You Sweet Doll!

Last night I lectured at the Penn Oaks Quilt Guild in Malvern, PA and had so much fun!  I love meeting quilters and the members were hilarious and engaged throughout the program.  The lecture I presented was "Project Sunway" a look at the variations of the Sunbonnet Babies (or Sue) quilt pattern.  It's probably my most popular lecture and filled with entertaining, whimsical, and unusual examples of the pattern.  Thank you Penn Oaks Quilters!

I got to Malvern a little early and stopped at an antique shop I spied and found--GOLD!  Okay not so much gold but something that delighted me.  My friend and sometimes business partner Beth is a seamstress extraordinaire and a retired quilt restorer.  She was even a pattern tester for a designer in New York.  Beth has long said she would like to return to teaching children to sew plus she has a new grandchild expected in late summer (sex of child unknown). So when I discovered some vintage doll clothes patterns at the antique shop, I had to call her!  Of course I bought them all and can't wait to give them to her.  

I don't have to use the patterns to appreciate them so I thought I would share the envelope covers with you!

These don't have which dolls the patterns were designed to cloth.  I think this one might be from the 40s but I couldn't find a copyright on the pattern:

The patterns below were made for "Miss Revlon", "Cissy", Lilo", and "My Fair Lady".    

This one takes me back to my childhood, I had a white fur muff that I absolutely adored.  

According to what I found in the internet, Miss Revlon dolls were made from 1956-1960.  Apparently the Ideal company convinced Charles Revlon (as in make-up) to lend his name to the product:

The "Cissy" Doll was produced by Madame Alexander.  

She's too cha-cha for words!

These were made for the Toni doll.  Toni as in "Toni Home Permanents" (there's a flashback for us). The doll was sold from 1949 to 1953.  She obviously wasn't a fashion doll but a little girl doll,  These clothes remind me of my childhood:

Then apparently there was the "Toni Walker" doll (I'm not a doll collector and I couldn't tell you the difference--if there is one):

But my absolute favorite were the "Little Lady Doll" patterns from the 1930s-40s.  I'm not really sure why but some people refer them as "Anne Shirley Dolls" and there is speculation about even that name...was it the actress or Anne of Green Gables?  I don't know, do you?

This Little Lady pattern (below) is my absolute favorite and Beth will go ga-ga for it.  I'm curious about the outfit that is a jump suit.  Was this a factory worker or safety worker outfit?  If you were a little girl who's Mom joined the war effort working, it must have been neat to have an doll outfit that matches Mom's.  If you recognize the outfit as a uniform for something, please let me know!

Well I'm off to weed the garden.  Have a wonderful day!