Hi everyone,
Charlotte sent some pictures and there is surely something to make you smile today!
Hi Jeanne and all! As promised, here are some pictures I took of dolls I’ve mentioned in the last week or so.
Right after you got comments back on your blog, you shared Linda’s pictures of her girls dressed for fall. Her Molly was in a cowgirl outfit, and I mentioned that I had made something similar for my Molly. She said she’d like to see it. I discovered I did have a picture already taken about 3 years ago, where Molly was in her cowgirl outfit, so here it is. The main fabric is a knit “suede”; the blouse is gingham. Don’t look too closely–I didn’t realize until after I was applying the snaps that I had put the cuffs on backwards, so the snap back over front rather than the other way around! By the time I realized it, it was too late to take them apart and do over, so they will have to be okay!!
And then one day you asked what was the furthest we had traveled, and I said Africa, and that I had bought some dolls while there, so the next few pictures are of them.
This next picture shows all four of my dolls from Africa together. The two small ones I think I bought in one place, and the other two I purchased separately. It’s been 27 years, though, so I don’t remember where exactly I bought them!
The next two pictures are of a doll made by a mission group in South Africa, which apparently has workshops to train people in sewing skills; the closeup shows the tag that came with her. Her hair is interesting, in that it is made of thin strips of jersey that has been pulled to “curl” it (jersey fabric naturally curls/rolls somewhat anyway, and this attribute is sometimes implemented for trimming garments), and beads have been pushed up here and there along the “curls”. She is currently in my sewing room as I noticed the elastic in her shorts has “died”, and since it’s a simple casing, I think I will replace it. (It’s not nearly so easy to do if the elastic is applied with a serger!)
If memory serves, I found her in the gift shop of a hotel we stayed at, but it could have just been a random shop nearby. She has such a joyful expression, I couldn’t resist!
The next two pictures show Sizwe, a girl from Soweto, S. Africa. She is dressed in a two-piece outfit, and came with her own passport! Her hair is loops of yarn (much like is used in some Cabbage Patch Kids). Both she and the previous doll are about the same size, but completely different in appearance!
The next two dolls I do remember getting at the same place (where? good question!).
The first one represents a Swazi girl in her traditional dress. One arm is covered by her cape, but both arms and both ankles have bracelets on them. Since we spent a week doing our work in Swaziland, I wanted a representative of that culture.
The second one represents a Zulu girl (we visited a Zulu village, which is why I got her), which you can tell by her stylized hair. I did a little research and apparently they make beaded hats (as in, ALL beads!) that are shaped much like her hairdo is.
Then one day you asked which was our most unusual doll. I have several unusual dolls–unusual in various different ways–but I mentioned the one I had ordered to represent my son. This is a Cabbage Patch Kid Original (as in, cloth face, with needle-sculpted and hand-painted features), and he is considerably bigger than any of my other Cabbage Patch Kids. I remembered that he was 25″ tall but he is actually closer to 30″ tall!
The first picture shows Daniel Ben (my son couldn’t spell his middle name, Benjamin, when he was young, so for a while he wrote “Daniel Ben Trayer” on all of his school papers) in all his glory. He is wearing a size 18 months outfit! That gives you an idea of his size. He is, in fact, almost as tall as Daniel was when we got him at age three (about 32″), so holding him on my hip is a little bit like holding my son, only the doll isn’t as heavy!
The second picture shows his “booboo”–each Booboo Boy came with a booboo on either his leg or his arm. I think it’s pretty clever, how they did a bandage that didn’t quite cover the booboo, so you can see it’s really there!
The next picture is a close-up of his face. I think if you can zoom in a bit, you will see that he has three dimples–both cheeks plus his chin–just like my son. (My son also had two other dimples “where the sun don’t shine,” but we won’t go there!! Haha….) His brown eyes are very similar to Daniel’s, too.
In the last picture, you see his “birthmark”–yes, he–and all the boys in this edition of 200 pieces–was hand signed by Xavier Roberts! You can also see that, instead of a diaper, he is wearing underwear! Little blue/white striped boxer shorts. A thin line of them shows just above his pants. I think the boxer shorts were made especially for this edition, while the outfits were real baby clothes (as are often used on the CPK Originals).
I should mention, too, that the Originals are Not the plastic-head ones that came in the yellow boxes–those are the toys. These are collectible, hand-crafted versions and, except for the preemies, are usually bigger than the toys, which are about 18″ tall. They are still being made, by the way (both Originals and toys), and Babyland, the home of the Cabbage Patch Kids, is a real place. I have been there!
Thank you SO much Charlotte,
What a lot of fun dolls for everyone to look at today! This should give everyone something to smile about!
See everyone Monday,
Have a wonderful Fall weekend,
Blessings, Jeanne
