Anyway, Estella's style is actually fairly frustrating to try and find for a doll. All the Victorian dresses are really lolita dresses. Since I've had her, she's been wearing a handmade bustled ballgown, which is gorgeous but a) the string used to cinch the bodice is just thread and snapped after use so I need to find and thread through a better, stronger replacement, b) the bustle is twice as big as she is so storing her was a hassle, c) her large bust was popping out like mad, and finally d) it was not good enough for a day-to-day dress.
This dress is definitely from a much wider doll, but it was perfect for the period I wanted her dressed in and eyeballing it, it seemed right enough. To make it fit a bit better I bustled it myself. It still needs some crinoline or something underneath it, but I think it works a lot better than any of the lolita dresses out there.
My only problem is the color, but it's even harder to find dark or muted color dresses for dolls - the character's supposed to be dressed for mourning, though in her story the time for full mourning has passed so I'm thinking of just adding some jet jewelry to her to help.
Here's the "new" dress - also a "new" wig; this one fits the description of Estella's hair that I first wrote. I've actually had my eye on this wig long before I had a doll for Estella, I just never wanted to spend so much on it, but someone had it secondhand, so I got it from them the other day!
You can sort of see the gather of the bustle in this.
