Mrs. Cluttersbuck's Joel Ellis Style Apron

Someone in my one of my Ebay groups did an apron for her own Izannah Walker doll. I loved it. In fact, I told myself the next doll I make should have an apron. So I pulled out one of my favorite books, The Ultimate Doll Book by Caroline Goodfellow and studied the picture above of an original Joel Ellis doll with it's starched apron. The book says the apron is "stiffened cotton with printed "embroidery."" So my goal was to make my own version of this apron.

I drafted a pattern. Next, the pattern was transferred to red broadcloth and "stiffened" it with a light interface. After I sewed the pattern and turned it inside-out, I began recreating the original Ellis design with pencil. There was some debate over whether I would actually embroider it with white floss or paint the design. Painting the design won out in the end. I used a white gel pen and used a pin to create the dots.

Here are the pictures I took just after I finished painting the apron. The final step is sew a buttonhole and attach a button.