Disclaimer – if antique dolls creep you out then you might not want to see this post! (Wink!)
This is my special Mama girl!
She is a composition doll, about 23″ tall. She used to say ‘Mama’, but has been silent for a very long time.
She was given to my Mom for her 10th birthday (or Christmas…I don’t know which).
Mom remembers her as having a light blue flouncy dress, but that has been long gone.
The doll also came in a red wooden trunk, which I have, but didn’t take a photo of.
The doll has a mark on the back of her neck. I can’t tell if it is 606, 909, or something else. I don’t know much about antique dolls, but I do know that one can do research by the marks. Not knowing what I am looking at, I haven’t been successful at identifying the doll, the year made, or the manufacturer.
I don’t remember when Mom gave the doll to me. I have definitely had her over 50 years (am I that old already?)!
We have rocked together through many good and bad times. Mama Doll is absolutely one of my most precious possessions! She is my security blanket!
When I was a girl, I couldn’t find Mama Doll anywhere. Mom said that she was gone. I am ashamed to say that I behaved like a toddler without her blankie, and I really hated my Mom!
Then at Christmas, or my birthday (they are close together), Mom gave me my doll back. She wanted to surprise me! Mama Doll had been to the doll hospital. She no longer had peeling hair and one arm had been repaired. She had a dress, too (now long since gone)!
I had new tears…tears of happiness and shame! I should never have doubted Mom!
Mama Doll has been wearing Mom’s baby underslip for many a long year now.
I was hoping to find an original photo of the doll so that I could somewhat replicate her outfit.
But I never could find one.
So I have sewn and given Mama Doll a new dress and bonnet.
She wears my son’s baby shoes (My daughter wore them, too.).
It is long past time for her to be properly dressed!
Do you have a ‘security blankie’?
LC's Cottage 
Oh and she’s sitting on your ‘cheddar’ quilt, too! Such a bright and fun outfit you’ve made her.
Here’s some TMI: Yes, my ‘security blanket’ that went with me everywhere on trips/places outside the home was my pillow…through adulthood, too. It was discarded after the birth of my last child! What has replaced it? I think **anything** ‘soft and cuddly’ = quilty, velvety as in pillow, scarf, throw, Raggedy Ann – anything!
🙂
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I am sorry for the loss of your pillow, Laura! Raggedy Ann…I have a soft spot for her! I made and sold a few Raggedy Anns and Andys!
Normally, Mama Doll does not reside on the bed (it made for a good photo shoot). She resides in the sewing studio. I also have a glider in the sewing studio. 🙂
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Isn’t she cute?! I love the new outfit you made for her – so cheerful in the yellow. I don’t have antique dolls like that, but do have a few cloth dolls that my mom made when I was growing up. They’re very precious!
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Oh Diann…those are very precious indeed! How wonderful that you have them! 🙂
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Precious posting and I love your mothers doll. You have dressed her up perfectly, she is on her way to being an heirloom treasure. Don’t forget to pin a note on her history to the underside of the dress. Perhaps a copy of this blog post. (I have notes taped, written on, pinned to things all over my home) I too, have a doll that had been my mothers but sadly I have no doll or anything that had been mine as a child.
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I never thought of pinning a note to her, Sharon. That is a great idea! I should follow your example and take the time to jot down notes for a few things around here! 🙂
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Your Mama Doll is lovely, and her new dress makes her beautiful! She is so pretty sitting on your bed! Love the story, too! Three special things that I have – my Pat-A-Burp doll, my sock monkey, and my sock stickhorse (both made by my grandmother).
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Those are very precious, Wendy, especially the toys made by your grandmother…a wonderful connection! I never heard of the Pat-A-Burp doll (How could I not have heard of her!), so I Googled her. What a little cutie! 🙂
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I love the care and concern and comfort this doll has given you. I have stuffed rhinos that were my mother’s, given to her by my father. They are comforting to me.
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That is so cool, Kathleen! Rhinos seems such an unusual comfort ‘blankie’ to me. Love! Great connection to your parents! 🙂
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It was a Steif mama and baby rhino. I think it was a gift to her from my father after the birth of one us – I like to think me since I
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I shall look that up…never heard of Steif. I think my Mama doll is a 1940’s Horsman, but I don’t have that verified.
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She looks great in her new dress and bonnet! My security blanket was a teddy bear given to my brother (and rejected by him). My grandma repaired his arms several times. I had him until I was 6 when the results of my allergy tests required him to be removed.😭 That was not a good day!
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Allergies are the worst! I am so sorry that you had to give up your sweet teddy! Does that mean that you could not make/purchase stuffed toys for your girls? 🙂
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My teddy was stuffed with whatever they used before polyfil! I eventually got a new one in jr high I think, and took him to college with me!
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I love this, and her new clothes! I have a ‘teddy bear’ made from lamb’s wool and it is now extremely fragile. I should take a picture of it sometime too!
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Well loved…like the Velveteen Rabbit. It deserves to have its story told and its photo taken! 🙂
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I’ll discuss it with him – stayed tuned. 😉
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Oh, I will! 🙂
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What a nice story! I’m sorry to say I know nothing about antique dolls. If you couldn’t find info about her on the internet it probably isn’t to be had.
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Or I don’t know my way around the internet very well. Ha, ha! 🙂
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I don’t find those old dolls creepy – it’s the modern ones crafted to look like real babies that creep me out! I remember playing with my Mum’s composite dolls. She was very kind to let me as I didn’t treat them as carefully as she obviously had done when she was a little girl in frugal post-war Britain.
It’s lovely to see your heirloom ‘security blankie’ dressed and on show.
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Thank you, Allison! Sounds like both our Mum’s treated their dolls better than we did! 🙂
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I’ve still got my old teddy and a couple of china headed dolls that were my mums – they creep my kids out! She looks great in her new outfit.
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The dolls wouldn’t creep me out, Margaret! How wonderful that you have these treasures of your Mum! 🙂
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Oh my, that’s the cutest doll makeover!!! So sweet, Laura! And your story about it is sweet, too–very human and relatable!!!
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Thank you so much, Nancy! I appreciate that! 🙂
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