Royal Princess Doll, France, A Gift to Elizabeth and Margaret Rose From the Children of France

Oh, how long ago was it?  March?  I seem to be blocking out chunks of time these days.  Do you ever do that?  But, I believe it was my friend, Kathy Singleton, who told me about these wonderful 16" dolls that Stephanie Ehmen was making.  They were reproductions (in miniature) of the dolls that Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose were given as a gift from the children of France during a state visit in 1938.

These lovely Jumeau dolls were 2' 10" (86.2 cm) in height, having identical bisque heads on composition jointed bodies.  France was a blonde with brown eyes, and Marianne was a brunette with blue eyes.  Human hair wigs for the dolls were made by the coiffeur, Valentin, who made wigs for humans.  The dolls' vast and exquisite wardrobe and accessories were created by the finest couturiers of Paris.  Luggage by Vuitton, handbags by Hermes, jewelry by Cartier, as well as dresses by Lanvin are to name but a few of the houses that contributed to their collection.  The dolls were even outfitted with two miniature Citroen sports cars - which happen to be my favorite items in this extraordinary collection.  Perhaps the excitement of seeing such a novelty inspired me to contact Stephanie to make me one of the reproductions.  I chose France.

Other collectors have asked for the darker Marianne, and I do think how she is dressed and featured in Faith Eaton's book, Dolls for the Princesses, The Story of France and Marianne, has a bit to do with it.  We see, and therefore we want.  However, the wardrobe created for these dolls could be worn by either doll, and it was strictly up to the photographers and museum directors as to which outfits they would wear on display.  Something lovely catches on quickly, and once in awhile the appeal sparks my curiosity and interest.

The dolls were presented to the newly crowned King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during their memorable state visit prior to WWII.  The diplomatic significance was appreciated by all.  Crowds poured out to see the vast collection of shoes, hats, gowns and other miniature accessories.  Within a year, war broke out and the dolls were packed and shipped off to Canada to begin a lengthy excursion of raising funds for refugees (and perhaps for safety?).  Dolls like Rose Percy would travel the U.S. for the Red Cross to raise such funds during another war time.  By the time the dolls returned to England, the royal princesses had grown up and the role of the two "ambassadresses" had been forgotten.  Sixty years later the dolls went back on display at Windsor Castle and can now be enjoyed by visitors to the museum.

What is sad is that it is doubtful the princesses ever got to play with them.  They were photographed with them for public interest, but state gifts are seldom enjoyed by the recipients and are strictly diplomatic gestures of goodwill.

I would be amiss not to mention at this point that upon seeing these fabulous beauties, every little girl wanted a France and Marianne of their very own.  Jumeau would go on to re-create the dolls in two sizes.  One was 18" tall, and the other was 35 1/2" tall.  I believe they were sold as dressed dolls.  Still, many young girls would never be able to afford such an extravagance, so paper dolls were dutifully created.  And, of course, I love creating fashions from paper dolls, so I do have a reproduction of the Whitman Publishing Co.'s version from 1940.  I would imagine that the few original re-creations of these dolls are extremely hard to come by on the antique doll market, but wouldn't it be amazing to find one?

So that's why doll artists like Stephanie Ehmen are in such demand.  Her work is lovely and I feel so fortunate to have one of her dolls to dress and display.  Upon contacting her, she asked if I wanted a doll with "flirty" eyes.  Apparently the originals were set with mobile eyes, mechanisms that allowed the doll to look left and right.  These are very delicate mechanisms and I didn't wish to risk the eyes sticking at some point or breaking in transit, so France's are stable.  And, when I dress my dolls, I do play with them.  They go through the rigors of being both mannequin and model.  After much searching for a more authentic looking wig, I chose the Daisy wig, which comes in various sizes through Dollspart.  My France is wearing the dark blonde.  I also gave her thinner, softer eyelashes.  And, well, hey, if I ever have to have a Marianne, I'll change her eyes to blue and the wig to brown!

So here I was newly finished with Heather's Kitty's trousseau.  It took me three weeks to settle into a new routine and during that time, I flirted with the idea of making something new for Cissy.  I was going to try a cabana outfit of bathing costume and wrap skirt, hat, etc.  But going from a delicate 14" lady doll to a huge 21" model wasn't settling well.  France had been sitting on a table either naked, or wrapped in a garble of leopard faux fur fabric for the few months while I worked on Kitty.  So I tried taking her out to play.  There is a leopard coat from the reproduction paper dolls that I've been anxious to make, yet she'd require a dress beneath.  So I began a dress and wasn't happy with the silk I'd chosen.  Then I began working on a special gown and was equally unhappy with the fabric I chose.  One of the problems with the state of our country right now, is prompt shipping from fabric stores.  With one of my favorite stores, it takes three weeks to a month for them to ship.  So there I sat, dumbfounded and disappointed that I couldn't move forward on a new project.

I needed something to ease me into a new project.  I generally insist on making my own patterns, however, I had purchased the set of France and Marianne patterns Stephanie created, and thought to myself, Well, why not try one?  Maybe the challenge is not only in creating something, but enabling myself to patiently follow instructions.  I was further challenged this way when the Barbie Dream House arrived, and now that I'd been successful with that, I was encouraged to continue with "someone else's pattern".  I also needed to select something that felt good, made me happy, and the right fabric will do that.  Make the beach dress and coat!  Its summer, I love bright summery colors, and off I took.

Earlier I had purchased this patterned fabric in aqua and yellow viscose and intended them for a Lawton doll I would make into a Flapper.  After still much more thought, making this fabric up into a fashionable summer boardwalk set seemed the right thing to do.  I'd purchased some nautical fabrics that might have worked, but nothing I had made me feel good.  I buy way too much fabric on impulse! 

As you can see, the original was made up in pink and green polka dot cotton.  It was tempting to try and replicate this, and maybe 1/2" polka dots would have worked, but then I'd be on the hunt for the just the right color, and the right size polka dot, and I was already frustrated with hunting and buying fabrics.  Stephanie's example was made up in nautical navy and white.  (see photo of pattern cover below)  Like the couturiers from Paris, I had to decide whether to make this a "juvenile" costume, or one for a young lady.  I chose the latter.  I had the vision of seeing France strolling the boardwalk, sitting in an open cafe with an ice cream, removing her shoes for a walk near the water's edge with her skirts gently fluttering in the breeze.  So this is what I came up with.

I began with the dress.  I almost stopped in my tracks thinking the fabric was too thin, but I forced myself to persevere through this if not just to get a mock up done.  I had plenty of extra fabric to work with.  I wanted a belt to go with it.  I wanted this entire outfit to look as if it had been purchased on the whole and not pieced together, from tip to toe.  I'd already had a lovely variety of leathers to select from to make her a matching pair of shoes.  I'd purchased one of every color available in the lambskins I used for Kitty's shoes.  Stephanie provided a pattern for espadrilles, which could be made up in cloth.  I had plenty of materials on hand to work with.

Making up someone else's pattern doesn't inspire me to go into how I put something together.  The fact that I was easily able to follow her instructions is a minor blessing.  She did a wonderful job.  There were only a couple of areas I had trouble figuring out, but I've done enough of this stuff to not be curtailed by the minimal setbacks.  I am confident that each pattern I try that she's created will be a treat to make up.

So what did I do differently?  First of all, the pattern called for adding lengths of ribbon to the skirt and bodice, which I omitted.  I didn't want to have to go out and try to find ribbon to match, and what ribbon I did lay on the fabric took away from the effect I was trying to achieve.  Matching markings for pleats was a bit problematic, then having them accurately fit the width of the bodice took a little fudging.  I know the pattern calls for 1/4 seams, but these seemed huge to me.  The closest marking on my machine indicates .7 which when measured is about 1/4".  Very hard to line up and follow on curves.  But, as always, I was determined.  The mind works better when a rhythm is established and I had to let it flow. 

The bodice is fully lined so I felt I was onto something. The construction was the same as I do mine.  There was joy in knowing that I wasn't just making all this stuff up.  And, I learned some cool stuff along the way for my own pattern making in the future.  The dress is finished with little mother of pearl buttons up the back with hidden snaps.  I knew this wasn't going to cut it for the coat and was miserable thinking about constructing the coat, only to have my machine eat it when I tried a machined button hole.  So it took me two days to ponder over that.  This was just about the time the Barbie Dream House showed up.  Working through that gave me a bit more confidence. 

I ended up making my own buttonholes by hand.  I was thankful that I had the wherewithal to look up how to do them (again) on the Internet.  That handy iron on interfacing did the trick to stabilize the fabric for the buttonholes.  I've stayed away from buttonholes since the tiny ones I did for Gay Event's corset.  And, I think I did a couple of tiny ones on a blouse once.  I was nervous the entire time.  One can really make a mess of buttonholes if not done correctly.  But, I measured and remeasured and drew the lines, cut a slit in the fabric and blanket stitched around the hole.  What I will not do next time is use embroidery thread.  At least not on thin fabric.  Instead of taking out the first one, which looked ghastly to me, I plodded on and did the next two similarly for consistency of appearance.  I was mortified by how they turned out, but once buttoned, the coat looked okay in the front. 

Another area that required ribbon, was this kite shaped pocket on the coat.  In order or continue the look I wanted, I made a "ribbon" of the yellow fabric to decorate the pocket.  I also made the pocket "pillow case" style for ease of working with.  I had to hand sew this on, which was fine.  Now I had a belt of blue and a ribbon of yellow, so the two pieces, the coat and the dress, looked like they belonged together.

The hat Stephanie proposed making, was a bit different from the original, and I liked the original for its pointy peak.  You'll notice in the sepia photograph of the dolls admiring their chest of clothing, that Marianne is wearing a fur hat with a pointy peak.  I'm new to the fashions of the late 1930's, but apparently this was the height of chapeau fashion.  I call them Hershey's Kiss hats.  Anyway, I added two extra rows of hat braid to the Riviera hat.  These hats were very large brimmed back then.  And, used her crown pattern as a sloper to create a multicolored hat like the original was, elongating the top portion a tad.  After sewing the fabric crown to the braid brim - and I just barely had enough braid to make this - I added a grosgrain ribbon to the inside to neaten it up.  I also had just enough hat braid left to make a tiny beach bag to match.  Just big enough for a movie ticket or a few sea shells.

Then onto the shoes.  For some obnoxious reason, I couldn't get this lambskin to behave under my needle for top stitching.  I use a jeans needle to sew my leather, and it has always worked before.  But the leather simply wanted to travel in every direction than what I wanted.  I finally used stitch and tear paper beneath it, but it still wasn't much use.  My guess is that my machine needs a tune up and some calibrating.  I've been putting it off because it means not having the machine handy, but seems very necessary at this point.  I bought a walking foot, but have yet to learn how to use it.  That may have helped.

So I used the pattern for the espadrilles, but made them out of leather and with a back loop and buckled strap for the ankles.  I've been wanting to use more of that banana colored leather since making Kitty's luggage, and was delighted to work with it again.

I'm so happy France is finally outfitted with something to wear for summer.  I love this doll.  Her 16" body is delightful to sew for.  She's also sturdily strung, so can pose wonderfully.  I took some photos of her with an AG cafe chair to illustrate this.  Now I have to find a spot on a shelf to display her.  I also wanted to share this stand that I got for her.  An Ebay seller makes these with two saddle styles.  The one with the hourglass saddle fits her beautifully.  All you need to do is ask for this particular style of saddle. 

Wishing you days of sunshine and happiness, leafy trees and soft green lawns as we continue through the precious months of summer.  France will get her school dress next, but for the time being, she can enjoy the salty breezes and many cones of ice cream.

Love,
Melissa

A Royal Advertisement

Stephanie Ehmen's Pattern

Wooden Stand With Hourglass Saddle

France Sitting Pretty

From A Sidewalk Cafe

My Favorite of the Doll's Accessories

Let's Play Barbie! Barbie's Dream House (1962)

Its summer!  And, each summer, no matter what's going on in the world, in my life, I get, not just a touch of nostalgia, but sometimes a heap load of it.  I'm in grade school again, and summer is precious because the days are warm, its a  holiday from school rooms, and all there is do all day is play.  I can roller skate around the block, I can play with my troll doll and troll doll house in the grass under a shade tree (more authentic that way).  I can read, I can draw, go swimming at the community park.  And, I can play Barbie.

The good memories of these days, these summers, all led up to September when I could begin the new school year and my birthday was right around the corner.  I think one of my favorite birthdays was the year I got the first Skipper doll.  I was over the moon.  But, my first Barbie is the faded and fuzzy memory of a five year old.  I begged my mother to buy me one.  I was relentless and she was not too happy about it.  The doll had breasts.  She was indecent in the eyes of the church.  But, I wore her down and she bought me the blonde ponytail Barbie with poodle bangs and the red swimsuit. (Didn't I want the brunette since I had brown hair?  No.)  She sat down with a pattern and made me two outfits from the remnants of clothing she'd made for herself.  I believe the shoes and swimsuit were lost within a couple of days.  I can't imagine how they got lost.  Maybe I ate them.  But, now that I think about it, five years old might have been too young for a doll with tiny things that could go missing so easily.

So with the summer here and nostalgia nipping at my heels again, my heart would skip a beat when my friend, Becca, kept telling me about her reproduction Barbie Dream House that she had no room to set up and display, but loved it anyway.  She had one as a child.  After a few weeks of her mentioning this several times, I went on Ebay to see what the big deal was, and see if I could find one - MIB, of course.  I saw one listed by a seller in Southern California, so I knew it wouldn't have to travel across the country.  I thought about it.  I deliberated about it.  Do I really need a Barbie Dream House?  I think it took all of an hour of serious consideration before I hit the Buy It Now.  Then I had to tell Becca what I did.  Did you know that Mattel only made one hundred of these reproductions?  That made it all the more special to me.  When it arrived, I couldn't wait to unbox it.

It was heavy!  Very sturdy, and came with huge cardboard printed sheets of furniture that you could assemble by punching them out of the sheets, then follow a booklet of instructions on how to build each piece.  Well, I must tell you that I have been following instructions lately, and this will be in my next blog, and this was one more chance to see how patient I could be.  I was determined to take it step by step, even if I had to read the instruction several times before it made sense to me. 

I started at the beginning and only punched out the pieces of the item they referred to.  It was the blue ottoman.  My mind started wandering to the ageless tradition of paper toys and paper doll houses.  This is nothing new.  Paper toys were printed in magazines for French Fashion dolls.  McLoughlin Bros. printed cardboard doll houses and furniture sheets for children to play with in the early and prior part of the 20th century.  There was Daisy's Doll House in the Women's Home Journal.  And, Alice Leverette made paper toy sheets for two very special dolls she designed (and for), during her years at Vogue Doll Company.  Just Me and Marie Terese.  But, this reproduction house was brilliant.  It was Mad Men, Tonner's Monica Merrill, Barefoot in the Park.  It was the 1960's in all its trendy modernization.  You don't have to remember it.  You don't have to like it or want your own home to look like it.  Its history, its nostalgia, and its Barbie from 1962.

The next pieces went along rather nicely, and I could see how they were setting up the progression of difficulty.  Frankly, I do not believe a child could assemble these pieces, but the child could do this with the assistance of an adult.  I was thinking that if I'd been old enough and if we'd had the means to buy me one of these, my brother would have assembled this for me and I would have been in awe.

The designer at Mattel that created Barbie's Dream House had pure genius.

Now it was time to assemble the big kahuna of the operation.  The wardrobe.  All the other items were pieces of furniture and a console with a phonograph inside, in the middle, with a folding flap on top for a door. One of the neatest pieces in this collection is this cylindrical lamp.  I don't recall whether these were bamboo or burlap-type shades, but they were the height of fashion.  I knew the main piece, the wardrobe with bookshelves and a vanity in the center would be tricky.  So I assembled it over a couple of days.  So far there were no "extra" pieces.  I was on a roll.  A slow role, but steadily making progress.  I guess I haven't mentioned that Barbie's Dream House was my "not going to convention this year" toy.  I intend to have it set up and play with it all summer.  I can't keep it displayed long term, but its my treat for summer.

The only tricky part was fixing in place the "key locks with retainers".  It felt like the key locks were not long enough to go through the cardboard walls, but I was determined and a gentle pressing of the walls enabled me to get them latched.  When folded up and stored, the wardrobe is attached and the furniture and accessories can be stored in front of it.  The Dream House even has a handle for carrying around.  Oh, how I would have loved this as a child.  But, I love it now as an adult and that's what counts.

When Mattel began making early 1960's reproduction Barbie items, I collected everything I could.  These were the things I missed out on as a child.  I also collected some of the vintage clothing sets in as mint condition as I could.  I bought two tall black Barbie cases, and one of the short trunk style ones.  I bought the mini (keychain?) vinyl trunk with a zipper, and other miniatures that were available.  When it came time to set up the furniture and start making it a home for Barbie, I decided to only include reproduction clothing in the closet because the house was a reproduction.  But, I have added the pink dog from her negligee to the bed.

I also collected the vintage Barbie Easy Readers.  Simple, sweet stories of Barbie adventures.  I don't know how many there were, but I was able to purchase three in excellent condition.  All of this seemed to have been waiting for the eventuality of my buying the Barbie Dream House, for back then, I simply collected for the enjoyment and "chase" of it, then stored it all. 

As a little girl I can remember going grocery shopping with my mother at the local grocer's, Griso's Market, in Sunnyvale.  I'd spend the time in the toy department while my mother pushed her cart around filling it up for the week's meals.  There was one dress that fascinated me and I used to look at it on the shelf in its square striped packaging and dream.  It was the green and blue tulle gown with the green shoes and gold purse.  So when I set this up today, I made sure to include it displayed in the Dream House on a lovely Barbie mannequin that I didn't even remember collecting.  I steamed out the tulle and its lovely and fluffy once again.

I guess I forgot to mention that a Barbie doll came with this reproduction Dream House.  Below are photos of the house before and after I accessorized it.  Thank you, Becca, for introducing me to this fabulous big toy!

I hope you'll find your very own enchantment this summer.

Love,
Melissa