The Kirsten Project | Kjolsäck (Loose Pocket)

Like Kirsten’s apron, her spoon bag or loose pocket, called a kjolsäck, is a link to her Swedish origins. These are only a very small sampling of pockets from the Digitalt Museum, so if you’re interested, I really encourage you to see the amazing array of kjolsäck. Another source of the history of the kjolsäck can be found here (and in Swedish!)

Although I can’t locate any original pocket that is clearly used as the inspiration for Kirsten’s pocket, I do see many elements that are used from existing kjolsäck such as symmetrical designs, embroidered dates and initials, hearts, and red binding. Most examples are black and red, but there are some extant pockets in a red, white and blue color scheme. We can only imagine this piece was designed to pull together the doll’s costume in her colors and simplified to meet the demands of mass production.

For my pocket I used the same design as the doll’s, but added a little more detailed embellishment. I wanted my version to look like what may have inspired the miniature kjolsäck worn by Kirsten. I had a lot of fun making it and can’t wait to reveal the final piece with my complete costume!

The Kirsten Project | The Art of Carl Larsson

Harvesting the Rye, Carl Larsson 1905

Washer Woman, Carl Larsson

Thanks to a tip from the Kirsten series illustrator, Renée Graef, I have been spending a lot of time looking at the work of Swedish artist Carl Larsson. I’ll be sharing more of his pieces as they apply to different portions of my project, but I picked out these specific works because of their pastoral quality. I can only guess which pieces the team at Pleasant Company used while they developed Kirsten, but they certainly inform what farm life like may have been like for Swedish immigrants in the 19th century.

Threshing, Carl Larsson 1906

On the Farm, Carl Larsson 1905

Harrowing the Field, Carl Larsson

Kersti’s Sleigh Ride, Carl Larsson, 1901

The Potato Harvest, Carl Larsson 1905

The Kirsten Project | Dress Inspiration

dress, late 1830s, metropolitan museum of art, daguerrotypes of women and girls in mid 19th century dresses

The real root of The Kirsten Project has been for me to try to untangle the mystery of how each aspect of Kirsten’s costume came together and to make my best guess on what Pleasant Company used as an inspiration, all while staying true to early photos and extant pieces of 1850s fashion.

pleasant company catalog

Luckily, when it comes to Kirsten’s dress, we know exactly where to look… remember the early catalogs and the girl sized dresses you could buy to match your doll? On Kirsten’s page an ecru printed dress was shown with the following copy:

“This antique dress was Pleasant Company’s inspiration for Kirsten’s wardrobe. Made with loving care more than 125 years ago by a mother that took pride in tiny stitches, it’s hem faced in coordinating fabric, a practical, thrifty way to use precious scraps of material, but such a pretty touch that we did it on purpose when we recreated Kirsten’s dresses for you.”

This extant dress is also shown in the “Peek Into the Past” section at the end of Kirsten Saves the Day and in Welcome to Kirsten’s World 1854. If you look closely you can find picture credits (right behind the title page back at the front). This dress is from the Wisconsin Historical Society and thanks to a gift from Pleasant T. Rowland herself (the creator of Pleasant Company and the American Girls), the entire children’s clothing collection is available to view to the public. God bless the museums that post their collections online - it’s a priceless resource for costumers like me! It took me just minutes to scan through the collection before I found the dress that inspired Kirsten’s! The description of the dress reads:

“Ecru-colored cotton, printed with a half-drop pattern of small red and brown radishes on a ground of small scattered brown spots; hand-sewn; slightly above natural waistline, with inset self-fabric band, 1.5" wide, with pattern going the opposite direction from the rest of the dress, and piped on both seams; bodice is gathered into the waistband in a section in the center; calf-length skirt is cartridge pleated into the waistband all the way around; long and full bishop-style sleeves; 1.5" pleat taken in above hem of skirt; narrow band collar; various calicos used to line hem of skirt, waistband, and bodice; center back opening closes with 5 white cone-shaped glass shank buttons from neck to waist, and two metal hooks and eyes at the waistband.”

women and girls in printed dresses, radish print child’s dress, 1853-1857, wisconsin historical society

The signature elements I will recreate in my adult sized dress (which are also very similar to the dress shown above from The Met) are: dropped shoulders with piping on the armscye, full sleeves pleated into a cuff, fan pleating at the center front (gathered in the girl’s version), piping at the waistline, gauged/cartridge pleats to attach the skirt to waist and finally, a printed hem facing that differs from the body of the dress. I’m using a sewing pattern that has been made from an existing dress dated between 1856-1862.

Prints from an 1850’s Swatch Book

While the original dress is ecru with a small radish print, Kirsten’s dress is described in Meet Kirsten as “patterned with little red flowers” and has a blue background. My guess is that the blue, paired with the red stripes of her traditional Swedish apron, created a very American look for Kirsten. This shade of blue was also pretty popular in the 1980s when the character was created. While there are a lot more examples of brownish tones during this era, as seen at left, some blues do survive. I’ve created my own adult sized print based on the description of Kirsten’s dress, illustrations from her series and from the doll’s original printed dress. I can’t wait to reveal it to you in the final photos of this project!

Extant examples of blue print fabric from the mid-19th century (Top LEFT 1845-1850 MODE MUSEUM HASSELT, TOP RIGHT 1867-1869, KENT STATE UNIVERSITY, CHILD’s Dress 1850-1855, Metropolitan museum of art)

Introducing | The Kirsten Project

My pleasant company edition of meet kirsten (1986, when it was just her, samantha and molly!) from childhood plus original outfit.

Over the course of the past year I’ve returned to one of my childhood passions with historic costumes. It was only after going to my first Jane Austen Festival did I remember how I spent so much of my early years wearing pioneer dresses, bonnets, aprons and petticoats. Anything historic was my jam, but especially the world of old fashioned clothes. I wore braids and lace up black boots to elementary school! I have memories of running through an apple orchard in my full kit and loving it so dearly.

A huge part of my introduction to history was through the American Girl Dolls, specifically Kirsten, who lived in the Midwest in 1854. You can read my whole story of how much this doll meant to me here as a background to the new project I am dying to tell you about today.

I’m calling it The Kirsten Project and it will be a multi-month exercise in creating a historically accurate mid 19th century costume from the inside out. The first book in the series, Meet Kirsten, will serve as my inspiration. I’m even going as far as designing fabric based on her dress and scaling it to the perfect adult size for me. Because Kirsten was an immigrant farmer’s daughter living in the Midwest, her ensemble won’t the same as fashion plates from Paris, but I’ll do my best to guess what that kind of woman would have worn and still embrace the spirit of the artwork from the Kirsten series. My plan for this project is to research and plan every layer - from chemises and petticoats, to a corset, hand knit socks, period footwear all the way to her signature spoon pocket and gingham bonnet. I’ll share photos and videos of my progress, just like I’ve done with past projects.

Speaking of sharing… the other half of the experiment is a little crowd funding proposal. I’m wondering if you’d be willing to chip in whatever you can to watch the project unfold? I have a private instagram account I’ve set up exclusively for contributors. You can support the project with a one time donation and in any amount through my PayPal. Drop me a DM and I’ll approve your follow request! All of these funds will go towards the hefty expense of making a historical costume (buying patterns from independent designers, creating my own original fabric designs and having them printed, buying from mom and pop fabric stores, supporting women owned shoe companies, knitters, and more) and will make me feel supported as an artist (thank you thank you thank you!) Think of this like a one-on-one guided museum tour through an incredibly specific part of costume history.

If you can wait until the very end, look for the full project to land here. Otherwise, watch me in real time by supporting this project!

I can’t wait to create my own historically accurate adult version inspired by kirsten.