A few days back I dug into the archives and showed you some of my Christmas dresses for the dolls I have in my possession right now. If you missed those 3 posts, you can see Day One HERE, Day Two, HERE, and Day Three, HERE. Let me tell you, dolls have come and gone at my house like some people buy shoes, try them out, and return them. I’ve had quite a few dolls in the years since I started sewing and selling their clothes on Ebay and Etsy, back in 2006. I only have so much room so they come and go pretty frequently…just like a few days ago…. I let 5 more girls go… (well, 4 for now… Julie is still sticking around till she finds a new mommy.)
These girls are no longer with me but have at least graced my sewing room for a little while… Skateboard Riley, Snow White Riley, Nurse Riley, Tulah, An Mei, Blonde Bitty Bethany, Red headed Bitty Bethany, Wren and Song…who were from the Chrysalis Collection and two 16″ Four Seasons dolls… all sculpted by Helen Kish. Then I had 2 Katie Effanbee dolls, and tiny little Millie, by Kaye Wiggs. I also had all these American Girls, other than the ones I have now… Nellie, Samantha, Marisol, Cecile, 2 other Felicity’s, 2 other Rebeccas, 1 other Molly, 2 other #27 Truly Me dolls just like Lily, 1 other Kirsten, 1 other Josefina, 1 other Addy, 1 Lanie and 1 other Kit. (Sometimes it just takes a while to find the perfect doll that makes your heart sing.)
When I featured some Christmas dresses the other day, I didn’t show any on dolls that I had sold, but some of them were my favorites, so I decided to do a post or two on their dresses. My photography skills were pretty pathetic and some of my sewing skills could have been improved. Sometimes I almost wish I had little 7 1/2″ Riley Kish back so I could tweak her patterns… they just seem a little cumbersome and a tad too big on her to me when I see them in pictures now… I guess I’ll let you take a few peeks at my pictures and you can make up your own mind.
I’ll just call these The Ones That Got Away…
[If you click on any picture it will enlarge.]
Let’s start with my littlest girls who flew the coop… I hope they’re dressed in Christmas dresses, wherever they are…
Here is sweet Tulah in a pretty blue star dress and a gingerbread one…
Tulah’s best friend was Riley Kish, so let’s see what she got for the few Christmas’s she was at my house…
Bitty Bethany, by Helen Kish wants to show you her 2 Christmas dresses…the red sweater was an ornament, but I split the back open and bound it with some red fabric and added snaps. I think it worked pretty well for her.
I used to have a skinny little girl named Millie, by Kaye Wiggs. I think she was 10″ tall, but can’t quite remember. She was a tiny little thing… maybe about the size of a Skipper doll, but articulated. Mine had a sort of “kicky” leg so she never quite cooperated with me when we taking shots of her sitting down.
Sorry, but I’ll have to save the rest of my girls Christmas dresses for tomorrow.
My hubby wanted to get out his enormous collection of nutcrackers so we put them out on the fireplace. I’ll have to take a picture of them when it’s daylight. They aren’t really in any kind of decorative way… my hubby just wanted them all lined up so he could see them.
I also worked at the Food Pantry Operation 400 today… There were 400 needy families who were given vouchers for 50 lbs of food in a big box and if they had children they could go to the Toy Room and pick out something. I only took one picture the whole day…once when I walked past the Toy Room, before things got bustling… I snapped this… the lady in there was from the news station here in town, doing a story on the happenings…
I wasn’t going to help out this year, but Rebecca begged me… so we both were there, heading up the gift wrapping station. We got there at 12:30 and left at 6:00 as all the volunteers were all heading to the basement to have a meal that had been prepared… I just wanted to get home to my hubby… :o)
Okay, I’m off to bed now…
If you have any favorites…let’s hear about them… :o)
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Loved the wslked down memory lane:) I still hsve Riley (2 of them),Tulah, 5 Bitty Bethanys, The 14″Kish girls and Phoenix(my favorite.. love to sew for boys!) Summer Kish, & Tillie Wiggs in residence. She also had a “kicky” leg thst got resueded..
I think you DO need another Riley, if only to refine /tweak your patterns. She doesnt take up much room and Helen has retired her as of last year:)
What a neat fashion show. The outfits are just too wonderful. The detail is always so interesting and it always adds to the uniqueness of your clothes.
I remember your hubby’s nutcracker collection. It would be neat to see a picture of them when you get the right light at some point.
I seem to have a thing for reindeer and angels. I didn’t put out much in the way of decorations since we will be leaving for our 3 month hiatus soon. I am loving the snow around here and long to stay one of these winters.
Keep warm!!
What a treat for us to see, Jeanne! You seem to always have a treasure trove of doll dresses to show us, and show us you do! What do I love best? Oh gee, so hard to pick, but for some reason I love that blue and white dress with the fluffy white jacket and hat. It looks so pretty and somehow magical! I also like the little pleated skirt, green blouse and red hooked jacket in the last picture. It just looks like what a school girl would wear to me!
I remember going downtown to Famous-Barr as a little girl to see Santa and then over to the toy dept. to pick out a doll that I would like for Christmas, with my mother, so she could get an idea of what to get, I guess. The dolls were behind glass doors, all lined up so prettily—-nothing like they do it today! Well, you might know, I wanted a certain doll, who was wearing a pleated skirt and had braids, and she came with a trunk and oodles of clothes. I had no idea you had to pay for them, after all, Santa brought them, but the doll I wanted cost $75.00 at the time, and that was a fortune in 1946 or 7 ! The saleswoman kept showing me other dolls, but no, I wanted that one! Of course, I didn’t get it, but instead got a beautiful Nancy Anne bride doll, which I loved just the same. But I never forgot that doll with braids and pleated skirt, so that’s one of the reasons I got my first AG doll, Molly, although she didn’t have a pleated skirt, it was close enough. Now I’m looking for a pleated skirt!
So nice to have your church give food and toys to needy families.. We do the same thing, but a bit differently, with a food drive and Giving Trees. It all goes for a good cause and helps us think of others at this time of the year, which we should all do.
Jeanne, I forgot to say that I have one of those sweater ornaments that came on a little hanger, and when decorating the tree yesterday, I thought I would try it on my Betsy, and it fits!! So she has it on now. It is really cute but mine opens in the front and has fur collar, cuffs and fur on the bottom. I need a red skirt now!!
I have so many dolls – I can’t ‘display’ them all at once – so, I have to ‘rotate’ them. The Chrysalis/Kish kids have been tucked away far too long – the Bleuette/Rosette’s have been out – along with the AG girls. Maybe after the new year, I’ll do some ‘swapping’ so I can spoil the Kish kids for a while…. My vintage style cloth dolls are always out, too. My love affair with dolls began with cloth dolls – and making cloth dolls. I just ‘branched’ out from there. I *do* have a new dolly coming this week… Maudlynne Macabre/Tonner is on her way to keep company with my Flexipose/Agnes Dreary and Tonner/Friday (Patsy) dolls – that are also on the shelf all the time. As you can tell… I have a WIDE interest in the types of dolls I ‘adopt’. 🙂
Hoping hubby is doing well…and that you both have a pleasant holiday season!
The toy room looked very well stocked.. So nice to see.
I have Riley, Tulah, and Avery, as well as Bethany, but I don’t do much with them. No extra clothes.
Also have my only Little Darling, A Girl for All Time Amelia, Hearts for Hearts Shola, Tonner Patience, Ellowyne, a large group of Tonner 10ers, Tonner Amelia Thimble, Izzy, and Hamish, Betsy McCall and her group as well as my latest Tonner club doll Jane, and a big group of American Girls. Then my “old” dolls from the 50’s.
Looking forward to seeing the nutcrackers. We recently gave our grandson 6, his mothers collection of them. He loved them.
Gadzooks, I forgot little Ten Ping, Yu Ping, and Jar Lu, Ruby Red Galleria, and Linda Macario, Penny. They are usually so quiet, but not when I forgot to include them. 🙂
Another wonderful show! But I’m really bummed that I didn’t think of cutting a sweater down the back and inserting a closure. I’ve seen several as ornaments that would have done nicely even for the size of American Girl dolls, let along Little Darlings. I simply can’t believe how many beautiful, detailed doll dresses you’ve made. Looking forward to seeing the nutcrackers again.
Shopping today. There’s a local store called Grand Rabbits — all kinds of toys. It’s fine for me to send some things from Amazon, but sometimes I want to pick the toy and wrap it myself and make it personal.
I love the sound of Mary’s dolls. I may not want Agnes Dreary, but I love seeing her and related dolls. The possibilities are endless. Same for stuffed animals — today I saw something called a red panda, which looks very un-panda like.
And speaking of variety — what fun to see these lovely dolls again. I always liked the charming fearless Riley and I love Millie’s coat and pleated skirt.
Like Linda, I wanted a doll with a huge wardrobe. My neighbor lady had three dolls in graduated sizes and amazing matching wardrobes for them. They were a gift when she was in college, and everyone on her dorm floor used to visit them. Perhaps it’s her influence, or maybe my childhood wish, or probably both, but my dolls have huge (way too big) wardrobes.
Christmas is the time for sharing all these pictures. Many thanks for memories old and new.