

Paula Walton’s doll-making notes
WHAT THEY ARE DOING NOW
Thank you for coming to celebrate with us!
Love ❤
Paula, Zanna, Isabeau, Isane, Izzybelle, Ismay, Hannah, & their Providence Cousins
Zanna, Isabeau, Isane, Ismay and Hannah have been diligently piecing quilt tops, as birthday presents to send along with the young Hannahs and Lilys. Little Izzybelle has been their devoted helper.
One quilt top and coordinating backing will be included with any of the two new Hannahs and two new Lilys that are purchased this weekend ❤ The dolls and I want them to be warm and cozy in their new homes! One Hannah and one Lily have been spoken for, you may see the others here. Hannah #2 & Lily #2
Welcome to my annual Izannah Walker birthday party! This year the dolls and I have a fun filled three day celebration planned. We are so pleased that you could come join us for the start of the party. I will be posting throughout the day today, with additional posts at 9:00 a.m., noon, and 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. Come back tomorrow and Sunday for new posts at 10:00 a.m. & 4:00 p.m.
1 Finished Doll For Sale – Now SOLD – Thank You so much for looking!
ANNA IS NOW SOLD. I have one doll made from my Anna mold available for sale. She is a very sweet, worn and well loved doll. Just the right size at 17 inches to be a little sister to other Izannahs in your collection. She has short wispy hair framing her face and tickling the nape of her neck. This Anna is dressed in an amazing antique red print fabric that I found in Brimfield in May. The fabric had never been washed until yesterday and even after one gentle washing still retains it’s crisp sizing. All three pieces of her undergarments are trimmed in tatting. Her short black scallop topped painted boots are embellished with a red scallop outline. As a birthday special she comes with a tiny antique tintype image of a young girl. When you imagine the story of Anna’s life, perhaps this little girl will become her original owner…
Anna can be yours for $1250.00, which includes free insured shipping to any U.S. address. Actual shipping charged to other countries. As always you may place Anna, or any of my dolls on lay-away. Call me at 860-355-5709 during normal business hours, or email me anytime at paula@asweetremembrance.com if you have any questions about this doll or would like to purchase her.
Introducing Two New Reproduction Izannah Walker Dolls
I am very happy to tell you that I now have two more molds! I made these molds, just like all of my others, directly from original antique Izannah Walker dolls. This means that I can offer you ten different authentic, all cloth, historically accurate reproduction Izannah Walker dolls!
Pictured below are the four dolls that I will be working on during the next three days as part of my Izannah celebration. After all what better way is there for a doll maker to mark the birthday of her very favorite doll maker than by paying homage to her by reproducing some of her amazing dolls! If you’d like to follow along with my progress you can check in at my facebook page to see the dolls coming to life. Click here to visit A Sweet Remembrance in facebook.
Lily
I am able to offer you reproductions of Lily due to the amazing generosity of my friend Susie, who owns the real Lily. I am currently in the midst of doing restoration on the original Lily and Susie very kindly told me that she wanted me to make a mold from her while she was here. I’ll be chronicling Lily’s restoration journey here in the upcoming weeks. Lily has a very classic Izannah head and at 17 inches is the middle stair step between my Isabeau and Izzybelle.
This first Lily will be going home with her older sister and namesake ❤
A Second Lily
This Lily will be available for sale for $1250.00 when she is completed. She will come with a full four piece wardrobe which includes a chemise, pantalettes, peticoat and a dress, with painted boots.
Hannah
Hannah recently came to join my Izannah family from the collection of another of my dear friends, Edyth. ❤ I’m honored that she has entrusted me with one of her treasures.
Hannah is 18 inches tall and has such a sweet expression. Just like Lily #2, both of these Hannahs will be for sale once I have finished them. Yes, they also cost $1250.00, have painted boots and come with a full set of clothing made from antique fabrics and notions. 🙂
If you have any questions about these dolls, or would like to purchase one of them, please call me (860-355-5709 during east coast business hours) or email me (paula@asweetremembrance.com anytime). As a special birthday treat Isabeau, Zanna, Ismay, Isane, Izzybelle and the original Hannah have been busy piecing together quilt tops to go along with the Lilys and Hannahs that are purchased during this three day weekend. More about their quilting party later on… Just one more reason to keep checking back in through out the next three days 🙂
Feeling Creative?
For anyone who has the urge to try making an Izzy of their own I currently have two of my Izannah Kits ready to go.
Furniture Tag Sale
The girls were all very enamored of the article they read in Antique Doll Collector about an Izannah Doll House. So when I asked them what they would like to include in our birthday weekend they all resoundingly said “Let’s have a tag sale of all of the doll furniture, so other Izannahs can furnish a doll house too!” Consequently all of my antique doll furniture is on sale at 10% off from 9/25 – 9/27. The sale price does include free shipping to U.S. addresses. Click here to shop the furniture sale.
That’s All For Now…
Come back to see us at 9:00 a.m. eastern time for our continuing birthday party adventures.
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.
Isabeau #2 – SOLD Thank you!
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.
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.
Click here for a quick guide about my three different styles of dolls.
Custom Made Dresses and Accessories For Your Doll
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.
Patterns and Classes
If you would like to order a pattern for a full set of clothes to fit one of my 18- 1/2 inch Izannah Walker dolls click on this link.
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.
from Shirley Shaker Village
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup milk
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.
Izannah Walker was born 194 years ago today on September 25, 1817. Happy Birthday Izannah! To commemorate the occasion I’ve created a special Izannah Birthday Doll with an outstanding eleven-piece wardrobe. I’m also having a birthday sale, from today 9/25/11 through next Sunday 10/2/11, all reproduction Izannah Walker dolls, Izannah Walker Doll Making Classes, Izannah Walker Doll Clothes Patterns and Spun Cotton Ornament Classes are 10% off. This sale includes custom order dolls and as always you are welcome to place items on lay-away. If you have any questions, want to place an order, or would just like to chat about Izannah and her dolls and mine, I can be reached at 860-355-5709 or paula@asweetremembrance.com.
Izannah Birthday Doll
Even though I was rushing to beat the rain and falling darkness, I had the best time yesterday taking photos of this doll. It was great fun to “play dress up” with her. Her extensive wardrobe includes three dresses, two chemises, two pairs of pantalettes, two petticoats, an apron and a real coral bead necklace. If you’d like to add more pieces to her wardrobe I can make her hand made leather shoes, a cotton sunbonnet and a straw bonnet.
To read more about, or purchase this doll please visit my website A Sweet Remembrance. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have or provide additional photos, just ask 🙂 860-355-5709 paula@asweetremembrance.com.
Make a Wish
This year the girls and I baked a pound cake for Izannah’s birthday using a c.1754 receipt that I found in The Williamsburg Art of Cookery. This receipt is old enough to have been a well loved family favorite by the time Izannah was born. Here’s the recipe so that you can bake one too.
Pound Cake
Beat one Cup of Butter to a Cream, slowly beat in one and one third Cups of Sugar. Add one Teaspoonful of Mace and beat in five whole Eggs, adding them one at a time. Sift in two Cups of Flour, turn at once into a greased and floured Pan or Mould and bake slowly for one Hour.*
*I baked my cakes in a 300 degree oven, 30 minutes for the doll size cakes and two hours for the larger version.
Click here to see the recipe for last years Birth-day Pudding.
Thank you for stopping by to party with me and don’t forget to light a candle and make a wish for Izannah!