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Thursday, February 4, 2010

Treasure Chest Thursday--My Jill Doll


Ah, my old Jill doll. As a young girl, I did not have all that many dolls probably because the doll buyer (my Mom) was not a doll fancier. She loved stuffed animals. I had so many plush critters covering my bed that it was difficult to get into it at night.



I can remember three dolls....Betsy Wetsy, Ginny and this Jill doll. Girls from the 1950's will remember Betsy....feed it a bottle filled with water and it would wet the diaper and cry "real" tears! There was also another version by a different company--Tiny Tears.





Ginny was my favorite. I have none from my childhood, but have collected the old, hard plastic ones as an adult. Truth be told, I became somewhat obsessed with doll collecting as an adult. Perhaps that is another blog. I don't know if I was trying to make up for not having dolls as a child....or what....now I currently have hundreds of them in antique display cases around the house.

My Jill doll shows some wear. As a child, I was not too "easy" with my toys or dolls. They were played with, taken into the bathtub and I usually gave them a haircut or two ;-) Enough to make any collector cringe.

The necklace is original to the doll. I'm not certain if it was actually purchased with an outfit or if I custom made it from a broken piece of jewelry I already owned.

When I found Jill among boxes of my saved memorabilia, she was wearing a little dress that was handmade by my maternal grandmother, Martha Marie Frederick Stark aka Teek. Back in the day, Teek made most of my dresses and she would always make a smaller version for Ginny or Jill. Come to think of it, I need to get a photo of that little dress!


For this photograph Jill is appropriately attired in a late 1950's ensemble with strappy gold heels.


© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

6 comments:

  1. I think my doll avatar on FAG is a Betsey Wetsey?? But, no real hair! Love the dolls!

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  2. I collect dolls too! :) I had several Barbie's growing up and I did quite a lot of "haircutting" myself! I still have my Chatty Cathy doll, but I destroyed her talk box by giving her bath many years ago. My favorite "mothering" type doll was Baby Tender Love. She was very soft and you could bath her safely.

    I love the Jill doll. I have never seen her before. I love those gold shoes! :)

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  3. I am not particularly a collector of anything, but my eldest daughter never throws anything away --- so you have reminded me that I have several "baby dolls" stuck in a drawer -- just waiting for me to sew a new baby wardrobe -- so said daughter can "collect"

    I enjoyed this piece on dolls -- brings back wonderful memories.

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  4. We had three daughters... lots and lots of dolls. My wife caught on a crafter-created doll collection kick a few years ago... we probably still have more than a dozen of them, correctly placed around the cabin. Bought a doll for our 2+year old grand-daughter on way to Austin, this morning... A Texas Longhorn cheerleader doll! Cute! Betsey Wetsey still holds fondest memories, most likely! ;-)

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  5. I had Tiny Tears. My dolls were also subjected to all sorts of indignities, and my grandmother also made clothes for my dolls. Those are some of my fondest memories.

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  6. Oh my gosh those are my dollies! What great rushes of memories I got when I opened your blog. I still have them too - just can't part with my babies. LOL - My brother would get a hold of my dolls and chew the fingers and toes off of them - for some reason he like to chew on that plastic they were made out of- I'd get so mad and cry - so most of my dolls have not fingers or toes - poor babies. Thanks for the memories!

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