Hannah grace has written us a letter to say that she loves her new home and is making friends with all of the bears who live there too, especially Mr. Ginger. ❤
All of the girl’s were thrilled to receive a letter from Hannah Grace! . She said that keeping busy helps when she is lonely for her friends and family in CT, so she has begun working on a few projects.
Hannah is trimming photos of her loved ones to fit in her locket. She is planning to go shopping for ribbon this weekend so she can wear the locket and keep the pictures close to her heart. Hannah wants to share her quilt top with Mr. Ginger and plans to finish quilting it later this winter.She also has a small embroidery project she wants to work on and is in the process of choosing colors.
What a busy young lady!!! Now all of the doll’s are clamoring about starting winter projects of their own…
Hannah Grace, Mr. Ginger and their quilt top.Hannah Grace and photos for her locket ❤
The dolls are reading through the American Girl’s Book to choose party games for today.
Today is the 197th anniversary of Izannah Walker’s birth! The dolls and I are having a day long party in her honor and we are so glad that you could join us for all of the fun. This is the first of three birthday party posts that I will be sharing with you today. Right now all of the dolls and I are getting ready for a very busy day. The kitchen is a hive of activity and last minute party planning is going on all over the house. So enjoy this first post and then come back later in the day to attend the festivities. At 1:00 p.m. Eastern time we will be having a picnic and later tonight (7 p.m. Eastern time) the dolls are having a sleep over. In between all of my Izannah Doll Making Class members will want to drop into the class site at 2 p.m. Eastern time for a few treats!
INVITE ONE OF THESE VERY SPECIAL BIRTHDAY GUESTS INTO YOUR HOME
If you would like to keep the party alive throughout the year in your own home, I have six dolls available for sale who would love to come live and play at your house. Any of these dolls sold during my Izannah birthday celebration come with an array of special party favors:
– a tiny thimble necklace so that they are always ready to play THE THIMBLE with you
– two sheets of my Izannah paper dolls
– a signed copy of the December 2013 issue of Early American Life magazine with a feature story about our home, so that your doll can show you where she was born
– a coupon for 50% off of an additional dress just in case she needs something special to wear later on in the year ( I am currently blessed with an over abundance of orders, so an Easter or 4th of July dress would be the earliest I would be able to do)
I’m only listing these six dolls here on my blog (rather than putting them up on my regular website too) during this four day celebration as a little extra thank you for all of the people on my mailing list and all of you loyal blog readers! 🙂
Five New Reproduction Izannahs For Sale
Here are five lively little Izannahs to tug at your heart! These will be the last dolls that I will be listing for sale before Christmas. I’ve had such a busy and bountiful year that I am fully booked up and committed until mid-May 2015 with special orders and custom work.
Isane #4
This young Isane #4 is approximately 18 inches tall. She has a red second skin covering her body and red painted boots with scalloped tops. Beneath her dress she wears a full set of undergarments. Some Izannahs have long dresses t]like women or older girls and others wear shorter skirts like young children. I’ve hemmed Isane #4’s dress long, but if you prefer it shorter, I would be happy to add a third growth tuck in the skirt. You may also request aging on her arms, legs and feet. I left them fairly new looking so that her new mom would have a choice. Isane #4 can be yours for $1250.00.
Ismay #1 SOLD
Meet Ismay! She is the very reproduction that I have made from the lovely antique Izannah Walker doll I bought at the UFDC convention in July. Ismay is 18 inches tall, has black scallop top painted boots and short wispy hair. You can adopt Isamy for $1250.00. ISMAY IS NOW SOLD.
Andrew #1
I seldom make boy Izannahs, even though I dearly love them. This young man is the first boy doll I’ve made from my Anna mold, but since I’m sure he would object to being called Anna, let’s refer to him as Andrew. 🙂 Andrew is about 17 inches tall and wears a very detailed costume that consist of a red plaid dress, trimmed in black velvet ribbons with a split skirt and matching trousers. He has side parted hair, tall black painted boots with red tops and comes with his paper party hat. Andrew is $1300.00 due to the intricacy of his clothing.
Zanna #7
Miss Zanna is 17- 1/2 inches tall. She has black painted boots with scallop tops and a second skin made from antique brown glazed cotton. Zanna can be yours for $1250.00.
Isabeau #9
Isabeau #9 is a bit shorter than her sisters. She is 17 inches tall, has red painted boots and a red glazed cotton second skin. Her adoption fee is $1250.00. If you love the bonnet she is wearing you may purchase it for an additional $100.00. You may also request a more aged appearance on the arms, legs and boots of this doll.
Isane and Isabeau are best friends and insisted on matching party dresses! I love the way they appear to be whispering secrets ❤
Breakfast
As a special birthday treat Isamy is making cinnamon toast for breakfast.
First Ismay butters the bread, then sprinkles it with cinnamon and sugar, before placing it under the broiler until the it hot and bubbly with nice crisp edges.
“We need a whole platter full of toast to feed the entire family.”“If you’d like to go make a cup of tea and some cinnamon toast for your own breakfast, we’ll wait to start eating breakfast until you get done.”
GAMES
Right after breakfast it was time to disscuss what games to play today at Izannah’s party. The dolls got out their favorite book The American Girl’s Book written by Eliza Leslie in 1831. I have to admit that it took them a very long time to agree on the games and I’m sad to say there was even some squabbling and a few tears.
After the games were chosen the older girls taught the younger ones how to play THE THIMBLE. Everyone enjoyed the game and congratulated themselves for making a good choice!
THE THIMBLE
The company sit in a row holding together the palms of their hands. Fanny takes a thimble or any thing else that is small and round, (for instance, a hazle-nut or shell bark) and holding it between her palms, she goes along the line, pretending to drop it secretly into their hands, saying to each “Hold fast what I give you.” Everyone opens her hands as if she was receiving the thimble, and closes them again immediately. Of course the thimble is only in reality deposited in one. For instance, Fanny leaves it in the hands of Lucy.
After Fanny has in this manner gone all along the row, she returns to the head and asks Mary, who is seated there, to guess who has the thimble. Mary guesses Jane, who opens her hands and shows that she has it not. They all guess in turn. Susan happens to guess Lucy; and this being right, Lucy displays the thimble and gives it to Susan. It is then Susan’s turn to take the thimble and go along the row with it.
Sometimes when this is played, a forfeit is required from every one that guesses wrong, and therefore a great number of pawns are speedily collected.
Let’s peek over their shoulder and see what other party games they have planned!
It looks like this will be perfect to play at tonight’s sleep over.
A few of the dolls have gone out to ransack my studio in the hopes of finding as many embroidery hoops as they can. They are just sure that they would make marvelous hoops for The Graces…It’s always good to be sure of the rules!Boys hats! How embarrassing!!!
Thank you for spending the morning with us! Don’t forget the the picnic is starting promptly at 1:00 o’clock (Eastern time). That will give you just enough time to change into your party frock. We’ll see you then!
For the past few months I’ve been working on an excessively romantic project. From time to time I receive very sweet calls from husbands who want to do something special for their wives. Before Christmas I was contacted by a very thoughtful gentleman in the midwest who wanted to give his wife a custom made doll. He wanted her to be able choose exactly how she wanted the doll to look, so with a little plotting and planning we decided that he should present her with a gift certificate for Christmas that would allow her to plan a special reproduction Izannah Walker doll. Our original scheme called for the doll to be ready in February in time for his wife’s birthday, but during the planning stages after the New Year, Cindy the recipient of our joint endeavor, told me that there was no hurry. So she and I took our time sorting out all of the details for her doll and coming up with a very complete design plan. I loved that fact that this doll has been a family affair, with Cindy’s daughters helping her choose the fabrics and styles for her doll’s dresses.
This doll is an excellent example of what my dolls look like when you request that they look “new”.
This project is now coming to a close, as I finish the last touches on Cindy’s Christmas doll. Tomorrow I will be sewing yards of black velvet ribbons onto her second dress and fashioning her leather shoes. Cindy asked that I make her doll look almost new, with just a few hints of age, as the doll will have years ahead of her to age gracefully on her own.
I think that Cindy an her daughters choose a wonderful dress style for this doll. The split, lace trimmed sleeves look very striking made from this red striped fabric.
It was such a nice afternoon that I couldn’t resist taking a few photos of Cindy’s doll to remember her by, since she will soon be leaving here on her journey to her new forever home…
The bright, late afternoon sunlight was behaving quite rambunctiously while I was taking these photos, so this young lady’s sister loaned her a bonnet to protect her fair complexion.
It is a bitterly cold snowy day here in Connecticut! Far too cold to try to keep my studio warm enough to work in. Instead I am seated in my parlor, hand stitching tiny red shoes. My parlor is a cozy place to be on a winters day, while a frigid wind teases at the two-century old window frames and blows tiny gusts of icy cold air into the room to remind me why I am glad to be indoors.
Making little shoes is a delicate, slow project, just right for this time of year. I am making two pairs of red shoes, each a bit different, for two very loved a cossetted dolls. They should be finished in time for the dolls to wear them for Valentine’s Day.
Yesterday brought unexpected rain showers, which played havoc with my photography plans. Eventually the skies cleared and I was able to venture out with doll and camera in hand! Here are my daylight photos of Jennie’s doll. Tomorrow she will be traveling west to her new home. She is very excited to meet her new sisters, most of whom are early china dolls! If you’d like to read more about her home coming and Jennie’s collection of antique china dolls, visit her blog Quintessential Antique Dolls.
Jennie’s doll is so happy to have her wardrobe finished and packed for her westward trip to her new home.
I just finished making this doll and her wardrobe for Jennie. I haven’t quite adjusted to standard time yet. 🙂 I usually work until pretty late in the day, and don’t leave my studio until 6:15 or 6:30 each evening. All through the summer I’ve been able to take photographs at the end of the day, but no more. Now that we are well into autumn and daylight saving time is no more, the moon is well up before I dash between the studio and the kitchen door! I had to resort to taking these photos inside the studio with a flash this evening. Tomorrow I will take more in natural light. Needless to say, she looks so much prettier in person!
Jennie’s doll is modeling her summer dress.Here she is wearing her indigo morning dress.
All red! Dress, beads and shoes…
Jennie’s doll is very fond of her brown sunbonnet.
Today marks the 196th anniversary of Izannah Walker’s birth. She was born in Bristol, Rhode Island on the 25th day of September in 1817. You may read more details about Izannah’s life in this post. I wish I could invite you all over to my house for cake and silly party games, but since I can’t, I’m doing the next best thing and having a SALE to celebrate the occasion and to say thank you for being such wonderful customers, students and friends. It is such a great pleasure to know other people who love Izannah’s dolls as much as I do!
From 9/25/13 – 9/29/13 all of my reproduction Izannah Walker dolls, additional custom made dresses and accessories for your Izzy, Izannah Walker doll clothes patterns and Izannah Walker Doll Making Classes are 10% off. This sale applies only to items ordered from September 25th through September 29th, 2013, the discount is not available on prior orders. As always, all items may be placed on lay-away with terms to fit your budget and shipping is free to any United States address. I generally just have two sales per year, my Izannah Walker Birthday Sale and my Christmas Sale 🙂 So don’t let this one pass you by.
Three Finished Dolls Available
I have three very special dolls available for this years Birthday Sale. One of them is created from a brand new mold that I made from my friend Mary’s Izannah Walker doll, Anna. Thank you Mary!!! Anna is 17 inches tall, so she is a smaller size than my other dolls and has the look of a younger, chubbier child. All three of these dolls have very aged appearances, befitting young ladies that were made early in Izannah’s doll making career. They each come with two elaborate dresses, full of wonderful little details to delight the heart of any dress maker, a chemise, pantalettes, petticoat and necklace.
Isabeau #1 SOLD – Thank you so much for stopping by to look at her! Please contact me if you would like to order a custom made doll similar to this one.
SOLD Isabeau #1 comes with a necklace made from hand strung pale pink bone beads.SOLD Her dress, made from antique pink and black print fabric is adorned with rows and rows of black velvet ribbon.SOLD Isabeau #1 wearing her winter white antique wool dress. I made this dress from an antique unfinished, so never worn, wool baby’s petticoat.A surprise sentiment hides inside the waist band of her dress, which fastens with hand carved bone buttons.Details showing the antique trims used on the sleeves of Isabeau’s embroidered wool dress.three ringletsSOLD Isabeau #1 Wardrobe
Isabeau #2 – SOLD Thank you!
SOLD Isabeau #2 shows off her hand strung real coral beads.SOLD Isabeau #2 is wearing a dress that I made for her from a mid-1800’s brown “coral” pattern print fabric. The dress has full gathered sleeves, two growth tucks in the skirt and a deep 3 inch hem.SOLD Isabeau #2 in her black party frock. The dress fabric dates to the late 1800’s. Rows of antique black velvet ribbon encircle the sleeves, waist and hem of the dress.
SOLD Isabeau #2 wardrobe
Anna #2 – NOW SOLD THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LOOKING. Even though this one is sold you may order a custom made Anna style doll, and if you love these dresses I have enough fabric to make another set just like them.
SOLD Anna#2 wears a tiny golden thimble on a chain around her neck.SOLD Anna #2 is shown here wearing her dress made from a very early c. 1830-1840 cotton gauze paisley print. The green, red, brown and ivory fabric is perfect for late fall and the upcoming Christmas season. The sleeves and skirt of the dress have graduated growth tucks.SOLD Anna’s black dress is made from another very early cotton print fabric. The neckline of the dress is trimmed with antique ivory cotton ribbon, plus a row of antique silk velvet ribbon. Her chemise is trimmed in tiny waved braid (aka rick rack in modern terms).
SOLD Anna #2 WardrobeIsabeau #2 & SOLD Anna #2 show off a little Black Magic for All Hallows Eve. Black dresses are one of my favorites year around because they are a neutral accent in any room and the dark color will draw your eye to the doll and make her painted features “pop” and glow.
Are you wondering where Anna #1 is? In the very near future she is going to be living with Mary, her older sister Anna and all of her Walker cousins in Vermont. Members of my Izannah Walker Doll Making Class may read about my adventures in making Anna #1 in a continuing series of posts on the class member site.
To see photos of the original Miss Anna, follow these links:
I am a much better doll maker than I am a photographer. All of the girls look so much nicer in person. If you would like to see more photos of any of the dolls before placing an order, just ask. To purchase any of these dolls please visit my website ASweetRemembrance.com or alternately you may email paula@asweetremembrance.com or call 860-355-5709.
Time worn, well loved dolls are the ones that kindle the fiercest love in my heart, but I know that some of you dearly love newer, more pristine dolls. Don’t despair, I would be happy to make you the Izannah Walker doll that inhabits your dreams and has captured a place in your heart. Call or email me to place a custom order, 860-355-5709 ( 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time) or paula@asweetremembrance.com. I do have a bit of a waiting list for custom work, so the sooner you order the better.
Email (paula@asweetremembrance.com) or call me (860-355-5709) about prices and available fabrics for custom made doll clothing and accessories. Simple dresses made from antique fabric start at $200 apiece. More elaborate dresses with a greater number of tucks, fuller skirts, rows of ribbon or lace trim, embroidery or more costly antique fabrics run from $250 -$275 and may go upwards. Handmade leather shoes are $75. Any custom order is 10% off during the sale. Scroll up to see the new style of dress that I made for Anna #2. The fully lined dress has a slim cut bodice and sleeves, with a cartridge pleated skirt and velvet ribbon trim. The cost of an identical dress is $295, if the dress must be fully lined, or $275 for one with a lined bodice.
I don’t have a pattern available yet for smaller size clothing to fit Anna.
To read more about my Izannah Walker Doll Making Class by Mail follow this link to my website, where you may also order the class. The class comes with unlimited support, plus a class member only discussion site that features extra bonus material and patterns, including five different flat faced heads that work with the rest of your Izannah class patterns so that you can create a variety of different cloth dolls as friends for your Izzys! Sophie and Mae, two of my dolls that I made using the flat faced patterns will be featured in the Spring 2014 issue of Prims magazine.
Time For A Party
After trying on all their new clothes and posing for their photo shoot, the girls and I spent some time in the kitchen baking Izannah a birthday cake. We all agreed that it was the perfect treat to celebrate the birthday of our very favorite doll maker!
The recipe for the cake came from The Best of Shaker Cooking by Amy Bess Miller and Persis Fuller. I chose this recipe because it is one that would have been in use during Izannah’s lifetime and is filled with apples, the perfect seasonal fruit for an autumn birthday. I picked apples to use from our oldest apple tree. It is a very firm, late season cooking apple that I have never been able to positively identify. We grow our apples organically, so they are not picture perfect, but I’m sure apples just like these would have been a familiar site to Izannah.
Apple Cake
from Shirley Shaker Village
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1-1/3 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3 apples, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup currants or raisins
powdered sugar
ground cinnamon
Cream butter and gradually add 1/2 of the sugar, beating well. Beat egg with remaining sugar, add to first mixture. Sift in flour, salt and baking powder alternately with the m ilk. Flavor with vanilla. Add apples and currants or raisins. Beat well to mix and turn into a well-buttered 9 inch cake tin, square or round.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon, and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees) for 30 minutes. Makes 1 cake.
Sharing a bit of red, white and blue for Flag Day…
I bought this doll last week when I visited Rainie Crawford. Rainie purchased the doll from the original owner’s family in New Briton , CT. The doll has lovely child like proportions, a spectacular wool challis print dress and very sweet little red leather shoes. She has promised to share all of her dressmaking secretes with my Izannahs!These glorious Prussian blue leather baby shoes were another purchase from Rainie. They are very simply the BEST shoes I have ever seen in my life! I am particularly drawn to them because of their resemblance to the shoes I make for my Izannahs. I plan to study their construction for insights on how to improve my 19th century shoe making skills.Surprise! Rosy red leather soles!!! I can just picture these shoes on tiny wiggly, waving baby feet…
Izannah Walker Journal 