Doll-A-Day 2017 #246:Singer Mannikin Doll

  Today's doll,as I mentioned in the last post, is one I found at the flea market yesterday. It's this strange lady.

She was naked when I bought her,so she is trying to wear this Madame Alexander Leisl dress, which I also got at the flea market,to cover her embarrassment. She looks more like she works at a Beer Garden though.

She's a Singer,(as in the sewing machines.)  Butterick (as in the patterns.) sewing mannequin.

Franken-Leisl couldn't put her arms down because the dress is too small.

 They're also called Fashiondols. (Spelled with one L on purpose.)

 In the past,small counter top sized sewing mannequins were displayed in fabric stores,along with patterns for sewing full sized human fashions,to advertise the patterns.

 

 There was an employee in the stores who sewed the clothes for the mannequins from the patterns.

Charts were provided which allowed the customers to estimate the amount of fabric they would need for the appropriate sized dress they wore.
 

Here she is without the modesty, so you can see how she's made.

Smaller mannequins were sold to the public during the depression through World War two,when money was short and many women sewed their own clothes.They were still being produced in the early 50's. Little girls were given the sewing mannequins to help them learn how to sew.The amounts of fabric needed to sew a full size version of the tiny fashions could be estimated using the amount used for the tiny version.

She's jointed at the waist, but she's so squishy I couldn't turn it.

She has molded on long legged underwear.

I found these pictures of a Singer Butterick mannequin on Pintrest.

This is the lid of the box to the set. Note that they spell mannequin as 'mannikin'.

This is the inside of the box lid.

And here is the set. This doll is obviously just like my girl.

There was also a set that came with a small child sized sewing machine.

Bigger set. Same doll though.

There were several sewing mannequins sold,usually made out of composition. They included the Fashiondol Latexture Peggy McCall.

They came in sizes from 11 3/4" to 20" tall.

Since the patterns could be sized up for humans, the proportions had to be human proportions. Oddly enough, that made the mannequins look like this!

This girl is 12" tall.

She has a wooden rod through her whole body, from the top of her head, down through both legs. The wooden dowel comes out through the bottoms of her feet,so she can be fitted on to a stand which has corresponding holes.

The arms of the sewing mannequins are removable,to make it easier to put the clothes on. I haven't tried to take this girl's arms off. If she was a regular doll who was made of rubber this soft, it would be impossible to get her arms back on. She's really squishy.

The concentration was definitely on the usefulness of the figure, and not her attractiveness!

There's a good page with more information on Fashiondols that you can see HERE.
See you tomorrow for another doll.