In October I popped into a local vintage shop in the town where I live and while browsing around found a 14" (P90) Ideal Toni doll languishing on a chair in the back room (these dolls are hard plastic, made 1949-1952 in the USA). Her non original knitted outfit was moth eaten and very incomplete as a result, however she still had her original white plastic shoes and her hairstyle was still in the original style though somewhat dusty. She had no price tag and when I asked about her the shop owner said she was still getting her priced up with the help of a friend so I had to wait a couple of weeks before I could purchase her in early November.
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| Toni in her moth eaten knitted dress |
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| Toni with her hairstyle largely intact |
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| Toni full face |
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| Toni's wig from above |
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| Side view of Toni's hair style |
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| Other side view of Toni's wig |
Then she had to wait because it was Christmas time and I had other doll projects on the go and was finishing off the goth Christmas sweater for my daughter. However, when I purchased Toni, I removed her outfit, put it in a ziplock bag in the freezer just in case there were any moth eggs (I had half a mind to find the knitting pattern and knit it again). I washed her carefully, but at the time didn't wash her hair. I dressed her in a floral lilac Sasha dress and underwear which had been adopted by Betsy, my Schoenhut doll, but it was a bit baggy for her as she has a slimmer waist than 16" Sasha and Betsy.
Making her wait also helped me work out what outfit to make for her and once I was making it I decided to carefully wash her hair and keep the style (it was easy as she had factory curl and a hairpin on one side).
I think it was at the Dolly Jolly in 2021 that I'd won a raffle prize of a fat quarter of fabric mustard yellow floral fabric, with a ball of variegated purple to green colour wool and a pack of various different purple, lilac and pink buttons. I had thought of making an outfit for Trudi my Studio doll with that combination, but I realised Toni's colouring of auburn hair and green eyes match that combination of colours too.
In January, after the doll literary display was set up in the library, I found time to design and make Toni's outfit. I adapted a Sasha dress pattern - a lined fitted bodice with circular skirt, a knitted short sleeved cardigan (my favourite top down seamless raglan pattern by Lauri Bolland), fine knitted ankle socks using 1 ply wool and size 19 knitting needles (adapting a Sasha socks pattern to fit her slim feet). The circle of fabric from the centre of the circular skirt became to top of a beret style hat (I put elastic in the bottom so it would hold her her head). I made her a pair of white jersey panties. I knitted a little handbag to complete the outfit.
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| Toni shows off her complete new outfit |
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| Closer view of Toni's cardigan and knitted handbag |
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| Close up of Toni's hat on her clean hair |
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| Close up of Toni's ankle socks |
I took her back to the shop last week to show the owner and she was excited to see what I had created, and took a photo to send to her friend.
Ever since they got home from being in the library Christmas display, Miranda and Louisa have been standing on the table downstairs with little Gigi Ruby Red Galleria doll and Bouncer the dog. Soon Toni joined them in her new outfit.
Yesterday I took down the doll display in the library (just after I did another parent asked library staff about the literary treasure trail and display, the word had got out and it was popular apparently, the Library Manager and I have already started bouncing ideas for next year's Literary treasure trail and display). Today, with actual sunshine outside lighting up our sitting room, it was doll photography time.
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| Miranda wearing her white knitted dress, Toni in her new outfit and Louisa in her Christmas sundress |
Today a dress I commissioned at the Chat 'n Snap arrived in the post from Tricia - perfect timing for sunshine and doll photography. So Trudi came downstairs and changed out of her sailor outfit into the gorgeous dress of Liberty fabric with its bespoke embroidered felt bodice. It absolutely suits her colouring. Tricia had used her own Studio doll Dani to get the sizing right, now Dani is asking for a similar dress.
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| Trudi wearing her beautiful bespoke embroidered dress |
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| Trudi in her embroidered dress |
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| Close up showing the embroidery |
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| Back view of the bodice showing the buttons and button loops |
Betsy normally sits in the doll display cabinet in a rocking chair, wearing her dress made by Tricia. I brought her downstairs to compare the two dresses, same style, so very different due to fabric and embroidery.
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| Betsy and Trudi in their 'Tricia Jackson' embroidered dresses |
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| L-R: Gigi (Ruby Red Galleria), Toni (Ideal), Bouncer the dog, Betsy, Trudi, Miranda and Louisa |
The only commercially made dress in this photo is Gigi's dress, all the others were either made by me or by Tricia.
Four different makes of dolls. They're all so different and beautiful in their own ways.
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