Hi everyone,
Charlotte sent me these pictures back on July 18th and I thought you might like to see some dolly pictures instead of a question today. I REALLY enjoyed your answers to the “Celebrities” you all have seen in your lifetime. It was so interesting and a fun read. Thanks so much!
Okay, Charlotte, it’s all yours today…
Hi Jeanne! As I mentioned on the blog recently, I did a presentation at my ASG (American Sewing Guild) neighborhood group meeting this week, a “trunk show”, if you will, of cloth dolls I have made in the past. Some of the sofa sisters wanted to see the pictures, and I thought it might help you out to have something to share, so here they are, and I will add comments for each one.
The first picture shows nine of my cloth dolls all together. There are two tiny ones not included in this picture, but there is a separate picture of them, at the end.
The second picture is a little closer look at some of the dolls. In the back is the Waldorf style doll, Purleyetta and Her Quilt, and Alice Izabelle; in front are A Rose Is a Rose and Arabella May.
The third picture shows the rest of the dolls, with one duplicate, Alice Izabelle on the far left. Then Miss Terry, the Modern Woman, and Amethyst, a Fairy. In front is (spew alert!!) Lilly Loo Latrine, the Bathroom Fairy!
The fourth picture is of three dolls I made from patterns by elinor peace bailey (yes, she signed her names with no capitol letters). I took two classes from elinor many years ago (she has since passed away), and included in the price of the class was her painting the face of one doll, so two of these dolls, The Modern Woman and Lilly Loo Latrine, have faces painted by her. I painted the face of Amethyst, the fairy. The Modern Woman is VERY long!! She was really a hoot to stuff–picture it, you hold her upside down between your knees, with one of her legs resting on each of your shoulders! Lilly Loo Latrine has a poem included in her pattern, which is hysterical. Her hair is fringe, which I wound around and around her head, and glued a bow on top so you can’t see the fringe header! Amethyst’s hair is actually shredded packing material for a gift bag! It’s shiny and shimmery, just what you would expect a fairy to have! She has silk flowers on her costume and in her hair. (I didn’t think to take a picture of the back of her hair and her “wings”, which are really a large tulle bow.)
The fifth picture shows those dolls again, with the patterns I used.
The sixth picture shows two “one-of” dolls, Miss Terry on the left, and A Rose Is a Rose. Miss Terry was a “mystery doll” where you did one part of the doll before you got the instructions for the next part. Her brooch is a gaudy, glittery gold button; she thinks it is quite stylish! She also has rosebud trim on the other side of her jacket. A Rose…is a small doll from a pattern by Barbara Willis, which I found in a magazine. I made it for my Aunt Linnea when she was ill one time. After she died, my cousin asked if there were any things of her mom’s I would like to have back, and I mentioned the doll, so she sent it to me.
The seventh picture shows three dolls I have made from the book Prairie People. When I saw the section about naming your doll (“if she hasn’t told you her name already”), I knew I had to get this book! The authors included a lovely long list of names from the 1700 and 1800 genealogical records to choose from, if we didn’t want to use the names they gave the dolls they designed! From left to right are Purleyetta and Her Quilt, Arabella May (from the Tarsey Irene pattern), and Alice Izabelle (from the Cyrilla, Marilla and Drucilla pattern). Purleyetta was the first doll I made from this book, and with her I learned why you want to add textile medium to your paints that you use on fabric!! (The paint doesn’t go on or dry as smoothly without the textile medium.) Arabella May is from the pattern I’ve used the most from this book, I think–I made two for my cousin, one for my grandma, and I’m not sure how many others over the years, which I’ve given as gifts. I even taught a class to my long ago quilt group, using an adaptation of this pattern. Alice Izabelle is wearing a straw doll bonnet I purchased; I had to line the crown with fabric, as it was catching on her hair, which is wool roving.
The eighth picture is of the same dolls with the book, Prairie People, in front of them.
The ninth picture is the Waldorf type doll I made. As I recall, she was the first doll I made, done in a class several years before I made Purleyetta or the others. Her body is made of a cotton knit fabric and she is stuffed with wool batting, so is warm and cuddly when you hold her. You roll the wool batting, insert it into the body or limbs, and the stuff more wool inside the roll to fill her out. Her hair is a crocheted cap of curly yarn, stitched in place, and then loose yarn pieces added for bangs and her hair in back. I named her Beda (pronounced “BAY-dah”) after my Grandma Larson, who died in 1969.
The last picture is of two doll pins I made. The first one I made perhaps 30 years ago, when we had a small doll club and did little projects like this. A lady had bought a couple of similar doll pins somewhere, and figured out a pattern that she shared with us. I wish I had a picture of the original ones she showed us; I’m sure they weren’t exactly like this, as she just had to figure it out best she could. Anyway, the arms and legs are various beads, some sourced from thrift store jewelry, others purchased. Their hair is strung seed beads that are looped back on themselves. I have made a lot of these and given them as gifts thru the years. The pink one is the first one I made; the other one I started quite some time ago and put it aside; I just recently finished it. And yes, I do wear them sometimes!
Thank you Charlotte… what a wonderful post today is! It’s about dolls!!!! WOW! They are all lovely, Charlotte!
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Thank you so much for sharing my pictures today, Jeanne! I will try to check back throughout the day and reply to any questions people might have. I did have such fun making these dolls, and certainly learned a lot.
Barbara, I replied to your comment about the Lennon Sisters yesterday.
Joy asked if we were getting any smoke from the Spokane-area fires. Until this evening, no, but now we are starting to get a little. It is roughly 280 miles from the Seattle area to Spokane, so the fires themselves are not threatening in our area, but the wind is a factor, and they are anticipating a lot of smoke coming our way over the next couple of days. On the plus side, it could keep our anticipated 90° temps a little lower, which would be a plus.
And for those who don’t hear a lot of news from this area–there are THREE fires burning in Spokane County right now; over 700 homes are gone, and a friend of mine and her husband are packed and ready to leave at a moment’s notice, including the trailer for their sheep hooked up to the truck, but thus far, they’ve been able to stay put. The good news is they got their power back on today, so that is promising. They have arrested one person for arson in the Little Trail fire (which is the one that has burned so many homes). It is the most devastating fire season in our state’s history.
One more note on meeting celebrities: I used to work for Eddie Bauer, answering their catalog order line, and in our training, we were told how various celebrities would call in their orders, just like “real” people! I was thinking, yeah, right. My very first full day on the job without someone monitoring, I answered the phone, and a nice southern voice said, “Well, hello Charlotte, this is Porter Wagoner, calling from Nashville, Tennessee”!! My brain is thinking “they really do call!! They really do call!!” while my mouth was saying the words of our script–asking for mailing address, credit card information, etc.!! And then three years later, on my very last day working there, the lady said her name was “Jo, that’s J-O, Stafford, that’s S-T-A-F-F-O-R-D”, and I said, “I have to ask, are you Jo Stafford, the singer?” and she said yes she was! At the end of the order, I thanked her and then told her how much my husband and I had enjoyed her music over the years, and she thanked me.
I didn’t meet them face to face, but I did talk to them! I guess that counts!
Charlotte your dolls are very cute and a lot of work! Thanks for sending them to Jeanne! Hope the chicken door was working properly last night! Have a good day!
Thank you so much, Sylvia!
Charlotte, I always knew that you were an excellent seamstress, but after seeing these adorable dolls, I know you are REALLY an excellent seamstress in more ways than one! How cute these dolls are!
At first glance, I thought that Miss Terry was Cher, with her curly black hair! And Amethyst, the Fairy is darling with her glitzy hair! Who couldn’t love those Prairie dolls, that look like they are straight out of the tv show, Little House on The Prairie?
I absolutely love the pin dolls! How big are they? What an original idea for their hair! That is something I think even my young adult granddaughters would love, especially if it was made by their grandmother! I still have bits and pieces of the material that I made them clothes with when they were little that I could use for their dresses. Maybe something like that would be a cute Christmas gift! Is there a pattern or directions for them anywhere?
Thank you so much for sharing them with us, and to Jeanne for showing them!
I certainly hope they get those fires under control tnere. We have friends who’s son and family live in the Spokane area and they are very worried about them.
Thank you for the lovely compliments, Linda.
I’m sure Miss Terry’s hair is Much more unruly than Cher’s ever was!! But of course it’s naturally curly, and I guess that comes with the territory!! 😉
As to the doll pins, they are roughly 5-1/2 to 6″ long from the top to the bottom of the last bead. The body/head part is about 3″ long, so the rest of the length is the legs (beads). I don’t have any particular instructions written down; as I recall, I did a sort of rectangular body, stuffed, and a head which was two circles of fabric with a sort of flange at the bottom. Stuff the head, and the body, and then push the flange of the head into the neck of the body and stitch around it twice. (I always stitch twice when I am attaching doll parts by hand, just in case.) Then I used I think Nymo beading thread for the legs and arms–take a couple of stitches at the shoulder or bottom, string the beads however long, add a seed bead; go Around the seed bead (which holds the other beads in place) and back up thru the rest of the beads, and stitch into the body again, and pull it tight and knot it off. For the hair, it’s similar only all seed beads and instead of going back thru them, I loop them stitch into the fabric, and Then go back thru the beads again if you think you need to. If you knot after each loop or two of beads, if one comes undone, you won’t lose them all.
The faces are done with fine-tipped Pigma Micron pens for eyes, nose and lips. Just little dots, pretty much.
Charlotte, your babies, all of them are incredibly adorable and cute. I hope you hug them every day, The fairies are the cutest one I think. I just love their sweet faces.
All of these girlies are magnificent! I bet they were fun to create. just wowww
Jeanne, I hope all is well at home and George is feeling good to be home.
Do you have some in home health aids come in and assist? I hope so.
It is another hot day here.
HEY! I remembered another celebrity I met!
When I was a surgical nurse for orthopedic doctors. The Doctor I worked with exclusively worked at 4 offices. The office in Washington DC was in the Watergate Building. We got free parking in the garage. Sometimes we would go to the Safeway that was connected to the Watergate apartments and get something for lunch. One time the xray tech and I were wandering around Safeway and ran into Jean Stapleton, I guess she was doing a show or something at the Kennedy Center. She was really nice. Oh! and one time at the older office on K Street, we were picking up chinese food for lunch and at a crosswalk we “saw” Henry Kissinger. yeah, okay., I think that is all I remember now.
August 4th already. I hope you and George have a nice pleasant day. Sometimes we watch the Brown Bears at Brooks Falls on Youtube. They have several cameras. I enjoy the Brooks Falls live cams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ZrIDvqlic
This is another favorite camera https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkVLYfU-Kew
Thank you so much, Rosemary. Yes, they were all really fun to create, and I can’t say that I actually have a favorite; each one is so individual!
What a treat, to have met Jean Stapleton. I always liked her.
I am just floored, Charlotte! I am amazed your fingers didn’t fall off! I just LOVE your dolls, every one is different and so cute or lovely. I have to say my faves are the pins and the plump baby, but they are all really great! I wish I had been with you to sew together, I have never made dolls like this but would have loved to. Thank you and Jeanne for showing them to us!!
I remembered two times Peyton had real visits with Celebrities! When he was in the service and and visited Tokyo in 1962 he went to a performance by the Brothers Four. After they sang he invited them to sit with him and they did. He gave them drinks. This was their first time to sing in Tokyo and they went again over 50 times.
Also, Peyton went to see the play “Bye Bye Birdie” in New York. Dick Van Dyke was in the play and he also had lived in the same neighborhood as Peyton had. He came out to sit and talk with Peyton for a half hour.
Jeanne, dear, I hope the chicks have become used to the door and that the little wren is happy in the tomatoes with her babies. You and George are always in my mind and prayers.
Sissy, I replied to your comment yesterday about Gene Wilder. Dick Van Dyke is one of my favorite celebs. So glad he is still with us and amazingly active. Diagnosis Murder is streaming live in the morning on HULU.
I loved Silver Streak too, so funny! He had so many great movies. I found a book on Amazon he has written about his life and it is very interesting.
Thank you so much, Sissy! Stuffing doll parts was a good thing to do while watching TV with Ron in past years. I could sit there and pretty much watch what he was watching, and just pay attention to the stuffing now and then. Those Lonnnng legs on Modern Woman were pretty picky to stuff, though–you could only put a little bit of stuffing in at a time, and then poke it down and pack it in with a chopstick or other stuffing tool. Because they were legs, I had to make sure they were both firmly and evenly packed, so they wouldn’t develop “holes” and creases where the stuffing was lacking. But for the bigger parts, yeah, I could watch TV and stuff at the same time.
Ron talked about seeing Raymond Burr when he (Ron) and his buddy were stationed at Camp Pendleton (I think–they were either there or the USMC recruiting depot in San Diego). They were in town on leave, and saw Mr. Burr, and his buddy asked for an autograph, which was given. Ron was too shy back then to ask, but he enjoyed telling the story because his buddy couldn’t remember Raymond Burr’s name, just knew he was famous, and asked for the autograph anyway!!
How wonderful to see Charlotte’s fabulous creations today. Each is so special and a lovely addition to her doll collection. So much creativity and each so much fun.
I’m glad that the smoke from the horrible fires in Spokane, hasn’t been too bad yet. However, according to the weather people here last night, the plume of smoke is curling around and heading down over the Pacific coast and should arrive down here at some point. Guess we’ll find out. The Watch Duty fire maps are ablaze with fires all over Washington and Oregon too, as well as other western states. And it has been so hot which doesn’t help.
I was able to finally get my RRed Hazel all dressed, but it took awhile. Tiny buttons and button holes and difficult snaps too, but she’s all dressed and ready for back to school. I have a friend that always requests that her dolls come pre dressed so as to save any grief. RRed is very happy to send the dolls all dressed. I’ll have to get a pic of her. And then, my latest has finally made it to CA and is traveling north at this time. So, I anticipate another delivery maybe even tomorrow. We’ll see. I’m hoping that it isn’t tomorrow because I have my eye appointment and focusing on the delivery might be difficult.
More heat yesterday here. But, we did get in a walk and got to see some of the house do over our friend is working on. He was able to attack the very dated paneling that was all along the bottom of the family room walls and pried it all off. It really expands the room and will be even nicer when it has it’s new white paint job. When I walked in, I couldn’t believe that it was the same room as it looked so much more expansive. Of course, when his father installed the paneling to protect the walls from the kids knocking holes in it, he did such a good job that he glued it on as well as nailing. Lots of scraping and filling to be done before the paint though. And when the new wood flooring is installed, it will really be amazing. I’m glad that someone is getting things done as not much is happening around here.
Thanks Charlotte and Jeanne for sharing the fun pics today. And try to keep cool everyone.
Forget major remodeling, I can’t even seem to get my house organized these days. I know what you mean about this paneling. I watch the real estate in Bethlehem, PA, just for fun and often see homes for sale that are like the home we lived in or that some of my friends lived in. We lived in an area with several subdivisions of homes of varying designs. Some people have really redone the homes, adding lovely sunrooms, finishing the basements and adding a full bath down there, etc. But some have left everything as it was in the 1950s. Paneling seems to have been one of the things people were addicted to and I can’t believe so many have not remodeled the kitchens so have no dishwashers. Most of the homes have no dining rooms just a space for a kitchen table and chairs, but one of my favorite homes several friends lived in (and I was a bit envious) were split levels that split to the back so when you entered the front door you were in the living room with a half stairs up to the bedrooms,, which probably wasn’t good for privacy since the upstairs hallway was in full view, but it was still one of my favorites. But today some have turned the living room into a dining room and the “recreation room” is now the family room accessed by a half stairs down from the kitchen. The homes in these subdivisions are in high demand since the homes are within walking distance of both a Catholic school and an elementary school. True neighborhood schools. They don’t stay on the market long regardless of remodeling or not.
Very interesting on the home remodels. Our friend, being single, plans to turn his former living room into a place for his full sized pool table. If you can believe. I guess the former dining room will become the living room and the former family room will be the tv/media room. At least that is what I think he plans to do. And he has a way too big table in the kitchen that should go. But, it has a lot of memories, so it is staying for the moment. Now, I need to convince him to remove all of the very dated ceiling fans that are everywhere. He already has central AC. And when the new real wood flooring is installed and the old shag carpet disappears, it will look so much better. At least he is doing something. Here, still not much happening.
Thank you so much, Joy; I’m glad you enjoyed my dolls.
We are definitely getting smoke in the Seattle area now, so I’m making sure to use my inhaler at least once a day, and also spent this afternoon mostly in air conditioning–first for my massage, and then a couple of hours at the mall, walking (with my walker) from one end to the other. I did some bra shopping but haven’t found exactly what I want yet. Close, but….Anyway, I stopped at the food court and got a little supper before heading home, so I spent a total of probably 4 to 4-1/2 hours in a/c.
The one benefit of the smoky hazy skies is that our temps aren’t as high as predicted.
I was never a fan of paneling, but Ron loved “pretty wood”, and tried to talk me into paneling one wall. Nope! He eventually dropped that campaign!! My kitchen (which is all dark brown wood cabinets, brown/black/gray pebbly flooring, and the original appliances were “copper-tone”) was more than enough dark brown for me!!
Charlotte, what an amazing collection of dolls and what time and effort you put into doing them. Incredible creativity. Thanks so much for sharing and giving us all the details.
I have the grandboys today. Jaiden is with a friend. Dionne is out of town and Sean and David are at the job which is far away. The kids can stay by themselves normally with Skyy now being 16 and the usual caretaker of Azure (5 1/2) but Sean did not want to leave them home when he is so far away since the job is 2 1/2 hours away. Jaiden decided to spend time with a friend. Skyy and Azure have collected on my recycling that has accumulated around the house and broken the cardboard boxes down and gathered the kitchen recycling. They did it so quickly and efficiently that that I have nothing else for them to do. Going to be a long day. Too hot to do anything outside for sure.
Thank you so much for your kind comments, Barbara. I’m glad you enjoyed my dolls!
What helpful grandsons you have! Maybe now (if they’re bored) it’s time to introduce them to board games. My son loved to play board games, and his boys did, too! (And so did/do I!!)
How fun to see your cloth dolls today, Charlotte. They are all amazing. My favorites are Purleyetta and her quilt and Alice Izabelle. The fairy doll is so cute as well. I also love the doll pins. Those are very clever and would look so sweet also hanging from your purse or a bag. Thank you for sharing them.
Thank you so much, Laura. I’m glad you enjoyed them. I have to admit a special fondness for Purleyetta and Her Quilt, as that was the first one I did from that particular book. Once I finally decided which one to make first, I started looking for fabrics, and she sort of “took over” my brain, and told me what she wanted for her bonnet and dress!
I hadn’t thought to put the doll pins on my purse. I usually just wear one on the lapel if I have a jacket on that is heavy enough to support it. For instance, they are a little too heavy for my gauzy white jacket, but work well on my more tailored jackets.
Once I gave one to Marth Pullen (she of Sew Beautiful magazine and “Martha’s Sewing Room” PBS series of past years), and she loved it. I saw a picture of her on her FB page, taken a year or two after that, and she was at a function of some sort, and wearing the doll pin I made! What a thrill to see that!!
What cute dolls Charlotte. I particularly like the Amethyst fairy. I have made a lot of Kate Greenaway dolls, the Cinderella one where she is crying and wearing rags (well a dress that is patched!) and when you turn her upside down the dress turns into a ballgown and instead of legs there is another head with fancy white hair. The pattern came from the English Women’s Weekly and was so well used that it is falling apart. I managed to photocopy it and have put it into a plastic binder. I also have a Kate Greenaway book of the Bronte girls, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, with their outfits for the day. I never made any though. By the time I got the book my Granddaughters were ‘too old for dolls’.
We did get some snow yesterday but it was more sleet. If the front had gone through overnight instead of during the day we might have had some that stayed but it has passed through now. I tried to get a photo of the Port Hills, where there was a lot of snow, but it wasn’t clear enough because of the rain. Remember what I said about it often snowing or very cold anyway, after a warm day? It was 20C on Monday, I don’t think it got up to above 4C yesterday.
We had our High Tea for Kai’s birthday. I took some photos and the owner took one of all of us, I will send them today.
Congratulations on your G’ win in the swimming. Maybe the Olympics in 2032?
With the Football World Cup and the Commonwealth games over, now it is time to concentrate on the Rugby. On Saturday night/Sunday morning the All Blacks are playing the South African Protea’s. They are our biggest rivals. S. Africa are rugby fanatics, even more so than NZ and that is saying something. Nobody cares, much about any other sport, if they don’t win the rugby it is the end of the world. It used to be like that here but nowadays not so much. Kiwis love sport, not just one code and support all their teams particularly when they are playing internationally.
Jeanne, has George been able to see the chickens? It looks like there are tomatoes for him anyway. I hope the mother wren is still taking care of her babies. Keep us updated. Still praying for you both.
Have a good day everyone, I hope the fires will be under control soon.
Thank you so much, Anne; I’m so glad you like Amethyst. If I recall, I reduced the pattern by about 1/3, as she was a Very long doll, and I really didn’t want another big one like that!! It worked out very well, actually.
Your Cinderella doll sounds like what we call a “topsy turvy” doll here in the US. I actually have one, have had since I was maybe 5 or 6, called “Topsy and Eva”. The doll parts are made of silk, one is a dark brown with curly “hair” and the other of white with yellow braids, and one has a blue dress, the other a pink, which are attached to each other around the hem, and I think each one has an apron, too. I used to change them around, so I don’t remember which girl had the pink dress and which had the blue originally! Years later, I found a photocopy of the pattern that was used, and bought it, but have never made one myself.
I have learned to either photocopy or trace patterns, especially doll clothes or even dolls, for two reasons: 1–if you make it more than once, the pattern pieces start wearing out and 2–those smallest pieces can go flying off, never to be seen again! When we were making Rare Bears as a charity project some years back, I lost the pattern piece to the sole of the bear pattern we were using, and had to put out an alert on FB. One of my friends traced off her pattern and mailed it to me. I imagine one of these days I will come across my original piece again, but it’s going to take some digging!! 😂
I am going to have to see if I can find a book like yours, of the Bronte sisters. My favorite book of all time is Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. I have read it probably 7 or 8 times over the years, maybe more, since discovering it when I was in high school. I’ve also seen, I think, every movie version made of it. I think it would be fun to make a Charlotte Bronte doll!