My Favorite Thrift Store Dolls

Most of my absolute favorite dolls came from thrift stores.
I wanted to share my favorites with you. 

I'm going to start with the littlest.

This is a 1967 Florence Niddle Kiddle.

I found her naked and alone in a thrift store bin.

She was way down at the bottom 

underneath a lot of other toys! 

She is 3 inches tall.

Finding Florence

I made her this travel case room.

When I was a girl I had a Barbie travel case and 

I loved it!

I would take it to my Grandma's house when we 

would stay with her during school breaks.

Since then I have made several travel cases.

I love the idea of a traveling doll room!

This is florence in her Nurses Uniform, that

I made for her.

Yes, Florence Niddle is a nurse!

This is my 1957 Betsy McCall, Melanie.

When I found her, her head was off!

I only paid $5.00 for her!

Finding Melanie

But now she is lovely!

I made this traveling case room for Melanie and Sophie.

Sophie and Melanie

One of my earliest thrift store dolls

is my Pleasant Co. Molly.  

I found her in this green velvet Christmas dress.

Her hair was AWFUL! Her wig was 

frizzy and someone had chopped 

off a lot of her hair.

(It was me before I knew how to fix doll hair)

Since then I found a replacement 

Molly wig and she is lovely!

Re-wigging Molly

Here she is now! 

This is Bonnie. She is a 1977 Madame

 Alexander Pussycat Doll. This is

how she looked when I found her!

Finding Bonnie

Here she is now!

This is my 1950s era Tiny Tears Doll.

She was in desperate need of a bath!

I also refreshed her lips and cheeks.

Finding Lara

Here is Lara now! I just love her!

I found this Madame Alexander Maggie

in a used book store! Can you believe it?

In a back corner was a box with dolls

in pieces, except for Maggie.

Finding Maggie

After a lot of work and a new wig

Here she is! You can see I 

re-dyed her skirt and added

some embroidery roses to cover

the holes, lots of holes.

Another early find was my 

Madame Alexander Cissy Doll.

I did a double take when I saw her!

She was lying on a stack of 1980s porcelain 

dolls you find in almost every thrift store.

I stopped shopping right then and went

straight to the register, I was in shock!

Finding Cissy

Here she is refreshed with a new hat.

And here she is with her matching 

shopping basket.

This is MaryLou. She is a 1955 

Miss Revlon Doll and the DIRTIEST 

doll I have ever worked on!

Finding MaryLou

Here she is from a recent hairstyle refresh.

This is another Miss Revlon, Laura Ann. 

I found her in Albequerque, NM

in a second hand store.

All I could see was a bit of that stripe dress

inside a case full of  porcelain dolls.

Finding Laura Ann

Here she is! Lovely in yellow stripes.

My two Miss Revlons love to pose!

I owe this Revlon Crown Princess doll

to my daughter! We were thrifting together

and she brought me this little doll and asked.

"Mom, is this a good doll?"

Oh yes! She is a 1950s Crown Princess doll.

She is a precursor to the Little Miss Revlon Doll.

Finding Viola, Crown Princess Doll

Here she is now Viola, Revlon Crown Princess.

One of my absolute favorites is Shea. 

She is circled in the picture from the 

Estate Sale where I found her.

She is a 1972 Ideal Crissy Doll. 

Finding Shea

When she first came home with me

she was a hot mess.

Here she is today! So lovely!

This is her sister Crissy when I first

found her.  She is a 1969 Crissy doll.

OK, OK! She's not

actually from a thrift store, but I 

couldn't leave her out!

Finding Crissy

Here is Crissy today! I think I love

these Crissy dolls so much because

I played with them when I was a 

little girl. I loved their long hair and

VERY groovy fashions!

My next doll came from this thrift in

Ridgecrest CA.  My bestie lives here

and our favorite thing is going to 

all the thrift stores in town.

Compassion Resource Center

I found Mia, another of the Crissy Doll Family

right here about 4 years ago.

(I recreated this image for effect :)

I saw her across the room and I knew...

Here she is today in a granny dress I made.

I know that I am frequently finding and restoring

dolls here on this blog, but these are the dolls

that I really connected with in some way.

I hope you enjoyed seeing them all together.

Me and Crissy

(It is me 6 yrs old, but I added Crissy with my photo editor because 

apparently my mom did not take a picture of us together!)

My dolls and their Times

I have frequently said that dolls 
are a small piece of history. 
Dolls remind us of how our 
grandmothers played and dressed.
Dolls allow us to hold a little bit of
 history in our hands.

I wanted to share my current dolls and
the eras they come from.  Starting with my 
oldest dolls to my newest.

The 1920s and 30s 

A big reason I grew up loving dolls

 was my grandmother.

This is my Grandmother in 1931.

She was 10 years old.

This is my Grandmother's tiny china head doll.

She is 6.5" tall. She has lived almost all

my life in a china cabinet.

Now she is a very special member 

of my doll family.

Clara 1925, 15" tall.

Restoring Clara

My grandmother had a larger china head

doll, possibly similar to my Clara. My 

grandma's doll's head was broken by 

her younger sister.  My Grandmother

never forgot her lost doll.

This is my McGuffey Ana from 1937.

She is 13" tall. I found her in an Antique shop.

This is how she looked when I found her.

She was SO sad!

Finding Ana

This is my American Character Sally 

from the 1930s, she is 19" tall.

Sally is wearing a vintage 1930s doll dress.  

I love this fabric with children 

playing with hoops and balls!

This is my Patsy baby from the 1930s.

She came in her original christening dress.

Finding Patsy Baby

These are my two Patsyettes, 9" tall.

Helena and Lillibet also from the 30s.

The 1940s 

My Patsy Joan (Joan) is from the 1940s.

She was fully restored when I found her.

My 2nd Patsy Joan (Charlotte) also 

from the 1940s.

This is how Charlotte looked when I

found her online. She just needed

a little cleaning.

Finding Charlotte

Also from the 1940s are my two

Georgene Raggedy Ann and Andy.

The Georgene dolls were the last dolls

commissioned by the family of 

Johnny Gruelle,

the author of the Raggedy Ann stories.

Always check the label of those old 

Raggedy Ann dolls!!

The 1950s 

I am begining to realize a large portion of

my dolls are from the 1950s.

This is my Madame Alexander Cissy.

Cissy is 20" tall. She is wearing a

mom-made dress which is vintage 50s.

I found Cissy in a thrift store for $20!

She was wearing her original dress too!

Finding Cissy

My Miss Revlon, Marylou, is also from the 1950s.

She is 17" tall. Marylou is wearing

a vintage Revlon Kissing Pink dress.

I found Marylou in a thrift store.

She was one of the dirtiest dolls

I have ever restored.

Finding Marylou

Little Miss Revlon at 10.5" tall was the small

version of Miss Revlon. My Little Miss Revlon,

 Julia, is wearing a Revlon yellow school dress.

My brunette LMR Lauren.

My Ideal Crown Princess Doll, Viola.

She is actually a precursor to the Little Miss

Revlon dolls. She is 10.5" tall.

There is disagreement if she was

supposed to be a model of Queen Elizabeth II

or Princess Grace of Monaco.

My daughter found Viola in a

thrift store for me. I obviously

raised my daughter right!

Finding Viola

This is my American Character Toni, also 10.5".

She is a contemporary to the Little

Miss Revlon Doll.

These two fellows are my Uneeda Bob dolls.

They are John and Chris, twin brothers.

They are 11" tall.

John and Chris both got a makeover

when they came to my house.

Uneeda Bob makeover

This is my Vogue Jeff, named Thomas.

He is 10.5 " tall like the girls.

He is a brother doll to the 

Vogue Jill and Jan dolls.

This is how Jeff looked when he arrived.

Jeff was repainted as well.

This is my 16" Tiny Tears Doll. Lara, from the 1950s.

She not only is a drink and wet baby, but she

cries tears!

Lara is another thrift store find.

So glad I brought her home!

Finding Lara

This is my 1950s Madame Alexander Maggie.

She is 14" tall. She is wearing a 

vintage Mary Hoyer dress.

Maggie was a thrift store find, well

actually she was in a box of doll

parts in a used book store!

Finding Maggie

This is my 1950s Mary Hoyer doll.

Also 14" tall. She is wearing a vintage 

Mary Hoyer dress.

Mary Hoyer was designed to be a model for

crocheted or knitted children's clothes. 

She is frequently shown in knit

skating or Skiing outfits.

This is my Betsy McCall doll Melanie, also

from the 1950s. These 8" dolls were 

also called "Tiny Betsy".

I found Melanie in an antique shop, but her

head was off! After a restring she's perfect!

Restoring Melanie

The 1960s 

Madame Alexander Puddin released in 1965.

Her name is Bella, but I still call her Puddin.

The 1960s was also when the tiny Kiddle dolls

were first released.

I got in trouble for bringing my kiddles to school

in my book bag. Specifically my Lucky Lockets!

I had several Lucky Lockets. They could

be worn as a necklace, a pin, or a barrete.

(This doll is not mine, just for reference)

I also had Kiddle Kolognes as a girl.

These are my two Kiddle Kolognes. I loved

these dolls because they all smelled like flowers!

This is my Florence Niddle Kiddle.

I found her in a thrift store, naked and

alone in a large bin of toys!

I found out she was a nurse Kiddle, so I

made her a nurse uniform.

I made her a travel house with this little case.

Here is the inside. 

I also have this Dainty Deer Kiddle.  I had one

like this as a child.  She was sadly eaten by....

My Grandma's ravenouse

Pomeranian, Missy Pooh.

The 1970s 

Crissy was first released in 1969, but

my first Crissy I must have recieved

around 1972.

My first Crissy looked just like this.

After I got my Crissy, Sears came

out with her little sister...

Cricket! She is 15" tall. 

Sadly, my original Crissy dolls 

were lost in a move.

(intentional? or accidental? 

My mom claims to not recall, 

she is 83, so I guess

I'll never know. heehee)

These are my two current Crissys, 

Crissy and Shea.

These three were from an estate sale.

Estate Sale Crissys!

This is my Cricket and my Mia both 15" tall.

After I didn't find a Cricket at the estate

sale, I found this Cricket online!

This is my Madame Alexander Pussycat Doll,

Bonnie, she is from 1977. She is 19" tall.

I just love MA Baby dolls. 

I found Bonnie in a thrift store.

Pussycat Restoration

The 1980s 

Tomy Kimberly came out in the early 1980s.

This is my Kimberly given to me by 

a reader, Mary N.

Kimberly is a skating doll with real

Hang Ten skates.

Kimberly 80s fashions

In 1986 Pleasant Company released their first dolls. 

I found my Molly in a thrift store covered in dust!

My Molly is most likely from the late 80s.

This is Molly after her first wash and brush.

Her hair was wild!  The first Pleasant Company 

dolls had heavy thick bangs.

Eventually I re-wigged Molly with a newer 

Molly wig. I also touched up her lips and cheeks.

 It is a huge improvement.

Re-wigging Molly

The 1990s

I have ONE doll from the 90s.

This Patsy Joan was reproduced in 1994.

I found her in a thrift store wearing

this terrible 90s style dress.

I came upon this Patsy dress online and ordered it!

The set came with panties and a slip

It also had shoes, socks and a bonnet,

To match this adorable dress!

I do love this little dress set.

I love how poufy it all is!

For comparison, here is my 1940s Original Patsy 

Joan and the reproduction 1994 Patsy Joan.

The original is 17" tall, the repro is 16"tall.

BUT, 

My repro Patsy is responsible for beginning

 my interest in composition dolls!

The 2000s and Beyond....

Our earliest 2000s doll is Tiny Betsy from 2005.

Named Sophie, she is a 

reproduction of the 1950s Betsy.

At 8" tall she is also called Tiny Betsy.

This is my Sophie, (4 years) 

you can see why I chose

to name my Tiny Betsy Sophie!

(My Sophie is now 20!)

Here she is side by side with my 1950s

Betsy,  Melanie.

Christmas 2012, Grace was Sophie's (8 years)

 first AG doll. Grace really started 

this whole doll thing going.

Soon after Grace, came Emma.

Soon after that, I saved Molly from a thrift store...

Then on a trip to the American Girl Store

in Los Angeles, we added...

Julie.

AND then...

Martin, and most recently...

Kit Kitteridge.

Last of all is Willa, found in a thrift store.

She is also made by American Girl,

but just 14" tall.

Willa is a Wellie Wisher doll. 

There were just 5 versions of the Wellie Wishers.

Just a couple notes:

Look who is coming to live here!!!

Wellie Wisher Kendall

AND....

A 1965 Madame Alexander Pussycat doll!!

I am thinking of a name for her....

Any ideas?