Swedish Style

Annette, a customer from Sweden, contacted me about creating an outfit in the style worn in her country in the early 1900s.

She has introduced me to a Swedish artist, Carl Larsson, who painted this picture of his daughter.

According to Annette, Carl's wife Karin, made these dresses for the women in their family. Her intention was to create clothing for daily use, that was easy to wash and as comfortable as possible, instead of those black, unpractical silk dresses that most women wore at that time. They were inspired by artist's coats, like a roomy apron, ruffles on the shoulders and usually closed with two or three buttons at the upper back of the dress. It was used with a separate, different colored under-dress, quite long, that shows through at the back. The aprons were often white, but they could also be in another color, with tiny ticking stripes or a hand-woven structure, and made of a cotton fabric for summer use.

Annette wanted an outfit for herself made in this same style.  She wanted the dress made of mattress ticking and a solid white pinafore.  Since this is similar to the pioneer outfit I offer for girl's she asked if I could create something like this for her.  What an exciting time we had designing the outfit and I think she will be very pleased.

The dress is made exactly like my pioneer outfit except no ruffles on the sleeve.  The pinafore features a raised yoke, ruffles over the arms, full skirt and bottom ruffle. 

The back of the pinafore closes with 2 buttons on the top and the bottom is free flowing.

Annette also wanted bloomers and a sun bonnet to complete the 1900's look. 

The package is in the mail and I am anxiously waiting to hear how she likes it.