Saturday, June 29, 2013

Making Doll Socks

Need socks for you doll?  They are a simple accessory to make. Take some # 10 cotton thread or whatever size thread you want.  A smaller thread makes a finer sock.  Use a crochet hook (I used a size 1) to get the mesh size you want.  You can use any stitch, but I prefer just a single or double crochet.  Measure your doll from her toes, up the bottom of the foot, over the heel and up the back of the leg to the height you want the sock. Crochet a chain that length.  For a P90, 14 inch Ideal Toni I made a chain 27 chains long. 
I made a length 27 chains long.  Then in the second chain from the hook I did a double crochet and in each chain to the end. (25 double crochet).  Second Row: Chain 2, turn and double crochet in each chain.  Repeat until you have a wide enough rectangle to fit around the dolls foot and leg.  Tie off. Then get a sewing needle and thread with the crochet thread, fold the rectangle in half and sew across one end for the toes and up the sides to the end.  Turn right side out and your sock is made.


A finished pair of socks.  Doll socks are hard to find and expensive to buy.  You can also take the top of a pair of white pantyhose and cut a rectangle and sew them up to make socks. You can add lace to the top edge of the socks to make dressy socks.  If you want a  more tailored sock just make a row of single crochet in a contrasting color at the top of the sock. A simple accessory to make and it completes the outfit.  
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Saturday, June 15, 2013

Norman Rockwell Painting "The Doctor And The Doll"




This is a copy of the painting, "The Doctor And The Doll", by Norman Rockwell that was on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in 1929 of the little girl and her broken doll she took to the Doctor to fix.

 
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Little Girl and Her Doll

 This is the doll by Mary Moline from the Norman Rockwell painting.  I have owned this doll and she is adorable. If I had room I would have a collection of all twenty dolls in this series.  All the dolls were designed from the characters created by Mr Rockwell in his paintings.  Mary Moline did a good job of designing the dolls, but they were made in China and therefore the quality is only fair..  Mrs Moline did capture the spirit and humor of the paintings in the dolls.  As a lover of older dolls, I usually do not care for the newer dolls, but I do like these little dolls a lot.  Shown here is only the little girl and her doll.  I have also seen the Doctor made as a doll to accompany her. 
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Norman Rockwell Dolls



Norman Rockwell Dolls. Norman Rockwell is perhaps the most prolific
illustrator of recent times. We have all seen and enjoyed his
wonderful covers on The Saturday Evening Post. The wonderful
characters brought to life in his illustrations are heartwarming.
Starting in 1979 and ending in 1984 a series of fine quality
porcelain dolls was produced representing the most notable of the
Rockwell characters. The twenty dolls made of porcelain and had a
limited production of 20,000 dolls each. Each doll bears the
production number on the nape of its neck and the name, "Mary Moline"
on its back. The dolls sold originally from $130.00 to 250.00 a
piece. Some of the dolls are eight inches tall with most of them
being ten inches tall. Mrs. Moline designed them in a small size so
they would be displayed and not packed away. There were four dolls
released each year for five years.
Mary Moline was a doll collector and had also restored many dolls and
made clothing for them as a hobby. She had also been a writer and
was associate editor of Ford Life Magazine. She was assigned to
write an article on "automobiles in art". Through the research she
discovered that Norman Rockwell used many autos in his art and most
of them were Fords. She contacted Mr. Rockwell and asked his
assistance with the writing project. At first he was surprised, but
then he became intrigued and gave her a lot of assistance. After the
article was written, Mary discovered her interest in his work was
great. She spent over eight years searching bookstores and libraries
and discovered most of his work. The result of this research was a
book titled "The Norman Rockwell Encyclopedia" published by the
Saturday Evening Post Curtis Publishing Company.
The book was published in 1978 which was also the year Mr. Rockwell
died.
Mary in that year was searching for a doll for a gift to her daughter
and she got the idea of a Norman Rockwell character doll. She knew
none existed and she determined to bring them into existence. Mary,
having collected and restored dolls did not have the professional
doll making experience. She immediately faced some reluctance from
Saturday Evening Post officials, but they did trust her knowledge and
respect for Norman Rockwell's work.
Mary commissioned Mimi Weingarten to create a prototype of the first
doll in the series. "Mimi" was modeled from one of Mr. Rockwell's
most loved works, "The Doctor And The Doll" from a 1929 cover of the
Saturday Evening Post. This reproduction persuaded Post officials to
grant to Mary exclusive rights to reproduce all of the Rockwell
characters from Post covers as dolls. Those rights were to last five
years.
These adorable dolls, all twenty, are made of quality porcelain and
their clothing meticulously designed. After the five years of rights
ended, Mary destroyed the molds because she did not want cheap copies
of the dolls to flood the market.
These  dolls are a truly unique collectible. Now is the
time to buy these dolls, as the doll market is very depressed.
Prices will most certainly rise again due to the great popularity of
Norman Rockwell's beloved works.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Deanna Durbin Doll

 
 
Beautiful Deanna Durbin Dolls

Deanna Durbin Doll

Deanna Durbin Doll by Ideal. In case you don't know who Deanna
Durbin was, here is her story. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada of
December 4, 1921 as Edna Mae Durbin to British born parents. While
still young the family moved to California. In 1936 at the age of
14, she was signed to a contract with MGM, and given the name Deanna
Durbin. After a short time she was dropped by MGM and was signed by
Universal Pictures when Buddy Rogers was head of the studio.
She was given the role of Penny Craig in the movie "Three Smart
Girls" in 1936. She was coached by Director, Henry Koster and it is
doubtful that she would have achieved the fame she did if it were not
for Koster.
By the time she was 18, her salary was $250,000 per year and was the
highest paid female star in the world. The profits from her first
two movies with Universal Studio are credited with saving the Studio
from bankruptcy.
Her voice was described as natural and beautiful. Her version of the
song, "One Fine Day" from Madame Butterfly with Leopold Stokowski
conducting the orchestra became a classic. Her singing and acting
ability had the world's adulation and she was the most popular female
performer of her day.
What set Deanna Durbin apart from other stars is the fact she was
never comfortable with her stardom. A very private person by nature
all the glitz of stardom made her uneasy. She continued to make hit
movies until 1948 when she made her final movie, "For The Love Of
Mary" and at age 27, she walked away. She today lives in France just
outside Paris and is a widow. Her third husband French Director
Charles David whom she wed in 1950 died in 1999. Her one request of
him when they married was that she be a "nobody". Over all the years
she has refused many requests for films and interviews. She has not
been interviewed since 1949. The only public contact made by her was
several years ago. A rumor was printed in several sources that she
had become very fat. To refute this she sent a current photo of
herself to a newspaper.

As was the custom of the day in the early forties all major movie
stars had a doll named for them. The Ideal Doll Company issued the
Deanna Durbin doll. From 1938 to 1941, the doll was 21 inches tall.
A 24 – 25 inch version was issued only in 1938. In 1939 to 1941 the
doll was issued in 14, 15 & 18 inch tall versions. The doll has an
all composition, jointed body, brown sleep eyes and a brown human
hair wig. Her open smiling mouth has five teeth.
There were a variety of outfits made for the doll. The doll marks on
her head are: Deanna Durbin/Ideal Doll. USA. 

Below is an article I located telling of her death and giving some of her history.

Deanna Durbin

Deanna Durbin, child star from Hollywood's golden age, dies

Deanna-Durbin.jpg
Image Credit: Everett Collection
Deanna Durbin, a star whose songs and smile made her one of the biggest box office draws of Hollywood’s Golden Age with fans that included Winston Churchill, has died.
Durbin died on about April 20 in a village outside Paris where she had lived, out of public view, since 1949, family friend Bob Koster of Los Angeles told the Associated Press on Wednesday. Koster’s father, Henry Koster, directed six of Durbin’s films. Bob Koster did not know the cause of death.
At the height of her career, the Canadian-born Durbin, who made her first feature, Three Smart Girls, at age 13, was among the highest-paid actresses.
Her admirers included Churchill, who said she was his favorite star according to biographer William Manchester, and Anne Frank, who had Durbin’s photo pasted on the wall in the secret quarters where she and her family hid in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.
In 1938 she received an honorary Academy Award for her “significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth.”
Her hair, makeup and on-screen outfits set fashion trends worldwide and were emulated by millions. In the 1941 hit Nice Girl? Durbin, then 20, wore a spangled white organdy dress, ruffled and modestly cut, that became the rage at proms and country club dances across the United States.
“She was one of the last really legitimate movie stars from the 1930s who was still with us,” film historian Alan K. Rode told the Los Angeles Times. “She was a huge box-office star for a short period of time.”
But Durbin retired from the movies at age 28 and never looked back despite appeals from directors, studios and fans.
Deanna Durbin was born Edna Mae Durbin on Dec. 4, 1921 in Winnipeg, Canada. Because of illness, her father moved the family to Los Angeles where the young Edna was discovered by a talent scout while singing at a school recital.
In 1936, she co-starred with Judy Garland in Every Sunday. The financially struggling Universal hired her to star in Three Smart Girls. It was Durbin’s first full-length feature, and it was a huge success thanks to the young actress’ strong screen presence. A year later, One Hundred Men and a Girl followed suit, saving Universal from bankruptcy and earning the renamed Deanna Durbin the nickname, “the mortgage lifter.”
Rode said Durbin, along with Abbot and Costello, “saved the studio from going down the tubes.”
By 1939 child roles were becoming increasingly out-of-reach for Durbin who had grown into a mature young woman. She was passed over for the role of Dorothy in the classic Wizard of Oz and Garland got the part. That same year saw her first on-screen kiss — with Robert Stack — and the news bumped war headlines off daily papers.
Durbin married cinematographer Vaughn Paul in 1941, and was divorced in 1943.
She made Can’t Help Singing, her first and only Technicolor film, in 1944. Her other films were in black-and-white because studio executives said it was too expensive to have Deanna Durbin and color film in the same movie.
That same year she married playwright Felix Jackson, 20 years her senior. They had one daughter and divorced in 1949.
In 1945, Durbin made Lady on a Train — directed by Charles David, whom she married five years later. The two moved to France and had a son. David died in 1999.
Durbin is survived by her daughter, Jessica Jackson, and her son, Peter H. David.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

World Doll Day Proclamation by Mildred Seeley

Letter From Mildred Seeley - World Doll Day

Mildred Seeley founded World Doll Day with a letter written in 1986.  Following is the letter:

The Letter

Since you have not heard of World Doll Day?  This is not surprising as of an hour ago, I hadn't conceived the idea.  Give a doll to a grown up, a child, or family friend.
Think of it this way and ship a doll to another country.  I have always felt that the common doll could be an instrument of world understanding.  From the first time I started writing books on doll making, I had the hope that dolls would help make friends all over the world and develop a little love among all.
World Doll Day will also be a day for doll exhibits.  It is my hope that all libraries will have a special doll exhibit.  Museums will publicize their doll exhibits and have special doll exhibits at this time.  Magazines will put out special editions.  Doll stores will put on campaigns weeks ahead.  Doll Makers will make special dolls for World Doll Day.  There will be doll competitions with World Doll Day awards, plaques and trophies.
The logo is made from artist Boots Tyner's doll representing a child. The child carries a German bisque doll to represent this doll collectors gift.  Feel free to copy the logo or have one made.
  Everyone can enjoy the fun as there are no fees, no permission needed, no obligations, nobody owns the day, no club, no company.  It's a free- for- all, take up the day, its ideas and fly with it.  Lets do it know.  World Doll Day.
If you think World Doll Day is a good idea, then appoint yourself a committee of one to do something about
 it--only then can it become a reality.  Would you tell five people,  ask them to tell five people, and each of them tell five people and so on.  World Doll Day's birthday is June 14, 1986.
                                                                                             Sincerely
                                                                                 Mil and Vernon Seeley
P.S.
This letter may be copied and copied again and again until the world knows about World Doll Day.

Monday, June 3, 2013

World Doll Day This Saturday June 8


World Doll Day this year is June 8.  The day is always celebrated the second
Saturday in June.  I have included some pictures of my Bleuette's.  Saturday I will post more of my doll's pictures and again give the history of World Doll Day.  What are you doing to celebrate the day?  Let me know in the comments section what you are doing. 
 
 
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