Girls and Dolls - QSC Unique Doll Class 2011

Girls and Dolls  

 I celebrated my birthday this year at QSC -Quilters of South Carolina http://www.quiltersofsc.org/ by teaching a creative cloth doll class.  My friend Donna who also shares an October birthday brought a homemade carrot cake with cream cheese icing that we had at every meal and shared with members of our Swamp Fox Quilting group that attended the annual Pieceable Retreat at the White Oak Conference Center. http://www.whiteoakconferencecenter.info/about
Donna helped make my birthday a wonderful occasion.

Lynne, Rita and Terri posing with their dolls.

Donna took a beading class with Dee Doebler. You can see the beautiful beaded necklace she made. I was supposed to take the class with her, however Kathy Hauser was unable to teach her class and I was asked to teach the class at the last minute. Donna forever the teacher took the chef's teenage daughter under her wing and helped her make a necklace.
 

So I am dedicating this site to a fantastic group of women who shared stories, laughter, knowledge with each other over the weekend.

They summed it up by describing themselves as creative craftswomen who think outside of the box but who share what they know with others.

This is Barbara and her lovely doll. Barbara's doll do had a fantastic array of ribbons in her long lovely locks.
This is Diana's Gorgeous Doll with blue eyes. Notice her butterfly necklace and her heart.

Diana was a group of what I labeled the princesses. I had Princess Diana, Beatrice and Rose.

I have trouble remembering names so I grouped everyone into small groups to help me remember. The Princesses loved their group name the best.  Diana has a featherweight Singer Sewing Machine. These machines can sew the tiny stitches necessary for the doll parts and they have become a favorite for taking to quilt retreats.

These are the television celebrities Paula (Abdul) and Kathy (Ireland).
They lived up to their namesakes in fun and laughter.

The first thing we had to do was paint our doll faces. Everyone was a little nervous about this stage of the doll making, but you will see what marvelous faces these lovely dolls had.

The following day, we sewed the heads on the dolls after the paint dried. We had to be ready by Saturday Night to showcase our dolls and the girls found many creative ways to dress their doll's heads before their final hairdo's were sewed on on Sunday.

This is Kathy's Doll and she had Attitude.

Paula dressed her doll as a flapper and used a peacock feather. Her neck is encrusted with beads. The following day Paula finished her doll's hair.

This is Paula with her beautiful doll finished. Paula shared this picture of me entitled 3 Sisters. The three doll creators were Kathy, Paula and Diana.

This is Terri and Bebe aka Princess Beatrice. Terri and Bebe are daughter and mother and Terri came up from Georgia to share this creative weekend with her mother and to help her mother sew her doll. They were a joy to watch. Terri not only helped her mother on her left but helped Rose on her right as well. Terri worked on her own doll and then helped both ladies sew their dolls.

This is Terri concentrating as hard as she could. We had times of laughter and sharing and times of quiet and the doll makers worked to finish their creations.

This is a closeup up off Bebe's Doll. You can just see the joy and laughter in Bebe's face reflected in her doll.

Terri's doll had this beautiful leafy batik that just was in perfect harmony with her doll.  It was just amazing how much the dolls resembled their creators and how much joy it gave to the artisans.

You can see the small buttons in the arms. This was our method of attaching the arms and giving the arms movement as well.

This is Rose, Rose underwent the most dramatic transformation of all the Doll Artists. She came barely able to use her sewing machine and absolutely doubting that she could make her doll. We showed Rose a lot of love and help especially Terri and Rose's daughter who came in at the end of the day to help Rose.

Rose's gorgeous glamorous doll with the Red Boa.

At the end of the class, Rose spoke of her experiences and how her expectations had changed.....  how proud she was of what she accomplished and she wasn't sure it would have been possible.

Liz shared many great ideas with us. You can see her stuffing the arms for her doll. Hands would be next. Liz's best idea was to use the long doll needle inserted from the top of the head to hold the head in place while you sewed it on. I had used pins but they always stuck me in my fingers. This method keeps the doll head in place and your fingers pricker free.

Liz made a sassy doll. I just love the green flowers and the contrasting pinkish hair.  Her face was just beautiful as well.

Lynne made this beautiful doll. I learned a lot from Lynne and this is the most important hint I learned from her. If you get paint on your doll face which I did on Lynne's then you can use the same kind of fabric as the doll's face to gently rub it off. It really worked. It works when the paint has not set or dried yet but she also waited a little while as well.

Mary is using the method of putting the needle into the top of the doll's head and down into the neck to sew on the head.

Mary's doll hair do was the most whimsical of all the creations.

We finished our dolls Saturday Night except for the hair. Hair was placed on the dolls so they would look wonderful and the doll artisans paraded their dolls throughout the auditorium to share what they had created in the evening convocation.

Pat was our most experienced student having made a doll before but seemed to enjoy the class.

I had a wonderful time bonding with my students and taking on the role of midwife to the girls and dolls.

I taught a lot

I laughed a lot

I learned a lot.

Dollusions of Grandeur

Dollusions of Grandeur,  An Amazing Journey back into Victorian Times.

September 10th, 2011,  I went with a friend Tish to the Pee Dee Doll Club 25th anniversary Doll and Toy  Show and Sale at the Ramada Inn in Florence SC. 

The show featured more then 20 dealers from across the Southeast with all types of dolls from vintage Barbies, Barbies, Antique Dolls, Collectible Dolls, toys, doll furniture and doll clothes. It was the first doll show I ever attended and I was amazed and fascinated by what I saw. I did buy one small doll and I will show you her later.

Now Tish had come with me in the morning to Columbia to the Creative Cloth Doll Artists Group I belong to because she has a china head doll that she needs to have repaired and hoped to get some information from the women at the group. However when we walked into the Doll and Toy Show and Sale, Tish found what she called the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  

This is Tish with Betty Hudson. Betty Hudson is a Doll Dealer and Doll Restorer who is going to make a canvass body for Tish's China Head Doll. You can contact Betty at 6205 Manse Drive, Louisville, Kentucky, 40258  telephone number 502-468-4384.

This is Tish's China Doll Head

Tish taught me a lot about China Dolls since I knew absolutely nothing about China Dolls. This is what Tish's China Head looks like. Heads and Hairdo's are what identify China Dolls.
The doll reminded me of Mary Todd Lincoln and guess what, there is actually a China Doll named after her or really her hair do. Famous people's hairdo's were copied on doll heads.

China head dolls were made by various companies from 1840 to 1940. The vast majority were made in Germany and the doll heads were found on a wood, cloth or kid body. Some had partial limbs made of china as well. Their hair was either a molded hair or a hair wig over a solid bald dome. These Dolls are generally described and identified by their hairstyles since many of the china doll heads are unmarked or may or may not have a mold number. Depending on your dolls hair style, you can approximately judge the era they belonged to.
This is a great site that shows pictures of the different hairdos and eras:

http://dollreference.com/china_head_dolls.html

Tish suffers from the same affliction that I have. I no longer shop for anything unless it has to do with Quilting, Fabric, Dolls, Beads and strange exotic collectibles.

My children have grown to doubt my present choices.

She bought a pair of authentic leather child shoes for her doll.

If you want to know how much they cost, you will have to ask her, however I will say that these shoes did not merit the distinctive packaging of a used grocery bag.

Tish has me in mind for a particular project



She wants me to make the leather hands for her doll. The canvass body not only comes headless, but hand less as well. You can see that the hands are made of leather and are stitched on the outside unlike the dolls hands of cloth dolls today. We have already decided to use kid glove leather maybe even finding vintage gloves. ( I would like to know the difference between vintage and used clothing.) (Angelia Jolie was shown on the Red Carpet wearing a Vintage Gown - Did it come from Goodwill or Bergoff Bygones?)

Anyway back to the hands, How hard can this be? I have made tiny little hands for the cloth dolls, but I know I  have been mistaken before, all I have to do is remember the choices I have mistakenly made in men in my life.

This doll is wearing a fox fur collar stole casually slung over her shoulder. I can just imagine my Omas wearing such a fashion statement. I found fox furs hidden away in the back shelf of a closet and would play with them when I was little. I actually saw one for sale on ebay for $20.00 recently.

This doll really caught my eye. Tish told me she is known as a Peddler Doll. Peddler Dolls or "Notion Nannies" were popularly displaced under glass domes in British and American households during the Victorian Era. (My Revlon Bridal doll is displayed in a sideways fish aquarium - It was cheap.) Traditionally dressed in a red cloak and holding a basket overflowing with miniature wares, the peddler doll commemorates the disappearing social custom of itinerant trader's traveling the countryside, the basket containing a tiny world of 18th and early 19th century material culture.  As personifications of a village character type similar to the tinkers, they tell a story both sociological and folkloric, In her time the peddler woman was seen as a welcome figure providing a necessary service supporting herself and aiding others through her work. The red cloak has much symbolism attached to it; from fertility to sexuality.  They were placed on the mantelpiece for good luck and fortune. She invokes the connections to Little Red Riding Hood, the seemingly endless magic carpet bag of Mary Poppins and Eliza, the little flower girl in My Fair Lady.
This information came from the following site, a very difficult one to open:
www.bellwethergallery.com/images/artwork/Notion_Nanny.doc
Notion Nanny, Tinker, Tailor, Merchant, Maker

This is Allison Smith's intrepretation of a Notion Nanny from the above website.

We actually witnessed a doll operation. This doll was valued at over $1500.00. Notice how solicitous the mother is over the impending procedure to her baby.

Susan Boyle or

Suzanne Hamric another Doll Dealer 


This baby is a "Reborn Baby" My granddaughters want one of these and have asked me to make them each a baby. It is a little bit daunting to undertake such a task.

Finally with all the dolls available this is the one I bought from Dot Smith. It is a Mickey Mouse Club Musketeer Doll.  Back in my day. Walt Disney evolved a formula to attract and hold the attention of little and teenage girls. It was Annette Funicello and Tommy. Today its Selema Gomez and Miley Cyrus. So you know what worked before probably works today.

http://www.originalmmc.com/
A site devoted to the original Mickey Mouse Club.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOBlXZyKC6A&feature=related
Roll call of the mouseketeers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9DQnT1Awig
Mickey Mouse Club March song

http://phillipphiles.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/happy-birthday-annette-funicello/
Annette was my favorite

Did you watch the original Mickey Mouse Club?