Doll-A-Day 2019 #329: Effanbee Punkin as Holly from The Story of Holly and Ivy

Today's doll is this little girl.

Or should I say, 'doll'? Because she's not meant to depict a little girl. She's meant to be the doll named Holly,from the children's book, "The Story of Holly and Ivy", by Rumer Godden.

Originally published in 1958, it was named one of the Top 100 Children's Books of All Time by The Boston Parents Paper.

Ivy loved the book when she was little. We read it many times. It was one of her very favourites, which was special to me, because it had been one of my favourite books when I was a little kid. In fact, the copy we read was my childhood book. You may have read my review of it HERE. One year I decided to make ivy a Holly doll. I searched online for a doll that would be appropriate. The doll I got doesn't completely satisfy me, (She's a little stubby and her face isn't right.),but the internet wasn't as full of things then as it is now. If I were making Holly now I'm sure I could find a better doll. The doll I chose was this Effanbee doll. I think she's made with the 'Punkin' head sculpt.

She's marked 1966.

This doll isn't very accurate to the description of Holly in the book. She's supposed to be 10 inches tall,(Ok,close. This girl is 11 inches tall.),and 'carefully jointed',with 'real golden hair',and BROWN glass eyes, and 'teeth like tiny china pearls'.
I needed a doll who started out with a dress I could turn into Holly's dress. I have no idea which Effanbee doll this girl really is,and the only picture I could find of her in her original state was an auction photo,so I apologize for using someone else's photo.

 

The seller had no idea who she is either. If any of you know,leave a comment.
  I'm not much good at sewing,and sleeves are something I have never mastered. Of course, Ivy gave me lots of practice later on,as she had to have Halloween costumes that were usually 'pretty dresses'. I still can't claim to have gotten very good at it. This doll had blonde hair and a dark red dress with puffed sleeves,like the illustrations by Adrienne Adams in our book.
 

 The only problem was, she had a stand up lace neck on her dress, as well as a built in white pinafore that reached her feet,as did the skirt of her dress. I could take off the lace at the neck,remove the pinafore,and shorten the dress though. I also had to add the waistband,the piece of holly at the waist. Now that I look at the illustrations again, that holly at the waist is not from the book, but the animated TV special.

 

The animated special first aired in December of 1991. Emma was six months old,and I taped it so she could watch it when she was older. Good thing, because years later I had Ivy, who loved the book.
   I also needed to add a white, lace trimmed Peter Pan collar,which I did very poorly!

It's so crooked!

But I did make the collar from scratch. I think I also gave her a bit of a haircut.

She also needed red shoes,green knee socks and a green petticoat. I couldn't find any shoes to fit her,so Ivy got her shoeless. Shoeless dolls seem to be a thing in my collection too. These days I would try to make her some shoes,but then it didn't occur to me that it was possible. I did find a pair of white doll socks and tried to dye them green. They are nylon socks, so it didn't take very well. The green petticoat was just green tulle on a piece of elastic waistband,but I didn't do that very well either.

Her petticoat actually looks green here. In some of the illustrations it appears to be white,but the description in the book says green.

 

Looking at the illustrations now I see that she also should have had a little short sleeve jacket over her dress. I don't know how I left that out. I'm usually such a stickler for details. I think I made her more like the animated version. If I made her again I'd have to include the jacket with the little buttons.

She also appears to have jointed knees.

The doll I made Holly out of has sleep eyes with hard,molded lashes.

She has the Punkin head sculpt, which has a sort of concave face.

 So that's the doll for today.
 

  You can watch the animated special based on The Story of Holly and Ivy, "The Wish that Changed Christmas", HERE. I recommend the book over the TV show though. Rumer Godden,the author,wrote some other books with doll characters,including "Miss Happiness and Miss Flower" and it's sequel "Little Plum", "Impunity Jane:The Story of a Pocket Doll",and "The Doll's House". Several of her books for adults were made into films, including "The River", "The Black Narcissus", and "In This House of Brede".
   Tomorrow I pick Ivy up from college,and her room is STILL not ready! It has taken a long time to sort all her tiny doll things and pack them up accordingly. I have gotten a bit farther than just that,but that's been very time consuming. I'm nearly done with that though.
  I think we'll be seeing some of Ivy's dolls next year. I won't be doing daily posts after December 31st,but I'll be here at least once a week,if not more. I've been thinking about weekly playset posts,as well as occasional reviews and looks at dolls I come across. Ivy still has lots of interesting doll things we'll be looking at. And I have plans to renovate Emma's old room... See you tomorrow for another doll.