Lovely Little Ladies

Two 1960s dolls

Recently I've gotten some new small dolls in and I have several that are hard to find. I already wrote about the Fab detergent dolls I restored. Today I finished the second of two Alexander dolls I haven't seen before. These two 8 inch dolls came in separate lots but they are similar in many ways. Both have elaborate and perfect hair styles. Both are bent knee head turning walkers. Both lost their original clothes. I started on the Maggie face doll. This popular face, with its adorable pug nose and "watermelon" smile mouth, was used briefly for a doll called "Maggie Mix-Up" in 1960. The same year the face sculpt was used for a Maggie Mix Up Angel and a boy doll called Butch and one other: Little Lady. The Maggie face was not used much at all after 1960. In the late 1960s and 70s the face was used for some ethnic Alexander-Kins in the Friends From Foreign Lands series, mostly for Asian dolls. Because of its rarity and cuteness this doll is very popular with collectors. The Alexander company reissued the face in the 1990s, I believe.

Little Lady doll

I fixed some splits.

I couldn't remove some white spots.

Her hair is perfect.

Thanks to this doll's immaculate and unusual hairstyle I was able to identify her easily as Little Lady. She would have originally come wearing a blue dress and pink ruffled pinafore with gaiters to make her shoes look like high-button shoes. She was packaged in a picture frame shadow box with some toiletries. All her clothes but her socks, shoes, and hair ribbon were lost, so I tried to re-create a similar outfit using Alexander clothes from the same period as the doll. The doll herself was in great condition. She needed re-stringing and had two tiny splits I repaired. One knee is rather loose but she can still stand alone and the knees bend fine. I refreshed her cheek blush but all the rest of her paint is original.

I gave her Alexander pantaloons.

Her entire outfit is by Madame Alexander.

The dress is tagged.

The Maggie face

I chose the Argentina Girl dress from the 1960s. Paired with a lacy apron it has a similar formal look and it matches the hair ribbon. I added a graduated pearl necklace. The necklace came originally on a Portrait doll in the 21 inch size, but it was broken and so many beads were lost it is now only long enough for a small doll. I restrung the beads with extra thick hand quilting thread.

Little Lady checks her mirror.

The original outfit.

The doll came in a special box.

Since I didn't have the original toiletries I gave Little Lady her own mirror and perfume bottle, accessories from modern fashion dolls. Now this girly girl can make sure no hair is out of place! With Maggie finished I turned to the next doll. This is another doll whose perfect and elaborate hair made her easy to identify. This is Wendy-Kins as Colonial Girl from the early 1960s. This doll was made as Colonial Girl from 1962-1964 only and as Priscilla she was made from 1965 until 1970. Since this is a bent knee walker, I knew she was one of the earlier issue dolls, one of the very last Alexander-Kins walkers made before they were discontinued in the mid-60s.

As with Little Lady, Colonial Girl needed only re-stringing and split repair to tiny areas at the tops of her hips. She also has a loose knee, but not serious enough to warrant taking her leg apart to fix. I refreshed her cheek blush as well but otherwise she's all original.

Her entire outfit is by Madame Alexander.

Both dolls are marked ALEX.

 The shoes are replacements.

The dress is tagged.

S.he holds a Bible.

The original clothes.

Both Colonial Girl and Priscilla wore the modest clothing of the first settlers, the Pilgrims and Puritans, and their costumes were quite similar. I used all Madame Alexander pieces to re-create the look, except for the shoes, which are new reproductions. Since I didn't have a fruit basket I gave this devout doll a Bible to carry. She would make such a cute Thanksgiving decoration!

Both Maggie and Colonial Girl are hard to find dolls, wearing unique outfits exclusive to Atelier Mandaline. These and many other lovely dolls are available in my eBay and Etsy stores so I hope you will check!

The Wendy and Maggie faces in the 8 inch size.