Wedding Wednesday: Flashback to Prince William's Pre-Wedding

This is a photo of the then Duchess of Brabant's dress from Prince William and Catherine's pre-wedding dinner.

The dress is machine knitted in two pieces. 

For comparison to the real deal check out this page.

Even though Mathilde didn't wear a tiara that day, I put the Wouters Tiara on her.  The Wouters Tiara belonged to Queen Fabiola.

Yarns Used:  Red Heart Super Saver Orange

My First King

Well, this is my version of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.  In photos, his hair always struck me as not quiet ginger, so I decided to blend a orange with light brown.  Well, I found out is was straight brown!  Too late to change it, unless I pull him apart or figure out a way to snip the orange out of his hair....

Flashback Friday: Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden

This one of the crazier dresses I've made for my royals, but I wanted to try it.  It is the dress from Queen Margarethe II's 70th birthday celebrations.

The dress is machine knitted black and white, going from bigger stripes to smaller stripes.  It took a little math to figure out how my rows I need.  (Yes, I can still hear my math teachers saying "You'll use math in real life!")  I believe this is one of the most accurate dresses I've made.

For comparison to the real version check out this website. 

Yarns Used: Caron Simply Soft White and Black

Tiara Thursday: Nine Provinces Tiara

A close up view of the Nine Provinces.  I couldn't figure out how to insert beads between each of the arches to make it the full version of the tiara.  Here's a link where you can read more about the tiara.

Wedding Wednesday: Fabiola of Belgium

As you know Queen Fabiola of Belgium is one of my favorite royals.  So I decided to create her wedding dress.

The dress and train are machine knitted.  The dress is one piece.  The "fur" on the dress is a hand knitted i-cord.  The veil is hand knitted and is topped with 2/3 of the Belgian Nine Provinces Tiara.

You can compare my version to the real thing here.

Yarns Used: Caron Simply Soft White

Guillaume and Stephanie

Guillaume Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Stephanie de Lannoy

Engagement photo

Prince Daniel of Sweden

Prince Daniel is making his debut in today's post.  Prince Daniel is Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden's Husband.  It took a bit to create him and he had undergone surgery several times, but after his final surgery I was finally satisified with the results!

The shirt is machine knitted black and grey stripes.  The pants are hand knitted.  They were made in the days before I figured out how to machine knit pants.

Yarns Used. Red Heart Black, Light Grey and Light Brown

Flashback Friday: Queen Margrethe I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden's dress

 I saw this dress on Pinterest and decided I wanted to try to make it.

It based on a reconstruction of a dress that was worn in the 14th Century by Queen Margrethe I of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.  You can find photos of the dress here.

It took a couple of tries to get the pattern right, but the whole dress is knitted in one piece from the front to the back.  I didn't have an idea on how to do her veil until I got Knitivity by Fiona Goble for Christmas.  I sewed up the bottom part of the veil.

The Green Underskirt is Machine Knitted.  Her belt is crochet with embroidery floss.

Yarns Used: Red Heart Gold, Bright Green and Bernart Baby Softee White

Tiara Thursday: Wolfers Tiara

On a burst of inspiration I created this tiara, one of Queen Fabiola's out of beads. 

It is known as the Wolfers Necklace tiara.  To compare my version to the real thing check here and here. 

Wedding Wednesday: Mathilde's Wedding Dress

 Today's post features the then Duchess of Brabant's wedding dress.  It was a dress I was curious to try to make and this is the result.  In 1999 the then Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz married the then Prince Philippe the Duke of Brabant.

The under dress is machine knitted, and the coat part is hand knitted.  The shoes are hand knitted.  The veil is had knitted and she is wearing one of Queen Fabiola's tiaras.

Feel to compare it to the real version here.

Yarns Used: Caron Simply Soft White

The bottom photo is a view of the train.

Queen Mathilde of Belgium

Welcome Queen Mathilde of Belgium!  She is wearing Queen Victoria Eugenia's aquamarines and the blue dress from her first official portrait as queen.

The Dress is machine knitted as are the shoes (not seen).

Yarns used are Red Heart Royal Blue

Flashback Friday: Lady Mary Part Deux

I made another Lady Mary Crawley dress for royal fan Duchess Catherine.  This is from season four and is of course in black.

The dress and shoes are machine knitted.

Yarns Used: Caron Simply Soft Black

Tiara Thursday: Queen Ena's Aquamarines

This is Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain's Aquamarine Tiara created out of beads.

For more information on this tiara go here or here.

Wedding Wednesday: Princess Beatrix's Wedding Dress

Today's wedding dress is stuck on Queen Maxima, Princess of the Netherlands, but it belongs to Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands. 

I was inspired by the Dutch Inauguration to create William-Alexander and Maxima Dolls.  What I didn't know was that Fiona Goble created a Knit Your Own Dutch Royal Family in Dutch, it's called
De Oranjes, een uitgeBREIde geschiedenis.  I wish I could find a copy of it even though I can't read Dutch, but I'm up for the challenge!

The dress is machine knitted in two pieces.  It was fun experimenting with this dress.  The gloves are machine knitted too.  The veil is hand knitted.

You can see how my version matches with the real version here.

Yarns Used: Caron Simply Soft White and white embroidery floss

Crown Princess Victoria

Crown Princess Victoria

Shirt, skirt and shoes are machine knitted.  Cardigan is hand knitted.

Red Heart: Teal
Caron Simply Soft: White

Flashback Friday: Swedish Court Dresses

 I always wanted to create a Russian Style Court Dress and when I found this entry on Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor I decided to create one.

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden is wearing one an old Swedish Dress.  The dress is machine knitted in one pice and the sleeves were hand knitted.  I wasn't sure how big to make them, so they were experimental.  Next time I make a court dress I'll make the sleeves bigger.  The train is machine knitted with the crochet edging.  Crown Princess Victoria is also wearing the Connaught Tiara and the Order of Seraphim. 

Yarns used: Red Heart Black, Embroidery Floss DMC 800.

Tiara Thursday: Queen Mary's Loop Tiara

This Tiara is one that doesn't physically exist any more, so I decided to create one out of beads.  It is known as Queen Mary's Loop Tiara.  When I saw a photo of it I decided it looked pretty easy to make and this is the result.  Since Queen Mary enjoyed pulling apart and creating new tiaras this tiara doesn't exist anymore.

A photo of the tiara is found here.

Wedding Wednesday: Princess Charlotte's Wedding Dress

This post is featuring a wedding dress of the past.  On May 2, 1816, Princess Charlotte, the daughter of the Prince Regent married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.  If history had turned another way, Charlotte would have been Queen Charlotte of England with Prince Leopold as her consort.  Unfortunately she tragically died in childbirth, which lead to several of her uncles dropping their mistresses to marry suitable princesses and the baby race which produced the Princess Victoria who would eventually become Queen.

Inspired by Princess Charlotte, I decided to create her wedding dress.  I created the pattern, since it was mainly silver I decided to use silver embroidery thread with White yarn.  It is created in six pieces.  The front and back are not matching.  The front of the skirt and the train are sewn together.  I ended up use six skeins of embrodiery floss to complete this dress and it is one of the more expensive ones I've made.

It is a silver wedding dress.  Normally in the 1800's people wore their best to get wedding and that didn't mean white.  It was only after Queen Victoria wore white to her wedding that white became popular for wedding dresses.

For more information and pictures of the dress click here.

Yarns Used: Caron Simply Soft White and Silver Embroidery thread (I don't remember what Number I used.)

Casual Catherine Cambridge

Here is one of the casual outfits I made for Catherine Duchess of Cambridge.  She wore it at Wimbledon in 2012.

The outfit is machine knitted and is compromised of a skirt, sleeveless shirt, and shoes.

Yarns Used: Red Heart White

Casual Prince William

Today's post is Prince William, Duke of Cambridge dressed casually.

The sweater is machine knitted and the pants are hand knitted.  I used Red Heart Yarns for this outfit.

For the Princes and Kings in my doll collection I decided to just make one pair of khaki pants, blue jeans, and black pants that everyone can share.  Sure I'm not going to knock my yarn pile quickly by doing it that way, but I don't need that many pairs of pants floating around.  There are a few royals (I'm looking at Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark and King Philippe of Belgium) that have an usual taste in pants so I made them because they are exclusive to those royals.

Yarns Used: Red Heart Blue and Light Brown

Tiara Thursday: Marie Feodorovna's Sapphire Bandeau

This was another Tiara I found easy to make from beads. The Marie Feodorovna Sapphire Bandeau comes from the British Collection and there are questions over whether or not it exists. 

You can learn more about this tiara
here and here.

Wedding Wednesday: Queen Mother's Wedding Dress

Today's wedding dress is the Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, better known as the Queen Mother. It was created in the 1920's and was made for a woman who never expected to be queen consort.  History would deal the Lady Elizabeth a different set of cards. It is worn by Catherine Duchess of Cambridge.

The Dress is hand knitted and the decoration is crocheted.  This was one of my experimental patterns and it took me twice to get this one right.  To see how it matches with the original check out the Royal Order of Splendor's link here.

Yarns: Caron Simply Soft, Silvery Crochet Thread, White Embroidery Floss

Lady Mary Crawley

I also design historical costumes based on Historical TV shows.  Since the Duchess of Cambridge is a big fan of the series Downton Abbey I created a few outfits from the TV series.  This outfit is from Season 2 from the scene where Matthew and Mary dance and Lavinia secretly catches them kissing.

The pattern I created myself and is hand knitted.  The dress and shoes are soft navy.  The black thing in the front is crochet with black embroidery floss.  The gloves are black yarn.

Yarns used: Red Heart Soft Navy and Caron Simply Soft Black

Prince William

Well, where's Prince William?  Here he is!  Prince William was the second doll I made, the second doll I was experimenting with in putting together.  I followed the directions in Knit Your Own Royal Wedding.

Here he is dressed up and ready for his wedding day.  Everything, the uniform jacket, hat, and pants are hand knitted.  All based on the patterns in the Knit Your Own Royal Wedding.  The Order of the Garter is crocheted as is the Aide-de-camp chain.  Here are photos from that day.

Yarns Used: Red Heart Red, Caron Soft Black, Embroidery Floss 729 and 824

Tiara Thursday: Halo Scroll Tiara

 Now onto the tiara Catherine Duchess of Cambridge wore on her wedding: Halo Scroll Tiara.  This tiara was once owned by the Queen Mother, but worn by other members of the Royal Family including the Princess Royal and Princess Margaret.  It hadn't seen the light of day in decades and everyone was surprised to see it appear on Catherine for her wedding day.  I remember in the lead up to the day, everyone was speculation she would have worn Queen Mary's fringe tiara like her grandmother in law and aunt in law did for their royal weddings, alas it wasn't to be.  In fact, I seem to recall everyone scrambling to find out what the tiara was called. 

I put two views of my interpretation of the tiara on this post. One with the veil and one without veil.  It took me two tries to get this tiara right and I hope I did it justice.

You can find a detailed history here or a brief history here. 

Wedding Wednesday: Catherine's Wedding Dress

So today's post is about the wedding dress Catherine Middleton wore for the wedding.  This was the first outfit I officially made.  I used the pattern from Knit Your Own Royal Wedding for the body and just created my own pattern for the sleeves.

The veil is made from white embroidery floss and knitted straight.

Catherine Middleton, who after the wedding became the Princess William, Duchess of Cambridge (because she wasn't created a princess in her own right) is wearing a tiara.

Here is a photo of the original to compare the two.  :)

Yarns: Caron Soft White and White Embroidery floss

Catherine Duchess of Cambridge

This week, my the first doll I created Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge will make her debut on the blog.  This is the first time I knitted a doll from the Knit Your Own Royal Wedding book.  I was still trying to figure out how best to put together these dolls!

She is wearing the yellow dress from her and Prince William's Asia Visit in 2012.  The dress and shoes are hand knitted.  I looked at the patterns in the book for how many stitches I need, but I created the pattern myself.  You can find a photo of the dress here.

Yarns Used: Red Heart Lemon and Light Brown

Queen Fabiola of the Belgians

My favorite Royal Couple, now belong to history.  The couple I am talking about is late King Baudouin of Belgium and late Queen Fabiola of Belgium.  Today I am sharing one of my favorite outfits of Queen Fabiola.  In 2009, the dear lady was threatened with assassination and so on the Belgian National Day she not only showed up but she held up in an apple in the fashion of the William Tell story.  You can find a view of the photos of that incident here.

This outfit comes from that National Day.  The top and pants are machine knitted, except for the collar which I crocheted instead of knitted.  The Hat and Jacket are hand knitted.

Yarns: Red Heart White and Red Heart Lavender

Queen Alexandra Kokoshnik Tiara

I created Queen Alexandra of England's Kokoshnik Tiara out of beads.  When I create tiaras for my dolls, I try to go for the simpler ones.

I used a combination of Fishing string and thin wire for this tiara.

For more information on this tiara check out this site and here. 

Wedding Wednesday: Queen Sonja of the Norway

One day I was on the Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor looking at the royal wedding dresses the blogger had posted.  Believe me there are a lot of modern and historic wedding dresses!  However, I prefer to keep things simple when it comes to my knitting and I stumbled upon Queen Sonja of Norway's Wedding dress.  I decided to knit it and stick it on Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden.

The body of the dress is all one piece and knitted by hand.  The train and the sleeves are also hand knitted.  The train is attached at the shoulders, like the real dress.  The collar of the dress is crocheted.    The veil is knitted embroidery floss.

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft White

HGD Stephanie of Luxembourg

HGD Stephanie of Luxembourg's outfit is based on one her sister in law Princess Tessy of Luxembourg wore to the civil wedding of Prince Felix of Luxembourg and Claire Lademacher.

The dress and shoes are machine knitted.  This outfit is similar to one that Catherine wore when she was pregnant with George.

Yarns: Red Heart Light Blue and Red

Royals at the Olympics

When there's an Olympics, you can be guaranteed that the royal families of the world will come out to support their respective teams.  You can usually spot them in the stands in their team colors.

Here Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Prince Daniel of Sweden are showing their support for the Swedish Team.

The shirts are based on what Prince Daniel and his brother in law Prince Carl-Philip wore in London 2012.  Pants, Shirts, and CP Victoria's Shoes are all machine knitted.

Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver: Blue, Bright Yellow, White, Buff and Soft Navy.

Tiara Thursday: Swedish Aquamarine Kokoshnik Tiara

The tiara I put on Crown Princess Victoria is the Aquamarine Kokoshnik belonging to her Aunt P
rincess Margareta of Sweden.  I created this version out of beads.

You can find photos and the history of the original here and here.

Wedding Wednesday: Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden happens to be one of my favorite royals and one of my fashion inspirations.  I would love to raid her closet. I'll be the first to admit that if there was one wedding dress I'd love to see a knock off of it would be hers.  After I made Prince William and Duchess Catherine, I made my second favorite royal couple: Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel.  I used the pattern for Catherine for Victoria and I think I used Prince Harry or Prince Charles for Prince Daniel from the Knit Your Own Royal Wedding book.  (My favorite royal couple will be revealed in the future.)

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden married Daniel Westling on June 10, 2010 in Stockholm, Sweden.  This version of her dress comes in three pieces and I created the pattern myself and am sorry I didn't write it down.  The front and back were knitted separately and sewed together.  The train is also hand knitted and pretty fun to figure out how to make.  The shoes are hand knitted...before the days I discovered the joy of making them machine knitted.  Her veil is made from embroidery floss which is very slipper to knit with!

I created her tiara out of beads.  The tiara is owned by her aunt Princess Margareta and is called the Swedish Aquamarine Kokoshinik. Since it was the only Swedish Tiara I had done I decided to put it on Victoria.  For more information on the real aquamarine tiara click here.

To learn more about the dress check out the Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor's page here.

Yarns: Caron Simple Soft White and White Embroidery Floss

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden

One of the other royal dolls I created was Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden.  I used the Catherine Middleton pattern found in Knit Your Own Royal Wedding.  I ended up pulling her apart and adding more stuffing to her after I made her, so this is a photo pre-stuffing.  If you watched the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel were among the royal guests.

The dress is hand knitted and based on the dress she wore to Queen Margarethe II of Denmark's 70th Birthday Celebrations.  I created the pattern myself.  I used Caron Simply Soft Black and White for this outfit.

Knitting with the Royals

Hello all!

I am a royal watcher and a knitter, so what happens when my royal watching meets knitting?  An overactive imagination takes over that's what!  Inspired by Fiona Goble's Knit Your Own Royal Wedding I not only created the Prince William and Duchess Catherine dolls found in that book, I created a few more royals.

One of the royals I created was The Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie of Luxembourg.  Since she isn't straight blonde, when I crocheted her hair I included brown embroidery floss with the yarn.

The outfit I created is based on the one worn by Crown Princess Masako of Japan.  It had been worn during the welcoming ceremony of Dutch State Visit to Japan in 2014.  For more information check here: Imperial Family of Japan

The dress is knitted on my knitting machine and is all one piece.  The jacket is hand knitted and based on the jacket pattern in Fiona Goble's Knit Your Own Royal Wedding.  Since it was for a longer jacket I started on the 5th row using the remaining stitches that were listed in the pattern.  The hat comes from the same book.  The shoes are knitted on my knitting machine. She is also wearing white gloves and I used the pattern for the doll's arms Knit Your Own Royal Wedding had, but I added a 10th stitch so they could easily fit over her hands.

Yarns: Caron Simply Soft Pumpkin, the shoes Red Heart Super Saver Yarn Brown, the gloves Bernart Softee Baby White.