zondag 13 april 2008

Aunty Alices Doll



I’m having the urge to talk about family memories, which I store in many different ways. As I turn out cupboards I find family items, and they deserve an airing every so often, to give them a purpose, and reason for continuing to take up space.

This doll is from around 1890, has china head and hands and a cloth body. It still has the original lace cap, cotton shirt and chain with cross. I redressed it in about 1990. I used a Laura Ashley print for the dress and shawl. The hand crocheted lace trims were from my grandmother, so they are getting a mention and an airing too here. The petticoat and apron are soft linen. I still have her original clothes; a stiff starched white petticoat, a striped purple and white over-petticoat, and a pink silk over-skirt and shawl with blue ribbon trim.
She was was given to me by my Great Aunt Alice. When I knew Aunty Alice she was an intimidating spinster aunt with increasingly strange ways, but this doll reminds me she was once a little girl, part of a large and happy family, with time for imaginative play.

1 opmerking:

Jane zei

Since Mum read this, she let me know that although the doll came from Auntie Alice, it was originally owned by her mother Catherine, so it must be at least 25 years older that I thought