When Rachel Field purchased Hitty in “The Antique Shop” in New York City, the doll was wearing a simple tan cotton dress printed with tiny brown sprigs. The dress is sometimes called the Daguerreotype Dress, because Hitty wore it for her Daguerreotype photo (see Hitty’s Daguerreotype Photo). If you want to make your own reproduction of the dress, click on the link below. Special thanks to my pattern testers, Alice Swann and Martha Allen.
Click here to download the dress pattern and tutorial!
SEWING DIAGRAMS
The Daguerreotype Dress pattern combines hand and machine sewing techniques. Below are some diagrams which show the hand-sewing stitches used.
The tutorial also uses snaps. If you haven’t sewn on snaps before, check out the step by step instructions for Olivia’s Holiday Outfit.
THE REAL DAGUERREOTYPE DRESS
We know that Dorothy P. Lathrop made Hitty a new dress, which I have already mentioned in the blog post about “Hitty’s Floral Dress.”
“Hitty has a new dress now, of which she was in great need, for in the stress of posing, her original brown sprigged calico — the one in which her daguerreotype was taken — was splitting in several new places, and to have her go into camphor solely to preserve her dress would be needless cruelty.”
In 1997 the Stockbridge Library sent Hitty’s Daguerreotype Dress to the Textile Conservation Center (TCC) at the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. The conservators cleaned the dress and repaired and stabilized its many tears and splits. Previous patches made of a lightweight silk backing were left in place as part of the object’s history. The restored dress is now on display with Hitty at the Stockbridge Library.
In this photo you can see a closeup of Rachel Field holding Hitty. Rachel traveled with Hitty in an airplane to California to accept the Newbery Medal in June 1930. I cropped and colorized the original black and white photo from the ALA Archives. This is one of the best images of Hitty wearing the Daguerreotype Dress.
From the American Library Association Archives: #ALA0004584.
HITTY COUTURE DRESS
Because the Daguerreotype Dress was too fragile for her to wear after restoration, Hitty received a replacement dress. Victoria Applegate and Martha Cramer made and sold garments for Hitty dolls using the name “Hitty Couture.” The two friends donated a reproduction Daguerreotype Dress for Hitty, which she has worn since 2004.
DAGUERREOTYPE DRESS STRUCTURE
During the Civil War era, many little girls dressed their own dolls. Some had sewing machines, but most sewed clothing by hand using simple methods taught to them by their mothers. It is entirely possible that one of those unknown little girls made Hitty’s dress.
The structure of the original daguerreotype dress is a simple tube dress with rectangular sleeves. The sleeves are inserted into slits in the sides of the dress. Then the top edge is gathered. You can read an excellent tutorial about how to make “Simple Tube Dresses for Dolls” on Edyth O’Neill’s blog, My Red Cape.
I modified the structure a bit for my version of the dress. Since inserting the sleeves by hand can be tedious, I rounded the armhole area so I could sew the sleeves using a machine. Of course, if you choose to, you can sew the dress entirely by hand.
APPROPRIATE FABRICS
For the reproduction, I used my Daguerreotype Dress fabric printed on Cotton Poplin from my Spoonflower store, but, you can use any lightweight cotton fabric. Tiny prints work well for the Daguerreotype Dress.
A good place to find appropriate fabric for historic fashions is an online store called Reproduction Fabrics. They offer new versions of antique prints on cotton fabric, sorted by era. The photo below shows Hitty Sis wearing a dress made with fabric I bought from Reproduction Fabrics a few years ago. On the right is my Michael Langton Perfume Hitty wearing the Daguerreotype Dress fabric from Spoonflower.
Here is a photo of a dress made by Martha Allen. The delicate blue and white print looks very becoming on her Hitty.
Alice Swann created two dresses. On the left is Hitty Rosemary, carved by Alice, and on the right is a Michael Langton Hitty named Hazel Mae.
The Dageuerreotype Dress looks really cute with Hitty’s Sunbonnet Pattern.
I hope you will try making the Daguerreotype Dress for your own dolls. It’s a good pattern for a beginner to try and doesn’t take long to make.
Sources:
“In the American Tradition,” The Three Owls Third Book: Contemporary Criticism Of Children’s Books. 1927–1930, p. 235-236. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.166394/page/n257/mode/2up. Accessed June 2025.
“Update on the ORIGINAL Hitty.” Friends of Hitty Newsletter, Spring 1998, Volume IV, Issue One, p. 6.
“Update on the ORIGINAL Hitty.” Friends of Hitty Newsletter, Summer 1998, Volume IV, Issue Two, p. 4-6.
