Hi everyone,
I SO enjoyed reading all your comments about your dolls and how young or old you were when you acquired them. It’s fun to hear the names of the dolls you had when you were younger and then the stories of getting dolls as an adult. I think I’ll have to read them again just to make sure I didn’t miss any tidbits!
We got in late yesterday afternoon and I didn’t have much time to get anything going right now, and then this morning, Tom and Cindy left. :o( I had a few things that needed to be taken care of, so my first day back at home was pretty busy. I’m going to have to ask another question today! I hope you don’t mind…
Tell us about what kinds of reactions you get when it’s known that you collect dolls… or play with dolls… or dress dolls? Do people roll their eyes at you, or think you are crazy, or do they enjoy your collecting as much as you do? If you are married, do your hubby’s like it that you collect dolls, or do they think you have lost your marbles? Do your hubby’s know your dolls names or what kind of dolls they are?
Do you keep your doll collecting to yourself or do you freely tell others about it?
How many of you have friends who collect dolls too and you get together to “play” every once in a while?
What do you think is more fun, collecting the dolls you want, dressing them, sewing for them, or something else?
Well, hopefully those are enough questions to get you chatting.
I will see you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
So glad you are safely home, but I know you’re missing Cindy and Tom! Now you need to get ready for Rebecca and her hubby–you get to celebrate Christmas again!!
Well, the most adverse reaction to dolls was a gal who was in my bell choir some years back. We were talking, on our way home from a bell conference, I think, and she was asking me things like, “Do you really change their clothes and stuff?” as if to say “do you really keep a shark in your bathtub?!”. (She was the only girl in a family of boys, and had been raised playing all kinds of sports with her brothers. In retrospect, maybe I should have asked her why she’d want to play sports!! Well, she has been gone for a long time now, so it’s a moot point.)
Ron doesn’t really know how many dolls I have–his answer, if asked, would undoubtedly be “too many”!! 😂 My son has been known to roll his eyes at my getting “another doll” (when he was still living at home) BUT…..HE was the one who wanted the first Cabbage Patch Kid that came into our house, and when he was a teenager, he thought my Annette Himstedt’s Mo was the coolest doll ever, because Mo looks like a real baby! He even had me show one of his friends one time! To them, however, all my dolls “look alike”!!
I do tell people about my dolls sometimes, and have brought dolls, dressed in items I’ve sewn and/or smocked, to sewing guild meetings, etc. In fact, when we still had a smocking chapter, I brought one of my LIttle Darlings, wearing a dress I’d smocked, to our meeting, and one of the other gals ended up getting a LD of her own, because she liked mine so much!
The two real doll friends I had are both gone now. I learned a great deal about vintage Barbies and other kinds of dolls from my friend Pat, and when her health was failing, I introduced her to my first LD, and showed her where she could order one. The lady who painted “Patty” worked with Pat’s step-daughter, and pushed the doll to the front of the line, so Pat got her in a matter of a month or two, and she absolutely loved that doll. Patty went to the hospital with her the last time, and after Pat was gone, her husband gave Patty to me. He said, I think Pat would want you to have this. I will always cherish her.
My other doll friend was Daria, and she was the one I really “played dolls” with. I’ve mentioned her in the past. She’s been gone 15 years now, and I really miss her. We had such fun together!
Since I never seriously collected until I retired, no one I worked with knew anything about them! However, I do have friends and neighbors who do know, but I always leave anything doll related on the back burner, so to speak, when with them! While they enjoy seeing my dolls, I am not sure what they think of me!! At first, it was a normal thing to do, because my granddaughters were small, and everybody I know has a room where they have toys for their grandchildren, so nothing was really “strange” about it. In fact, one of my sisters was here the other day and loved seeing how I fixed up my dolls for Christmas. My daughter was not a doll lover, but she has a friend that she works with, and she always takes pictures of my dolls doing various things for her friend to see, since her friend also collects and enjoys dolls.
I really don’t say anything about dolls when I get together with my high school or college friends, so they don’t know. If anything, most of them like to travel, so that is what is talked about most of the time, along with what is going on with their children and families, when I am with them. I am finding out through this blog that I am not alone in my love for dolls, although I must say that if I had children at home, dolls would be on the back burner!
Forgot to mention that my husband, Michael, is very supportive, kind of! He is the one who actually got me started when he told me to get Molly so I could play with my granddaughters! Little did he know what he got himself into!😉. But he thought they were really nice dolls, and when we had a store here in St. Louis, he went with me every time we went, and that was once a month! We even made friends with the salespersons there, and they loved seeing him with me. He does think that I have plenty of clothes for them now, which I do, and doesn’t exactly cheer me on when I talk about getting more! I will say, he knows their names, and thinks they are a nice hobby. Can’t get much better than that!
I never thought of collecting dolls when my two children were little because I had two living dolls. I had both a girl doll and a boy doll. I loved taking care of them and sewing for them and dressing them cute. And then they became teenagers, and, except for special occasions, it was t-shirts and blue jeans for both. I miss those early days and dolls have helped with that.
Same with me, Barbara!
I get various reactions about my dolls, or no reactions. It is strange to me that when I have some friends over for cards, they don’t even look at them. I may have several LD’s on the breakfast bar, or some of my Meadow’s lined up in outfits I made and ready to send to the customers, but no reaction. When I put photos of my dolls in new outfits on my fb page, though, I get a LOT of nice comments, and many are from friends who are non-collectors.
Just this week, though, my sweet husband said to me, “I really like looking at your dolls, especially their smiles.” Whenever he gets a chance he shows photos of them to people on his phone and brags about my sewing.
The funniest reaction I ever got, though, was from my older son. He has always loved funny looking characters, plastic ones that you buy. He has shelves of them, monster looking things. He even goes to those comic-con things. But when I had some Skillie dolls and some Himsteds lined up on the stairs he said they would come and get him in the night! Weird. He also looks at them and asks what he and his brother would do with them when I die. I told him to give them to my neighbor, who also collects.
People are amazed to hear that my neighbor and I go to the MDCC convention, and that doll collecting is a big thing.
To each his/her own.
As you may have heard, other person here, is absolutely not a fan of dolls even though his mother had quite a few antique dolls. I also do not randomly tell people that I collect. The last time daughter and husband spent the night in the guest/doll room, the reaction was “All of those eyes!” Granddaughter plays with dolls, but I’m sure not for long. We’ll see. I do not have any friends around here that enjoy dolls, so it is fun to share photos with those who like them, online. And sewing something for the dolls who live here is also a pleasure. Although, they can be very demanding sometimes. 🙂
Glad to hear you are home and hope you get a chance to share some of your shopping finds in the future. 🙂
You didn’t win another contest did you? Someone named Joy won one of the Pixie Faire prizes and I know you win a lot of things. I had to ask.
Nope, another Joy. 🙂
I would rather not talk about my hobby with non – collectors. If pressed I would say that for me, dolls are an expression of art, history, and fashion. Although I love changing their outfits, I do display my dolls in a display cabinet like fine art. My most vocal critic is hubby’s younger brother who collects Star Wars, Beatles, and Elvis memorabilia, go figure. Hubby is glad I have a hobby because I am not an athlete, my son doesn’t comment, and my daughter doesn’t get it. This is why I love sharing this hobby with all of you and my dear friend who is an avid collector.
Oh my…that question opens a bag of worms. Most of my friends know I have way too many dolls and pretty much roll their eyes but are polite enough to not say anything negative. It seems since I am a Doll Doctor that makes it more legitimate. They will ask questions about that and always seem to be interested in the eBay aspect. My two daughters like dolls..have kept their own childhood dolls so that tells me they do “ get it” but to collect on their own probably not. The grands all had their American Girl dolls and Elizabeth really loved hers and had awesome accessories…she even helped me do several programs where she did the AG display and I did the Vintage. That lasted till she was about 13 but she will always love her AG dolls. My sweet hubby has been around them so long he has even picked up a few good items at Estate Sales…when he came over to me and said he saw some Shirley Temple dolls in another room and said there were extra dresses that were “tagged” I knew he was the best🥰
I love this group and Jeanne bless your heart for giving us a place to share our love of dolls, collecting and all the Sofa Sisters🤗
Who gets mine when I go? Big question..
Wow! I’m going t have to keep referring back to the question so I answer all the small parts.
First I’ll start by saying that I remember the sister of a friend of mine saying how much she thought playing with dolls was foolish. I was probably 14 and she was two years younger. Then I’ll mention how my one aunt, upon discovering I was making clothes for my doll, informed me that what I was doing was a waste of time and I should be sewing for myself. I was twelve at the time. Sadly we get these “tapes” running through our heads when people are not supportive and they are hard to erase. Hence I tend to keep anything to do with dolls pretty close to the vest. When I mention it to friends, they don’t roll their eyes, it’s more like they don’t know what to say. It’s like a reaction you’d get when you tell someone you have a serious disease.
As for hubby, well I’d say he’s pretty supportive but he does tend to flinch when another dolly person shows up. But mostly he jokes about the cacophony in the sewing room when it’s been awhile since I’ve been creating wearing attire. We decided that part of the problem with my not spending a lot of time in my sewing room is that with my senior eyesight it’s hard to read things and see little things. So we decided to remove the ceiling fan/light and replace it with a light like he just put in my laundry room. Can’t wait.
The funniest reaction to my doll collecting comes from my son, Sean. He’s okay with his daughter having dolls but his mother, well he’s not too sure about that. And the numbers of them. Well he says it’s creepy. I still love him but I’m having a hard time convincing my dolly daughters he’s harmless.
I have no friends who collect dolls. Hubby does not know the dolls names or what kind of dolls they are. It would be too overwhelming for him. My plans are to index them so that down the road others who may have to make decisions regarding them will know which have the most dollar value. I’m hoping Jaiden will at least want to keep the more valuable dolls and maybe even Skyy. A lot depends on how long I hang around and how many new family members come along during that time.
I love collecting them and sewing for them. Dressing them all for occasions or seasons takes me a few days so that’s not my favorite thing to do.
Well hubby just showed up for lunch so I must go. This question was fun.
As a child, I had Mary Hoyer dolls. Mine were lost in a hurricane but I collected again as an adult. In 1997: I bought a PC Felicity because I love Williamsburg and Colonial history. Around 2005 I started collecting Bleuette dolls and her sister, Rosette. Bleuette started in France in 1905 with a weekly newsletter, usually with a pattern or a craft for girls to make. Around that time I also started to collect Hitty dolls (peg woodens), 6-1/2” tall. In the last year, I have added a PC Samantha, as well as another PC Felicity, and Rebecca and Caroline. I am devoted to the era 1770 through 1910 but am struggling with possibly adding Emily and Molly.
Nancy, I share your love of the colonial era and Felicity. I wanted her in 1991 when she was introduced. Twenty five years later I was finally able to buy one on eBay. She would have been a lot less expensive in 1991. 🤔