One Way to Have Fun

Several summers ago, (remember summer?), I found a large box of old paper dolls at a flea market. It was towards the end of the day, and people were starting to close up their tables. I asked the young girl who was minding this one how much for the box. She hesitated and said "$10"? As if that was going to be too much. I hope I didn't seem to hasty taking out my money! I could hardly wait to take them home, dump them out, and sort through them. There were many different books and boxes of dolls and clothes. I resold a lot of the movie star and baby doll ones. But these I kept because there is just something about girls and teenagers with clothes from this era that I love. I think they are late 1930's or early 1940's. Someone help me if you know for sure, there is no date. This is the front of the box. Since I really don't have anyone here to play paper dolls with, I'd thought I'd share some of them with you. They are not complete, even though it says complete on the front of the box. The little girl who owned them had loving cut out the clothes, so I scanned all of them in that were there. Not everyone has a pants outfit for example. But there are enough things to have fun. First, here is Patty, when she is little, and then grown up. If you click on her and save the image in it's largest form onto your computer, they should print out the right size. The tall one is 25cm, and the little one is about 19 1/2 cm. I used card stock, and then fashioned my own stands, because those were missing too.
Here is Peggy. Doesn't she look like the tomboy? And finally, Polly. I was in utter dismay to discover that her grown up doll was altogether missing. So I just made a copy from the cover of the box. You will have to use your creativity, and trim her arm so it looks right. But it's the best I could do. I tried finding another original doll like her to no avail. I did locate one of these sets on an auction site, but they ended up going way too high for my thrift store budget.

And here are a couple sets of clothes to get you started. I have a lot more.. but maybe this is enough.... until tomorrow...?

Tuesday Afternoon

I maybe shouldn't be posting this because the dress isn't technically finished. It still needs fasteners on the back, and three of the seams inside need overcast. But I got tired of working on it for the day, and didn't want to wait until tomorrow to post a picture. This is one of my repro Bleuettes modeling. The dress fabric is a polished cotton floral from probably the late 40's- early 50's. The collar and sleeves are organdy from the same time period.. really nice crispy stuff. I adore the old fabrics.. everything about them. You just can't buy anything like this today. Although that stuff I just got from Japan is really super.
I am loving all the new blogs I'm coming across. What a fun thing! So many nice people with so much creativity.. all over the world.

Think I'll finish this dress tonight. I'll feel better about it then.

Sweet Scent

If only there was a way to send the aroma through the computer. This bud on my gardenia just opened, and is a lovely treasure on this bleak cold February evening with snow/ice in the forecast. I love this plant. It sits here on my work table by the window, the leaves so shiny and bright, giving me sweet white flowers twice a year. I marvel at the Maker's handiwork. Here is what I got done yesterday on the quilt. Almost enough footballs to make an entire ring, but you get the idea. But now that the waiting room days are over (I hope), back into the box it goes. There are dresses started for the Bleuettes, and even though they are very patient girls, I feel bad leaving them stand in their chemisettes.

Old and New

Yesterday was unexpectantly spent sitting in a waiting room for a long period of time. Fortunately I had prepared a few little quilt patches to piece together by hand should this kind of thing pop up. I had just enough time to grab them along with my snippy little Fiskars and my favorite silver thimble and stick them in a baggie in my coat pocket. It is a Double Wedding Ring quilt that I have been working at for a very long time, but probably will not get finished any time soon. I'm making myself stick to these rules about it: 1. it will be entirely sewn by hand, and 2. all old fabrics and threads will be used. Here is what I actually accomplished yesterday. One completed "football" and several other arcs. I am probably going to have to go sit some more this afternoon, so this morning I pinned the arcs to the white centers, and made a little flannel pin holder. Yesterday I only had a piece of paper to stick my pins in, and it didn't look so nice. Also, my wonderfully pointy scissors kept poking through the plastic bag. So I took a piece of ivory colored leather and sewed a little sheath for them. Don't they look happier? The post office also called this morning. An EMS package was there. I knew what it was because I had ordered some fabric from Japan. It is my first purchase from Fabric Tales, and certainly will not be my last. This stuff is gorgeous! And they even added a sample piece of fabric tape, which I am sure I will think of getting the next time I put in an order.

Bears

It was one of those days for wrapping in an afghan to stay warm on the couch. Come O Springtime! So I don't have anything to show for my day's work. Although here are some little bears I made and sent to my friend for Valentine's Day. I had forgotten to take a picture in my haste to get them into the mail on time, but my friend is very good with her camera. This is her photo of them, and by clicking it, you should end up at her Flickr if I do the link thing right. I'm still learning my way around with the blogging. Such fun!

Colorful Treasures

One of our favorite things to do is visit the Good Will store, especially when we have a 40% of coupon like we did over the weekend. My daughter finds the cutest sweaters. But I am drawn to the junk.
I found this green plastic caddy that matches two other caddies I had. The pink one belonged to my mother. I believe she kept her sponge hair rollers in it. The yellow one is for thread. I found it at a Mennonite thrift shop last summer. I had no idea there were so many colors of this plastic box. Now I will need to keep my eye open for more!
Saturday was spent organizing some of my vintage trims. It was fun rediscovering some things I had forgotten I had.

And here finally are some other junky treasures. When I picked up the little dress I had planned on using it for doll clothes, but it is so cute I don't think I can bear to cut it up. For some reason this color scheme is becoming one of my favorites. I might need to make a quilt with these colors soon.

Quilt Patches

I guess I need to make a confession. I am so addicted to old stuff! One of my favorite things is fabric from the 1920's-1950's. One day ! was lucky to find a box of quilt patches at a garage sale. There were lots of these 2 1/2" squares, and I love playing with them and sorting them. Here is just a sample. Enjoy!

Valentine's Day

These are my Hittys. They would like to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day.

First Post

This first post doesn't say much, but hopefully I can bring a little bright spot to your day.

Tuesday I finished making this doll. There are more pictures of her here:

http://eileensattic.com/doll.html