Saturday, February 20, 2021

Pocket Dolls

 I was wondering what to post about next and this

little phrase popped into my head,

"Pocket Dolls".

What is a pocket doll?

A wonderful tiny doll that fits inside a pocket!

Yes Sophie, you are in!
At 8" you just made the cut.
I feel that a pocket doll should be no
larger than 8".

More importantly, a pocket doll is small 
enough to sneak into school.
I know none of you EVER did 
such a thing in your life.

But I did.

These were the pocket dolls of my childhood, 
 the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Little Kiddles.  

My favorite Kiddles came in a perfume bottle
and had a flower scent.

These dolls were called Kiddle Kolognes.
My friends and I collected as many as we could! 
Just looking at their pictures I can smell their scent!

We were constantly getting in trouble for 
bringing our Kiddles to school!

How fun having a tiny friend hidden in your book bag
or the pocket of your jacket.

My oldest pocket doll belonged to 
my Grandmother. 
She is a tiny china head doll.

She is just under 6 1/2" tall.
I believe she is from the early 1900s.

Next are these tiny bisque dolls, made in Japan.
Japan filled a void in manufacturing bisque dolls after WWI.
They are from the 1920s.

These inexpensive dolls were used for playing in dollhouses.
These two are both well under 5" tall.

These 2 dolls are fully jointed with wires.

You can see the 'Made in Japan' stamp.
You can also see the wired joints.

Also made in Japan during this same time,
are these two "Flapper Dolls" 
called so because they were made in the 1920s. 
You can see they have flapper hairstyles.
Both these little girls only have jointed arms.

These little bisque dolls were commonly found at fairs
or other similar events and given out as 
prizes at game booths.

At 9" Helena and Beth are just a bit too big
to be considered true pocket dolls.

But their two tiny Raggedy Ann dolls 
(handmade by me)
definitely make it into the club!
At just over 3" they would fit in any pocket.

My next size Raggedy Ann and Andy are 7" tall.
They would make very soft cuddly pocket pals.

These two cloth dolls are makeover dolls.
I found them in thrift stores and gave them
new dresses, new hair and even some new faces.

Both these dolls I made.  The doll on the left was a doll blank.
I embroidered her eyes and stitched on her hair.
The doll on the right I made from scratch.

Styling yarn hair is worth a mention.
There are several techniques for applying yarn hair.
I created all of these yarn hairstyles. 

Here is where these four little girls live.
They are dolls for my Compo girls.

These are 3" Lalaloopsy dolls. 
They are very recent and were popular when my daughter
was very much into the American Girl Dolls.

I particularly liked these little girls for their yarn hair.
They are dolls for our four AG dolls.
See if you can spot them in the AG Doll House.

These are two 6" dolls from Colonial Williamsburg.
On the left is Sarah and on the right is Betsey.
They belong to our AG Doll Molly.

They sit on Molly's bed in the big Doll House.

Last, but definitely not least, is my
Betsy McCall doll, Sophie.
Just under 8" she is an adorable
Pocket Doll.

Here is the whole gang. We hope you enjoyed 
meeting the Pocket Dolls!


Oh wait!
I almost forgot...

 
Remember these two little dolls from my childhood?

They are on their way to my house right now!
They brought back such sweet memories,
I could not resist adding them to 
my pocket doll collection!

Friday, February 12, 2021

A Little Daydream...

 Me, daydreaming one day, wishing 
my doll room could magically get cleaned...

Cissy: Julie and Martin!  Glad I caught you.  
I am calling a doll room meeting.
Would you let everyone know?
Both: Sure thing!

Julie:  Hi Julia and Amanda, doll room meeting.

Amanda: We'll need help getting down.
Julie: No problem, I'll get Martin to help.

Martin: Hey Kids, Room meeting in 5 minutes.
Beth: (in a whisper)
Did he just call us kids?  
We're old enough to be his great-grandmother!

Martin: We've got you! 
Julie: We won't let you fall.

Sophie:  HEY MARTIN! WHAT ABOUT ME!?!
Martin: Hang on! Don't jump!

Sophie: Catch me Martin! WWEEEEEE!!!!
Martin: OOF! (I hate it when she does that)

Cissy: Hello everybody.  Quiet down please.

Cissy: The reason I called this meeting is that I
heard Mom say we would not have the room tour
until everything was clean. 

Cissy:  I also heard her say she couldn't do ANYTHING 
else until her little skirt project was finished first.

Cissy: As you can see, we have gathered some 
cleaning supplies.  Julia and Amanda 
I want you to work on the skirt project.
Amanda: OK, no problem.
Julia: We will handle it.

Cissy:  All right, everybody lets get started!

Patsy: I need help getting my lovies.
Cissy:  All right Joan and I will help you.

Martin: C'mon Julie, we'll vaccum.

(humming a little tune)

Emily:  There! Done in here.

Molly: Anymore dresses need hanging up?

Grace: I think that's all Molly, thanks!
Emma: We'll have to fold this blanket together.

Marylou: Good job girls! I'm just 
finishing in the kitchen.

Betsy: (singing) "Clean up, clean up...

"Everybody work together.."

Amanda: Are you sure we can do this?
Julia: Of course we can! How hard can it be?

Sophie: I'm a very good sew-erer, so I am 
here to help too!
Amanda: UM, maybe you could do something else for Mom?

Julia: I know!  You could make Mom some pictures!
Sophie: OK!

Sophie: (humming)

Cissy:  Well done, your room looks lovely!

Cissy: Everything here looks very nice.

Helena:  Thank you Cissy!

Beth: I'm pooped!

Cissy: Well Beth you did a very good job.
Mom will be pleased.

Emma: We're all done up here!

Cissy:  How is the skirt project?

Julia:  We are almost done!
Amanda: Just sewing on the snap.

Cissy:  Oh Sophie! You're room is still a mess!

Sophie:  I was busy sewing and drawing.
Cissy: Well, just hand me those clothes and it
will all look very nice.

Cissy: All right everyone, very well done.  
Back to your places!



LATER THAT DAY...
(Shhh! Here she comes!)

(Step, step, step)

Mom: What happened up here? Everything is so clean!

Mom: So lovely, who could have done this?

Mom: The floors are swept and everything is dusted!

Mom: Everything looks perfect!

Mom: The kitchen is clean...

Mom: And the front room!

Mom: Who did all this work?

(giggle)

Mom: Oh my, what's this?  My skirt is all done!

      Mom: Oh, looks like someone has been coloring.    

Mom: Hmm, it's all such a mystery...

Mom: Cissy how did this all happen?

You're welcome!