thanks, we've got a name!

Thanks to everyone who suggested names for the new small girl. Now I have a lot to choose from for my next doll naming need! After a few days of vacillating, I decided to go with Esther Hepzibah. (Yes, I know it's also spelt Hephzibah. But not in this case). Called Hepzi for short. Finally she has a few underthings. I embroidered her initials on her chemise. The chemise and pantalets are trimmed with featherstitching and handmade needle lace.

The pantalets also have three pintucks at the bottom.

Altogether I think she's getting happier now that she has some clothes. There is a matching petticoat, though it is not shown in the picture.

The needlelace was very easy--in fact it's just a series of spaced buttonhole stitches. For this set I did two rows of buttonhole stitches but you could easily do more. As I was working my way along the petticoat hem (all 15" of it) I was thinking "yes, and you could put more than one stitch in the stitch below to make it denser, or skip stitches to make a bigger hole, and build up patterns that way..." I'm sure it's been done. Is there an official name for this way of creating thread lace directly on the hem of fabric? Does anyone know of references for this technique? The only downside is what to do when you run out of thread. It seems like something that someone must have invented a tool for at some point in time, but I can't quite imagine what kind of tool but a needle would work.