I've been having a busy week... Can you guess what I've been up to?
I'll give you some alternatives:
1/ I had a wardrobe clearout, and found I no longer fit into a lot of my clothes...
2/ I had a lot of laundry to do, and the washing machine shrunk every item...
3/ I felt a sudden urge to revert to childhood and play with dolls...
Actually, the correct answer is a sort of mix of the three ;-)
First, a collection container for clothes appeared in my neighbourhood. It's been a long time since that last happened, and there is also no charity shop within walking distance - which means that over the last few years (the pandemic especially), discarded items of clothing have just kept piling up in my basement storage room - or simply been left hanging in my wardrobes, in spite of not being used. So while that container was conveniently at hand, I decided to grab the opportunity to do a proper clear-out and get rid of quite a few items of clothing that no longer fit comfortably, or that I never seem to end up wearing anyway. So... I've been going for several walks to that container this week. (7-8 minutes or so from home.)
While being in clearing out mood anyway, I also decided to finally deal with a project that I've been procrastinating for ... hrm... 30 years or so...
Back in 1992 (!), before my parents moved from my childhood home (well, where I lived between age 10-20), they asked my brother and me to come and go through old toys and stuff that had then (in my case) been sitting in their loft for a couple of decades already. Besides some books there wasn't much I was interested in keeping - but I did decide to also hold on to a big box containing my old Barbie dolls (3 Barbie, 2 Ken / Allan, 3 Skipper / Skooter) + all their clothes and paraphernalia... to go through more properly "some time"...
But of course that box just went into my storage room at the flat where I lived back then; and when I moved to the next flat (in 2008), it ended up in my present storage room...
Now, finally - after 30 years (or 50+, depending on how you look at it!), I DID IT! I opened the box, said hello to hem all, went through their clothes - and "smelled" them... So put all the clothes (except a few items possibly to fragile, so had to handwash those) into three "laundry bags" for small items, and washed them (together with a big bath towel) on my laundry day this week.
And so I had A LOT of laundry (though very tiny!) to "sort out" and iron this week...
My intention was to look everything over, divide the clothes between the dolls, and prepare to give them away to some charity shop to be sold (individually). Handling all those little clothes, though... nearly all of them sewn by my mum... There are still so many memories attached! So I ended up deciding to keep two: One Barbie, and one Skipper doll. Not so much for the dolls as such, but to also hold on to some of those little clothes that my mum put so much work into making for them (i.e. for me)... (Mum liked sewing and knitting, and also made a lot of full-sized clothes - but I think she probably also really enjoyed making these tiny ones for the dolls.)
After a rather intense week of work and memories, I'm now done with the ironing, sorting and re-packing. Just remains to be seen if it will take me another twenty years to actually get at least six out of the eight off to one of those charity shops...!
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| 3 x Barbie |
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| Allan & Ken |
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| Skooter and 2 x Skipper |
These are the two I've decided to hold on to for "a bit longer"... The one to the left is my last Barbie doll - she's a bit special because she came with three different wigs. For me, the dark hair was always her "true identity", though ;-) The blue dress she's wearing here (sewn by my mum) originally belonged to the blond Barbie, who was the first in my collection. (Possibly she arrived together with Ken, I can't quite remember.) The red-haired litle girl was my first Skipper. She originally had longer hair, but got a haircut at some point along the way... I called her Ann - I think inspired by the book Anne of Green Gables, which I read around the same time. At first I was thinking of keeping Skooter, who was the very last doll in the collection, and the only one with bendable legs... But once I got round to having them trying on clothes now, I realised that because Skooter's legs are of different material (not as hard and smooth), it's a hopeless struggle to get her into some of the clothes (especially trousers). So I decided on keeping Ann instead, who is much easier to dress. (Besides, we also do have more of personal relationship, I realised while we were getting re-acquainted...) My mum made that dress she is wearing in the photo as well. (And if you compare with the collage above, you can see that the other Skipper doll had the same kind of dress, just with red instead of blue. - Her name is Cecilia, because I had a classmate by that name who had long blond hair just like that!)
The wedding dress will go with the blond Barbie, I just had to take a photo first... (I just put the dress on top of her here for the photo - it's a more perfect fit in reality.) I also managed to make a crown for the veil, out of a kind of decorative 'stud' I found among my hobby stuff.
I have packed the ones "to go" now; but possibly there will be further modelling of old doll's clothes some time by the two that I'm keeping... They won't be going down into the storage room again. but will stay in a box in my bedroom. (A decorative one that I managed to empty of other things, for that purpose, so won't take up any "extra" space...)
Have you still got any old toys from your childhood?
I'm glad you are keeping some. Your Mom was a talented seamstress! I think tiny things can be harder to sew than clothes for us.
ReplyDeleteGinny, yes, tiny things are certainly a lot more "fiddly" - but my mum was also very good with embroidery. I'm afraid I never inherited her skills, neither with needle and thread nor with the sewing machine.
DeleteYou Mum was like my grandma in how talented a dressmaker she was. Our Barbies had habd-made dresses, too, some very posh ones as well.
ReplyDeleteYou do know, don‘t you, that your dolls (especially Allan and Ken, as they are rarer than Barbies and Skippers) are quite valuable collectors‘ items?
Meike, yes, I know that the early dolls are popular collectors' items, and I also googled a bit while pondering what to do with them. None of mine is in 'truly' pristine condition though - they were definitely all played with back in their time, not just sitting on a shelf. They might still be worth "a bit", I suppose (the definition of which may vary a lot!) - which is why I decided to take the trouble to look them over, wash the clothes, and give each dolll a few outfits; rather than just bundle them all up as they were. But as I don't really need to sell them for money, I think I'll just give them to one of the bigger charity shops and let them decide from there. (I'm thinking I'll also include a note with each to say they're definitely 1960s, and only had one previous owner.)
DeleteWhen I turned 13 I came home from school one day to find that my mum had given away all my dolls to the children's ward at the hospital. She said that I was too old for them now and should be concentrating on my schoolwork.
ReplyDeleteYour collection looks to be in pristine condition.
That sounds quite traumatic, JayCee! I've been trying to remember when my Barbies "went to live in the loft" in the first place, but I'm not sure. I guess I probably stopped playing with them when I started secondary school (year 7, at age 13). In our family the usual retirement for old toys was to go and live in the loft, though (leaving at least a theoretical possibility of retrieving them if separation should prove unbearable...)
DeleteThat really is a collection to be proud of - I can imagine it must be a wrench to give it away - it holds so many memories.
ReplyDeleteLike Jaycee, I found that my mother had given all my dolls and toys to the local hospital - they just seemed to disappear an few at a time. The worst thing, (and I still mourn it) was losing the magnificent doll's house my father had made years before, when I was about six or seven. It had marvellous furniture, carpets, wallpaper on the walls, windows that opened and closed, curtains that pulled to on tracks, a proper bathroom, and electric light in every room. This was in the days long before the sophisticated houses you can buy today.
Carol, that does seem to me a rather underhand way of doing things! (My mum I think believed more in coaxing and discussing...) I had a doll's house too for a while (not for the Barbies but for smaller dolls), but my mother made that (and its furniture) from cardboard boxes and spare pieces of fabric ec, and it kind of wore itself out. I don't think it even made it "to the loft" :) What I regret is that I don't even have any photos of it.
DeleteI have nothing left from my childhood, and did not have very much as a child. I had dolls, but barbies were not born yet when I was a child. I had more teddy bears than dolls, but not many of those either. You already know I am not a collector. I wonder if you could donate the dolls to a charity that is for children, for them to give to children that have none or to sell and buy them new things to play with. they are in fantastic condition and the clothes are amazing. your mom was very talented. you did good to go through all of this and it only took 30 years HA HA
ReplyDeleteSandra, not possible to be quite that specific, I think. The charity shops I know of sell the things donated and the profit goes to whatever kind of social work etc is in their statutes. Helping children is probably on the list for all of them, though.
ReplyDeleteYou have inspired me. When my current visitor returns to Canada in a couple of weeks I will wait for a rainy day and sally forth into the loft and have yet another go at clearing things out. As for getting rid of clothes I could fill a charity shop with my 'spare' clothes alone.
ReplyDeleteGlad to be of inspiration, Graham! ;-) I probably still have more than enough clothes, but at least I think most things left in my wardrobes now are items I might actually use.
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