I’m sorry I didn’t make it to the comments yesterday…one of those days… Ali asked about my life… well, right now, it’s just been about keeping things steady at home… my hubby has been doing some things to help the church with the new students coming in for the Fall semester. I’m trying to be there for him when he needs me.
My sisters are coming this Thursday, Friday and Saturday for a short visit. I can’t wait, but some house cleaning needed to be done.
I’m going to have a couple of Sew-Along’s soon but still am working out the details on them…
I’m glad you enjoyed the pictures yesterday of the school dresses. But first I wanted to thank Linda again for that wonderful picture of Sister Mary Ruth! I think she was a big hit with everyone! Aren’t Linda’s props great?
Dorothy, I had to laugh at your idea of a book for the dolls to look at to see what was fashionable to wear to school… :o)
Kathie, you asked if I knew a Pam Johnson who used to sew for Riley? I may remember her things but the name doesn’t ring a bell to me. But I looked at Riley things on Ebay a LOT before I bought her, wondering if I could make things for her that would sell…
My sister-in-law, Gloria, is coming for a visit on the 28th and 29th. I can’t wait to see her either! :o)
Welcome back, Class! I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s fashions and hope you are ready for some more today… When I get these dresses all in one post, it makes me realize just HOW MANY dresses I have made over the years… I have a paper with the total on it up to a certain date… I should add on the new ones and see where my total stands now! :o)
Okay, buckle your seatbelts, here we go again…
First up is 10″ Patsy Tonner and 10″ Elin Iplehouse sharing a pretty red plaid dress. School’s in session!
I think you just saw this picture of Nyssa a short time ago, but I had to share a few more pictures. I was hoping to find a Nyssa doll at the time. She was a limited edition of only 87 dolls (I think) and I had missed the deadline to preorder her. A dear friend out in CA loaned me HER tan Nyssa until I could find one. I was able to keep her doll for about a month and draft some patterns for her before I eventually got my very own Nyssa. I also found a picture of this set on my 16″ Kish Chrysalis Fall doll…
This green pleated school dress was actually the very first pattern I drafted for my friend’s Nyssa doll.
This navy blue and red buttons dress was the very first thing I made for my Molly… followed shortly by the suit from the same fabric.
This was a dress I copied from a 1946 Sears Catalog…it was called Cheerful Checkmate in the catalog, so I used that same name! :o)
Here is Molly in her dress for the school Spelling Bee! Anyone remember the word she was having trouble remembering how to spell? I do!
This is another dress I copied from my catalog… I love Kelly green and blue together!
I don’t really remember making any dresses for Kirsten that were specifically for school, but maybe this one might work. Maybe she was trying to butter up her teacher by bringing her LOTS of apples at the start of the school year! :o)
Okay, CLASS is dismissed for the second day… you’ll have to come back tomorrow to see some more…
Blessings, Jeanne
I have loved looking at all the back to school fashions and reading all the comments but it does show how VERY different things are over here in the UK.
For example all schools, except the private ones, broke up for the summer between the 19th and the 24th of July this year and we go back between the 2nd and 4th of September. However we do have more breaks throughout the year 1 week in October 2 weeks at Christmas 1 week in February 2 weeks at Easter and 1 week in May/June. Also the legal paid holiday entitlement for workers is 5 weeks although you can’t usually take it all in one go.
Back to school outfits don’t exist as such as probably 95% of all schools have a uniform. My grand daughters junior school uniform is a black or grey skirt or trousers or jumper with a white polo shirt and a navy sweater or cardigan with the school name and logo embroidered on it. Shoes have to be black Mary Jane style or lace ups with white socks or black or grey tights. In the summer blue checked dresses with the school cardigan. The senior school where I work has a similar uniform except the first 3 years students wear green sweaters and the last 2 years they wear black also with the school logo. The senior school my grand daughter will be going to wear white shirts with clip on ties and blazers with the school logo.
It probably sounds very odd to you but it does keep the costs down. The supermarkets sell 2 white polo shirts for between £2-£4 and skirts, trousers etc for about£3- £4 each and the school sweaters are about £9 and because everyone is wearing similar there is very little to distinguish those who have money and those who don’t.
If schools want to raise money, either for their chosen charity or a specific project, they will have a mufti day where students can wear their own clothes for a donation usually of £1. There are 1500 students in the school where I work so a couple of mufti days a year is a good boost for this years charity which is the local hospice.
I hope I haven’t bored you too much with all this but I love to learn how other countries do things.
Lorna in the UK
Lorna, I really love your post. It is fun to see how things are in other countries. Here we do have some schools, usually elementary and/or middle school, that wear “standardized dress”. Often it is khaki, navy or black pants or skirts with polo shirts of varying, but designated, colors. I live in Sealy, Texas (near Houston). Our elementary and high school students wear their own clothes but middle schoolers have standardized dress. I think the idea of a mufti day for fund raising is a great idea. Here we would have to do something like a crazy sock day or silly pajamas day. They actually do both sometimes but not for the purpose of fund raising. Re the school calendar, a few years ago one of the school districts in the Houston area tried for year around school, similar to your school calendar. Problem was it wasn’t universal. The high schools couldn’t do it because of the sports calendar that is statewide, and there was a difference in scheduling between elementary and middle school. I had a friend who had children on all three levels, they couldn’t find a time when all three were off together to go on holiday. After a few years (very few) the district gave up and went back to consecutive nine months with time off for Christmas, Easter, Spring Break, local county fairs and the usual three-month summer break.
HI Lorna,
It sounds like the schools in your area are similar to the way they are in Colombia, South America. Alba told me school is pretty much a year round event but they do get off for several weeks throughout the year. And they have school uniforms there too… just like at your schools.
You didn’t bore us at all…it’s fun to learn about different places around the world. Thanks for sharing!
Blessings, Jeanne
Lots of cute back-to-school dresses again, Jeanne, but of course my favorite is Molly’s “Cheerful Checkmate”, which reminds me of dresses I wore (or saw worn) when I was in elementary school (1952-58). I love her suit directly above that one, too.
Lorna, it was interesting to read about the uniforms over in the UK! Here in the US (Seattle area) I know the parochial schools have uniforms (plaid jumpers or skirts/white blouses for the girls, dark pants/white shirts for the boys, I think), and some public schools are now going to uniforms, but when I was in school, the closest thing we had to uniforms was when I was in 9th grade, we had just moved to Seattle, and the junior high school I attended had “uniform day” on Thursdays–a navy pleated skirt and white blouse for the girls, navy slacks/white shirt for boys–and it was optional, but a lot of us did do that. It was nice not to have to think about what to wear one day a week!
Busy times, so must dash. Tuesday is entry day for baked goods (4H), and I’ll be out at the fairgrounds from 12:30 to at least 8 p.m.!
Hi Charlotte,
That Cheerful Checkmate dress just may have been my very first Copy Cat Creation when I started making doll outfits. I used to copy things for myself all the time when I was younger.
Have fun with your 4H judging… you’ll be tired but I hope you enjoy yourself.
Blessings, Jeanne
First of all, I would like to thank all you lovely ladies, and that includes you, Jeanne, for the wonderful compliments on my dolls in their back to school pictures. It’s fun to do, and means a lot when you get compliments from people who appreciate dolls the way you ladies do, so thank you very much!
Oh, goodness, Molly sure did get a lot of back to school dresses! I love her in red, white and blue especially, in plaids, in pleats, well, in just about everything you have made for her! It’s amazing how many different dress patterns there are from the 40’s!
Lorna, how interesting to read about schools in the UK! I wonder how parents deal with all those odd days the children are off when they work. I’m sure they have it all figured out, but it would certainly take some planning!
Oh, uniforms! Well, I have taught in both Catholic and public schools, and I will say, yes, having all the children wear the same uniform makes things easier and keeps everyone o the same level clothes wise. I much prefer looking out at a classroom with the children dressed neatly alike, rather than some of the outfits you find when uniforms are not the norm!
Did you say you buy clothes at supermarkets? Here, a supermarket is a grocery store!
HI Linda,
It must be rewarding to put together your vignettes and then have ladies tell you they like it. Yesterday Sister Mary Ruth and your other girls were seen by 205 viewers worldwide. I hope everyone had fun looking at them… I know they did! :o)
Yes, Molly and I had quite an ongoing time of modeling and picture taking back a few years ago. I bought 2 1944-46 Sears catalogs and a few others from the 40’s so I had LOTS of ideas to copy and really enjoyed it.
Thanks Linda,
Blessings, Jeanne
I feel so honored to be mentioned in your blog and I am so excited about coming to see you. You are one amazing woman!! The dresses are just beautiful and each so unique. God has blessed you with so many awesome talents. ❤️❤️ See you soon.
HI Gloria,
We’re so glad you are coming and I hope you have fun at our house to kick off the rest of your trip… you’ll do just fine by yourself!
Can’t wait to see you next week!
Love you bunches!
~ Jeanne
Dear Jeanne, I love the outfits. My favorite two are Nyssa’s drop waist green dress and Molly’s spelling bee dress. What was the word she was trying to spell? Thank goodness for spell check today (laugh)!
I love Lorna’s comments about uniforms. I like to see children dressed nicely for school. We always had to dress nicely. Girls did not wear pants to school. Of course, that was a gazillion years ago (chuckle).
HI Dorothy,
Thanks for the compliments on Nyssa’s green drop waist dress. I need to see if I can figure out which pattern I may have used for that one… or rather which “scraps” of a pattern I used. Sometimes when I make up something new, I just wing it and don’t really have a pattern… just cut a strip of fabric and pleat it and sew it on… That’s probably the case for this one, but I may have saved the bodice and sleeve part. I hope so, because it was one of my favorite dress for Nyssa. I thought it was particularly flattering on her.
Molly’s “stumper” word was “Celebration…” She kept spelling it with an “a” instead of an “e” … (Cel “a” bration) But she finally mastered it and got an A+ on the test. :o)
Gazillion of years ago… my foot! :o) You’re young… I know you are! :o)
Blessings, Jeanne
Thanks Lorna for sharing the UK school information. As a retired public school elementary teacher, I enjoyed seeing the variety of outfits my students liked to wear. I’m sure some HS teachers do not. But, we were a small school, so we always had an assembly early on in the new year in which we referred to a semi dress code. Shorts as long as your fingertips when standing and sandals with an ankle strap for safety. I think many would have shown up in flip flops on P.E. day if we had not done that. The students were great about it, but some parents clueless. We also had school mascot t-shirts and sweatshirts available if students wanted to purchase but not required. Just for school spirit.
Your special project idea sounds wonderful. However, in our schools most special projects are those run by the parent group to raise money for things like play structures, field trips, class parties, or donating money to the classes to buy paper and pencils etc. Some older students occasionally had class projects to donate funds to things like the Humane Society (pets) etc. Having students pay/donate to a project to be able to wear their outfit of choice would only work here if all students whether they paid or not be allowed to participate. We also had fun special days like crazy hair day and pajama day. Those were always fun. Lots of great memories.
I agree with Linda about the days off for students. Around here, it is a major problem for working parents ( most all) to find child care on school holidays. I see many grandparents called into duty on those vacation days now. Those grandparents that aren’t also working that is. 🙂
Glad to hear your sisters are coming. I’m sure your mom will enjoy seeing them.
HI Joy,
I never went to a school where uniforms were required either, so I really don’t know how I feel about it. I do understand about it not making the kids who couldn’t afford the expensive brands feel just like anyone else though.
We had some of those crazy days too.. pajama day, Storybook Literature day…dress up as your favorite character from Literature books.
I am in “Crisis Cleaning 101” on my house today… I’ve been too busy on other things and let a few things slide, but I’m getting there… bit by bit, dust rag by dust rag, and garbage bag by garbage bag… My hubby made a check list this morning and what needed to be done… I have more checks than he does! :o)
Thanks Joy,
Blessings, Jeanne
Please, please, please don’t make me choose the most wonderful outfit today. I wouldn’t know where to begin. But I do love Nyssa’s green, dropped-waist, pleated skirt dress. I don’t have a Nyssa but the way they look in clothes is awesome. And they pose so wonderfully. I remember when my daughter was four we were out shopping. I tried a darling dropped-waist dress on her. She looked precious. Finances were tight at the time so her dad told her she already had a lot of pretty dresses and she didn’t need another one. Her reply: But I don’t have this one. I must confess that I still feel sad I let that dress get away.
If today’s fashion show were in a back-to-school catalog, I’m sure my girls would want each and every one. Well there are a lot of them to dress. But the cost… A couple small packages came in the mail yesterday. Back-to-school shoes for Betsy and Sophie. Betsy had to have navy t-straps to go with her navy skirt and vest. Sophie wanted brown because she didn’t have that color. Before I go to bed I always check the blog to see if there are any new comments or replies. When the packages arrived hubby said now he knows why I’m on the computer late at night. It’s because the girls are doing online shopping during the day.
I know what Joy means by saying grandparents are called into duty during school holidays. My life has been on hold all of August. My grandkids’ school district had a wonderful summer day camp during June and July. The cost was a whole lot better than daycare. But camp was over the end of July so teachers could prepare for the new school year. Most of the schools went back around 8/15 but my grandkids not until the end of August. My daughter-in-law can’t take the children with her to work. She is a grocery shopper and they are not allowed to bring their children, so sometimes my son takes them to work with him. But when he’s out here working with his dad, he brings the kids and we play games, do projects, get snow cones, go to the pool and whatever else I can think of to keep them from vegging on TV or glued to electronic devices (which their parents don’t let them bring unless they are here for several days). Problem is, I never know from one day to the next whether they will be here or not, so I can’t make plans. Some days they are great at finding things to do on their own and some days they can’t make a move without my help (sometimes that’s just learning a new game). The real problem is I’m a whole lot older than I was when I was raising my children (Charlotte and I were in elementary the same years), and I wear out about mid-day. They are still going full throttle and they haven’t a clue why Nanna is sending them off to play games on their own. Right now they are totally restless in anticipation of the new school year and seem to be more needy than usual. I started a comment on the blog yesterday morning and never finished it up until after 5 p.m. when they left. Today I’m off. I plan to get a lot of sewing done. Have no idea about tomorrow.
Considering uniforms, I was just thinking about some of the private schools in Houston. They don’t even wear uniforms. They are very pricey schools and it’s all about who can afford the finest clothing for their children in addition to paying the enormous (sometimes $50,000 a year) tuition. And you should see the cars in the high school lot. A whole lot different than the jalopies boys drove when I was in high school, if they could even afford that.
Charlotte mentioned the dresses we wore when we were in school, when no girls could wear slacks or jeans. I remember my first grade dresses perfectly. Then I remembered why. Because my sisters after me also wore them. They were sweet little “school” dresses, but what made them different than our dressy dresses was they had less fabric in the skirts. Jeanne where to do get those wonderful old magazines showing the clothing of the past? I love the dresses you’ve duplicated.
HI Barbara,
Ok, I won’t make you pick a favorite, but picking Nyssa’s green drop waist dress was a good choice. I totally agree with you on that one…
Back to School packages (for the dolls) are certainly FUN for everyone…at least everyone who got something in a box! I’ve had several ladies say their “girls got on the computer” and ordered things by themselves… usually ALL is forgiven though. :o)
I can’t imagine how you get ANYTHING done when you have your grandkids around. It must really be hard to plan your days… and I bet you really savor the days when you get to sew! I know I do!
Barbara, I find the catalogs on Ebay most of the time. You have to watch for sometimes weeks at a time, but I just type in Sears catalog 1944 or 1945 or 1946… and then look over what pops up. It’s great to get the whole catalog because you’ll see shoes and hats and slips and jewelry and coats all from that year. I love looking at mine…
You can also do the same for counter pattern books… I have a couple Butterick ones from the 1970s and used them a lot back when I had Julie.
Hope this helps,
Blessings, Jeanne
You really have made many dresses!
My very, very favorite it the dark green drop down waist on Nyssa. Omgosh…and you drafted the pattern? It is the perfect placement for the drop down waist and the pleats to start. The pleats are just the right width and depth and the fit is not too tight and not too loose. The lace at the shoulder is so cute .Make it again for another doll.
I’ll show you my outfit for Riley. Poor Riley has been MIA for about a year. I had to make 50 wool lined capes for a regional doll meeting and she was in my box of supplies so I knew everything would fit right. I was in a cleaning mood and going through a basket of misc there she was. I had been looking on eBay for a replacement and Riley has held her value if not more so it was a great day when I found her!
Enjoy your company🤗
HI Kathie,
YES, I have made a lot of dresses! Thank you SO much for your kind comments on Nyssa’s dress.. .my goodness it was a favorite, so I might have to make her another one if I can locate my scraps of a pattern.
50 wool capes? My goodness.. do you have pictures of all them? I’d love to see that!
I’m glad Riley showed up… She was a fun little girl to sew for… Sometimes I miss her…
Thanks Kathie,
Blessings, Jeanne
I continue to be amazed by your output and creativity to make an outfit just once and on to the next one, completely different. I have to second all of the compliments above since I’m late in commenting. I’ve only once made just two of something and it’s the red velveteen cape. It is lined and has bound buttonholes for the slits for the hands to go through. Fortunately I had made some years ago but they were still daunting with the lining. My three favorites are the aqua on Kirsten and Molly in the one from the catalog and the green skirt with the braid for straps.
Weren’t the catalogs fun! It was very exciting to look at the great variety of merchandise. As late as 1968-1972 when we lived in the Houston Area, I ordered things from the Sears catalogs. Have fun with all of your visitors coming to catch up.
Hi Susette,
I got your emails with the pictures of “more” red and will share them soon! Love them!!!!
You are on a roll!!
When I first got my vintage catalogs I would sit and look at them page by page, taking in everything form hats to shoes to hankies and fabrics. You could even by a Sears house!! Imagine that!!
One of my catalogs even had the tear out coupon/voucher for one pair of shoes for a family member…since rubber was either in short supply or rationed. …I can’t remember what the coupon said.
I’m glad you enjoyed looking at my doll dresses. I sure have enjoyed making them!
Thanks Susette,
Blessings, Jeanne
I also like Nyssa’s dark green dress. Thanks so much for the ‘life’ update, Jeanne. I’m glad everything is going smoothly and that you’ve got some really fun things happening this week with your visitors!! It’s a comfort to me to know all’s well in the lives of those I care about, and you’re included, of course. : ) Hope your weekend is great, too!!! Love and Hugs, Ali
Thanks for asking Ali,
I hope you are doing okay as well… Life is busy with this being the first week of school, but somehow every year we make it though it, so I guess it’s not as stressful as it seems.
I’m glad you are enjoying the dresses being showcased. I really can’t believe I’ve made so many school dresses… but when you’ve been sewing as long as I have, I guess you accumulate quite a few.
Thanks for being a wonderful reader!
Blessings to you,
Jeanne