Tonight’s the big night when I find out who wins Molly’s Valentine dress. I told her to change into something warmer because cold, cold weather was heading our way. She didn’t say a word about taking off the dress, which gave me a great excuse to get it packed up in the box for the winner. We’ll discuss where it went in a little bit.
If you want to bid on her dress, or just see what happens at the end of the auction, you can click on the picture at the right side bar or you can click HERE.
I forgot to show you yesterday, but here is Isabelle’s dress BEFORE I fixed the floss running through the beading to be a mirror image on top and bottom…
…and here is the AFTER with the floss matching on both rows…
Much better, don’t you think?
As we say goodbye to Molly in this pink blush dress, I thought I’d share another Valentine dress with you that I made for Molly back in 2013. It’s not your typical pink or red dress, but I loved it… So did Molly. I had fun with it because I copied the idea from an old 1946 Sears catalog. Here’s the picture I got my inspiration from.
Molly wanted to make a box for school to put all her Valentine cards in, so we had a fun time with scissors and glue and construction paper and stickers! I hope you’ll enjoy seeing this dress again.
This was a dress for my “first” Molly doll…
Molly’s box was filled with 23 Valentine cards that year!
Hope you enjoyed seeing this again… or maybe for the first time! :o)
See you tomorrow, or maybe tonight!
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh, yes, the trim on Isabelle’s dress looks much better now that the floss is fixed. It was pretty before, but now it’s perfect!
Oh I remember that dress, and the catalog picture, too! Such fun to see it come to life, and to see the Valentine box Molly made for school. Gives us some ideas for things we could do for our own dollies; even those who might not be inclined to make a garment could make a Valentine box, and maybe a few Valentines, too!
Thanks Charlotte,
I’m glad you could tell a difference in the looks of the front of Isabelle’s dress. I thought it was MUCH better… not so jumbled up looking.
I LOVE to copy pictures from catalogs… I should do one real soon again!
Thanks Charlotte,
Blessings, Jeanne
I do remember this dress vaguely and it is just so cute and boy, I can’t get over that price in the catalog! And that’s not a doll dress price, either! We certainly have come a long way in that regard!
Molly’s dress is just adorable, Jeanne, and whoever bought it certainly has a gem! While it isn’t too “valentiney” looking, if there is such a word, it can be used for other occasions too, just like in real life. What I mean is, we never has material made just for one holiday, with hearts, shamrocks, etc. when I was small. I guess the color of the dress made it look like it was made for the holidays. In 1946 I would have been 4, but the styles didn’t change much for the next 10 years or so. We wore dresses mostly, with an occasional skirt and blouse, so we had a lot of dresses! I love the red ribbon trim, which certainly gave it a Valentine vibe!
Oh course, the decorated box for our valentines always used the new Reynolds wrap one way or another! I even made a fairy wand with it for one Halloween! We also made our boxes at home, and the main problem was getting them to school looking like they did at home! Something always fell off or got messed up! I never used lace like Molly’s pretty box, but then I wasn’t Jeanne Marie either!
And a big “thank you” to you lovely ladies who commented on my pictures yesterday!
HI Linda,
I know… can you believe $1.50 for a little girls dress? It seems unreal that they could be that low… but I guess they were.
We wore lots of dresses too in the late 50’s and early 60’s. After school we always put on play clothes.
What a fun idea to make a fairy wand out of Reynolds wrap… I bet you LOVED it! I remember making our boxes at home too and transporting them to school too. Oh, weren’t those the days, Linda?
Thank you again for sharing those pictures yesterday. We all loved them…
Blessings, Jeanne
The fabric on old Molly’s dress is lovely. Love the gray, of which you don’t see enough in my opinion.
I’m still working on finding shoes for Natterer Conrad. He’s 19″ so I tried some shoes for the Sasha 16″ group and they were close, but just a tad snug and wouldn’t go on. Were Sasha’s made in 18″? Maybe those would fit. Shoes are such a dilemma.
Keep thinking of how cold outside and maybe inside too it is for so many of your readers. And you too Jeanne. Hope everyone keeps occupied and warm during the current icy times.
Joy, have you tried Jujus Dolly Mall? I think she has an ebay store. I usually just do a search for Jujus Dolly Mall and get to it that way. She helped me find shoes for my two “rescue” dolls whose feet are quite small. One is 16″ and ended up wearing a 10″ Ann Estelle shoe and my 12″ doll ended up wearing the same size as my 8″ Ginny doll. She is very helpful in fitting difficult dolly feet.
Thanks. I think I am supporting JuJus Dolly Mall entirely. I do buy from there often. I can certainly ask her though. 🙂
Forgot to mention the 1946 dresses. Like Barbara, those are styles like I wore in the 50’s too. Except, mine were just below the knee and were let down as I grew during the year. I had to wear the same dress two days in a row. I presume to save on extra laundry and ironing. Always changed into play clothes after getting home too. I never had those cute shoes in the picture either. Not even the two tone oxfords on the left. Mine were plain white and well ugly in my opinion. 🙂
HI Joy, I don’t remember if I have any more of that gray fabric or not.. I loved it when I first got it.
It seems like I remember having big hems (5-6″) in our dresses too and momma letting them down. I’m sorry you had ugly shoes Joy! :o(((
Blessings, Jeanne
Molly’s “un” Valentine’s dress is so pretty. I love the color and the print. Oh I remember making Valentine’s Card Boxes in school. And waiting in anticipation of seeing how many cards I’d receive. Not sure if children do that anymore in school as they have done away with so many activities due to allergies and nationality of students which I think is a shame.
I think I will make a Valentine’s box for my girls even though they don’t have outfits yet. It will be great fun. I have the perfect box.
*Jeanne….want you to know that I didn’t leave you or stop following you. I was hospitalized for over a month and just returned home a week ago. But I did check your post but just didn’t have the energy to comment. I am back now and can’t wait to see what you have in store for the new year.
HI Sandra,
Oh I like that… Molly’s “Un”-Valentine dress! I think anyone on here who read about Molly making her Valentine box remembers making one themselves! Oh, how I loved doing it!
If you DO make a Valentine box for your girls, make sure you send me a picture so we can share it! Okay?
I’m sorry you have been in the hospital recently… I hope you get well soon and can return to visiting here with us and your dolls.
Thanks Sandra,
Blessings, Jeanne
I second Joy on gray being a color I’d like to see more of. Brown and green are also pretty underused, but St. Patrick’s Day is coming up so we may see more green.
But Valentine’s Day isn’t here yet, and what a good idea to make a Valentine’s Day box in silver. I don’t think we ever did. Getting valentines was ok, but the fun was in making the box — making something as beautiful as we possibly could without spending much money.
It looks like some people are having fun quick-freezing bubbles and buckets of water. I’m afraid this terribly cold weather will get old and dangerous fast. I hope all of you who are affected by the extreme cold will manage to stay warm and safe with lots to read and some nice hot food to make and eat.
HI Marilyn,
I think I may have only done 2 dresses in gray… I might have to double check…
I remember we used to go home and “play” with our Valentine’s… standing them up beside our closet door and making little scenes with them. I LOVED making the boxes too… there could NEVER be enough stuff glued on them… the more the better. I don’t think they do that anymore…and all the cards are so commercialized… I love to google Valentine cards and see the old ones. Talk about taking a trip down memory lane…
We are cold here tonight.. .Today’s high was 12 degrees and the wind chill was -11 when I got up this morning. Right now it’s 9 degrees with a wind chill factor of 1, and it’s snowing. It’s supposed to get up to 30 tomorrow and maybe 60 by Sunday!
We are staying warm and eating hot food! YAY! You stay safe too.
Blessings, Jeanne
Molly’s “un” Valentine (thanks Sandra) dress is lovely. I like using unexpected colored fabric when I sew. What a great use of trim.
I haven’t done a Valentine box in years but in the 1970s when the economy was not going well and people in my office wanted to send Christmas cards to everyone but couldn’t afford the postage, I took boxes the reams of paper came in and covered a couple of them and then I played postmistress every day. It was actually quite a lot of fun. I remember (in the good old days) when if you didn’t seal a Christmas card envelope it went for a cheaper rate. My parents did this. Then, as usual, a good and economically helpful thing was done away with.
I was born in 1946 and it was interesting seeing that the dresses shown in the catalog were actually like the ones I wore to school in the 1950s – when girls only wore dresses or skirts and blouses to school. And I don’t think the prices were much more. I remember when I was in fourth or fifth grade one of my friends came to the bus stop on the first day of school saying that her family went back-to-school shopping and bought several dresses for $1.00 each. Mothers were not working then and living on one paycheck was what people did, so they saved where they could.
I really empathize with those who are experiencing the horribly cold weather. Here it’s in the low 30s at night and little north of us in the high 20s, but when the sun comes out the days are cool and pleasant. We missed the very cold because the jet stream moved up. We are not prepared here for that kind of weather because our older homes (like mine) are not insulated well and the pipes often break. If the cold goes further south it hurts the fruit crops.
HI Barbara,
I like using “unexpected” fabrics too… not too many novelty prints in my stash, but I’ve made a few.
I LOVE looking at my old catalogs and magazines and seeing what things were popular, what things cost, and what they were made out of. It’s also fun to see the names they gave them in the catalogs… “Cheerful Cherries” “Gay Gingham” etc.
We were in the deep freeze yesterday and today but tomorrow it’s supposed to break 30 degrees but have snow in the afternoon. It’s bitterly cold here tonight… but I guess I should be very thankful we don’t live in Michigan or Minnesota.
Thanks Barbara,
Blessings, Jeanne
Dear Jeanne, I am stuck on the Sears catalogue. Wow! I thought the price was for a pattern. I had no idea it was for an actual dress. I had to do a Google search to see what folks made in that time period. Average folks made between $7,000 and $18,000 a year in 1947 (I couldn’t find 1946).
I am sending warm dolly hugs to everyone.
HI Dorothy,
Everyone should have one of these old timey catalogs to just thumb through and see the things and the prices in it. In some cases you can hardly believe the prices. You could even buy a HOUSE in one of the catalogs. :o)
I’ll take those warm dolly hugs this evening. It’s pretty chilly here!
Thanks Dorothy,
Blessings, Jeanne