Some people have a gift for encouragement. My friend Josephine is like that. I think we met on the Vintage Cloth Dollmaking group on Yahoo. And then we both showed up at the Edith Flack Ackley group. Despite health problems and family problems, she has always made time to be one of my best cheerleaders. If you’ve been a reader here for a while, I am sure you have seen her sweet comments. We also email each other often and now we are co-moderators on the EFA group. Anyway, she really surprised me last week with an envelope full of goodies. Just look at all this!

The craft books are great! Lots of groovy fun there to inspire me. I really love the angora one from the fifties. Do you see the fabrics? Feedsacks! I really love this one below. It’s a gorgeous print and it’s a nice big piece. I think I know what I’ll be using it for too, but that’s for the next post!

Such amazing colors!

But my favorite goodies are the glass buttons and hankies. They look amazing! Here’s the crazy part- Josephine bought the buttons at one antique fair and the hankies at another and it wasn’t till she was at home and just happened to see them together that she realized what a great match they were. So beautiful!

Well, something about the fine weave of the hankerchiefs and the beautiful glass buttons made me think of Bluette. Now, if you are not familiar with Bleuette, here is a great article that explains them. I have lost cloth doll friends to Bleuette so I think a warning is in order. These are adorable dolls who beg to be dressed. If this is an area of weakness for you, you might not want to investigate any further!

One friend who is all about cloth dolls, but has room in her heart for others is Judi Ward. Judi can recreate any doll in cloth. She has created a pattern to make jointed cloth Bleuettes, which is an amazing feat, but she also made this pattern that I am crazy about:

This is her Bleuette Manikin pattern and it’s free! What a darling little doll! Oh lordy! There are two options for the hands- I love the full finger hand and look at those knees! She is only about eleven inches tall like the original Bleuettes which I think is amazing.

Even more amazing is the fact that someone has gone through all the trouble of scanning hundreds of the original Bleuette sewing patterns and making them available for free. The site is The Bleu Door and it is a wealth of Bleuette information.

I am not going to join the Bleu cult, but I am going to make this manikin. Mainly because I can see it needs a perfect little outfit made from those hankies and buttons. My goal at this point is to shoot for Valentines’s Day cuz I’m plenty busy right now! A sweet Valentine just for me!

Thank you so much, Josephine! I love all of it, but I think you can see which items have me totally enchanted!