A-Dressing Alice.

Alice felt that if there was to be any conversation at all, she must manage it herself. So she began rather timidly: 'Am I addressing the White Queen?'

'Well, yes, if you call that a-dressing,' the Queen said. 'It isn't my notion of the thing, at all.'

Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice  Found There  1871 Lewis Carroll

We all know Alice.

And we all know what she looks like. 

She looks like this.

Unless we're being pedantic.

Then, she looks like Alice Liddell

(pronounced like fiddle)

Alice Liddell

Alice was the inspiration
for the first Alice book.

But clearly, she wasn't the model
for Tenniel's drawing.

For that, there are two contenders.

Sweet little Mary Badcock, here.

Mary Hilton Badcock

And the delightfully sassy

Beatrice Henley.

(I really want to make a doll like this)

Beatrice Henley

We know what she looks like

in black and white.

Drink Me

But, we're wrong about how she looks in colour.

The first Alice in colour was 

The Nursery Alice 1890

and Tenniel gave her 

a yellow dress and a big blue sash.

The Nursery Alice

 
Alice and the Cheshire Cat
Black and White

Same image, coloured plate
The Nursery Alice

It wasn't until later

that the B&W drawings were coloured

and she wore her familiar blue cotton dress

  and white apron with red trim.

Alice and the Duchess

Why this erudite study of Tenniel's illustrations?

I was making an Alice doll,

and I wanted her to be a 

truthful representation of Carroll's vision.

As Carroll worked closely with Tenniel, 

even suggesting models,

we have to assume that the Alice in the book 

was close to what he saw.

So, I researched every drawing,

took notes on the details;

the bows, the tucks, the ankle-strap shoes

even the tiny collar and cameo.

I decided on an outfit that was

an amalgam of Alice images,

but not the yellow frock.

I wanted the iconic blue dress

as it appears in 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Cloches came back! Who saw that happening?

In Through the Looking- Glass

Alice has a huge bow on her dress,

caught up in the tie of her apron, 

presumable to keep it clean.

That looks a little too bunchy and awkward for a doll.

However, only in Through the Looking-Glass

does she sport those fashionable striped stockings,

and the alice-band in her hair.

The ruffled apron in the second book

seems to be the same one from the first book,

with added ruffles to make it bigger.

Very practical, the Victorian Nursery.

After all, that's what those fetching tucks

in her dress are for,

to let it out as she grows.

But the ruffles detract from the dress

and I don't want to cheat with some white lace.

I added up all the elements I liked,

 and ditched the plain white stockings

the tiny collar and the ruffles on the pinny.

This is what I was left with.

She has the blue tucked dress

with puffed sleeves that fit around her elbow joints.

Striped stockings, white frilly drawers,

hand-made black leather strapped shoes.

A white apron  made from a vintage handkerchief,

with red trim and pockets.

Hidden away, she has a silver key 

and a bottle of Drink Me.

She's all finished.

and on Etsy.