I have loved dolls, history, and the Victorian Era since I was little and can credit my grandmother for that. As a young girl she gave me a Godey’s Fashion print for August 1870 from my great, great Aunt Flossie. I was captivated by the dresses and became hooked. I just love to research everything and anything about the Victorian Era. I also love to design Victorian dolls. I hope you enjoy my Victorian Dolls, Victorian Traditions,The Victorian Era, and Me blog.

Monday, December 30, 2019

Victorian Happy New Year Illustration From The Harper's Young People Illustrations Book From 1889


What better way to send a "Happy New Year" greeting than with a beautiful illustration from the cover of the February 2, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 177.  It was entitled "New Year Greeting" and was drawn by F.S. Church, N.A.

I, too wish you all a Happy New Year.

Friday, December 6, 2019

Victorian Christmas Illustrations From The Harper's Young People Illustrations Book From 1889


I decided that one of my all time favorite illustrations that I saw in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Books was the one that appeared on page 97 of the December 29, 1888 weekly.


I love it for three reasons: 1) The most adorable Santa figure I've seen;

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

My Halloween Embellished Bottles With Victorian Graphic Images


This past weekend I finally put out my fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving decorations.  Well, two of those decorations were two new Halloween mixed media and collage embellished bottles with Victorian graphic images.

These two will remain as Halloween mixed media bottles and will not become Halloween bottle vases with paper flowers.

I had decided that for these two mixed media bottles I would make them a combination of sponge painted collage bottles with paper-clay and mixed media fiber embellishments as well as Victorian Halloween images.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Victorian Illustrations of Real Life From The Harper's Young People Illustrations Book From 1889


Not all the illustrations in the Harper's Young People weekly's were of joy or celebration.  Some were of the grim reality of life and the event of the day.

Such was the case with the illustration above appeared in the December 15, 1888 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 76.  It was entitled " The doctor drew the man's left hand to him and felt his pulse" and was part of a story entitled "Uncle Peter's Trust" written by George B. Perry about a dying man.

You can just feel the sorrow and compassion in the room for this man as he lay dying.


The illustration above appeared in the December 1, 1888 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 40.  It was entitled "Frank was contented to lie still while she chattered to him."  It was drawn for the story entitled "Floride's Patient. A True Story of the War." written by Bertha Watson.

You can just feel the compassion the young girl has for the young man in the hospital bed and her desire to cheer him up.


The illustration above appeared in the March 30, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 312.  It was entitled "The boy murmured softly to his mute playmate and toyed with his ears."


There is no doubt the mother above is concerned for her sick child and her need to comfort him.  Even the family dog tries to do what he can.

I hope you enjoyed the Victorian illustrations of real life shown above.

Friday, October 4, 2019

Victorian Mother's and Children Illustrations From The Harper's Young People Illustrations Book From 1889


There's nothing quite like looking at the different expressions of family members within gatherings - especially the expressions of mother's and children.

You cannot help but feel the despair in the face of the mother from the illustration above that appeared in the July 27, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 580. It was entitled "Homeless" and was drawn for the poem "Homeless" written by Dora Read Goodale.


The illustration above appeared in the February 9, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 670. It was entitled "Celestial Geography." The captions were: "Charlie (recently promoted to the study of geography, and much interested in the same.) "Mamma, do all the big countries have capitals?" Mamma. 'Yes, Dear."  Charlie. "Then what's the capital of heaven?"

For the above you can see the questioning look on the boy and the surprised look on the mother who is trying to decide how to answer that question.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Victorian Children and Animals Illustrations From The Harper's Young People Illustrations Book From 1889


One of the things that delighted me so much with the illustrations from the Harper's Young People weekly was the number of illustrations of Victorian children with animals, like the illustration above that appeared in the August 31, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 670. The illustration was entitled "Getting ready for a walk."


When I was a young girl I can remember times when we found bird's nests with baby birds in them that seemed to be abandoned by their mothers.  We always tried to help the little babies and would take them home and with the help of our Dad try to feed them.  I can remember using a little eye dropper to feed them water and digging up worms to feed them.  Unfortunately we weren't successful in our endeavors.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Victorian Children At Play Illustrations From The Harper's Young People Illustrations Book From 1889


There's nothing more delightful than watching young children play.  As a young child I have such fond memories of playing with my older brother or friends.  We were usually outside running around, playing a sport, riding our bikes, playing on the beach and looking for crabs, or getting into trouble with our antics.....lol

Seems times have drastically changed for children as I rarely see any children playing outside anymore.

So, of course I was drawn to the Victorian images of children playing like the illustration above which appeared in the December 8, 1888 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 on page 46.  It's entitled "The Only Boy In The Family."

In looking at the illustration you might think it was labelled wrong and that the child is a girl.  Well, it seems in the Victorian era boys and girls clothing was indistinguishable. There was a practical reason for why boys worn dresses and it has to do with diapers and potty training.  It would have taken way too much time for changing a little boy.  It was so much easier to just lift the dress. Unbuttoning Victorian trousers was way too time consuming for mothers and way too difficult for little boys to do.


I just love the illustration above entitled 'The Gossips."  It appeared in the July 6, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book on page 540.  How adorable are these two? Wonder what they were talking about?

Friday, September 13, 2019

For the Love of Reading - Victorian Girls and Their Books Illustrations



If you've been a reader of my Linda's Blog for awhile you know that I've had a long term love affair with dolls, doll patterns, the Victorian era, floral design, genealogy, research, history and books. As far as I'm concerned you can never have enough dolls and you can never have enough books.

So, of course, I would be drawn to illustrations of Victorian girls and their books from the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book of 1889, like the illustration shown above.  It appeared in the May 18, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 on Page 420.

It was drawn by Rosina Emmet Sherwood and appeared in a story "The A.O.I.B.R" by Elizabeth Eggleston Seelye.  According to her Wikipedia page: "Her story "“The A.O.I.B.R." appeared in Harper's Bazaar in 1889 with an illustration of a child reading. The Rockwell Centre for American Visual Studies cites this as a surprisingly early illustration of a girl reading. The subject of girls reading in the illustration by Rosina Emmet Sherwood is thought rare (like the ones in Louisa Allcott's Little Women)."

The caption reads: "She retired to the society of books." This brings back wonderful memories for me as so many times when I was growing up you could find me like this.

My house is filled with books of all kinds. My love affair with books and reading began very early on. My Mother was an avid reader, my Father was an avid reader, my Grandmother and Great-Aunt were avid readers, and so it was passed down to my siblings and I.


I have such fond memories of sitting in my Grandmother's rocking chair (which I still have) and having her read me a story. Sometimes we would sit there while she was watching her soap opera's and she would rock with me in her lap.  Kind of like in the illustration above from the March 9, 1889 weekly of the  Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 on page 270.

Sometimes she would read me a story. I never minded just sitting there with her. I always knew there would be a story. And, I always felt safe in her arms.

Now, when I read I think about sitting with my Grandmother or listening to my Mom and Dad talk about their love of reading and it brings back warm and pleasant feelings for me.

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Victorian Children At School Illustrations From The Harper's Young People Illustrations Book From 1889



I don't really think it matters what the time frame is when it comes to school being difficult at times for students.  The look on the face of the little girl in the illustration above could just as well be from 2019 as 1889.  All you have to see is the expression on her face to feel her distress.

The illustration above is from the December 1, 1888 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 45.  It was entitled "Katy's First Recitation in Geography After Vacation." (Or something that sounds very much like it.)


While you can easily feel the young girls distress in the recitation illustration at the beginning of this post you certainly can feel the sorry for the little girl in the engraving above who is so distressed she's sobbing while a friend tries to comfort her.  She's in detention for whatever reason and is upset by this.  I think we've all had times at school where as young children we were brought to tears.  I just want to go over to her, put my arms around her and comfort her.  I doubt the school mistress did that.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

The Dolls Christmas Dinner Illustration From The Harper's Young People Illustrations Book From 1889


Some of the mixed media projects I created this summer required quite a bit of old book papers for collage purposes.  So much so I ran out of the book pages.  Truth be told it wasn't the projects themselves that used up the paper it was the number of projects I was creating..... lol


Well, in looking around the house I found an old Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 that was in poor condition and with some of the pages already missing.

I don't know where this book came from and who it belonged to.  Most of the old books I have belonged to my great Aunt Flossie but I didn't think this was one of hers.  The time-frame was right but the book wasn't signed with her name - which she always did on the inside of the front cover.

I can remember as a young girl asking her why she signed all her books and she said; "so that anyone who borrows them will know who the books belong to."  Makes sense to me.  So, for my whole life every book I've ever bought I've signed the inside of the front cover, too.  Kind of a sweet tribute to my great Aunt.

I was pretty sure this book didn't belong to my great Aunt but had no idea where it came from or who gave it to me.  After all this time suffice to say I'll probably never know.

Monday, June 10, 2019

My Victorian Miniature Dress Ornaments Free E-Patterns


I have been in love with beautiful little girl dresses my whole life. I have to blame my grandmother "Dee" for this as she used to buy me the most beautiful little girl dresses. They were frilly, flouncy, lacy, filled with tulle underskirt dresses and I just loved them. I could stand and look for hours at my dresses.  The dresses I loved - the tulle not so much!

I, of course, wasn't allowed to touch them - I'd get them dirty. They were for our best occasions which I was hoping would be that day or the next day just so I could wear the dresses. Inevitably, a holiday or special occasion would occur and I would get to wear one of my dresses.

I'd tell my mother I just wanted to put them on for a few minutes.  Truth be told I wanted to put them on and just twirl around and around and watch them poof out!

I could just twirl and twirl and twirl in them. Around and around I'd go.  Until I got dizzy and fell down and, you guessed it, the dresses would get dirty.

My mother always knew I'd get the dresses dirty and then she'd have to wash and iron them before the special occasion I might be wearing them to so she always said "no."

I never understood then why she'd say "no."  I do now, but didn't back then so I'd pout for the rest of the day.

In our family room we had some steps right next to a sofa. When I was wearing one of these dresses I would love to stand on the steps and then jump down into the sofa.

As I did my dress would fly up in the air like a parachute and then come landing down on me.  I loved it and thought this was a lot of fun!

Of course, everyone could see my frilly underwear, leotards, slip, etc. when I did this - but, only for the briefest of moments.

My Grandmother would "tsk, tsk" and would give me one of those looks of "that's not a lady like thing to do!" I'd just look back at her and smile. I just had to be me.

And, then I'd look over at my Mother and she'd be smiling. She knew I just had to be me, too.

My Grandmother was born in 1896 and she definitely had a closet of beautiful Victorian dresses when she was growing up, like the one shown in the picture to the right.  Unfortunately, she passed away in 1975.

While she is not here with me now she left an indelible impression on me, my life, and my creativity. She is largely responsible for my love of Victorian dresses.

When I was knee-high she gave me a very old print of Godey's Fashions for August 1870 that belonged to my great, great Aunt Flossie (the first female in my family to graduate from college). I was captivated with the dresses and forever hooked. That was the start of my love of Victorian dresses.


When I was designing some of my doll patterns I decided I wanted to design some Victorian dress ornaments.  I thought they would be cute and could be hung up as decorations for most of the year.

Sunday, May 5, 2019

The History of Faceless Dolls By Linda Walsh - Introduction, Parts I - Part XXIII and Conclusion - Updated February 2015


I have loved Victorian dolls since I was a little girl and can blame my grandmother for that. You see, as a young girl she gave me a Godey’s Fashion print for August 1870 that belonged to my great, great Aunt Flossie. From that moment on I was hooked. I was captivated by the beautiful dresses and wanted to create dolls wearing them.

Eventually I was able to design my own Victorian "Lady" dolls, like the one pictured on the left, who are all faceless. Now you might be wondering why they are faceless. It's because I wanted each to have its' own distinct personality.

My feeling is that faces overwhelm the dolls personality and have a greater impact on their personality. I wanted the clothing, clothes, hair, color scheme, etc. of the period to determine the personality of the doll.


As far as I am concerned "Beauty lies not only in what is seen, but what is imagined. I believe the essence of a dolls beauty should determine her personality."

You could compare this to the use of mannequins by museums. Most mannequins in museum dress & textile exhibits are either headless or have heads, but they are generally faceless. Or, they have the sculpted definition of facial features but they are not painted. The idea is to not distract from the beauty of the dress or textile piece on display. The same holds true for store window displays.


I have also been a history buff since I was a little girl and loved doing research for history projects all throughout my school years. I especially loved to research everything and anything about the Victorian Era. Their history, their etiquette, their fashion, their hopes, their desires.... In fact, sometimes I think I was born in the wrong era.

Designing handmade faceless dolls was not a novel idea as faceless dolls have been around for a long, long time. However, given my penchant for history I, of course, was curious about the history of faceless dolls. So, back in 2006 I decided to do a little research on the history of faceless dolls and wrote a research article for my Linda's Blog that I subsequently updated in 2009.


I figured that there had to be a history of handmade faceless dolls out there or, at least, some cultures and norms. Believe it or not but there wasn't a lot of information back in 2006 on the web on either the history of faceless dolls or cultures and norms that started such a tradition. There was a little more when I updated my research in 2009.

There was some information on two of the most popular and widely known faceless dolls - Amish dolls and corn husk dolls. And there was the legend surrounding Raggedy Ann and "faceless" dolls.

In doing my research, what I was pleasantly surprised with was the application of "faceless" dolls for so many current charities or organizations. More on that a little later.


I was hoping that now, in 2015, things would have changed a little and there would be more information on their history. I'm happy to report that there is a lot more now and that over the last few years there is a growing trend towards creating faceless dolls in all sorts of doll mediums - which thrills me to no end.

Part of the new trend has to do with creating eco-friendly and nature dolls and part has to do with allowing children to use their imagination more. It also has to do with comforting children facing tough medical situations. Without a face the dolls can be happy or sad, they can be laughing or crying - in essence, they can mimic the emotions of the child holding them. Putting a face on the doll defines the emotion of the doll with the child - which may or may not be comforting.

So, I decided to update my history of faceless dolls research article and include new research as well as some of the new trends. I hope you enjoy it.
























I also created a History Of Faceless Dolls .PDF.  If you would like to download my History Of Faceless Dolls .PDF please click here or on the picture below.

Copyright © 2004-2021- All Rights Reserved - Written by By Linda Walsh

I think you all know that I, personally, love faceless dolls. Victorians, primitives, colonial, prairie dolls, rag dolls, or country style dolls. It doesn't matter. I love them all.

In fact, I created a video to reflect my feelings about faceless dolls which is: "Beauty lies not only in what is seen, but what is imagined. I believe the essence of a dolls faceless beauty should determine her personality."

Please CLICK HERE or on the video below if you would like to view my "Linda's Faceless Beauties" video.


Why do I love the faceless doll so much?

Because I think by being "faceless' the doll can be anything you want him or her to be. You create the dolls personality to be exactly what you imagine it to be. Their personality, therefore, reflects your creativity and your feelings.

And, as we've seen from the above mentioned articles the application can be heartwarming, meaningful and beautiful.

In researching doing the research to update my History of Faceless Dolls article I was thrilled to see that there are hundreds of artists and crafters who are now creating various types of "faceless" dolls in all different medium. I couldn't be happier to see all these wonderful new applications for faceless dolls. I'm hoping you all will agree.

For more information on all my free e-patterns, e-printables and e-books please CLICK HERE.

Please respect My Terms of Use:  All patterns, e-patterns, printables, e-printables, e-books, graphics, tutorials, how-to's, articles and other e-products © 2004-2021 Linda Walsh Originals-Designs by Linda Walsh. All rights reserved. Commercial selling or reselling by any means prohibited without the written consent of Linda Walsh.

Patterns, e-patterns, printables, e-printables, e-books, graphics, tutorials, how-to's, articles and other e-products are for personal use only. You may not modify, photocopy, download, upload, post, transmit, display, perform, publish, license, reprint, create derivative works from, mass duplicate, re-sell, digitize, and reproduce in any other form (print, digital or electric) or commercially apply, embed, share, Email, or redistribution in any other means. Use of any of the above is prohibited without the written permission of Linda Walsh.

However, you may link to my website(s)/blog(s) and the individual page(s)/blog post(s) (including 1 picture) but do not copy, reprint or duplicate my website(s)/blog(s) or individual page(s)/post(s ) without my permission.

Items made from Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns are intended for personal use for fun or small scale personal and business profit as long as you credit us with the design. Large scale commercial use (i.e. mass production) of items made from Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns are by permission only.

Please see my Terms and Conditions for additional information.

Copyright © 2004 - 2021 - All Rights Reserved - Written By Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals and Linda's Blog. Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer.

Gotta Love Doll Histories - Enjoy My Posts Free E-Books!

Besides being a lover of victorian dolls and genealogy I also love history - especially doll histories. Being a lover of doll histories prompted me to write all the doll history posts on my Victorian Dolls, Victorian Traditions, The Victorian Era and Me blog.

I thought if you were as interested in doll histories as I am you'd like an easier way to read all my dol history posts.  So, I created .PDF's for all of my posts.  In all there are 4 different .pdf's each with up to 50 pages.  If you would like to download my "Gotta Love Doll Histories Part 1 - Part 4 just click on the pictures or titles below:

Copyright © 2004-2021 - All Rights Reserved - Written by By Linda Walsh

The Bangwell Putt Rag Doll
The Molly Brinkerhoff Doll 
The White House Doll
Apple Head Dolls
Penny Wooden or Peg Wooden Dolls 
Wishbone Dolls
Early American Wooden Dolls By Joel Ellis 
Tuck Comb Wooden Dolls
Grodnertal Tuck Comb Wooden Peddler Dolls 
Grodnertal Wooden Costume Dolls
Beautiful Peddler or Pedlar Dolls 
William F. Goodwin Patent Walking Doll 
Dolls From The Index of American Design at National Gallery Of Art
Shell Dolls 
Frozen Charlotte Dolls 

Copyright © 2004-2021 - All Rights Reserved - Written by By Linda Walsh

Clay Pipe Dolls 
Roxanna Elizabeth McGee Cole's Dolls
Wooden Spoon Dolls and More 
Bartholomew's Babies 
Carved Nut Dolls 
Clothespin Dolls
Miss Columbia and the Columbian Rag Doll 
Pioneer & Prairie Dolls, Rag Dolls, Appalachian Dolls, Wagon Train Dolls, Table Cloth Dolls, Pillowcase Dolls, Handkerchief & Prayer Dolls, Folk Art Dolls 
Quaker Dolls 

Copyright © 2004-2021 - All Rights Reserved - Written by By Linda Walsh

 Missionary Rag Babies 
China Head Dolls 
Babyland Rag Dolls With Painted Faces and Lithograph Faces
Wax Dolls, Montanari and Pierotti Dolls 
Polly Heckewelder Moravian Rag Dolls 
First Presbyterian Church Rag Dolls 
Izannah Walker Dolls
Papier-Mâché Dolls
Milliner's Models Dolls 
Boudoir Dolls 
17th, 18th and 19th Century Wardrobe or Trousseau Dolls
Topsy-Turvy Dolls - Two In One 

Copyright © 2004-2021- All Rights Reserved - Written by By Linda Walsh

The Maggie Bessie Cloth Doll
17th, 18th, and 19th Century Wooden Dolls
For The Love Of Rococo Dolls 
Hitty Dolls 
The Beautiful Collection of Fashion Dolls At The Strong National 
Museum of Play
How Wonderful! I Heard From A Descendant of Roxanna Cole - Hilarie Johnston
The French Doll Fashion Collection At The MET
The Innu Tea Doll

DOLL HISTORIES ON MY LINDA'S BLOG


  • A Little More Information on Making Goddess, Spirit and Healing Dolls Of Your Own


  • Barbie - A Young Girl's Obsession!


  • Who Doesn't Love Paper Dolls?


  • I hope you enjoy all my posts.  If you'd rather read them on my Victorian Dolls, Victorian Traditions, The Victorian Era and Me blog the links for the individual posts are below:

     

    The History of Faceless Dolls By Linda Walsh - Introduction, Parts I - Part XXIII and Conclusion - Updated February 2015

    I hadn't realized how many doll histories posts I'd written for my Victorian Dolls, Victorian Traditions, The Victorian Era and Me Blog until I decided to create some free e-books for all the posts.

    Most of the doll histories articles were posted to my Victorian Dolls, Victorian Traditions, The Victorian Era and Me blog.  If you would like to read any of these please click on the links below.

    Doll Histories On My Victorian Dolls, Victorian Traditions, The Victorian Era and Me Blog


    For more information on all my free e-patterns, e-printables and e-books please CLICK HERE.

    Please respect My Terms of Use:  All patterns, e-patterns, printables, e-printables, e-books, graphics, tutorials, how-to's, articles and other e-products © 2004-2021 Linda Walsh Originals-Designs by Linda Walsh. All rights reserved. Commercial selling or reselling by any means prohibited without the written consent of Linda Walsh.

    Patterns, e-patterns, printables, e-printables, e-books, graphics, tutorials, how-to's, articles and other e-products are for personal use only. You may not modify, photocopy, download, upload, post, transmit, display, perform, publish, license, reprint, create derivative works from, mass duplicate, re-sell, digitize, and reproduce in any other form (print, digital or electric) or commercially apply, embed, share, Email, or redistribution in any other means. Use of any of the above is prohibited without the written permission of Linda Walsh.

    However, you may link to my website(s)/blog(s) and the individual page(s)/blog post(s) (including 1 picture) but do not copy, reprint or duplicate my website(s)/blog(s) or individual page(s)/post(s ) without my permission.

    Items made from Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns are intended for personal use for fun or small scale personal and business profit as long as you credit us with the design. Large scale commercial use (i.e. mass production) of items made from Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns are by permission only.

    Please see my Terms and Conditions for additional information.

    Copyright © 2004 - 2021 - All Rights Reserved - Written By Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals and Linda's Blog. Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer.