You still have time to email me your Birthday Greetings! Send them to paula@asweetremembrance.com. Everyone who sends is a Izannah Walker 200th Birthday Message and photo will be entered in a drawing to win a special birthday present of Izannah Walker themed goodies ❤
As I’m sure almost all of you reading this know, September 25th will mark the 200th anniversary of the day Izannah Walker was born. As a fun way to celebrate the occasion I would like to invite you all to email me a short birthday message along with a photograph of your Izannah Walker doll, whether it is an antique original, a reproduction doll that I have made for you, or a doll that you have made yourself in tribute to Izannah’s dolls!
Birthday messages… ❤
I’m posting this early so that everyone who is interested in participating will have plenty of time to coax their dolls into posing for photos. Please send your photo and birthday greeting to paula@asweetremembrance.comno later than September 18th. I will post all of the photos and their accompanying messages here on my Izananh Walker Journal as part of my annual Izannah Walker birthday celebration.
Isabeau hopes that some of her dear friends will send birthday greetings to celebrate Izannah Walker’s 200th birthday.
My dolls and I are very much looking forward to hearing from you and getting a chance to see what some of our absent friends have been up to lately. ❤ ❤ ❤
It’s That time again… my Autumn Newsletter is going out today ❤
A Sweet Remembrance September 2017 Newsletter
Greetings All!
I have lots of exciting news to share in this newsletter! So I’m just going to jump right in…
In just 2 weeks I’ll be having my annual online celebration of Izannah Walker’s birthday. This is an extra-special year because it marks the 200th anniversary of the day she was born, September 25th, 1817. I’ll be posting off and on all day on the 25th at www.izannahwalker.com. There will be some new dolls available for sale that day, which will be posted at noon eastern time. Come visit the blog, join in the virtual party and celebrate with us!
Izannah Walker Birthday Greetings Project. As a fun way to celebrate Izannah Walker’s birthday I would like to invite you all to email me a short birthday message along with a photograph of your Izannah Walker doll, whether it is an antique original, a reproduction doll that I have made for you, or a doll that you have made yourself in tribute to Izannah’s dolls! Please send your photo and birthday greeting to paula@asweetremembrance.com no later than September 18th. I will post all of the photos and their accompanying messages on http://www.izannahwalker.com as part of my annual Izannah Walker birthday celebration. Everyone who sends in a birthday greeting will be entered in a drawing to win a special birthday surprise package!!!
You may already know that I wrote a twelve page article about Izannah Walker for the September issue of Antique Doll Collector. The issue has sold out. The magazine has no more copies, and will not be printing any more. If you are looking for a copy, try Barnes & Nobel. Many of their stores still had some this past week, although in very limited quantities.
Another thing that you might be aware of is that I am the co-chairman for my doll club’s annual doll show, which is coming up on October 29th in Southbury, CT. This is the 30th year for the show, so in honor of both the club’s 30th show and Izannah Walker’s 200th birthday, I am curating a special educational exhibit of Izannah Walker dolls at the show. Admission to the exhibit is included with your paid entrance ($7) to the show. It is going to be a wonderful show and a fantastic exhibit, with a very large group of antique Izannah Walker dolls belonging to Jenny Lind Doll Club members and friends! To find out more about the show visit the show blog https://jennylinddollshow.wordpress.com/ and the show facebook page www.facebook.com/jennylinddollshow/ you can get discount admission coupons there too. If you are interested in selling at the show, I do still have a little space left!!! Email me ASAP at jennylinddollshow@gmail.com for a contract!!!
In case you missed them, my new Third Thursdays are going strong! Because of Izannah Walker’s birthday celebration there is no “3rd Thursday” in September. There isn’t going to be one in October either, because any dolls I get finished in October will be going to the doll show with me. I want to have some there at the exhibit for people to hold and examine up close. Obviously all of the antique Izannah Walker dolls will be roped off, but I would like to make the exhibit a bit interactive, so I will have some of my reproduction dolls on hand for those who would like to give them a gentle hug and get a good sense of their size and weight. For more information on 3rd Thursday’s click on this link:https://izannahwalker.com/2017/07/15/third-thursdays-start-this-month-mark-your-calendar-then-come-back-on-thursday-to-see-this-months-new-dolls-for-sale/ .
I have a new article in the upcoming Christmas issue of Early American Life magazine. It is a project article on how to make cotton batting candy containers. Also included in the Christmas issue is the Holiday Directory of Traditional American Craftsmen. I’m very honored to have been included in the Holiday Directory again this year. To see a bit more about my candy container article click here: https://spuncottonornaments.wordpress.com/2017/09/10/look-for-me-in-the-christmas-2017-issue-of-early-american-life/ .
The class support sites for both my Izannah Walker Reproduction Doll Making Class and my Spun Cotton Ornament Class have moved to private facebook pages. No one has been using the Ning sites, so I have switched over to facebook. Both Ning sites are still available at this time, so please go save whatever information you would like to keep from the Ning sites. I will NOT be moving all of the previously posted information over to facebook. We are starting out fresh! The spun cotton ornament how-to videos are posted on the facebook site. If you are already a member of either class and would like to come join us on facebook, please email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com and tell me the email address that you use for your facebook account. I will then check to make sure you are a class member, and send you an invitation to the class page. At this time I have NOT moved the Alabama Baby Class over to facebook, it is still only on Ning.
Sometimes when I post new dolls for sale, they sell very quickly. I do realize that ideally people would like to take their time looking at my latest doll offerings, and then if any of my dolls tugged at their heart, decide if they would like to welcome that special reproduction Izannah Walker doll into their home. I’m sorry that you do not always have the opportunity to do that. Because I am a doll maker, selling my dolls is different than selling antique dolls. If you are selling antique dolls you already have the doll in your possession, so it is possible for you to announce exactly what you are selling ahead of time in the case of doll auctions, or before shows. Which gives people time to make up their minds about a doll in advance. As a doll maker, I spend around 100 hours creating each doll I sell. This is 100 working hours, not elapsed time. I have to spend quite a bit of time waiting for paint to dry and washing and drying antique fabric… Generally my dolls are not finished until right before I post them. Even when I do shows, I have a tendency to be working on dolls right up until the very last second. In my world there is never enough time! So please forgive me for not being able to give you advance photos and lists of the dolls that I will have for sale on Izannah Walker’s birthday, at shows, or on Third Thursdays. Surprises and spontaneity can be good things! I’m always overly optimistic about how many dolls I want to make, so there is the perpetual question of exactly which dolls I will be able to get finished in time. 🙂
Fondly,
Paula
post script: If you like to receive my newsletters in your inbox, email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com and let me know you’d like to be on my mailing list. You can be removed from the list whenever you choose, simply by asking…
The dolls are quite excited to see themselves in print!I hope you all enjoy reading my article! It was fun to have a chance to go back through 80 year’s worth of books and magazine articles while I was researching and double checking facts. 🙂 The dolls all hope that after you read about them in the September 2017 issue of Antique Doll Collector magazine, that you will come see them when they are part of a special educational exhibit at the Jenny Lind Doll Show in Southbury, CT on October 29th!!!
Hello, welcome to my second “3rd Thursday”!!! As you are probably aware, I ran into some trouble getting the paint to dry on the dolls I had been making for today. 😦 Once I figured that out earlier this week I decided that there was no point in fighting Mother Nature. After all I came up with the idea of 3rd Thursdays to make buying and selling my dolls fun and a bit spontaneous! When I had a new plan I began sewing in earnest so that I could present you with a nice selection of doll clothing today instead. ❤ So for all of you who have been asking about additional clothing for your dolls – here are today’s offerings!
There are three dresses and three aprons available for sale. Terms are like always. Email paula@asweetremembrance.com if you are interested in buying! Payment by paypal, credit card, check, or lay-away. Sold on a first come basis. Free shipping within the United States, exact shipping costs to other countries. I’m getting ready to go to a Master Class in Fitting 18th Century Gowns at Eastfield tomorrow through Sunday, and I’m babysitting on Monday – so orders placed today won’t ship until Tuesday. 🙂
Freshly laundered and ready to go. Smelling of sunshine, flowers and honey…
Dresses
1and 1. I have two blue dresses, both with extra fabric in their skirts, tucked sleeves and hems, drawstring necks and waists, to fit approx. 18 – 19 inch dolls. $225.00 One is SOLD and One still remaining.
3. Black print dress. drawstring neck and waist, to fit approx. 18 – 19 inch doll. $200.00
Aprons
A. Izzybelle size short pinafore play day apron with button back. $50.00 SOLD
B. Blue apron for 18 -19 inch dolls. $125.00
C. Blue feather stitched apron for 18 – 19 inch dolls $150.00 SOLD
The issue is SOLD OUT! I just received a sneak peek of the September issue of Antique Doll Collector! It is going to be a wonderful Izannah-filled issue!!! If you are not already a subscriber to the magazine, you may want to hurry up and order a subscription! See if they will let you start with the August 2017 issue so that you can read the great article Joy Harrington wrote about an amazing mid-19th century doll wardrobe in her collection, A Mid 19th Century Wardrobe for a New England Girl. While the actual wardrobe isn’t an Izannah Walker wardrobe, it is all from the same time period and you do not want to miss a chance to see it! I can’t wait to read Joy’s article “Izannah Aprons” A Closer Look in the September issue. ❤ I have it on good authority that there will be at least one additional article about Izannah Walker dolls in Antique Doll Collector during 2017. ❤ ❤ ❤
94% humidity today and my paint is not drying… so rather than stressing about it I am just going to go with the flow. After all this is August in New England and you can just count on hot, sticky and humid a lot of the time. 🙂 SO, this weeks 3rd Thursday is going to be a clothing event!!! ❤ Come by at noon (eastern time) on Thursday for a fashion show. I’ll have some dresses and accessories available for immediate sale.
Miss Emmaline B has a brand new home and has acquired a new wardrobe as well ❤ Now that she has patiently waited through all of her dress fittings, she is ready to begin her journey to her new family.
Blue & White
apron
The pocket is set at an angle, which is highlighted by the print of the fabric.
My perpetual hunt for antique fabrics has been overwhelmingly successful this summer! So much so that I have had fabric and quilts stacked everywhere… Much of the fabric I use to make dresses for my reproduction Izannah Walker dolls comes from the backs of damaged and worn antique quilts.
I search for and buy the quilts, take them apart, use the backing fabric that is stable enough to sew with, then save the tops to be restored if possible (sometimes this means removing the damaged blocks, then reassembling the tops into a smaller size), or at the very least I keep the tops so that even the tiniest bits of usable fabric can be re-purposed to restore other quilts and antique clothing.
So that means that I have an on going storage nightmare! The whole quilts and tops are stored in my painting studio… I know NOT paint… but my sewing studio completely ran out of space for any more fabric!!! Antique fabric, that isn’t quilts (which includes damaged antique clothing) IS kept in my cozy little sewing studio. Everyone who sews knows that you can never have enough fabric, the only question is “where do you keep it?” 🙂
Since I could barely walk into the storage closet of the painting studio, something HAD to be done. I purchased some heavy duty chrome shelves, spent a couple of afternoons putting them together, then yesterday re-folded all of my quilts and organized them on the shelves. Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not a person that spends a great deal of time cleaning… in fact cleaning is pretty low on my to do list, but… I needed my work table back, where all of the quilts have been stacked for the past couple of weeks. Now that my table is empty, I can get to work on the how-to project and accompanying magazine article that I am writing for the Christmas issue of Early American Life.
empty shelves…
working my way through the stack…
partway there!
Organized!
Blacks & Greys
Browns
Reds
Blues
Wondering About My Choice of Shelving?
For those of you interested in conservation of antique textiles, the reason I chose the chrome shelving is because the chrome will keep the metal from rusting. Wood shelving was unsuitable because of the acid in the wood, and while you CAN paint the wood to seal in the acid, I prefer not to rely on a painted barrier. Plastic shelving is not strong enough to bear the weight of the quilts, and museum quality acid free storage boxes are impractical in this situation since I need constant, ready access to the quilts.
After I got all the quilts placed on the shelves, I covered the shelves with large dust covers to keep the quilts clean and prevent exposure to sunlight. I will periodically refold all of the quilts so that the fabric won’t wear and crumble along the fold lines.
When I need to wash quilts, I hand wash them using Orvus and cool water saved from my dehumidifier ( purchased distilled water can also be used). Then I air dry the quilts outside in a shady location, preferably flat – especially for very fragile quilts, but occasionally on the clothes line for especially sturdy ones. ❤
A clear table and one quilt to take apart to make a dress for Emmaline…Just perfect to go with Emmaline’s petticoat and pantalettes embroidered in blue…a second quilt, to be washed, restored and placed on the bed in the studio loft…and a third quilt, to be mooned over, mourned, and dream of restoring…❤
Emmaline A has found a new home ❤ Miss Emmaline B is still available. She has a sweet, softly distressed paint finish that gives her an aged, well loved appearance – yet still retains vibrant coloring. The hair around her face is in soft waves, with ringlet curls in front of her ears and at the nape of her neck. “B” has some lovely blue embroidery on both her pantalettes and petticoat, plus a long chemise that will do double duty as a nightgown. Her white cotton dress is trimmed with myriad tucks and summery eyelet. The tops of her painted boots have a stripe of blue, that echos the blue embroidery on her undergarments. If you are considering a 2nd dress, a blue printed cotton or red, white and blue paisley would both be very striking choices!
Emmaline B close-up you can see her softly distressed paint finish, that still retains vibrant coloring. At the moment her paint finish is a bit shiny because it is fresh, but it will dull somewhat over time… SOLDEmmaline A SOLD w/bare feet and leather shoes $1375.00 Emmaline B SOLD w/painted boots $12500.00Second Skins ❤
Happy Third Thursday of July! It’s a hot, sunny day here in Connecticut. My studio is filled with glorious, bright sunshine, just perfect for painting, but not all that wonderful for photos… So please excuse the glare and know that both sweet Emmaline’s look much nicer than these photos convey.
Dolls sold on a first come basis. Email paula@asweetremembrance.com to purchase.
EMMALINE A – $1375.00 SOLD – Thank you to everyone who inquired about her!!!
Emmaline A does have stockings but Miss Sadie the mischievous feline has absconded with them. I didn’t realize Emmaline’s stockings were missing until it was time for photos… The stockings are white silk.
EMMALINE B – SOLD $1250.00
This is our day for footwear explanations 🙂 Emmaline B could not have her shoe laces painted, because it is the very last thing I do after her legs are completely painted… Well her legs were not dry until this morning and I couldn’t paint her laces and get her dresses without the fear of smeared paint!
EXTRA DRESSES
Extra dresses may be ordered for $200 – $250. These would be my fabric recommendations ❤
Thank you for stopping by to see my latest reproduction Izannah Walker dolls!
Miss Emmaline B has a brand new home and has acquired a new wardrobe as well ❤ Now that she has patiently waited through all of her dress fittings, she is ready to begin her journey to her new family.
Izannah Walker Journal 