My name is Paula Walton. I’m a working craftsperson. I’ve been self-employed since 1986, when I started selling the items that I make under the name A Sweet Remembrance. Among other things, I am a doll maker, a dressmaker that specializes in reproduction women’s and children’s clothing, maker of spun cotton ornaments and holiday figures, and a freelance designer. Upon occasion I write magazine articles and am a Craftsperson in Residence. I teach and do demonstrations quite frequently, plus I was previously the director and curator of a small museum in Connecticut.
Attention Izannah Walker Class By Mail students and Alabama Baby Class Members, Ning just let me know that they are definitely shutting down my Spun Cotton class site on 10/1/16. I have not received notices for my Izannah class or Alabama Baby class yet, but I am sure I will. There isn’t going to be any reprieve this time around. If there is information on the class site you want to save, you should do it now! Also if you are interested in joining a private facebook group for class members only please go to the appropriate Ning class site and click on the discussion about the site closing and post your response. If you are a member of BOTH classes, please post on both sites. The posts on the class sites are how I am keeping track of who votes yes and also who is eligible for inclusion in a private facebook group. Only current class members can access http://www.izannahwalker.ning.com and http://www.alabamababy.ning.com.
Every weekend during the spring, summer and fall I search flea markets and antique sales for the antique fabrics that I use to make and dress my dolls. Today was a good day! I found a Civil War era quilt that is too far gone to restore, but still has usable fabric that I can make into wonderful dresses for my Izannahs. ❤
Lovely large c. 1840’s papier-mache doll that I brought home from New Hampshire. She has a child’s pocket tied around her waist and came with a late 18th century child’s chair with it’s original splint seat.
Last week I got to do something that I’ve been wanting to do for over 20 years! We drove up to New Hampshire for Antiques Week and a visit to Strawbery Banke museum. I’m sure you aren’t surprised that I came back a few things for the dolls, including two new friends. 🙂
Lovely library steps from NH! Now I’ll be able to reach the bedroom and attic of the doll’s house in style!
Home from NH with antique library stairs ❤
A tiny tin candle holder and silk flags from NH, along with an ironstone plate, tin spoons, a cast iron iron, and a tiny old basket from our stop in Sturbridge, MA.
A girl can never have too many spoons in her kitchen! And who could do without an ironstone plate and a gathering basket for trips out to the gardens?
Silk flags to bedeck the doll’s house for Flag Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day! Plus an iron to keep all the linens well pressed and a tin candle holder to keep the dark at bay.
Two antique braided rugs found in Sturbridge will help keep the dolls feet warm when they are running around their house this winter.
Antique petticoats, pantalettes, and stockings for the dolls.
Assorted antique thread, lace, trim, ribbons and fabric from our stop in Sturbridge at one of my favorite antique shops.
BIGGEST spools of thread in the world 🙂 OK, probably not, but still huge. The smaller spool is normal size.
Just a bit of whimsy for my new studio. A piece of zinc ridge pole from one of the NH antique shows. Just imagine having the entire crest of your rook bedecked in these hearts ❤
Another view of the antique zinc ridge pole.
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
Close-up of the 1840’s papier-mache doll I bought in NH.
She has the most wonderfully detailed hairstyle.
A beautiful profile and iconic 1840’s styling.
I love this black stockinette doll, often referred to as a “Beecher-type” doll because people think it has a resemblance to the dolls made by Julia Beecher.
This doll is in amazing condition.
All of my dolls are over joyed that they have new family members! ❤
Meet Sharon’s doll! She is an 18-1/2 inch reproduction of my antique Izannah Walker doll, Isabeau, with a gently aged paint surface. Sharon requested an extensive custom wardrobe for her doll.
For her doll’s first dress, Sharon chose a long sleeved, high neck dress that is a copy of one of the antique doll dresses in my personal collection. Sharon’s fabric choice is a antique off white and black print cotton.
For chores and gardening she has an embroidered pinafore apron with a pocket, to carry around her clothes pins and flower seeds. ❤
For hot summer days, Sharon selected a short sleeved white dress made of antique cotton fabric, trimmed with tucks and lace insertion and a black and white sunbonnet.
Sharon’s doll has bare feet, stockings fashioned from antique stockings, and hand-made red leather shoes, with tiny scallops and red silk laces.
When autumn winds bring crisp, cool nights this young miss will stay warm, wrapped up in an embroidered wool paletot.
At the end of a long busy day sweet dreams await in this reproduction of an antique doll’s nightgown, sewn from antique white cotton and trimmed with mid- 19th century glass buttons and lace.
*** you may enlarge any of the smaller photos by simply clicking on the image.
Here is a photograph of sweet Emmaline when she arrived on my door step. I instantly fell in love with her beautiful eyes!
and now my tale continues… Today it is time for Emmaline’s story. It’s a rollicking adventure of coincidence, fate, and love!
In June, 2014 one of my doll club members told me that a friend of hers who lived in Wilton, CT was putting all of her dolls up for sale at the Withington August auction. She then showed me a photo of a doll that her friend called a “Nantucket Doll”. Imagine my surprise when the “Nantucket Doll” was actually an Izannah Walker doll! The doll was dressed in a pink and white calico morning dress and had been repainted, but was clearly an Izannah Walker doll. It just so happened that another Izannah Walker doll was up for sale in the same Withington auction. I didn’t go to the auction, but several of the members of my doll club did. When our club met in September, the one other Izannah collector in the club brought the doll she bought at Withington’s to show me. No it wasn’t the “Nantucket Doll”, it was the second doll, a tiny 16 inch Izannah Walker.
16 inch Izannah Walker doll purchased at Withington’s Auction August, 2016
Sometime later I happened upon the “Nantucket Doll” on eBay. The winner of the Withington auction had listed her for sale. Fast forward to the Autumn of 2015. A very good customer, and dear online penpal, contacted me. She had purchased an Izannah Walker doll. Would I take a look at photos of her and see if it was possible to do some restoration work on the doll? Low and behold, there was the “Nantucket Doll” again, now stripped of much of her repaint by a restoration professional (at the behest of the eBay seller). The little Nantucket Doll had been named Emmaline by her new mom, Anita. Anita had a wish list of restoration areas that she would like for Emmaline. Were they possible? Would the restoration be a good idea? She had conscientiously had the doll evaluated by fine art appraisers before writing to me. Together we worked out a minimalist plan for Emmaline that would help her look more like the truly beautiful doll she once was, but still show her age.
So after traveling far and wide during the intervening year, Emmaline once again returned to Connecticut. This time her destination was my studio, a mere 31 miles from Wilton where she had made her home for many years!
The first thing I did after Emmaline arrived was to ohh and ahh over her, introduce her to all of my resident Izannah Walker dolls, and then thoroughly document her condition.
Emmaline before my restoration.
Pre-restoration full length front.
Pre-restoration full length back.
Emmaline upon her arrival at my studio.
Note the seam placement down the back of the leg which is indicative of a very early Izannah Walker doll.
Front of legs.
Feet with painted boots.
This hand looks as if it was repainted at some point.
Right hand.
Emmaline was remarkably intact for a doll of her age. Her only real issues were on her face. Her body was sound, with a bit of reinforcement stitching on the toes of her painted boots and fairly well matched over painting on one arm. Even her pale pink linen second skin was still in good shape!
Wet paint! One of about 20 transparient light layers of color.
After rebuilding the tip of her nose and most intrusive cracks with a water soluable clay (that could be removed. Restoration work should be able to be undone if possible)
Starting the painting process.
Still more painting…
Finally starting to get the paint colors evened out and closer to her original paint color.
Getting close to finishing the painting…
The biggest challenge I faced with Emmaline, was getting all of the many skin toned paint colors on her face to blend into one another. During her lifetime her face was at least partially painted several times. Much of the overpaint on her face had been removed. What was left was a combination of her original paint that had faded and at least two other colors of flesh-tone paint. Fortunately the original paint on her shoulders, chest and back was intact, with areas of slightly yellowed varnish. The original non-faded paint on Emmaline’s shoulders told me what color her face should be, which was very important. When I started painting Emmaline’s face, I was very careful not to paint over any of her original paint. I did very sheer layers of paint over my reconstructed areas and the stubborn remaining overpainting. Because her original paint was chalky looking due to sun fading and cleaning I fed it several times with a very small amount of cold pressed linseed oil. The linseed oil helped bring the old paint back to life and also made it blend better with my new in painting. As my last painting step I wore away a smidgen of my newly applied lip paint. I wanted to make sure that nothing I did stood out or looked new.
Painting finished, it’s time to be fitted for new dresses!
Close-up of restoration in-painting.
Now Emmaline’s face and shoulders are closer to the same color.
The restored Emmaline retains all of the charm she attained during the past 160 or so years, the only difference is that now she looks like her life was a bit more gentle.
Once I finished painting I moved on to dressmaking. Emmaline came with many layers of underclothing, so all I needed to do was make her extra dresses to augment her wardrobe. Sewing for Emmaline was a joy! It was a lot of fun to dress her up in her new clothes and see her in more fitted dresses.
Emmaline is modeling part of the antique underwear she accumulated during her lifetime.
Emmaline looks very pleased with her dress made from madder printed polka-dots.
Emmaline after restoration. Wearing a reproduction dress made from antique fabric.
Short gathered, banded sleeves and a low gathered neckline are very becoming.
Emmaline’s second new dress is made from a very early brown print cotton.
This dress has a fitted bodice and sleeves, with a cartridge pleated skirt.
Emmaline after restoration.
Emmaline after restoration.
Emmaline after restoration.
Emmaline after restoration.
Originl paint and wear marks on her arm. Self piping and cartridge pleating at the waist of her dress.
Emmaline after restoration.
After her new clothing was complete Emmaline was thrilled to be heading back home! Who wouldn’t be with such a loving and caring mom? Clearly Emmaline was fated to find such a perfect new home. Anita was so thoughtful when it came to deciding what was right for Emmaline. There could not be a better care taker for this early example of Izannah Walker’s work. Anita was also amazingly generous to me! She kindly allowed me to tell you about Emmaline, share photographs of her and is letting me make reproductions of her, so that other people who love Izannah Walker’s dolls can add an example of this lovely early girl to their doll families and keep Izannah’s legacy alive. ❤ Thank you Anita!!!
Emmaline after restoration. She still looks like an adventuresome doll who loves to play, but now her years sit more lightly upon her shoulders. ❤
Good-bye Emmaline, we miss you little “Nantucket Doll”…
My Izannahs loved having Emmaline come stay with us! They have all declared each other to be best friends for life!!!
And they all lived happily ever after!
THE END
(*** Move your cursor over the photos to read the captions, click on photos to enlarge.)
This is Lily when she first arrived at my studio. Note the missing paint on her facial features, the poorly made flat replacement arms, the glued on stockinette covering her original shoulders and the sewn on stockings and leather shoes.
Today I thought I’d share with you the story of Lily and Emmaline, and the journey we shared. Lily and Emmaline are two very wonderful original antique Izannah Walker dolls that came to me for restoration. The following is the tale of how they returned to their true selves and regained a glimmer of their youth.
Part 1 Lily’s Story
(Move your cursor over the photographs to read the captions. Click on the photographs you wish to enlarge)
When first purchased.
After removing facial overpaint
One day, out of the blue, my dear friend Susie called to tell me that she had purchased an antique Izannah Walker doll. The doll was in such bad shape that no one else at the doll show she attended was interested in buying her, even though some people did realize that she was one of Izannah’s dolls. Chief among several issues was the very heavy repaint on the doll’s head and shoulders. Thinking that she certainly couldn’t make the doll look worse than she already did, Susie gathered her courage and began removing layers of paint. Finally working her way down to the remains of Lily’s original layer of face paint. What emerged was a charming, classic pre-patent Izannah Walker doll. In due course Susie and Lily journeyed to Connecticut and it was agreed that Lily would stay to visit my family of Izannahs while I endeavored to bring back some of her former glory.
This is Lily when she first arrived at my studio. Note the missing paint on her facial features, the poorly made flat replacement arms, the glued on stockinette covering her original shoulders and the sewn on stockings and leather shoes.
Full back view before restoration.
A close up of Lily’s face and the bodice of her dress before restoration.
Where to start??? One of the challenges I faced with Lily was the glued on, painted piece of stockinette that someone had applied over her entire shoulder area. Obviously there was some reason that they felt the need to do that, but why? I decided to see if I could remove the glue saturated fabric. Starting in an unobtrusive spot under the edge of her second skin I gently began chipping away very small bits of stockinette/glue/paint. This was an excruciatingly slow process. The ill considered repair disappeared a fraction of an inch at a time, to reveal Lily’s original shoulders. There was a small torn area up near her neck, which I repaired with a little piece of antique fabric.
Glued on repair fabric went from neck to chest and was heavily painted.
The neck edged of the glued on stockinette was also sewed in place.
Test area to see if I could remove the glued stockinette.
Close-up of neck edge.
Oh so slowly getting down to Lily’s real shoulders.
The small hole hidden under all that glue, stockinette and paint.
Taking apart a decayed silk quilt block to salvage the antique cotton fabric underneath.
After removing the silk stitch by stitch I came up with an extremely close match to the cotton fabric that Lily’s shoulders are made of.
Fabric comparison. Looks good!
The final repair! Much less intrusive, it leaves her original structure visable and supports weak areas from underneath.
I used some of the same antique quilt block foundation fabric to make Lily a new pair of arms in the proper size, from a pattern drafted from one of my own antique Izannah Walker dolls and re-scaled to fit Lily’s petite size. After making Lily’s new arms I gave them an appropriate amount of wear and multiple coats of paint that I hand mixed to match her remaining original paint.
Next came the thrill of doing a small amount of judicious in-painting on Lily’s face and shoulders. Brushing on many whisper thin coats of hand mixed color, always making sure not to get any paint down into the cracks in her paint surface. Susie is very found of Isabeau, one of my antique Izannah Walker dolls, and we found that when we compared Isabeau and Lily that Lily looks like a smaller version of Isabeau. Both having been made originally from very similar head molds. Since all of the paint on Lily’s features was long gone, I took Isabeau to the studio, where she sat with me and modeled as I repainted Lily’s eyes and lips.
The next decision that Susie had to make was whether or not to leave the sewn on stockings and shoes from an earlier repair. I could tell that Lily’s ankles had once again separated along the seam line, and while the socks were keeping her feet from falling off, they were dangling loose under the red stockinette. After much consideration it was decided that I should remove the red “socks” and little leather shoes. When I did I was very pleased to find that Lily had painted shoes! Not painted boots, but low top shoes.!!! The original paint did not go above the ankle seam. This is a fairly rare detail and it made my whole day when I uncovered it. 🙂 I was able to repair Lily’s feet with a few stitches to keep her worn “shoes” in place over their horsehair stuffing. I used small strips of the antique quilt block foundation to make bands to stabilize her ankle seams.
Red “socks” and leather shoes, a previous ankle repair.
Here you can see that the ankles are detached from the feet underneath the socks.
After removal.
The bottoms of the legs that were hidden underneath the sewn on “stockings”.
Feet just laid in place. Note the height of the shoe paint.
Before reattaching the shoes, I carefully made a muslin pattern for future reference. It is important to keep records in case this doll should need additional restoration in the future and also for the dolls I reproduce.
Adding the support bands of antique cotton fabric.
The finished ankle repair.
After getting sweet Miss Lily back to her true self, I turned my attention to her clothing. She came with a hand sewn red cotton dress trimmed with black velvet ribbon. The dress is not as old as the doll and while it was made with love, it was not made by an expert seamstress. The dress also had a great deal of sun fading on the front. Normally I would not be concerned with the fading, because that is just one of those things that happens to fabric… However, the dress was quite short and Susie wanted the hem let out if possible. I tried to find a piece of old black velvet ribbon with similar wear so that I could add it as a second row of trim along the crease of the original hemline (once the hem was let out). I looked for quite a long time without success. I wound up letting the hem down, then removing all of the ribbon trim so that I could wash the dress. Normally I use cold water to wash antique fabrics, but in this instance I used warm, hoping that the red dye would run and even out the color. It did run, but the fading was still very evident, as was the fact that I let the hem down. So I wound up re-dying the dress to it’s original turkey red color. This evened out the color enough so that it is now acceptable. Then I sewed the black ribbon back in it’s previous positions, because even after dying the lines where the ribbon was were quite visible. I also moved the hooks and eyes at the waist to make it smaller. The dress fits Lily much better now. since Lily did not come with undergarments, I made her a set from antique fabric and antique waved braid (rick-rack). As I’ve mentioned Lily’s mom is very fond of my Isabeau, so I recreated Isabeau’s chemise, then made a petticoat and pantalettes to match.
See the fading that is still very much evident after the dress was washed.
Restored dress.
This is much closer to the dress looked like when it was new.
Chemise with handsewn antique rick-rack.
Petticoat with tucks and muktiple rows of waved braid.
More rick-rack trims the pantalettes.
Lily shows off her new chemise.
Underwear that is almost pretty enough to wear as a dress. 🙂
I thoroughly enjoyed having Lily stay here during her transformation. My doll family is going to be crushed when she leaves, as they have all become fast friends. I’m sure they will be pen pals for life.
“Lily we are so happy you came to visit.”
Lily joined in all of the doll’s adventures in between restoration sessions in my studio.
Lily is much happier now!
She is ready to kick up her heels and dance!
Lily has enjoyed her stay.
“Good- bye little bed, I’ll miss you!”
In addition to trusting me with Lily, Susie has been extremely generous. She told me that she wanted me to make reproductions of Lily and she has allowed me to share this story of Lily’s restoration! Thank You Susie!!!
One of my reproductions of Lily.
This reproduction Lily recently left here, headed to her new home.
Lily and her younger sister pose together. They will live happily ever after at Susie’s house with all of their sisters.
And now we come to the end of this chapter in Lily’s continuing story. Her restoration is finished and she will be going back home. All of the pieces of her previous repairs will be going with her, as they are mementos of her long, interesting life.
Newly made hands and arms.
Eyes, lips and a whisper of blush on her cheeks along with her newly revealed original shoulders.
Lily after I finished her restoration. What a beautiful Izannah Walker doll!
Please come back to visit Izannah Walker Journal next week to read Part Two: Emmaline’s Story.
The August issue of Early American Life with the 2016 Directory of Traditional American Crafts is here! I’ve really been looking forward to seeing the photo of Hannah at Locust Grove, so it was fun to finally get to see it and of course quite a thrill to be juried into the Directory for the 34th time!Hannah was so excited to see the photograph of her namesake in the August issue of Early American Life.
Hannah was so excited to see the photograph of her namesake in the August issue of Early American Life.
Izannah Walker Journal 