Paula Walton’s doll-making notes
More photos of Evelyne’s doll now that her dress is dry 🙂 These are much better photos that those I took yesterday at sunset. I almost deleted yesterday’s photographs, but I decided to keep the first post up so that you can see what a difference better lighting makes.
Evelyne’s doll is finished and ready to travel. She’ll be leaving here soon on her journey to Belgium.
This is Evelyne’s doll. I just finished her this afternoon. I put the final few stitches in her blue homespun check dress, sewed on it’s antique glass buttons, and popped the dress into a basin of wash water. At the moment it is hanging out on my clothesline to dry.
Today Savannah has been busy packing her trunk. She will soon be immigrating to Canada to live with her big sister.
In February I finished a custom reproduction Izannah Walker doll for a very fascinating lady named Maxine. Maxine had seen my ads in Antique Doll Collector magazine and called me last August to discuss the possibility of ordering one of my Izannahs. We chatted several times, and by the end of the month Maxine had decided exactly how she wanted her doll to look. Maxine chose to place the doll on lay-away and requested a February 2013 completion date. During the months while I was working on Maxine’s doll she would call me to check on my progress and also to talk about dolls. She told me many interesting stories about her collection, dolls that she had bought and sold and people she knew in the doll world.
My favorite conversation with Maxine was the one where she reminisced about a friend of hers who had been the dress maker for the dolls in Maxine’s collection. She told me about meeting the woman, becoming friends with her, and about some of the amazing dresses she had created for Maxine’s doll’s. The most inspiring part of this story is that the last doll’s dress that Maxine had commissioned from her friend had been completed just a few weeks before the women’s death at “almost 100” years of age. Maxine assured me that the last dress was just as beautiful and well made as the very first dress she had ever ordered. I’d like to think that in the future someone will be able to say the same about me.
On Friday afternoon I received a call from Maxine’s daughter. She told me that Maxine had passed away, very softly and gently on Wednesday and that she was calling to tell me how much her mother had loved the doll I made for her. I was overwhelmed that this woman would take the time, in the midst of her grief, to call and thank me for providing her mother with such pleasure. It was an extraordinary kindness and a very singular experience…
Miss “A” tried on her new dress and apron, then went out for one last walk around the farm before she packs for her journey to her new home in Canada.
Today at my house we are celebrating Easter. Tomorrow the festivities will continue as we party in honor of my middle son’s birthday! I’d like to share a bit of our celebrations with you by offering you 10% off on every single item I sell at Paula Walton’s A Sweet Remembrance!!!
This includes all classes, all dolls – even new custom orders -, all bears, all reproduction clothing, all antiques – carousel horses & cooking items -, literally everything! There is free shipping within the United States on all purchases, except carousel horses & you may place any item on lay-away, with terms to fit your budget 🙂
The coupon code for the sale is ” peeps”. Enter the code when you check out today or tomorrow using the secure shopping cart at A Sweet Remembrance and 10% will automatically be subtracted from your total. Email or call me to buy the antique cooking item shown at Paula Walton’s 18th Century Home Journal, to order a custom made Izannah Walker reproduction doll, or to set up lay-away payments. Paula@asweetremembrance.com 860-355-5709. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have about the sale or any of my work.
Wishing you a Happy Easter and an amusing April Fools Day!
Two lovely young ladies, currently available for sale. Miss “A” NOW SOLD – Thank you for looking, dressed in antique “double pink” fabrics, with two curls in front of each ear and seven more along the nape of her neck and her dearest friend Miss “B”, wearing a madder brown dress and straw colored crocheted bonnet. Both girls may be purchased directly from my main website Paula Walton’s A Sweet Remembrance. Click here to read all about Miss “A” and click here for Miss “B’s” particulars.
A Note About the Easter Bonnets
Do you remember turning acorn caps into doll dishes and using handkerchiefs for dolly diapers and shawls when you were a child? My mother used to help me fashion doll clothes out of objects we found around the house. I’m sure that this is a long standing mother and daughter tradition since I occasionally come across antique doll clothing that children have made from little bits of this and that.
I was sitting in my studio, thinking about Easter bonnets, when my eye happened to light on a pile of crocheted doilies… Suddenly I could just see them turning into beautiful, lacy Easter sunbonnets! I loved the idea of recreating one of my childhood traditions and I hope that you are as captivated by the bonnets and the story behind them as I am.
Would You Like to Get to Know Miss “A” & “B” Better?
If you have any questions about Misses “A” or “B”, or would like to see additional photographs, I would be more than happy to accommodate you. Email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com or call me at 860-355-5709. Lay-away is available on terms to meet your budget.
Wishing you a very happy and joyous Easter!
NOW SOLD – THANK YOU FOR LOOKING For the past few days I’ve been sewing on clothing for this doll, that I’m affectionately calling “B”.  I’ve been working on this doll for months, and for almost the entire time I’ve been thinking that she reminds me of a particular Izannah that I had seen somewhere… Yesterday I finally remembered exactly which one of Izannah’s dolls that “B” resembles. To me, she looks like the Izannah Walker doll at the South County Museum in Narragansett, Rhode Island.  View the doll owned by the South County Museum here at the Izannah Walker Chronicles.
One of the magical aspects of pressed cloth heads is the way that heads made from the same mold are each unique. I am constantly filled with wonder when my dolls follow the same path that Izannah’s did. It is such a reaffirmation of the way I work to see that 170 years later I can take stockinette, cotton, and paste and turn it into faithful reproductions of Izannah’s dolls. *
Because the doll has a very time worn appearance and aged paint surfaces, I wanted to use special fabrics that would reflect and enhance the feel of this doll and help tell her story. I used antique natural colored linen for her pantalettes, chemise and petticoat. I added vintage white cotton waistbands to the pantaletts and petticoat because I wanted the color contrast that is often seen in antique wool/cotton baby petticoats. Her pantalettes have been carefully pieced and darned. It took much longer to make them this way, but it helps to preserve the illusion of a much loved family doll that has been well taken care of and preserved to be passed down through succeeding generations.
“B’s” dress is made from an amazing piece of madder brown fabric c.1850 that has never been washed. The color of the dye is so vibrant, with a crisp print and the original sizing intact. The dress has straight short sleeves and is trimmed with narrow velvet bands around the sleeves and skirt. It closes with an antique glass “china” button at the waist and a thin 1/8-th inch cotton tape drawstring at the neck. The dress skirt has been carefully darned and mended in two places and the inside of the waist band has a bit of contrasting fabric pieced in as a “make-do” detail. This is the ideal dress for a collector who loves early primitive cloth dolls and is a serious student of 19th century textiles. I’m strongly suggesting that this dress should not be washed to preserve the pristine documentary condition of the fabric dye and print.
We still have some snow on the ground here in Connecticut from Friday’s storm, so today I’m going to make “B” a pair of detachable long sleeves to help keep her warm on chilly spring days.
SOLD Sweet “B” may be purchased on my website A Sweet Remembrance.  Please feel free to email or call me if you are interested in purchasing “B” and have any questions about her or would like to see additional photographs. Paula@asweetremembrance.com, 860-355-5709. Lay away is available in terms to fit your budget. All payments, including lay away, may be made through Paypal, or by personal check or money order. You may pay using your credit card through Paypal, even if you do not have a Paypal account. Free Priority Mail shipping, with full insurance and signature confirmation, to any location within the United States. 6.35% sales tax is charged on dolls shipped to a Connecticut address. Exact postage charged on dolls shipped to other countries.
Vicki Leeke sent me these photos of dolls that she was working during my Izannah retreat last September. You may remember Vicki from one of my previous posts about her lovely leather flowers and leaves and the amazingly thoughtful Izannah pins she made for everyone who attended the retreat.
Vicki made “Charlotte” using a head and body parts that she had me pre-make for her prior to the start of the retreat. Vicki did all of the hand sewing to put Charlotte’s pieces together, painted her, and made all of her clothing. If I remember correctly, Charlotte’s dress is made from vintage fabric that Vicki came across at home in Australia… I can’t remember if she told me that she dyed the fabric or not… either way it is a luscious shade of rose.
Mr. Pospisel started out as a head that Vicki made just so that she could experiment with one of my plaster molds. She kept working on him so that she could practice hand sewing the two halves of the pressed cloth head together. After she got that far she was hooked! Before long “Mr. Pospisel” had acquired a name from an anecdote told to us by Peggy Flavin during the class, and his life history soon followed. Vicki took him back to Australia, where she finished bringing him to life. He is wearing the most wonderful suit, that really shows off Vicki’s proficiency when sewing with wool. Making all of her wonderful felt dolls has obviously paid off 🙂
Vicki is planning to enter them in a doll show in Sydney in November. Keep your fingers crossed that they win an armful of awards!
Click here to read about Vicki’s leather work and Izannah pins.
Click here to read more about the retreat.
If you can’t tell, all of my students make me feel just like a proud mom! This is the virtual equivalent of pulling a fistful of photographs out of my wallet to show you 🙂
Izannah Walker Journal 