Mia's New Apron

The subject of Crissy dolls came up on Facebook this past week. I no longer have my childhood Barbies or Dawn dolls, but I still have Crissy, Mia and Tressy, and all of their clothes. Last night, I decided I would make an apron for my Mia and show her off today for National Wear Your Apron Day because I wasn't sure I would find someone to take a picture of me to mark the occasion. Plus, it gave me a good reason to stitch up that cute puppy dog pattern I posted yesterday. I had some major issues sewing on the bias tape by hand (I really need to learn how to work that sewing machine), and finally I just dug out the fabric glue and used that to attach it. Mia doesn't seem to mind my craptastic glue job, does she?



Back in 1973 or so, I made Mia her first apron. I can honestly say my hand sewing hasn't really improved much since then.


I am off to get dressed and choose an apron to wear today. Happy Apron Day and don't forget to tie one on!

Edited to add: The Apronista wants links your apron posts today, plus there's a giveaway.

Event 14383980

The dog and the cat slept through it but we sure felt the earthquake this morning. During all the shaking, I kept an eye on my bookcase and remembered how I never had it attached to the wall like you're supposed to. (It wasn't moving too violently so I don't think there was any danger of it falling over, but I really should have it bolted to the wall.) Once the earthquake was over, I went to the USGS site and filled out a Did you feel it? form. I've done that in the past and never have anything significant to report, but I think it's neat to look at the statistics afterwards. Over 38,000 people sent in information on where they were, what they felt, and if they suffered any damage when Event 14383980 happened.

There's a free pattern for a cute bunny doll at Raggedy Old Annies. I like how they look old-timey from being stained with coffee.

TipNut is sharing vintage patterns and instructions for some cute potholders, including a tea pot, a coffee pot, a butterfly, two oven mitts and a round one with birds.

WishbookWeb.com has photos from vintage store catalogs from 1940 through 1982, including the 1971 Sear's Christmas catalog [link via Meggiecat]. I just found my Mia doll in there. She sold for $6.97 that year!

I still have Mia. No, I didn't cut her bangs. Why do you ask?

Mark Your Calendars

May 12 is National Wear Your Apron Day!!

And, here's a close-up of my Mia doll wearing an apron I made for her, circa 1973.



I'm sure your Crissy dolls are so jealous now.

A Biscornu Fest

I'm not sure what disturbs me more: Mia Doll's short dress and lack of underwear or Crissy Doll's flared pink, blue and yellow striped pants.

I think I need a "I Heart the 70's" label.

I'm fascinated by biscornu (a small pincushion or eight-sided pillow depending on who you ask) every time I see one somewhere on the internet. Last night I just happened to find instructions on how to make one while looking for/at something else, but forgot to save a link to the site. I was just on Swap-bot and saw there's a swap for biscornu, and that a helpful Swap-botter shared a link to Own Two Hands where you can find biscornu making directions, plus links to free patterns.

The swap is for biscornu beginners so I'm considering doing it but still on the fence about it for now. I do have some nice green linen that I could use though. The thing is I don't cross stitch on linen because my eyes are so bad and I can't see if I'm going over one thread or two or sixteen and my X's look all distorted. If only I could win the lottery so I could buy a giant freestanding super strong magnifying glass.

Doesn't biscornu sound like something you make for dinner? "Last night we had beef biscornu with mashed potatoes and peas."

I saw a snowman biscornu on Freebie Gallery last night. The free chart can be found here on Helga Mandl Designs where you can also buy biscornu charts -- there's a link on the home page. There are also links to finishing directions for your biscornu. And, click on the Freebies link on the home page for more cross stitch charts.

Edited To Add: I think I was so upset about Mia not wearing any undies that I forgot to include this link to a bunch of free biscornu patterns.

Clogs were all the rage back then.

Nice Bangs

I never cut Mia's hair. Never ever. I swear.

Ok, maybe I did a little.

Here's a 12 second video of my Look Around Crissy doll in action.

Friday's With Crissy Doll

My memory is not what it used to be but I knew that at some point in my life, I had made a red & white checked apron for my Mia doll. So a month or so ago, I went through the box of clothes for Mia, Crissy, and their black haired friend in the god-awful satin blue dress that I had kept for over 30 years, and sure enough, I found the apron. I guess I was maybe 10 or so when I made that.

Crissy was 18" tall and her cousin Velvet was 15" tall so they were bigger than Barbie dolls. (I thought Velvet was the sister but a little internet research has her as Crissy's cousin.) I remember a friend getting a Velvet doll for her birthday when I was about 6 or 7 yrs old and after that I wanted a Crissy doll very badly. Crissy dolls had hair that "grew" by pushing their belly button. A knob in their back could be turned to make the hair shorter. Eventually, I got Mia, (that's her in the middle wearing the apron) and my sister got Kerry, who was tall and blonde and not in that photo below. Wikipedia says Mia was Velvet's friend and Kerry was Crissy's friend.

By the way, the one on the left in the picture with the black hair and god-awful blue satin dress is Tressy. And, I don't just have Tressy, I have Posin' Tressy. From Wikipedia: "In 1971 "Posin' Tressy" also a Sears catalog exclusive was issued." That doesn't surprise me. Back then, we came up with our Xmas lists by going through the Sears catalog.

One year my mom took my sister and me to the toy store at Fashion Island because we both had some Christmas money to spend (most likely from my grandmother) and we both bought a Crissy doll in the orange-y red dress. Wikipedia: "In 1973 Ideal released 'Beautiful Crissy with the Swirla-Curler.' This doll came packaged with a hair curling attachment designed to be inserted into the head’s opening. This Crissy model came wearing a one piece dress that was fashioned to look like a white and orange plaid jumper with a red-orange blouse underneath." I don't remember my Crissy having a Swirla-Curler but mine does move when you pull a string.

According to Wikipedia (what would I do without them?), what I had was the "Look Around Crissy" model. "This version was released in 1972. This doll . . . was different from previous Crissy models as it employed a mechanical apparatus, set in motion by pulling a pull-string . . . the doll’s head and waist were geared to turn and give the impression of "looking around" when the doll’s string was pulled." My sister's Swirla-Curler Crissy did not have a string to make her move, so at the time, we just thought I got a moving Crissy in the wrong dress and wrong box. But, on Crissy and Beth, it says that leftover inventory of Look Around Crissy was used for Swirla-Curler Crissy, so that explains why mine could move.

My mom and I both made clothes for these dolls. My mom did a much better job (she used a machine, I hand stitched everything) but mine are scary. I'm going to designate Friday as the day to post pictures of Crissy, Tressy and Mia in their groovy 70's outfits. Except for the apron, my dolls are wearing their original clothes and shoes in the picture (Tressy is missing a shoe). Crissy and Tressy both have their underpants on, but the 1972 elastic in poor Crissy's is all stretched out. I was hoping they'd fall down when I pulled her string and got her to "look around."

Stay tuned for a short video of my Look Around Crissy in action. I have to figure out how to upload it here.