1940s Vintage Handcrafted Passed On Family Goodness

Oh yikes!! A little over a month ago, I promised you vintage, 1940's, handmade, little girl, hand sewn, delightful, creative family goodness passed on. Apologies all around for my delay! Here she is!

My mother in law sewed this with her grandmother when she was a little girl, around the mid-'40s. Her grandmother was from Russia and sewing was what she did in her country throughout most of her life. And apparently, she continued sewing and shared her craft with her granddaughter, Hubby's Mom. I've always known that my mother in law did a lot of sewing as an adult, but I did not realize just how early she learned to combine needle, thread, and cloth. I hope you will be as delighted as I am at the wonderful handcrafted goodness this is!

From tip to toe, she is sewn. With every detail paid attention to, she comes to life. Her face is colorfully embroidered and you would not believe how many layers are under her dress! Even I was amazed as I was not aware of all of the layers, until I began photographing her and kept finding more!

Just look at those sweet socks!! And her felt black shoes, finished off with a blanket stitch and perfectly adorned with a simple little black bead (you may need to click on the pic, enlarge it, to see the detail).

A dainty little white button hides the snaps that close the dress in the back. Snaps. Actual snaps, hand sewn in. All of my daughter's dolls' clothes close with Velcro. She wasn't even sure what those little silver things were!

And oh my! What a delightful surprise when you open her dress! Darling eyelet lace with a soft blue satin ribbon weaved through it, tied off in a petite little bow in the front. Sigh.

Under her dress, a little petticoat, trimmed in lace. Look at those sewn fingers! Sigh.

And her full slip, topped with that oh so precious eyelet, threaded with sweet satin ribbon. Still sighing here........ You?

And lastly, bloomers finished in matching lace. Oh yes, multiple sighs for each and every hand crafted, hand loved layer.

When I see our daughter gingerly examining her doll that her grandmother and great-great grandmother hand made, I get those wonderful warm tingles in my heart. It is mighty sweet. And what is even better? She gets it. When she saw me putting these pics on my computer, she tenderly picked up her doll and said, "Mama, this is my first real doll." Now she has her Cabbage Patch doll (aka Dolly), her Fisher Price doll (aka Sally), her D.W. doll, and her Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls that she gives rides in her doll stroller, sings songs to, and changes their clothes over and over again. But, she knew that this doll was different and somehow more special, making her, her 'first real doll.' What a treasure, both my Princess and her doll. Sigh.