The Story Behind Elmers Little Boy

In thinking about what to write next for my blog I thought it might be a good idea to tell the story behind some of the dolls I have created. I'd like to begin with the story behind Elmer's Little Boy. So here goes..... 

My sister-in-laws parents who are in their 80's recently had a yard sale because they were moving into a much smaller house. 

Elmer (my sister-in-laws father) had an old plastic kewpie doll that had previously belonged to his deceased sister that he had kept I think in his toolbox (I might have that wrong).

In any event, he had held on to this doll for over many, many years. 

The only problem with the doll was that it had no clothes. He was going to throw it away but decided instead to give it to me. 

I was touched as I got the sense that this doll had a lot of sentimental value for him. 

In any event, I decided to take it home and design some clothes for it. I wanted an early American little boy look so I decided on pantaloons, a vest, shirt, and scully cap. 

Since I had already designed the clothes for his kewpie I decided to design a cloth doll as well. 

A little while later I took the plastic kewpie doll (with his new clothes) back to Elmer. 

Elmer was thrilled. It touched my heart to see how happy he was with my gift. 

Elmer's kewpie doll now sits proudly on the top of his bureau (I think).

I named my cloth pattern Elmer's Little Boy after Elmer's plastic kewpie doll. Elmer's Original Kewpie is shown above and my Elmer's Little Boy cloth version is shown to the right. 

The clothes for both dolls were made from some of Elmer's old clothes that I had gotten from his yard sale. 

I hope you like both dolls.

My Version - Elmer's Little Boy.

Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Designed and Written By Linda Walsh

How Can I Be A Feminist Victorian???

I have to wonder sometimes why I have such a fascination or passion for the fashions of the Victorian Era when I am clearly a feminist (the ultimate feminist according to my son-in-law). My inner self seems to be fighting with itself. Women's rights versus love of a time when women had, basically, no rights, but, wore the most beautiful dresses. So, I thought that maybe I should investigate this further. What is it that draws me to the era when it is so contrary to my basic beliefs.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary feminism is "a doctrine that advocates or demands for women the same rights granted to men, as in political or economic status." Feminists clearly believe in this, so therefore I clearly am a feminist (and PROUD of it to boot). In fact, make that VERY PROUD.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary a Victorian is defined as "Pertaining or belonging to the period of Queen Victoria's reign. Exhibiting qualities usually associated with the time of Queen Victoria, as moral severity or hypocrisy, middle-class stuffiness, and pompous conservationism. 

A person belonging to or exhibiting characteristics typical of the period of Queen Victoria." 

Clearly, I am not Victorian. Clearly, their attitudes towards women and society is for the BIRDS (maybe they don't even want to be associated with it). Yet, I am drawn to their fashions. Drawn to their style.

Why?

Why do I love to make Victorian doll patterns when I clearly am not Victorian? I am as perplexed as you are. Perhaps, I should explore this further and delve a little more into the rights of women during the Victorian Era.

Maybe if I get so disgusted with their lack of rights I'll stop loving the Victorian Era and Victorian Fashion. 

Maybe, I'll stop designing Victorian doll patterns? 

Maybe, I'll stop designing doll patterns all together. 

Maybe, I'll stop loving dolls. 

Maybe, I'll stop loving history and genealogy. 

Maybe, I'll turn into a Victorian and start to believe their treatment of women was right. 

Yeah! Right! In your dreams Queen Victoria!

We've Come a Long Way Baby and Still Have A Long Way to Go!

I love to just browse thru history books, genealogy records, and the encyclopedia. Browsing thru the Wikipedia encyclopedia I came across the women's suffrage stamp (see picture on the left). In looking at the women's suffrage stamp I got to thinking about my great, great Aunt "Flossie" and my Grandmother "Dee." Why did these two women come to mind when I saw the stamp? They came to mind because they grew up during the time that the women's suffrage movement was at its peak.

Little history lesson : American women earned the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. This amendment was finally accomplished after years (actually decades, if not centuries) of effort by women, in general, and the women's suffrage movement, in particular.

My "Flossie" victorian doll pattern is named after my great, great Aunt Florence (who is shown on the left). My great, great Aunt Flossie was born in 1882 and was the first women to go to college in our family. She graduated from Tufts University in 1904. She then went on to be one of the first women to work for the State Department of Corporations and Taxation. She worked for the state until she retired in 1947.

My "Dee" victorian doll pattern is named after my Grandmother Doris (who is shown below). My Grandmother "Dee" was born in 1896, went on to college and graduated with a teaching degree in 1917.

My great, great Aunt "Flossie" was a true believer of women's rights, as was my Grandmother "Dee". Both women were very intelligent and were very strong women. Both were very confident in themselves and both held strong beliefs and convictions. They both were believers in women's rights. Their beliefs definitely had a profound affect on my mother which, in turn, had an affect on me.

As an aside. I just love asides, don't I? The only weakness in my Grandmother as far as women's rights were concerned had to do with the wearing of pants. She strongly disagreed with this fashion statement and was very critical of my Mother for wearing them. I never saw my Grandmother in anything but a dress or skirt. God forbid a bathing suit. Yikes!

In any event, where is all this leading us. In thinking about all of this I came to the sad realization that some of the young women of today don't realize how difficult the path for women's rights has been and how important the right to vote is. Some don't realize how far women's rights have come.

Just the difference in rights between now and 35 years ago when I started working is staggering. While the changes in the workplace are very evident and promising, they still have a long way to go. When I started working "old boy networks" were the norm. Women really weren't wanted in the workplace. Most of the boards of directors of all the companies were men. All of the executives, to be sure, were. All the politicians were men. And so on, and so on, and so on.... A women executive, no way. The men would say "they don't have the skills." I would argue "how can we get the skills if you never give us a chance?"

My grandmother and great, great Aunt lived in some amazing times for women. They would be astonished at the accomplishments of women today. That said, however, we still have not had a female President, the number of females in Congress is still far too little and one of the only two females on the Supreme Court has just retired.

The women in my Grandmothers and great, great Aunts day had to fight for their rights and fight for the right to vote. We've come a long way, baby (how true). Yet, we've still got a long way to go.

The Reason for Linda's Blog

Welcome to my Linda's Blog. We'd like this blog to be an area where beginners or experienced seamstresses, doll or craft pattern designers, doll makers, or crafters can trade stories about their experiences, misadventures, humorous situations or just helpful tips. Anyone who has ever attempted to make something knows that sometimes it just doesn't turn out right. I'm sure we will all get a laugh out of some of our stories and, perhaps, we can provide some helpful information for beginners to learn from.

Here's one of mine:

I have been sewing and crafting since I was about 10 years old. My mother taught herself how to sew, my grandmother was a seamstress, my aunt was a seamstress, etc. Women from sewing families know what I mean when I say sewing runs in the family. Not that I want to date myself, but, I was born in the baby boom generation so that means I've been sewing and crafting for over 40+ years. When I was first learning how to sew my mother did not have a sewing machine. Her best friend, however, did. My mothers best friend is a wonderful woman who is an avid seamstress and who was thrilled with my desire to learn how to sew. She volunteered to let me use her old black metal Singer sewing machine. I loved that machine. I'd love to have that machine today. I know many of you will agree with me that they just don't make sewing machines like they used to. All of the parts were metal.

In any event, the first thing I decided to make was a shirt for myself. I set about buying a pattern, buying the material, supplies, etc. My mother showed me how to read the pattern and how to layout the pattern pieces on my material. I never followed the pattern layout instructions, then, and I still don't as I always thought they wasted too much material. She also told me to read the instructions carefully and to follow the pattern step by step. For my first few years I didn't dare go to step 5 before finishing steps 1 through 4. I thought the earth would fall apart if I did. What did I know I was just a kid!

So my mother explained how to read the various instructions on the pattern sheets and what the little black notches meant. I used to cut them off until I realized they could be quite useful. So I set about cutting out my shirt and then attempting to sew it. My mother and her best friend explained all the sewing terms, showed me how to sew a straight line with the machine, how to sew in reverse, etc. I really think my mother made me practice much more then I needed just to keep me out of her hair. In any event, I practiced sewing straight lines forward and backwards until I could do it with my eyes closed.

I knew what I was doing, or so I told my mother. Let me do my shirt. So she, as mothers always do, sighed and said "fine!" Go ahead! I sewed the side seams and the shoulders, then the side seams of the arms. Piece of cake. This is easy. Then the instructions said that I needed to sew the arms to the shirt easing the fabric so that it fit. Well, I looked at the shoulders of my arms and the armhole opening of my shirt. No way that was going to fit. The shoulders of my arms were way too big. I figured the pattern must be wrong so I cut the arms of my shirt straight across the top of the side seam so that the armhole opening of my shirt and shoulder of my arms would fit. Hey, no problem now. No more excess material. Oh, was I good. I sewed both of the arms on and then turned the shirt RSO.

I figured this might be a good time to try my shirt on. Well, you all know what happened. The sleeves were way too short and my armhole opening was a bit too tight. My mother and her friend were trying not to laugh but, I looked ridiculous. What did I learn. Laughter is the best medicine and sewing is always an adventure. Hey, if you don't try something you'll never know if it would have worked.

If you'd like to comment on my misadventure or add one of your own please feel free to do so.