children, who were being “taught to
knit socks and stockings, and work in
rabbits’ hair - a very fair imitation of
lambs’ wool...” Dolls’ dresses may well
have been amongst the fancier types of
knitting the children practised.
It was at the Home Arts Exhibition in
London that Elizabeth’s work caught the
eye of Princess Alexandra (1844-1925),
who requested that Elizabeth came down
to the royal estate at Sandringham in
Norfolk to teach her to spin. Alexandra
went on to start her own Spinning School
on the estate, where girls learned to spin
wool from the Sandringham estate’s
sheep. In gratitude, the Princess knitted
this doll’s dress and presented the doll
and dress to Elizabeth. We can only
imagine how much Elizabeth must have
treasured it, on her farm at Langdale.Natural silk
The doll’s bonnet and dress were knitted
in undyed silk – now browned with age,
but within its folds it is possible to see its
original, cream colour. The lacy knitting
echoes the woven, cut-thread and
embroidered lace being produced in
Elterwater, by the late 1880s and on until
the First World War, when the industry
finally died.
Elizabeth Pepper often embroidered
with silk thread that she had dyed herself
in beautiful, natural colours. The doll’s
dress is knitted from similar silk. It’s
possible that Alexandra used commercial
silk thread, or even spun the silk herself.
I wasn’t able to get the doll out of the
display cabinet, and it would have to be
examined more closely to determine
whether it was knitted using handspun
or commercial silk.
Dolls’ dress patterns were featured
in magazines such as Weldon’s Ladies’
Journal, as well as patterns for knitted
lace edgings. Yet the vast majority ofpatterns in periodicals in the mid to late
19th century were for sewn dolls’
clothes, not knitted ones. This dress may
have been knitted using a commercially
available pattern, or knitted using a
commercial lace edging and an
improvised bodice/sleeve. Alexandra
would have been an able knitter.Delicate stitches
Samples of lace knitting and handwritten
patterns made by the women of the
Wordsworth family are in the collection
at the Wordsworth Trust, down the road,
in Grasmere. Lace edgings were collected
and documented by Victorian and
Edwardian knitters.
The doll’s dress could also have been
made from memory, assuming that
knitting dolls’ dresses was something
many women learned in childhood and
Alexandra was a devoted and kind
mother and grandmother - who had
possibly knitted such little gifts for her
own family.
The inclusion of a bonnet, however,
suggests to me this is likely to be an outfit
from a commercial knitting pattern. The
lace edging is a shallow pattern, knitted
sideways, with the rest of the skirt
comprised of bands of stocking and
garter stitch, alternating. The dress
would be decreased at the waist, with
eyelets for the waistband, followed by the
bodice which is also knitted sideways
and maybe of a piece with the skirt. The
sleeves are knitted more conventionally,
down from the armscye. The doll herself
was a high-quality wax and composition
doll. She is around six inches tall, which
suggests the dress was possibly knitted
on needles sized around 1mm.
Alexandra was born in Copenhagen,
Denmark and was married to Queen
Victoria’s son - who was to become
Edward VII - in 1863. She was anaffectionate woman and could be both
extravagant and sensible (she spent
wildly on designer clothing, yet had her
stockings darned).“...Spinning is a favourite occupation
with the Queen. Her own wheel,
decorated with the Danish colours,
stands in the Spinning School at
Sandringham, a room which is part of
the Technical Schools founded by the
Queen Alexandra for the training of
village girls. Wool from the sheep on the
estate is spun into yarn and made up
into beautiful woollen goods...”
[ESSEX COUNTY CHRONICLE, JUNE 27, 1902].Girls in the Queen’s Spinning School
learned to spin, weave, knit and sew.
All of this textile activity was the result
of the Queen meeting with Elizabeth
Pepper, the Langdale Linen Industry
manager.- The Ruskin Museum:
http://www.ruskinmuseum.com - Penelope’s blog:
AB http://www.theknittinggenie.com
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1 The intricate dress
was knitted in silk by
the then Princess of
Wales 2 The doll’s
owner was a hand
spinner working for
the Langdale Linen
Industry, who taught
the princess to spin
3 Alexandra was a
devoted mother, and
may have knitted
doll’s clothes for
her own children
1 23
Knitting history
The Knitter Issue 149