I guess you’ll want to know who won the lacy doll gloves? Well, I’ll show you… there were lots of entries for them, but the winner is…
My hubby drew out your name from the entries… Let me know which of the 3 pair you would like…
I hope you and your doll will LOVE them… I’m trying to find time to make more…I was working on more this evening…
Now to my post… did you notice the turned around numbers in my title… 1940 vs. 1490? I’m not entirely positive about the exact dates, but they are probably pretty close… First we’ll talk about the 1940’s rag doll.
A friend of mine brought this sweet little doll to the Food Pantry 2 weeks ago to show me. As soon as I saw him I was smitten. See if you are too…
Need another look?
Beth told me they found this doll in the attic or the basement (I can’t remember) of her parents house and she rescued him. He is all hand sewn and the fabric looks like something from the 30’s or possibly 40’s. Look at this face… doesn’t it just melt your heart… knowing that someone made him for one of their children?
He has on the cutest little shirt and his pants look like sailor pants to me.. and a little cap.
She said his arm was coming loose, so she was going to stitch it back on and give him to one of her grandkids!!!
I thought that was all she had rescued, but no. Look at his partner! Don’t you just love her pleated skirt?
Isn’t that face, just the sweetest ever? Look closely down by her ankles… there are little bows tied in blue floss…
Here they are together! A couple of cuties that were trapped in the dark for a long time!
A little while after she showed them to me, she asked me what I would do with them… I said I would put them in a shadow box and display them. They truly are little works of art and just adorable as can be.
Okay, now to the 1490’s wedding… actually it’s a 1490’s wedding “dress” or somewhere thereabouts. This is the Renaissance looking wedding dress I removed the zipper from, added extra fabric and made it lace-up the back. I finished it last Fall, but the wedding was about 3 weeks ago and I wanted to show you a few pictures of the wedding. I went to the church she was getting married in and laced up the back for her, but forgot to take any pictures. A few people took pictures of me lacing it up, but I never got back with anyone to send me any. So my only pictures of the back are when she was dancing with her new hubby.
She was a pretty bride… and her hair was gorgeous… a long thick braid with red roses and baby’s breath tucked in.
The church wasn’t necessarily Renaissance, but it was fitting for her style dress. She had 14 bridesmaids and 14 groomsmen!!!!!
When they were walking down the aisle, after being named Mr. and Mrs… the groom swept her off her feet and gave her a totally unexpected kiss!
She had collected things from yard sales for 2 years to use at her reception and it was very pretty…
Look at this charcuterie “table.” It was amazing! A friend from church did it!
The wedding was pretty and she had thought of everything…
So that’s how you do a post on a 1940’s doll and a 1490’s wedding dress! *wink* *wink*
I will see you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Congratulations to Susette!!
Oh, what adorable cloth dolls! Yes, their faces are very sweet, and I think they should be carefully displayed (out of direct sunlight) if at all possible, at least for part of each year.
What fun to see pictures of that wedding!! I can’t imagine having 14 attendants!! I was in a wedding once where I was one of 6, and that was pretty good-sized at the time. For our wedding, I had one maid of honor and two bridesmaids; Ron had a best man and two groomsmen. However, we did have to additional ushers because ours was a fairly big wedding (about 250 guests)–when you’re the pastor’s’ daughter, you either invite everyone or you elope!!
Barbara, when things settle down a bit around here, I’ll try to get some pictures of Linsey in some of her outfits. I think she’s going to need a careful bath first (whipped soap suds applied with an almost-dry sponge), as she’s a white bear who’s not very white any more!
“Invite everyone or you elope!!” Hilarious. I always wondered about that. Looking forward to seeing pictures of Linsey the almost “white” bear. I had a white dog once. When she returned from being groomed she looked a whole lot different than when I took her in. Unfortunately I couldn’t afford to do it often.
Congrats to Susette!Knowing her, I think she will find those gloves very useful for one of her lucky dolls!
Those 1940’s dolls are really sweet, and to think they were handmade! Being also from the 1940’s, it strikes me a bit to see how far back that really is! 🙂
What a beautiful bride and dress! It looks like a wedding that was put together with a lot of love, which is how it should be done. Wow, they must have either a lot of friends, or large families to have so many attendants! My best friend was my maid of honor and my three sisters were bridesmaids. Not overly large, but not too small either.
They had a very nice setup for the reception too, with friends setting everything up! Looks like they had a great start to their marriage!
WOW! I won! What a lovely surprise! Thank you so much, Jeanne and George! I love the gloves, and as I mentioned yesterday, I can just see them on Samantha for Easter. I think she’d like the ones at the top right.
The rag dolls are museum pieces! Sorry, but no child could possibly appreciate the work, love and care that went into making these wonderful dolls! They are certainly worthy of preserving just as they are with no repairs. The tatters are part of their history. Maybe someone would like to make a new set patterned off of these. What a pretty friend you have who found the dolls.
Jeanne, you did a wonderful job of customizing the dress. That was quite a challenge but well worthy of your time and skills. I can certainly see why she had her heart set on that dress. That has to be one of the biggest wedding parties ever. The charcuterie table was a perfect choice for feeding the masses!
The dress looks amazing, so glad she found what she was hoping for and that you could help her. Lovely wedding.
The gloves are so pretty.
The dolls are from Edith Flack Ackley. You can still find the vintage patterns, my aunt used to make them. Edith was a very interesting woman along the lines of Madame Alexander.
How wonderful you could supply some of the history of the rag dolls.
Oh, how exciting that Susette won the gloves. Hope we get to see Samantha wearing them come Easter. 🙂
Interesting dolls. I knew they looked familiar and seeing Dorothy L’s post above, I know why. I don’t see the larger doll as a male at all. In the late 30’s/40’s, women wore the sailor look in the summer. Especially the sailor look pants. And the flowered fabric and colors are especially girlie as well. Regardless, they are adorable and should not become children’s playthings at this point. Don’t know how old your friends grands may be, but definitely shouldn’t go to any young ones. I like the shadow box idea.
That was a huge wedding reception room and decorated so wonderfully. The tablescapes were lovely. The mix and match a great idea. I’ve always wondered about charcuterie. I can’t get the photos to enlarge, but how do you put everything on your plate? I didn’t see many serving utensils. Hopefully, not fingers. I’m so old school. 🙂 Love the pic of the bride sitting at a table. So sweet. And Jeanne did a great job on that dress reconstruction. Beautiful work.
I think I finally see sun this morning. The weeds are calling. 🙂
What a beautiful bride and I loved her gown. Jeanne, you did a great job on the back of her wedding dress. The bride certainly went to a lot of great planning for her wedding and reception. What an incredible charcuterie set up too.
Congratulations Susette! Hope you send pictures of the lucky girl who gets to wear the gloves.
Congratulations on your win Susette! Can’t wait to see a picture of the lucky dolly winner wearing those beautiful gloves.
I too think the little rag dolls should be preserved for posterity. So much of my childhood memories were lost when the basement in our house flooded during either hurricane Hazel or Diane. They were pretty much around the same time so I don’t remember which. So I’m big on preserving what memories you can. We have David’s bear he got on his first Christmas after he was adopted. He was 4 and had never experienced a Christmas tree or gifts so I’m so thankful his mother kept him. I’ve been wanting to restuff and dress him, but I’m so afraid he may have some dry rot and will fall apart. Anyone have any ideas of a way to make sure he doesn’t deteriorate? He’s really in pretty good shape considering his age is about 43. David said he can’t believe how small he seems because when he got him he seem so big.
What an amazing wedding and beautiful bride and handsome groom. Jeanne you did a lovely job on the back of the gown. I’ve never seen so many attendants. It must have taken ages for them all to process down the aisle. The charcuterie table looks positively yummy and the tablescapes are gorgeous. This to me is the perfect wedding. At a church and with a lot of planning but great thought to keeping expenses under control. We had a wedding like that and then went on a wonderful ski honeymoon to Crested Butte, CO.
Hi Barbara
This is what the ‘bear ladies’ on The Repair Shop (BBC programme) do with vintage bears (wish I could send you to a video but my tech skills aren’t up to that).
They very carefully unpick all the stitching, then they wash it by putting it in a bowl of warm water and swish it gently I don’t think they add any soap or detergent. They dry the pieces by lying them flat on a towel. When dry they carefully line all the pieces with felt to stabilise them. Once that is finished they sew the pieces back together and stuff carefully. If possible, they sometimes use the original type of stuffing. This preserves the antique integrity of the original but adds years more life. They make it look easy lol.
Anne, thank you so much. I’ll see if I can locate a video.
Congratulations to you, Susette! I hope we get to see a picture of your doll wearing the gloves with her Easter finery.
What darling little dolls. thank you, Dorothy L. for the maker and some history on them.
What lovely wedding photos. The squared neck gown is pretty as is the bride. The way her hair is done is just gorgeous.
Congratulations, Susette!
Those are some precious old dolls 🙂
That’s neat the bride likes garage sales. They must be a very kind couple to have so many people in their bridal party. Your friend did a fantastic job with the food table. It looks lovely. Thanks for sharing 🙂