St. Lucia Outfit
- wingedmermaid
- Dec 28, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 1
When I first heard rumors that American Girl was not only bringing back Kirsten but her birthday outfit as well, I held out hope that they would bring back more of her past outfits -- her St. Lucia dress and accessories in particular. It's always been one of my favorites, because Christmas is my favorite holiday (I was born on the 12th day of Christmas, so I'm sure that's a contributing factor lol), and out of all the holiday outfits, Kirsten's -- with her wreath crown, white dress, and red sash -- is the most Christmassy of them all!
To my surprise, American Girl did eventually rerelease the St. Lucia outfit! Unfortunately, it's part of a collector Kirsten doll that is not only very expensive -- especially when it doesn't come with her tray, candle, or saffron buns -- but seems to have a lot of quality control issues. When it was clear that the outfit would not be released on its own, I decided it was time to try DIYing it myself.
I've spent a lot of time this year sewing different outfits and accessories for my dolls, and I'd just completed an Alice in Wonderland outfit (a Christmas gift for my mom) that had me combining several patterns to create it. While I've struggled a little with each project this year, I now feel pretty confident in my sewing ability. Will something turn out exactly as I envision it at the beginning? Maybe, maybe not. But do I feel like I can make it work anyway? Yes! And that's pretty much what happened with my version of the St. Lucia dress...
The Dress
One of the ways I've grown in my sewing ability is I can now recognize how a pattern piece should be shaped in order to create the correct look for a particular part of an outfit. For example, if I'm trying to recreate something that has puffed sleeves, I know the pattern piece should look like a stretched out version of a regular sleeve. One day, I hope I can be at the same level as some of my favorite YouTube "chaotic sewists" (e.g. Micarah Tewers), who can cut out seemingly random shapes from fabric, without using patterns, and turn them into faithful recreations of pop culture, fantasy, and historical dresses.
Looking at the AG St. Lucia dress, I was able to get a basic idea of how the sleeves and most of the main body of the dress could be made, but I wasn't really sure how to make the neckline. I initially attempted to create a slightly gathered round neckline, but it ended up much wider than I expected. Then I wasn't sure how to finish off the neckline easily, so I opted to use some lace and bias tape. Unfortunately, the bias tape made the neckline stand up in a weird way. I should've anticipated this, because the same thing happened when I made my ren faire dress earlier this year. To fix the neckline back then, I'd tried to turn it into a boatneck by gathering the area between the neckline and the top of the sleeves. I tried to do the same this time, and I'm not sure how well it actually worked, but it does look better than before.
Thankfully, the rest of the dress came together relatively smoothly. Next time, I might make the sleeves a little less poofy, but overall, I'm happy with it. I wish I could've found a red woven ribbon for the sash. I know I've seen them in fabric stores before, but even with Christmas on the horizon, no one was carrying anything close. But, that may also have worked out for the best, because I was able to use up more of some red satin ribbon I've had for years.
The Accessories
Once the dress was done, it was time to make the crown. This ended up being the most difficult part of the project. If you look closely at the real American Girl St. Lucia crown, the leaves are almost clover-like. I began to hunt for anything with rounded petals -- clover, hydrangea, small eucalyptus or silver dollar sprays -- and I found... nothing! My second thought was to go for something that looked more pine-like and find whatever leafy stuff I could add to it. I ended up with an interesting pine-ish branch that was made of green threads and wire, and paired it with some wired leaf-shaped ribbon. I was concerned about dye transfer, so I started with a white gathered ribbon and then shaped the "crown" (which ended up as more of a tiara) around it. Then I added in small red berries and two side ribbons. At first, I wasn't sure how to make the candles (or how to attach them), and then I realized that birthday candles were a pretty good match size-wise. They're not very stable (I balanced them to take photos), but they're a good start. I hope to redo the crown/tiara and make a better version for next Christmas.
Next, I needed to recreate Kirsten's St. Lucia accessories. The saffron buns were surprisingly pretty easy to make! The hardest part was mixing different FIMO clay together to make the right shade of yellow. I also added a little more red to the brown to create the raisins. I'm really glad I opted for a more detailed version of the buns than American Girl's. I'm not a fan of raisins, but they (and the "sugar" bits that are a little too large -- oops) do help to create a more realistic look.
I couldn't find a good match for the tray, so I used a DIY wooden ornament that I painted blue, and added a scrap of gingham fabric leftover from the Kirsten pillow cover I made a few months ago. I used another birthday candle (held up by a bobbin temporarily) and a loose sprig of holly to complete the set. Next year, I'm hoping to have a better version of the tray and candle.
Update 1/1/25: I found a better tray option on a recent trip to Michael's and was able to mix a paint color that is a closer match to the blue of Kirsten's furniture! I also added a thin layer of clear coat to help protect it.
Overall, I'm really happy with how everything turned out -- especially considering I was using bits and pieces of patterns and making changes as I went along. I definitely want to update a few things for next year's St. Lucia Day, but I'm really happy I was able to celebrate the feast day this year. I hope all of you had a Happy St. Lucia Day, a Merry Christmas, and a happy holiday season!
