Valley of the Dolls

Have made a sample doll which I am pleased with, and the really good news is I put her through the washing machine and she didn't fall apart, so yay me. I was crouching by the washing machine like those anxious bakers in The Great British Bake Off.

I've made her a felt wig which doesn't quite fit but looks just how I want it to so I'm pleased with that as well. I will be adding some wool to it as well. All girls need big hair!

When I was little I had a cloth doll called Esmerelda. (You could not have possibly called her a rag doll. She had pink cloth skin, and had white lace bloomers, a white lace petticoat and a green dress with tiny pink flowers and a pink satin sash. She had long thin legs and arms and white hair made of thick, rope-like wool. I loved her very, very much. Disastrously, I tried to brush her hair, and pulled the wig off in one piece. Even bald, I thought her more beautiful than any human being and I wish I still had her. She came from a lovely toy shop in Twickenham called Chatterbox. Imagine making a doll that had such an impression on someone! That would be a dream, wouldn't it?