Kirsten Larson: 46-55 Singing Bird: 46-55 Charlotte Devereux: 41-50 Addy Walker: 36-45 Sarah Moore: 36-45 He-Mei Hsieh: 25-34 Florence Coburn: 25-34 Lucy Morgan: 25-34 Gertrude Levy: 15-24 Mabel Kaplan: 15-24 Medha/Mahtab: 13-22 Diya/Nasreen: 10-19 Harriet Shapiro: 5-14 Matilda Greene: 5-14 Samantha Parkington: 0-4 Nellie O'Malley: 0-4

The final decade of the 19th century has us saying goodbye to Caroline and Lydia, and hello to Samantha and Nellie. Although it's less dramatic than the first and second bustle eras or even the period between them, this period is surprisingly fun to draw. And it's nice to be ending the century with their wintery formalwear. Happy new year!

Continuing my posts of a few decades at a time as I go along.

Previous posts:

17th century

1700-1739

Following posts:

1770-1799

1800-1849

Susanna Hanchett belongs to @desertdollranch and Héloise belongs to @autistickirstenlarson. Mazal and Agnes and Charlotte and Jane are my own. Excited to have some of the canon American Girl characters finally appear!

1740s

Susanna Hanchett: 86-95 Mazal Cardozo: 66-75 Agnes Jonker: 66-75 Charlotte Finch: 25-34 Jane Finch: 23-32

Wide panniers are still in fashion, especially for formalwear. Orientalism and pastoralism have visible influences on fashion, particularly in the colorful fabrics and the sheer linen aprons too fine for actual work. The last vestige of the robe battante can be seen in the pleated "sack back" of the robe a la francaise.

1750s

Susanna Hanchett: 96-99 Mazal Cardozo: 76-85 Agnes Jonker: 76-85 Charlotte Finch: 35-44 Jane Finch: 33-42 Héloise Cormier: 0-5 Kaya'aton'my: 0-4 Speaking Rain: 0-4

Reaching the end of Susanna's story was bittersweet. Thank you so much to @desertdollranch for trusting me with Susanna: I hope you enjoyed seeing her grow up and slowly change decade by decade. At the same time, we get to meet Héloise, the first of @autistickirstenlarson's OCs to appear in this project. Learn more about Héloise here.

Kaya and Singing Bird are finally here as well! Kaya's community, the Nimiipuu, are not unaffected by the arrival of Euorpeans on the continent--Kaya's books mention smallpox, horses, and other echoes of European settlement far to the East--but they haven't made formal contact yet, and won't until Louis and Clark make contact with the nations of the Pacific Northwest in 1805. Kaya will be 50 then. For now, she is dressed in the same style buckskin dresses that she will wear throughout her story and probably throughout her life.

1760s

Mazal Cardozo: 86-95 Agnes Jonker: 86-95 Charlotte Finch: 45-54 Jane Finch: 43-52 Héloise Cormier: 6-15 Kaya'aton'my: 5-14 Speaking Rain: 5-14 Felicity Merriman: 0-4 Elizabeth Cole: 0-4

Felicity and Elizabeth may be an ocean apart for now, but they are dressed in a similar fashion. They both wear "long clothes," plain white gowns that trail below their feet, as infants, and "short clothes," plain white knee-length gowns, as toddlers. After that they are dressed very much like their mothers, with the addition of leading strings, which I have not drawn. We start to see Kaya and Singing Bird's fashions diverge, as Singing Bird begins to spend time with her Salish family as well as her Nimiipuu family of origin.

Meet Violette, 1834