When I was a little girl, I loved my dolls. And this is where the homemaking spirit was first established in my life. I even told my mother once that I thought my one doll could breath. I had many baby dolls and, also, I had many what we called Story Book Dolls. These were little lady dolls and were not to play with. These dolls were just to look at. And my Aunt Lilly would crochet beautiful long dresses and smart hats for these dolls and matching purses, crocheted around a penny for the bottom of the purse.
Most women back in the 50's who were housewives had an ongoing sewing project. Some of the women liked to do hand sewing the best. And some did more with their sewing machines. We little girls made a lot of hot pads for our mothers with the little square weaving looms? The stores still have them today. They are a fun craft for children. And you can make a lot of them and sew them together and make, like, a throw rag rug or place mats. But the women back then made a lot of knick-knacky stuff just for the sake of making something pretty.
One year for Christmas, my mother and my aunt bought a set of twin dolls for me and my cousin Diane. The Mothers just bought two dolls the same and called them twins. So I had two dolls the same and Diane two dolls the same. They were baby dolls so one didn't have long hair like a girl -- they were exactly alike. Anyway, Mom and Lilly got out Mom's treadle sewing machine and spent the afternoon at our home sewing doll clothes for the two sets of twins. Boy and girl clothes for each set of twins. They also made pillows and mattresses and dolls' blankets. Mother would cut out her material for a while and get ready to sew as Lilly used the machine. Then Lilly would be done and Mom would use the machine. They went back and forth like this all afternoon. Diane and I played in the floor with our dolls. Mom and Lilly just used old sewing scraps to make our doll clothes and accessories. Later on, Dad got home from work and everything had to be put away to start supper. But the few hours Mom and Lilly had to sew made a lot of doll clothes for Diane and me.
Now, to make simple doll clothes is not hard. Just get out some paper and draw a pattern. Just draw a dress and make it the same front and back. Sew the 2 pieces of cloth together and then hem it up. In the back by the neck, just cut a slit to get the dress on over dolly's head. Then cut a hole on the slit for a button hole and sew a button on the opposite side. Then just hem the sleeves and the cut in the back. Mother always made her own button holes. Just cut a hole with your scissors. Then sorta hem the button hole? Mom would do the loop stitches around the button hole. I don't remember Mom ever doing anything but that when she made button holes. With doll clothes, you don't have to have them fit just right or make tucks and so on. Although my mother always did make tucks and gathers to fit the doll. But when I have made my girls doll clothes, I just did it very simply.
And it is a good idea if you are trying to think of a Christmas present for your daughter? Maybe you could buy two dolls just alike and call them twin babies.
Also, when I was a child, we would make cradles out of the round oatmeal boxes. We laid the box on its side and cut the middle part out for the baby to lay down. Then the box would rock, as you rocked it on its side, for baby doll. You could get real fancy with this and paste pretty cloth on it, and lace. I did this for Mary one year for her little Christmas doll. Well, I guess I have made many of these oatmeal box cradles, as I made them for Christian Joy, too, when she was little. We used to paste buttons on toys, too, with homemade paste.You could paste the buttons on the head of the cradle to fancy it up. We would just make household glue with water and white flour. Just make a paste out of it, stirring it up.
