When is a doll not a doll?

Answer: when it is a mannequin.  I only had one doll that I really loved.  During the 40's, when everything was rationed, one of the major pattern companies offered this little mannequin doll for 99 cents.  It's arms were detachable and her feet had pegs on the bottoms that fit into a wooden base, allowing her to stand alone.  The dolls purpose was to encourage girls to learn to sew.

Sixty-plus years later, I'm still a klutz of a seamstress.  But I learned design!  Prior to the mannequin doll, I had movie star paper dolls whose wardrobes I expanded with wild designs and big boxes of crayons.

As an adult, I took a pattern making course, determined to design and make my own one-of-a-kind clothes.  After about a year, my husband couldn't stand it any more and ordered me to "PLEASE, just go BUY your clothes."  Since that time, my sewing has been confined to making simple costumes for my grand daughter.  Until I discovered ART Dolls.

Below, a photo taken about 1947 on Doll Day at our Bullhead City, Arizona school - third, fourth and fifth grade girls.   That's me, top row, second from right, under the X.  My younger sister - she of the magical sewing machine - is in the bottom row, center, over the X.