Family Doll History - and a mystery!

By: Brenda (Sophie's Mom)

We have a long history of loving dolls in my family. My Grandmother loved and collected china dolls that reminded her of the dolls she played with in her childhood during the 1920s.  

One doll, similar to this lovely, was broken when she was a child and she never forgot her doll or how crushing it was, as a little girl, to lose her doll. 

In those days her parents could not afford to replace her!

This is one of my grandmother's china dolls that she saved all those years.  She is about 8" tall and wearing her original dress.  She sits in my curio cabinet today.

When I was a little girl I loved the Raggedy Ann & Andy stories.

These are my Raggedy Ann & Andy and a lovely pop-up book.

When I was a girl my Grandmother painted china as a hobby.  One Christmas she painted a china doll for me and presented her in this antique doll bed that she had played with as a child.

This is me around 1975 and here is the china doll, my grandmother painted, today.

I remember complaining because I could not play with this doll.  She stayed in Mom's China Cabinet.

More about that antique cradle, click here

SO, the next Christmas I got a vinyl doll that looked something like this...

AND HERE IS THE MYSTERY!!!

I am trying to find out what kind of doll my Grandmother gave me.

• When I opened her she looked like a china doll, but she was vinyl, so I could play with her!
• The front of her package was clear plastic so I could see her in the box.
• She must have been about 16" with brunette or auburn hair in ringlets.
• I could wash and curl her hair, which I did, frequently!
• She was dressed in a Victorian/1900s era velvet dress.  
• I think she had a vinyl/plastic head with a vinyl/plastic body, I am not too sure.
• I feel that she was close in size to an American Girl, but I was quite small and she might have been smaller than I recall.
• I received her around 1974 - 1976, so too early for an AG. In my mind she resembles a Molly or Samantha though.

This dress I made for my Molly

is reminiscent of this long lost doll.

I think my Molly has never looked prettier!

To see the mystery solved click here!

Funny note: I was looking through ebay and Amazon
for a Victorian dress to buy for Molly, then I thought, "Hey, I sew."  

A day or two later and VOILA! The dress above made from Samantha's dress pattern. 

Silly Mommy!

Some new sewing projects

Goodbye Grandma and Nina!! We'll miss you!

Grandma was here for a whole month and she brought Nina with her.

The girls all did so much fun stuff!

Nina and her BFF Emma spent tons of time together.

 Nina met Jess.

And she met Martin.

Nina & Emma went camping.

She went school shopping with Jess & Grace.

And Nina was the Belle of the Ball!

Thanks for coming to visit Grandma & Nina!

We'll miss you til next time.

WE LOVE YOU GRANDMA!!!

The Savage Dolls Cafe

 So I looked in the classroom and 

there is Emma working away at something...

 So, Jess goes to your new school?

 Yes, that's right.  Hey let's get something at

the coffee shop.

Sounds great!  Let's go!

Hi, welcome to the Savage Cafe, what can I...

Hey, hi Emma!  Hi Jess!

Hi, Martin, this is Nina, she came with Grandma for a visit.

 Martin, how long have you worked here?

Hi Nina, nice to meet you.

I haven't worked here long at all, 

what can I make for you?

 Oh, it all looks so good.

 Ooo, I'll have a cupcake and a mocha blended.

I'll have an espresso.

And, I'll have a strawberry blended.

Ok coming right up!

Wow, these are great Martin.

And here are some extra cupcakes, they're my treat.

Thanks Martin, you are so nice!

Well, we better be going, see you later Martin.

Bye girls, have a nice day!

BEHIND THE SCENES

The Savage dogs

Cheri Ann

 Cheri & Cilly

 And Max!  Helping Kurtis set up.

Looking forward to Halloween!!

 Tell me what you think?

I got a new sewing machine and in the midst of trying out all it's new

features I had all this gathered fabric.  Then I noticed this 'star' stitch and thought ,

"that would be SO cute on a witches dress."

 SO, I threw it all together for

a skirt and added this bodice from the Kirsten pattern.

Found here:

http://americangirl.wikia.com/wiki/Kirsten's_Patterns

 Here is a second dress I made on the same theme.

And the first dress that I changed a bit.

  I had some wool felt lying around so I put together matching hats.

Doll Mask tutorial

These are the masks I made for our doll's Ball.

Below is a printout pattern.  

Make sure the page prints out so that the

Masks are 4 inches by 1.5 inches.

Click on this picture and 'save as' to your picture file.

Then print out 8.5 x 11.

This mask can be made with craft foam, cardboard, or felt. 

This tutorial is made with paper to create a "Ball Style" mask.

I gave one mask some cat ears for all you cat costume dolls!

Cut out one mask

Using a glue stick, glue one mask over another on the sheet.

Glue sticks dry fast and don't cause wrinkling like white glue.

Cut the 2 layer mask out together.

This makes a mask that is strong enough for

decorating.

Use a hole punch to start eye holes.  Carefully cut inside 

the black lines or turn over to unprinted side.

Gather your decorations.  I used things I already had around.  

Glitter, feathers, sequins, ribbon, etc.

I glued on some sequins & feathers.

Then I ran white glue around the empty spaces and

glittered all over. The extra glue gives the mask added strength.

Dry lying over a pencil.  This helps it have a natural curve

to fit your doll's face.  I added a small dowel to my

masks for the Ball, but some elastic or ribbon can be used to 

tie a mask to your doll's face.

AND VOILA!!

Have Fun.

Just a note: for the cat mask cut out the cat ear mask first

and glue over another mask print on the paper.

Then cut out the mask with 2 layers including the ears.