Sasha: A Doll of the 1970's

Sasha dolls were created by Swiss doll artist Sasha Morgenthaler, who was born in 1893 and died in 1975.  The dolls were first produced in Germany, by Götz (1965-1969 and 1995-2001) and then in the United Kingdom, by Trendon (1966-1986).  According to Wikipedia, Sasha dolls are "characterized by their individualism, their realistic expressions, their unique color, and the extreme attention to detail in the manufacture of the dolls as well as their clothes."  Sasha is made of hard plastic, with elastic stringing that enables her to hold poses.  She is also able to stand without the aid of a doll stand.  Sasha is 16" tall and has the same relative body proportions as a young girl. 

Sasha was one of the many dolls that my daughter had in her childhood in the 1970s.  A few years ago, I bought a brunette Sasha to represent the 1970s in my doll collection.  The clothing sold for Sasha was so well made and so enchanting that I was enticed into collecting them for my Sasha, rather than sewing clothes for her myself.  In addition to the things I bought, I did end up knitting a few things for Sasha. One of the things that I find amusing is that, with a few exceptions, Sasha's color palette is red, white and blue.  She is a patriotic doll!  Here is her wardrobe:

Here is Sasha in her iconic blue checked yoke dress.  This was the dress most often sold on Sasha.  It is the dress in which my daughter's Sasha came.  There are two snaps at the back yoke and a snap on each sleeve cuff.  Underneath her dress she wears blue checked bloomers.  The socks are replacements, but the shoes are original to Sasha.

Here she is in her navy blue cord yoke dress.  This style was one of the first ones mass produced for Sasha.  This is a later version, as it has Velcro closures.  Underneath Sasha wears blue cord short pants.

Sasha is wearing her blue dancing dress.  This is the dress in which she came to me.  The dress has a sash that ties in a bow in the back.  Sasha also came wearing white tights, as seen in the photo.  She should be wearing her dancing shoes, which can be seen later on in the photo of her ballet ensemble.

Here Sasha is wearing what I call the white ruffle dress.  It has ruffles at the armholes and at the hem.  There is a separate sash that ties in a bow at the back.

Sasha is wearing her white pintuck dress.  The pintucks are difficult to see in the photo, but there are vertical pintucks down both the front and back of the dress, as well as horizontal pintucks at the lower edge.  The cuffs and collar all have small gathered ruffles.  Sashas who came in this outfit had center snap black shoes.  As my Sasha does not own such a pair, she is wearing her original black slip-on shoes.

Here is Sasha wearing the slip that came with the pintuck dress.  It is good to have a slip to wear under a white dress, to prevent any embarrassing see-through during the photo shoot. 

Here Sasha is wearing a pink short-sleeve yoked dress, which has deep vertical pleats on the lower portion.  The separate belt closes with Velcro, as does the back of the yoke.  The little Peter Pan collar is white.  This is one of my favorite outfits.  Sashas who came in this outfit wore knee socks and black Oxfords, as does my Sasha here.

Sasha is wearing her school girl uniform.  The patch on the upper right of the jumper is the Trendon emblem.  The white long-sleeved shirt closed with snaps down the center front and at the cuffs.  Sasha wore white knee socks and black oxfords with her uniform.  It originally came with a black tie belt, which was missing from the one that I bought.

Here is Sasha in her mariner's outfit.  It has a white sleeveless blouse under the middy shirt.  It is supposed to have a black tie, but it also is missing.  The skirt came with large stains, but I was able to soak them clean.  The skirt is open completely down the back, but has a large overlap, for modesty's sake.  Sasha is wearing her white knee socks and black Oxfords with her mariner's outfit.

Sasha is now wearing her red Scottish kilt with a white fisherman's knit sweater.  She looks like she is ready for the Highland games!

This is one of Sasha's more casual outfits.  The A-line jumper is made of red denim, which looks pinkish in the photograph.  The jumper straps snap closed at the front.  There is also a snap on the right side under the arm, to give room in getting it on and off. The short-sleeve shirt is navy blue check.  In accord with the casual look, Sasha is wearing her brown sandals.

Here is another casual look.  This dress was sold as a smocked dress, but the "smocking" is just two rows of slightly gathered white stitching.  Sasha wears a matching pair of shorts underneath, which are definitely needed as the dress is very short.  She is wearing a straw hat, which I was told when I bought it that it was sold by Trendon for Sasha.  I'm not sure about that, but it does fit her.

Continuing the casual theme, here is Sasha in what I call her French sailor's outfit.  It does have a rather French look to it.  The light blue top is denim and is very stiff on her.  The jeans have a leatherette belt, which is needed, as the waist of the jeans is too big.  Sasha is wearing her white Oxfords, which rather look like boat shoes, as well as her red beret.

Sasha is now wearing her brown cord farmer's pants.  Originally it came with a white cotton short-sleeve shirt, but mine did not, so Sasha is wearing a white T-shirt with the farmer's pants, as well as her brown sandals.  This is another iconic Sasha outfit, first made in the 1960's.  She looks very comfortable in it!

This is another of my favorite outfits It is a summer play outfit, with a pair of blue cotton shorts, a matching hat, and a white cap-sleeve T-shirt.  It also came with a pair of red and white striped socks to wear with white Oxfords, but the socks are so thick that it is impossible to get the shoes on over them.  The outfit also came with a blue-and-white striped tote bag, in which Sasha carries her swimming suit.

Sasha in her red and navy striped swimming suit is ready to take the plunge!  The suit is cut low in the back, down to her waist.  This is the only time that Sasha got to go barefoot.

Sasha is a budding ballerina.  She does have problems doing pliés, though, as her knees do not bend.  Here she is wearing her dancing shoes, which have ties long enough to cross in front and then encircle her ankles, as true ballet shoes do.  The leotard is supposed to have a white tutu, but mine came without.

Here Sasha is wearing the ballet cape that came with the outfit.  The cape is sewn part way up under the arms, to form sleeves of a sort.  It is bound in black and has a small collar.

In cold weather, Sasha wears her red duffle coat.  She can pull up the hood to keep even warmer.  The coat has two small brass buttons for closures.   The duffle coat came with a pair of black leatherette boots, but try as I might, I could not get them on her.  So instead, she is wearing her jeans and black Oxfords.

In rainy weather, Sasha can wear her navy vinyl raincoat with matching rain hat.  The coat snaps closed with two white snaps.  It came with a pair of white boots.

In the 1970's, the Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Crafts was published in 98 weekly installments, which covered a wide variety of needlecrafts.  I purchased all 98 installments and made quite a few of the projects in them.  In four issues there were projects to knit or crochet for Sasha.  I had plans to make those outfits for my daughter's Sasha, but never got around to it.  I've now made some of them for my current Sasha.

In the U.S. version of Golden Hands, this was called a party dress.  In the U.K., it was a nightgown.  In the magazine, it was knit in yellow, with a white ribbon and white lace at the hem.  The skirt has a simple lace pattern and the bodice is knit throughout.  I've put a French blue ribbon through the eyelets, with a matching ribbon for Sasha's hair.

The pattern for the party dress came with a matching coat.  The sleeves are in the same lace pattern as the skirt.  There is a single-button closing at the front of the high waistline.

Here is a peasant's outfit from Golden Hands.  The shaped A-line skirt has a knit-in waistband.  The bib has long straps that cross in the back.  The blouse has lace gathered lower sleeves, a high knit collar and buttons in the back.  The knit babushka, which were very stylish in the 1970's, has the same striped pattern as the skirt and bib and has a knit lace edging.  I knit this outfit in the same color combination as the original in Golden Hands.

This Aran-style sweater is also from a pattern in Golden Hands.  In the same issue there was also directions for a pair of bell-bottom pants and a long vest to be worn over the sweater.  I haven't knit the vest or pants yet, as I haven't figured out what color would be appropriate for the 1970's but not look too awful.  I made up the pattern for the little knit cap myself.

I modified the Golden Hands sweater pattern to make this Fair Isle sweater and cap for Sasha.  It actually is a mock Fair Isle knitting pattern.  In true Fair Isle, two colors are used to knit each row, with the alternating use of those colors forming the pattern.  For this sweater, each row was knit with just one color, but the colors changed row by row.  The pattern was made by knitting some stitches on the row but not knitting other stitches, rather just moving them from one needle to the other.  This method gives a miniature Fair Isle effect, the right size for a doll's sweater.

I am trying very hard not to be enticed into buying any more outfits for Sasha.  There are a few pieces missing for the outfits that I already have, which I would like to find.  These include the white shirt that goes with the farmer's pants, the white tutu for the ballet outfit, the black belt for the schoolgirl uniform and the black tie for the mariner's outfit.  I do not hold out much hope for finding the last three.  I imagine that the tutus, made of fragile net and designed to attach and detach for the leotard, did not often survive the young owners' childhoods.  The black belt and black tie, once separated from their respective outfits, are not easily identifiable as Sasha clothing.  On the other hand, I do have yarn and patterns to knit a few more sweaters and caps for Sasha.  In fact, I did knit one other set, a red-and-white Icelandic style sweater.  Nearly every row was knit with two colors, which I find very exacting.  I knit the cap first and it fit Sasha just right.  I knit the sweater next and when finished, I discovered that it was far too small, fitting her skin tight -- not quite the look I wanted!  I bought more red and white yarn, but haven't had the heart yet to knit that sweater again.  One day, though  . . . .

Addendum

I found and/or replace most of the missing items, plus bought one additional outfit.  Here they are:

 My big find was an original tutu for the ballet ensemble.  The elastic at the waist of the tutu was shot, so I replaced it.  It attaches via Velcro to the center front of the leotard, keeping it in place.  It is four layers of white tulle gathered on the elastic.

I was missing the belt for the schoolgirl uniform, but had no hope of ever finding an original without having to buy the entire outfit again.  So I bought some 1/2" black twill tape to make a replacement.  I don't think that the twill tape has the same heft as whatever was used for the original belt, but it is black and fits around Sasha's waist.

I had the same problem with the necktie for the mariner's outfit and solved it the same way.  The replacement tie is 1/4" black twill tape, which I think makes a fairly decent necktie.  I'm not sure why Trendon put a black tie on a navy shirt, as it doesn't show up very well.  I'd have gone with a red tie if I were the designer.

The new outfit that I found are a set of nightclothes for Sasha.  The photo shows the nightgown and slippers.  The nightgown gathers with a ribbon at the neckline and is made of cotton.  The design is utter simplicity.  The slippers are terrycloth and actually remain fairly easily on Sasha's feet.  I wasn't sure that they would.

Lastly, here is Sasha's bathrobe.  One of the things that I find endearing about Sasha's clothing is how typical they are of the clothes that a real child of the 1970's would wear.  My daughter wore clothes similar to many of Sasha's outfits -- unlike the clothes that Barbie dolls wore back then!

McGuffey Ana, a Doll of the 1930's

The Alexander Doll Company, founded in 1923, is still in operation today.  In 1928, a high quality line of dolls were produced and advertised as "Madame Alexander," which is the name now commonly associated with their dolls.  Alexander dolls were produced with only a few different face molds, the doll's originality lying in the various costumes.

The McGuffey Ana dolls were made from 1937 to 1943 and came in sizes from 9 inches to 22 inches tall.  They were made with the Princess Elizabeth face mold.  All were made of composition and had sleep eyes, except for the smallest 9-inch dolls.  The dolls (except for the 11 inch) had open mouths with tiny teeth showing.  They usually came with a braided wig.  McGuffey Ana dolls were dressed in old-fashioned dresses, often with pinafores.  They wore high-top two-button shoes.

My McGuffey Ana has "13" incised on her upper back.  She has brown sleep eyes and blonde hair in the characteristic braids with curly bangs.  In the photo at the left, she is shown wearing the dress in which she came to me.  It is an original McGuffey Ana dress, with a label so stating attached to the back neckline.  It is very possible that this dress originally came with a pinafore.  The shoes are replicas that I made from brown leather.

This photograph shows McGuffey Ana in her original combination.  It is a slip with a little eyelet ruffle.  The slip has attached underpants, which also have the eyelet ruffle.  The slip closes in the back with a safety pin.  The underclothing of early 20^thcentury dolls often did not have any applied closures, such as buttons or snaps.

I decided to make a small wardrobe for my McGuffey Ana by replicating original McGuffey Ana outfits for which I found photographs on the Internet.  All of the dresses have high waists and full skirts.  All but one have short puffed sleeves.  The most often used trim was rick-rack sewn so that only one side of points showed on the outside.  Here is the first outfit that I made:

 This replica is a red plaid dress with puff sleeves and red rick-rack trim at the neckline.  Over it is worn a white dimity check pinafore, with white rick-rack trim at the neckline and on the edge of the sleeve ruffles.  The dimity that I used is not as transparent as the original.  Both garments close in the back with snaps.

 The second replica is a peach cotton dress with puff sleeves and white rick-rack trim at the neckline.  The accompanying pinafore is a pink rosebud cotton print that has a square neckline and sleeve ruffles.  The peach color of the dress isn't quite the right shade, but it will do.

Next is a light green gingham check dress with long straight sleeves that have white cuffs with lace trim.  The dress has a white Peter Pan collar with lace trim and a green silk ribbon sash that ties in a bow at the back.  Again, the colors aren't quite right, but I like the match between the sash and dress fabric color better in my replica than in the original.  The hat that my McGuffey Ana is wearing is also a replica.

The next replica is a blue-flowered cotton dress with puff sleeves and blue rick-rack trim at the neckline.  The puff sleeves on this dress have a little self ruffle.  The pinafore is white organdy with white rick-rack at the neckline and white organdy eyelet flounces around the armhole.

The next dress is made of brown striped cotton.  It has puff sleeves and brown rick-rack trim at the neckline.  This pinafore is constructed in a different manner from the previous ones.  Rather than a full bodice, front and back, this organdy pinafore has a bib in front, with eyelet flounces extending down to the waistband.  The back ties with organdy sashes.

 The final outfit that I replicated is a pink dress with puffed sleeves and pink rick-rack trim at the neckline.  With it was an organdy pinafore.  Rather than make another plain pinafore, I chose a piece of organdy eyelet embroidery with which to make the pinafore's skirt, with matching sleeve flounces.  This pinafore is constructed in the same way as the pinafore for the brown striped dress.  The organdy eyelet embroidery has lovely lily of the valley flowers above a scalloped eyelet border.  I found the eyelet at Farmhouse Fabrics and have been saving it for something special.  This is it!

On the left above is a picture of a hat that I found on the Internet, which said that it was an original McGuffey Ana hat.  I made a quasi-facsimile of it, shown on the right.  The flowers that I had on hand for doll hat-making are not quite as elaborate as the flowers on the original, but they are the same color combination.  

Lastly, the photos above show the trunk that I made in which to store McGuffey Ana's clothes.  It is a modified version of the McCall's pattern for an American Girl doll trunk and is made with foamcore board covered with cloth.  The inside has a rod for hanging McGuffey Ana's dresses and a drawer for her accessories.

Patsy: A 1930s composition toddler doll

Effanbee Dolls started production of dolls in 1912, right at the beginning of the era of composition dolls. Effanbee was founded by Bernard Fleischaker and Hugo Baum (the “F” and “B” of Effanbee). The company had great success with its composition creations, most notably Patsy and her family of dolls. Later dolls were made in hard plastic and vinyl.  The company has had a series of owners since the 1930s and is currently owned by Tonner Dolls.  

Effanbee’s greatest success was the Patsy family of dolls, which began with the 13-inch tall Patsy.  Patsy was one of the first dolls to have a manufactured wardrobe just for her. Patsy was made of all composition. She portrayed a three year old girl with short bobbed red hair with a molded headband, painted side glancing eyes, pouty mouth and bent right arm.  She wore simple classic dresses closed with a safety pin. Patsy was so popular she soon had several sisters in sizes from 5¾ inches to 29 inches, many factory variations and even a boyfriend, Skippy.  

My Patsy has all the characteristics described above.  Her eyes are a light brown or hazel.  My doll came to me in a yellow print dress with matching hat that appears to be factory-made, although there is no identifying tag.  The dress has a white lace-trimmed collar and the hat has a matching brim.  From the color and print of the fabric and from the style of the garments, the outfit appears to be from the 1930s. She is marked on her back:

I researched the marking and learned that EffanBee used it between 1927 and 1933.  

EffanBee produced clothing to be bought to dress their Patsy dolls.  In addition, pattern companies, like Simplicity and McCalls, sold patterns with which to make a wardrobe for the Patsy dolls and their look-alikes, of which there were many.  The pattern to the left, Simplicity 3879, is a reissue of a pattern published in the 1930’s.  I made three of the garments from this pattern:

The first garment that I I made is called a combination.  Originally, little girls were dressed in a chemise (like an undershirt) and pantaloons (like underpants), but beginning in the 1920s, these two undergarments were combined into one, thus a combination.  This one for Patsy is very simple, the only trimming being lace around the neck, arms, and leg openings.  There is a bound slit in the upper back, with a snap closure at the top.

From the same Simplicity pattern, this is Patsy’s slip.  It is a simple A-line garment, much like the slips worn by real girls in the 1930’s.  It is trimmed around the neck and arm openings with the same lace as used for the combination, and the back opening and closure are also the same

Garment A in the Simplicity pattern is this little yoke dress.  I mentioned above that I only used three of the designs in this pattern set, the combination, the slip, and this yoke dress.  However, I did make several versions of the yoke dress.  In all of its variations, the yoke dress was by far the most popular garment for the Patsy dolls.  In the blue version shown below, the front yoke extends down to form a box pleat in the center of the skirt and then the skirt itself is gathered to the sides of the front yoke, and all the way across the back to the back yoke.  The dress has a little white Peter Pan collar and puffed sleeves, which are gathered into narrow white cuffs.  The material for this dress was part of a set of miniatures designs for quilting fabric, based on old-time fabrics from the 1930s.  The pattern came with a cloche-style hat to accompany the dress, which I made out of the same fabric and trimmed with a white silk ribbon.

The use of a Peter Pan collar in a contrasting color (often white) was very common in the Patsy yoke dresses, as were the puffed sleeves.  I adapted Simplicity 3879 design A to create the light green dress at the left.  This dress has a front and back yoke, to which is attached a pleated skirt.  The dress has the same white Peter Pan collar as the blue dress above, as well as puff sleeves.  For this dress, the sleeve bands are the same fabric as the rest of the dress, rather than contrast.  I almost always line the bodices of doll dresses, as I did for this, as the lining covers and protects the seam allowances for the neckline, armholes, and lower yoke front and back all in one fell swoop.

This is another yoke dress adapted from the Simplicity 3879 pattern.  The fabric in this dress is a red check.  The Peter Pan collar and the sleeve cuffs both have red piping.  (Note that most of the Patsy dresses, both patterns and ready-made, have collars with piping around the outer edges.)  

I knitted a little green sweater to go with this dress.  I found directions in McCalls 2270 pattern for a cardigan to fit a 17” young girl doll.  I made a sample sweater following those directions with some spare yarn that I had.  I found that I needed to decrease the length and increase the breadth to fit my Patsy.  It took three tries to get a sweater that actually fit her.  The yarn I used was Knit Picks wool fingering yarn.  I used size 3 knitting needles for the body of the sweater and size 1 for the ribbing.  I also knitted a little hat with the leftover yarn.

Below is another of the Patsy yoke dresses.  This one, like the red check above, has the skirt gathered onto the yoke.  The fabric here is another of the quilting-weight fabrics with doll-size patterns from the 1930’s.  I like these fabrics not only because of the patterns, but also because the colors are appropriate to that era.  The little Peter Pan collar is edged here with lace rather than piping.  BTW, Peter Pan collars have the rounded edges, rather than points or corners in the center front and back.  They got their name from the costume of Maud Adams, one of the women in the early 1900s who played the role of Peter Pan.

I knitted a sweater to go with this dress, too.  The yarn is also Knit Picks wool fingering yarn, this time in a pink color that matches the flowers in the dress print.  The sweater is a classic cardigan, with ribbing at the bottom of the sweater body, at the wrists, and at the neckline.  The front edges have a sort of ribbing made of garter stitch, with knit-in buttonholes on the right side and little pearl buttons on the left side.

We are now leaving Simplicity, and moving on to McCalls 1919.  This pattern has two dresses, a coat and bonnet, a gym suit, and a bathrobe, as well as the classic underwear pieces.  All of the clothing is in the style common to the Patsy dolls.  I made clothing with all of these patterns, except for the underthings.

This dress is a classic Patsy dress.  It is a blue A-line dress, with two insets in the front of white fabric.  For this dress, the insets have little embroideries.  The Peter Pan collar has white piping and also has little embroideries at the front edges.  The dress has the classic Patsy puff sleeves.  McCalls 1919 included a pattern for a cloche hat, which I made in fabric to match the dress.  The hat has a hat band of white silk ribbon, with a bow on the side.

This is the same pattern as the blue dress above.  This time, the main fabric of the dress is a soft pink and white check, while the collar and front insets are of the same pink in a solid color fabric.  The collar has piping made of the check fabric cut on the bias. This is another very classic Patsy look.  I made the cloche hat from the pink and white check fabric, lining the inside of the brim with the solid pink fabric, and adding a hat band of the same fabric.

Here is the little gym suit from McCalls 1919.  Sailor outfits became very popular for both boys and girls in the early 1900s.  They retained their popularity as gym suits for most of the first half of the 20^th century.  Patsy’s gym suit is a classic example.  The collar, cuffs, and inset are the same royal blue fabrics as the bloomers.  The blouse closes in the front with snaps.  The collar, cuffs, and inset are all trimmed with white soutache.  The blouse has a red silk ribbon for a tie.  The bloomers have elastic at the waist and legs.

The pink dress is the second ress pattern from McCalls 1919 and it also is a very classic style for Patsy.  It is difficult to see under the large collar, but there is a yoke in the front and back, to which the skirt is gathered.  The main fabric for this dress is a flowered dimity.  There are two collars, one atop the other.  The upper collar is made from the flowered dimity and the lower collar is a solid light pink.  Then both collars are piped with a darker pink, which is also used for a bow at the front neck.  The dress is sleeveless.  I made a bonnet, copying the one that came with my doll.  The bonnet is trimmed with a band of the darker pink fabric and edged with lace.

 

This coat and bonnet from McCalls 1919 are a classic 1930’s style.  The outfit is made from red cotton.  The coat has long sleeves, which were a bit difficult to fit over the right arm, which is bent at the elbow on all of the Patsy dolls.  The coat has a capelike under collar with a little straight collar on top.  There are three pearl buttons on the front of the coat, with snaps underneath doing the actual closing.  The bonnet is made of the same fabric as the coat, and has a hat band of white silk ribbon.

Here is my Patsy in her bathrobe from McCalls 1919, which I made from pink flannel.  All of the trimming on the robe is from a piece of blue batiste.  All of the outer edges of the robe are bounded with bias from that blue batiste, and it also makes the sash.  There are two little pockets on the front of the robe, which have pieces of blue bias binding the tops.  Then each pocket has a blue applique shaped like a Scottie dog, which were very popular in the 1930’s.

McCalls 243 is the last pattern that I used that actually came from the 1930’s.  I only made one of the dresses from this pattern, the one on the lower right, with smocking, which is next.  

I made this dress from one of the pieces of 1930’s reproduction quilting fabric with a doll-size print.  The fabric has little blue and white flowers scattered on a light yellow background.  I did the smocking with a matching blue embroidery thread.  The smocking itself is the same pattern as on McCalls 243.  I also used blue piping between the yoke and skirt, as well as on the bonnet.   

The next three patterns are all from Vogue, and are clothes designed for an 18” tall Patsy doll by Teresa Layman.  While the designs of these clothes for Patsy look appropriate to the 1930’s, the sewing methods involved in construction are much more intricated and complicated than 20th century doll clothes patterns tend to be.  Nonetheless, I thought they were charming, and I made several of them.  I did have to modify the patterns from the published size for an 18” doll down to my Patsy size of 14”.  I found if I reduced the patterns to 80% of their original size, they fit perfectly.

From the first pattern on the left above, Vogue 621, here is my Patsy in her footsie pajamas.  These pajamas have a drop seat in the back.  The front opening and the drop seat are closed by snaps.  The sleeves have a strap around the wrist to gather in the sleeve end.  These straps attach around with a snap.  There is elastic at the ankles and self binding at the neck.

I only made the overall outfit from the middle Vogue pattern, Vogue 7365.  Here is my Patsy in her blue corduroy overalls.  I made the bib a little higher than in the original pattern, as I liked the bib to come up higher on Patsy chest.  I made the blouse from tan checked gingham, with a white batiste collar with a piped edge.  The blouse has buttons down the front, with hidden snaps underneath to do the closing.

This is the third and final sweater that I knitted for my Patsy.  I picked the Knit Picks tan fingering yarn to match the tan in the blouse.  The shape of this sweater is the same as the other two previously seen.

 The pattern on the right, Vogue 7565, has three dresses.  I made them all.  The first one that I made is the one on the right on the pattern cover.  Making it presented a lot more problems than I thought it would initially.  The dress on the pattern cover was made of a striped fabric, but I couldn’t find a striped fabric that I liked, so I chose a windowpane check in red.  The pattern is a series of pleats from shoulders to hem across the front and back.  I didn’t like how uneven my check pattern came out, so I redrafted the pattern to eliminate the pleats and then stitched full-length pleats into the fabric, following the grid of the checks, before I cut the pattern pieces out.  The collar had little embroideries on each piece in the front.  I’m not sure how difficult those would have been to do for the original 18” doll, but reducing their size to fit my 14” doll made them impossibly tiny.  Also, the collar has red piping around the outer edge,and then gathered lace is stitched to the piping. Stitching the gathered lace to the piping was incredibly convoluted.  Eventually, all of the problems got resolved, and I think the little dress turned out well.

Vogue 7565 Dress B is on the left side of the cover photo.  This is a dress with a cover-up or pinafore over it.  The dress is the only one I made for Patsy that has a actual separate bodice.  The bodice is set a little higher than it would be on an adult’s dress, but is fairly normal on the dress of a three-year-old.  I used a piece of calico from my stash that had the same colors as the dress on the pattern cover.  The dress has a simple gathered skirt and a shirt collar that comes points in the front and back and that has its edges bound with red bias (in fact, the same bias fabric used for Dress A).

.  I made some alterations to the pinafore.  First, the pattern called for embroidery at the top center of the pinafore and also in the lower right corner (from Patsy’s point of view).  After the collar embroidery in making Dress A, I opted out of any additional embroidery.  So I simply put on two pockets on the pinafore.  I also lengthened the pinafore a little bit, just the make the outfit look a little more balanced.  There are straps that go over the shoulders, cross in the middle of the back, and then are buttoned to the front under the arms.  Sewing on all of the bias that goes around the front and then around each the straps in back took a good bit of time.

  The third and final dress in Vogue 7565 is what I think of as a party dress.  The pattern photo showed this dress with a blue-on-white polka dot fabric. I happened to have a very nice piece of pink-on-white polka dot fabric that I think did very well.  The dress has a fitted bodice with a square neckline that has some little white lace stitched around it.  Patsy apparently really likes puffed sleeves, because this dress, as so many that went before, has them.  The skirt on this dress literally began as a circle which was bound on the outer edge with pink batiste bias.  The waistline of the skirt piece is cut out of the inside of the circle, and is slightly gathered to fit the waist of the bodice.

This is the only outfit for which I took a picture of the back view.  The pattern directions were to have a sash around the high waist and then to add a large bow on the doll’s left front.  I tried that, but on my 14” doll it seemed like a bit much, so I opted to use a length of pink silk ribbon for the sash, and then tied the ends in a bow in the back.  It reminded of the years I spent tying bows in the back of my daughter’s dresses (as she usually was squirming) and then later for my granddaughter’s dresses.