The twins, Annabelle and Annalee, are headed to their new home. ❤
Annabelle ❤Annalee ❤
I truly love these twins! There is something so magical about doubles. I tried my best to capture the twin’s beguiling personalities, but have to say they are much more engaging in person! I made their matching dresses in one of my very favorite styles, from an amazing piece of pristine c. 1850 double pink print cotton. At the beginning of the summer I was fortunate enough to run across a bag filled with the fabric stash of some long ago quilter… The bag contained a few pieced blocks, many applique cut outs and quite a bit of unused fabric. It was an unbelievable find!
The kitchen is buzzing with activity, as Eliza Jane, Ismay, Zola and Hannah try to finish all their last minute tasks. “Hurry, hurry our company will be coming soon!” “It’s almost time for the party to start!”Eliza Jane has offered to iron all the doll’s party dresses. She is by far the best at ironing, she never scorches the fabric!Hannah has just taken the last layer of cake out of the oven. It smells so good… The entire kitchen is filled with the aromas of cinnamon and spices ❤Zola is turning the cake layers out of the pans to cool. As soon as they aren’t so warm, Ismay is going to spread sweet, tangy apple butter between the layers, then dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar.“Eliza Jane can you see the clock?” “What time is it?” Oh my, we have to hurry up!” “We need to get the cake finished and give Izzybelle her bath!” Eliza Jane, you keep ironing. Zola, you can take the cake out to the table in the yard, and Hannah and I will bathe Izzybelle.” (Ismay can get a bit bossy at times)
IZZYBELLE GETS A BATH
Being a doll maker’s doll is a lot like being a shoemakers child, you always come last… You may remember how terribly bedraggled Izzybelle was when she arrived on my doorstep a couple of years ago. I finally found just a handful of moments to start cleaning her and making her appropriate replacement arms and legs. Once upon a time Izzybelle was a charming, small example of one of Izannah Walker’s dolls. She was loved, played with and almost used up, then sent to the Martha Chase factory for repairs, so that she could be loved and played with some more. I own several dolls, and have seen and restored a handful of others, that were refurbished by the doll makers working for Martha Chase.
Izzybelle has been in desparate need of atention.
Little by little I slowly cleaned years of dirt, grime and what looked like possible smoke damage away from her head and shoulders.
Poor Izzybelle, someone got quite carried aaway with bright red paint! Her lips and both eyes were lined in red.
Little Izzy is looking better, but there are still some very stubborn bits of paint reamaining from when she was re-painted at the Martha Chase factory…
I love Martha Chase dolls, but I have to admit that as I attempted to remove the stubborn Martha Chase factory re-painting from Izzybelle, I was thinking VERY dark thoughts…
Now you can catch a glimpse of what Izzybelle looked like earlier in her life. I still have more restoration work to do, but now she truly looks like a tiny Izannah Walker doll one again ❤
I have made Izzybelle appropriate restoration arms and legs. I still need to color match them to her newly cleaned paint surface, then stuff and attach them.
“Izzybelle, your bath water is almost ready. Hannah is heating the last kettle full on the stove right now.”“Izzybelle, time to hop in the tub!”
“Make sure you scrub behind your ears and between your toes.”
“This bath feels so good! Why didn’t you make me take one sooner???”
Even Splotches, the barn cat is curious to see what the dolls are doing today. If you are too, please come back around 4:00, 7:00 & 10:00 pm to see the rest of their adventures.
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.
My own little “Alice” and Lily playing in the doll’s new house.
“The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house. All that cold, cold, wet day.”
― Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat
Today is a cool rainy day, much too wet to garden, with persistent downpours that make the walk out to my studios seem very uninviting. So I’ve decided that it would be an excellent morning to sit next to the fire and share photos of my own adventures in wonderland… On Saturday baby Cloe came to stay with us while her parents went out and about. It was the perfect time to play dress up with the Izannahs and explore a bit of their new house!
“Oh!” “I like this doll!”“She has such a pretty dress.”“Grandma made her little fingers, just like mine!”“Look, she has boots!”“Uh-Oh!” “The dollies fell down!”
Cloe visiting with Isabeau, Lily and my reproduction Lily in the parlor of the doll’s house.“Can Lily #2 come out to play?”“Lily you wait here while I get the table…”
Cloe and Lily #2 whiled away the afternoon playing in the kitchen of the doll house, with a brief intermission for Cloe to change her dress. ❤
“We need to move the chairs!”c. 1830 doll cupboard in original salmon paint and an impatient baby who could not wait to have her dress fastened before she started playing again!
“Lily sit in this chair and wait for me. I’ll come back and play with you another day!”
The rain has stopped, the sun is out and my story has come to an end. Please come back soon to see more photos of Lily #2. She will be ready for sale this week, just as soon as I finish her petticoat and pantalettes. If you just can’t wait for her sale post, you may contact me with questions about her by emailing paula@asweetremembrance.com or calling 860-355-5709 during business hours.
Other upcoming blog posts will feature an in-depth focus on my restorations of two antique Izannah Walker dolls (Lily pictured here and Emmaline), and a complete tour of the doll’s house. I hope you can join us here at http://www.izannahwalker.com for both.
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!
This is the tiny antique fabric swatch book that I put together for the UFDC convention. I thought everyone might enjoy looking through it. Especially those of you who have ordered custom dolls and are in the process of picking out your dress fabrics 🙂 I have many more one of a kind fabrics that aren’t in the book, so don’t worry if none of these are the perfect fabric for your doll.
If you are a frequent reader of this blog you will know that I am constantly searching for antique fabrics to fashion into doll clothes. I hunt for antique quilts and garments that are far too worn to be restored, but are still in good enough condition to sew with. One of my favorite places to shop for antique textiles is at the May antique shows in Brimfield, MA. My husband and I had planned to spend two days in Brimfield, but heavy rains made Friday a washout, so we packed all of our shopping into one day on Saturday!
I’m feeling a bit like the princess and the pea with this new waist high stack of antique quilts in my studio!
Our textile scavenger hunt started out slow, with only a single white wool baby blanket in my shopping bag when we took a break for lunch. Things picked up in the afternoon, after a few disappointing instances where we found great quilts that turned out to be very over priced. By the end of the day we had accumulated almost more quilts than we could carry, along with half a dozen pieces of antique underpinnings.
Some of the white textiles that we found on our weekend shopping expeditions.
On Sunday we ventured out to the Elephant’s Trunk, our local flea market, where we purchased another quilt and an additional armful of antique petticoats and nightgowns. In the afternoon we went to a car show, since turn about is fair play and Brian certainly deserved a reward for all of the miles he walked and pounds of fabric he carried for me during the rest of the weekend. ❤
Chandeliers were a very popular item at Brimfield this year.Lots to see…A great counter!We’ve owned and sold several similar carousel horses, so it was fun to see this one and compare prices.Loved the train!A terrific paint brush advertising display 🙂so cool…Yes, there were dolls to see and drool over!a long day…An unplanned purchase, simply too great to pass up!An amazing sewing machine.I spent a few minutes trying to figure out how this machine should be threaded…We saw this little horse on Sunday at the Elephant’s Trunk and thought it looked like a lot of fun!Two of our Sunday buys, a child’s rocking chair and a Christmas tree fence.Good thing the dolls are willing to share… these antique nightgowns are destined to be summer dresses for me!
Izannah Walker Journal 