Doll

This is the fabric I got on my expedition to Sturbridge last week-

I’ve been cleaning my workroom. First I make an even bigger mess-

I pulled everything out of the closet, made big piles on every available surface-

I am moving furniture around- I moved another old bureau into the room and moved a small table out. I am trying to go through everything. Deciding what should be kept or what needs a new home. The pile of craft items up for adoption isn’t as big as I wish- I have a really hard time parting with stuff- but I have made some progress.

When I put things back, I always struggle over how to sort things. Should the fabrics be sorted by color, material or size of the piece? The worst problem is always the buttons- I have so many that I really like but I’ve never come up with a good system so that I can see what I’ve got. When I have things back together I will post more photos.

I got tired of organizing and cleared off a little space to get back to work on dolls. I really need to finish something! Tomorrow- doll posting. Todays photos of the project were fuzzy so I’ll try again.

I am in the midst of a massive clean-up and reorganization of my studio. I was feeling like I was drowning! And I couldn’t find anything. I really should go through all my stuff once a year just so I remember what I’ve got. It is very inspiring.

I enjoyed the post on names over on Wee Wonderfuls and thought I’d post something I’d saved from one of the Yahoo groups I read. Someone sent in a list of names that was printed in UFDC’s “Dolls News” in an article from August 1959. The list was gleaned from The Godey’s Ladies Book of 1857. On some of them, I’m not sure if the spelling is correct so I’ve put a (?).

Alba, Adelia, Alida, Athalie, Annot, Arabella, Berthanalda (?), Corilia, Claribel, Clotilda, Clarina, Euphemia, Elfrida, Euphrasie, Eulalie, Endora, Elfie, Elmira, Emmeline, Esmeralda, Ermengarde, Linette, Fidelia, Florinda, Floribelle, Fennilla (?), Georgianna, Hermione, Hortense, Hilda, Ione, Imogene, Imalda, Lanthe, Isodora, Keziah, Lilla, Lucretia, Letitia, Minnie, Maude, Mara, Maja, Melecent, Medora, Myrrha, Mira, Nyia, Parthenia, Selina, Sara, Sophronia, Telkla, Thyrza, Victorine, Zara, Zitelle, Zelica, Zayda, Amy, Agatha, Aurelia, Annabel, Aimee, Alida, Angeline, Blanche, Cora, Camille, Cecily, Dora, Dorcas, Delia, Ella, Elfrida, Fanny, Gertrude (Trudy), Geraldine, Henre, Ida, Iona, Jeanette, Jessica, Juliet, Josephine, Katrina, Lydia, Marcia, Monica, Mildred, Matilda, Natalie, Naomi, Nydia, Olympia, Pamela, Penelope, Rosa, Rosalie, Rowena, Renee, Rosabella, Rosette, Sylvia, Sybil, Sophia, Susette.

I am going to use one of these names for my latest doll- you can try to guess which one. I will show her with her name once I get her shoes done.

I met up with some doll friends yesterday in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. We had a great day going to some of the textile stores there. We went to Wrights Factory outlet, then to a shop that specializes in antique and vintage textiles. Unfortunately I don’t seem to know the name of the store! It was really great though! These photos are from that store-

dolls in a crib-

lots of buttons-

a wonderful picture- looks like a photo but up close it looked like a drawing- hmmm? I think she looks like an Izannah Walker doll-

We finished out our day at some quilting fabric shops. I managed to find lots of fabric I couldn’t resist.

The inspiration for the expedition was that the terrific doll maker, Susan Fosnot, was in town to do a workshop at the Wenham Museum. She is from the midwest where she has trouble finding the vintage textiles that she likes to use for her dolls. She stayed overnight with me. Here are some of her dolls that she showed me-

We spent some time up in my studio pulling stuff out of bins and drawers. I gave her some fabric, but unfortunately, though I have tons of stuff I’d love to pass on, we both like the same stuff! I need to find people who need big buttons, 60’s fabrics and all the other stuff that I have that’s wonderful but I’ll never use. Speaking of which- I’ve put some more stuff on ebay. Vintage sewing patterns from the 50’s and 60’s. I have more, some from the 40’s, but I got sick of posting them, so I’ll do it another day.

I’ve posted a bunch more pictures over at Flickr.