Marvelous Monday: On Dolls and Such...

It's not very often I get all excited-like over dolls. I gave that up years ago .... though the thought of dressing Barbie does still cross my mind. I loved Barbie. My Nanny bought my a shoe bag to keep my collection in (I thought that was clever), and she would knit them outfits. Once, she even crocheted a southern belle dress and hat. It made Barbie look like Little Bo Beep. I don't know if Barbie liked it, but I sure did!

Ahhhh..... ok...?!??

Oh.... Why am I telling you this?

Just a trip down memory lane. I have boys, they don't play with my dolls very often. It is rare for my dolls to come out of the trunk.... except for Mandy, she ends up undressed right down to her sewn-on chin-to-thigh bloomers quite frequently.... hmmm...I wonder what that is about? 

I digress.... yes, I wanted to tell you about my dolly. She doesn't have a name. Odd, because she was the first one I ever got - you'd think I would have named her or that someone else would have done so on my behalf (ahem... mom... cough). Nanny bought her for me when my mother was still pregnant. And, not to give my age, but back in the day one didn't predict the sex of the baby, so it was a real shot in the dark on Nan's part. But I was born a girl, and so I got the dolly.

Dolly was a baby doll in a lace Christening gown. The over skirt was lined in a pink ribbon, and parted just under the bodice to reveal a white skirt underneath. Dolly moved her head if you wound her up and hummed a little lullaby while you went to sleep. She had a lot of red hair for a newborn. I remember playing with Dolly and giving her her bottle everywhere. Eventually, her pretty lace dress turned to rags, she stopped humming when I wound her up, and, well, let's be honest: I was too old for her to be cool anymore. 

I lost track of my dolly! Never to be seen again...!!

.... that is, until my Mom called me out to the laundry room one day and asked me: "Do you want this? Or will I give it away?"

It was my dolly!!!!

Now, as stated above, dolly's dress had long since disappeared, and she was in the state Mandy so often finds herself in: naked except for her stitched-on bloomers. I tucked Dolly under my arm and brought her home. I wanted her to be restored to her former glory - the boys may not want her, but I would make her a treasure for their children (or their children's children ;-).... I searched everywhere but could not find a dress or a pattern even remotely like the one she wore...

Then one day, I thought "Shag it, Dolly needs a dress", and I got my hooks, and this is what I came up with:

The pink I found for her flowers and trim seems to be dead-on to the hue of her original pink ribbon, and the shell pattern in her skirt is my attempt to mimic her original lace gown. And, because I wanted her to be modest, she has a little pale pink underskirt.

Doesn't she look ... marvelous? I just may have to write down what I did - ya never know when you'll need a doll's dress, 'eh?

Dolly has a name now: her name is Lily after my Nanny.

Now she just needs a place to stay safe, at least until I am a nanny-to-be and take the same risk my grandma did ;-)

Have a Marvelous week!