How I started making dolls.

I thought I might write about how I began making dolls and can think of three things that influenced the creative flow that led me to starting my business:
-        My children
-       A box of lace trimmings
-       Two little peg-legged dolls I bought at Totnes market.

So, starting with my gorgeous kids, Louie and Darcy.
While I was pregnant with Louie I made him a guardian angel doll, wearing old lace, a dress made from some of my wedding veil and feathery wings. I did the same for Darcy while I was waiting for her to be born and both kids still have those dolls by their beds watching over them while they sleep and they’re reassuring – for the children when we go out, for me if they’re ill.
My children really value all the things I’ve made for them over the years, they’re treasured above shop bought toys, and now they make things themselves, I’ll do a blog post on their creations one of these days, they’re great.

The box of lace trimmings was a present from my mum. She started collecting antique clothes and textiles when she was 16. She used to help her mum at Bermondsey Antique Market in London every Friday, missing school – it’s where she met my dad. He started dealing in antiques when he was 14, catching the train to London and doing Bermondsey on a Friday, Portobello on the Saturday. So you could say that a love of old stuff is in my blood, and the thrill of a bargain.

So, when I mentioned to mum that I was thinking of trying to sell dolls, maybe with a vintage feel, she produced this delightful box of carefully wrapped lace, trimmings and a pile of Victorian night dresses – thanks mum!

The two little dolls just touched me, they were lying in a basket at Totnes market, the market town where I live in Devon, and they were a bargain of course!
What I love about them is that they are wearing grown up clothes, I could imagine wearing these outfits, and the first doll I made in the style  I now sell had a beret, inspired by the little velvet one here. I must get round to making a new leg for the other little girl!
So there, you have it, the little things that prompted me to start my doll business.