Doll-A-Day 2017 #204: European Chris

 It was a good and bad day today. First, let me back up and tell you about the rest of the weekend. I've been really tired all weekend. It's been so terribly hot,and we don't have air conditioning,even in the car! I didn't get much sleep, but I rousted Ken Friday and Saturday mornings (not too early),to go yard saling and get out of this hot house.We had a pretty nice couple of days,spent time together,ate out and visited another town for a change.Friday evening I had to take Ken to work so I could have the car to do Emma a favour. That meant picking him up at 2AM when he got off work. Even that wasn't too bad, because the ride in the car was cooler than the house! I was so tired I had to take a nap before doing the emma thing, and another nap before picking Ken up.Then I was up Saturday to go yard saling. There was so much on and off rain that most people didn't have their sales,so not much there. We never did find the one sale we went to a nearby town to find. However, I did find a Goodwill and they had all their records marked down to 25 cents. I found a Cliff Richard album Ken's sister actually doesn't have,(amazing!),and I now have EIGHT Nat King Cole albums for my faux daughter-in-law,Fuzzy's girlfriend Shanna. Their dolls were several different prices and some were a bit over priced. I did find a few I may share with you in upcoming posts,and a couple of surprises.I didn't take a nap Saturday,and I somehow got to bed late again last night.Then I had to get up to take Ken to work this morning. I needed the car because a few days ago my cousin Missy messaged me to tell me her brother was coming up for a couple of days and did I want to come to her mom's house Sunday afternoon to see him? Well I hadn't seen Tim since he was a teenager,and he's going to be 49 this fall! My dad and I spent alot of time with Tim and Missy's family when Tim and I were younger,and Missy wasn't even born yet,and when she was very small,before they moved away to California. Their dad was actually my cousin,but he and his siblings are so much older than I am that they always felt more like my aunts and uncles,and their kids felt like my cousins. So I was looking forward to seeing Tim again. I had to take a nap again when I got back from taking Ken to work,before doing a few things and heading to the family thing. I never take naps,but in the last few days I have become Queen of the Naps! I made it there, but the car was making noises.We had a nice visit, (and Missy's daughter made an amazing cheesecake!). I had to head back early to pick Ken up from work, since I had the car. On the way home the car overheated. I had to stop on the highway. A really nice Highway Patrolman stopped to see if I needed help,and stayed until I was on my way again,even standing in the pouring rain with me! I got back to town, but the car was still overheating,so we did not go to the Big City to see "To Kill A Mockingbird",like we were going to. It's one of my favourite movies and books, and we bought tickets to the summer movie series partially based on the fact that they were showing it. So that was disappointing. But at least the car cooperated long enough to let me visit with Tim and family. (The'do' was actually held at Tim and Missy's cousin's house,a cousin I am not related to, so it was really nice of their mom's family to take me in and make me feel at home. I knew or had heard of some of them over the years, but they all seemed to be familiar with my dad, if not me. Whenever somebody asked how I was related to Tim and Missy they inevitably responded to the answer with "Oh! Uncle Leroy's daughter!" They all called Dad 'uncle'! And they all remembered him well, even though it's been 30 years since Tim and Missy's mom was married to my dad's nephew!
  Anyway!Today we're seeing a doll I told you I'd show you back when I got her for Mother's Day. She's Chris,Tutti's friend.

This is the European version of Chris.

Chris has been a part of our household for a few years now, but she didn't belong to me until this Mother's Day.

 

This isn't a Chris dress. It's a random dress I picked up somewhere. If anybody recognizes it let me know who it goes to.

Here's the tale: A few years ago we all went to a doll auction. Independently of each other. Ivy and I spotted European Chris in one of the lots. When we met up at bidding time we were both planning to bid on her. Ivy was at the age where she was starting to lose interest in dolls. She still wanted this Chris though. She told me what her maximum bid would be, so I agreed not to bid unless Chris went over Ivy's limit. Well, Ivy won the lot. She didn't know what she wanted to do with Chris though, since she was old and should be taken special care of. We agreed that I would put Chris in my glass case of dolls while she thought about it. Well, she pretty much lost interest in Chris as soon as she hit the case. Over the years I offered several times to buy Chris from Ivy for what she had paid for her. Ivy's a tough nut. She wouldn't sell because Chris was worth more than she paid! So poor Chris stood in the case, just the way she came:naked. We didn't have any European Tutti clothes for her,and Ivy had noTutti or Chris clothes at all. A few weeks before Mother's Day Ivy said she didn't know what she was going to get me. I once again suggested Chris would make a good gift. Well, this year she decided to relinquish ownership of Chris to me.

Chris was a Tutti friend,first sold in the United States in 1967.

She was available as a blonde or a brunette. Many of the brunette's have oxidised to a red colour. You can see my unoxidised brunette Chris HERE,my oxidised brunette HERE, and one of my blondes HERE. You can also see my other European Tutti friend, her brother Todd, HERE.

When Tutti and friends were deemed too dangerous to be sold in the U.S. due to wires that worked their way out of the soft rubber skin,they were discontinued in 1971.

Europe continued to produce a different version of the dolls until 1980.

The safety issue was avoided by making the dolls out of a much tougher, thicker rubber.

This heavier rubber gave the dolls a much chunkier,and redder appearance.

And made them much harder to bend.

European Chris was only available as a red head.

The European Chris has much thicker hair than the American Chris too.

Thank you Ivy.

See you tomorrow.

Happy New Year, My handmade mini furniture, and My Latest Thrift Store Find: Melody in Pink Tutti

 Happy new year! See? I haven't disappeared completely. Before I forget, I want to welcome our newest follower, Natalia, from Natalia's Fine Needlework. Natalia has several other blogs too, and she makes AMAZING things. Check her out.
  I hope everyone is having a good year so far. Without intending to, or even realizing I was doing it, I made several 'new year's resolutions'. I promised myself when Ivy went back to school today to get back on my diet and lose weight,and get the house in order and do all the painting/papering/carpeting jobs that need done.
  After the house is spruced up I have a 1/6 scale dollhouse to renovate, room boxes to make and furnish for selling, and I really want to get back to making dolls and doll furniture. I haven't made any for ages. I miss 'making stuff'. I just hope my bad shoulder can handle it.My sister and I plan to have a 'making stuff' day, where we do nothing but sit around and make various things all day long, and probably watch some movies.
  I also have some posts planned on making dollhouse furniture from things you probably have around the house. That will cover furniture in several scales, so there should be something there to interest everybody. I don't keep to one scale myself,so I have a need for things in all sorts of scales. I made furniture out of aspirin boxes and other things when I was a kid. That was pretty small stuff. When Emma was little I made probably my first 1/6 scale furniture. In recent years I have made 1/12 scale and smaller furniture, as you may have seen if you've been reading this blog.

Suede look 1/12 scale couch.

1/12 scale set in gold.

1/12 scale art deco set.

1/12 scale child's chair in nursery rhyme toile.

This was made from some amazing ribbon I bought. In some cases it was just wide enough.

1/12 scale child's chair.

1/12 scale child's bunny chair.

1/12 scale child's daisy chair.

1/4 scale fainting couch.

1/4 scale couch and chair.

1/4 scale fainting couch.

And a 1/4 scale couch in the beautiful toile ribbon. It was a lot easier to fit the ribbon to this couch than that chair!

Some of the furniture I'll be making will be alot easier to make than this stuff!
  I also want to show you my latest Thrift Store find. I spotted this girl about a week and a half ago at Salvation Army. 

She's a Melody in Pink Tutti, from 1966. She's wearing the rarer dark pink version of the dress though.

Her face is a little paled, but that can be fixed. That's a common problem with Mod Era Barbie and family dolls.

She also needs some clean up.She has all her bends and no greening though.The dress is in nice condition too.

Her hair needs fixed, but it's all there.

She was $9.99, but I was hoping she would still be there on half price day. They were having two half price days right before New Year. We didn't happen to go the first half off day, but Ken went on the second and she was still there. Yay! $4.99!
  See you soon.

Doll-A-Day 259: Pretty Pairs Nan

  Today's doll is Nan, from Nan and Fran.

Nan is courtesy of my friend Connie.

Nan and Fran were part of the Pretty Pairs series, made by Mattel in 1970.

There were two other dolls with their dolls in the series.

All of them share the same body as Barbie's sister Tutti, and could wear Tutti's clothes.

This is actually Tutti's Jumpin' Rope dress,

 Nan's original outfit was a nightie and cap.

 Buffy and Mrs. Beasley were sold the same year, but weren't part of the Pretty Pairs series.

My childhood Buffy and Bease.

Nan was the only African American Tutti friend or same size doll sold in the U.S.

Carla was sold in Europe though.

See you tomorrow for Skipper Saturday.

Doll-A-Day 257: Night Night Sleep Tight Tutti and a Little Bit About Tutti Dolls

 

  Our doll today is Night Night Sleep Tight Tutti.

Tutti was introduced in 1966,as Barbie's little sister.

The 1966 Tutti came in a small box, wearing a sunsuit wth matching hat, and in 1967 in a slightly larger box, wearing a dress with built in undies.

The original 1966 box and outfit. There are at least three different size checked fabrics for this sun suit.Brunette and blonde Tutti came in the same  outfit though.These are two of my favourite Tutti dolls in my collection. They have high colour face paint and are just beautiful.The high colour dolls may have been the later release though.

The back of the original box depicts fashions available for Tutti.

1967 Tutti came in this slightly taller box with a different design. Blondes came in the dress with a floral skirt and hot pink bodice. Brunettes in a dress with a hot pink skirt and floral bodice. Both dresses had built in undies in the floral design.

The same year she was introduced Tutti was also available in 4 sets, and the next year 2 more sets.

Back of the 1967 box shows all four Tutti sets.

The sets  included a doll with an accessory, like Cookin' Goodies Tutti, which came with a stove, Swing-a-ling Tutti,which came with a swing, (Duh!), and Night Night Sleep Tight, who came with a bed. The dolls from the sets are harder to find than the small box dolls.

Night Night Sleep Tight came with a bed,bed spread,night gown,robe,and slippers.

Missing a slipper here.

There were a couple of variation fabrics for this set. The most common is a dark pink cotton night gown with a light pink cotton robe with flowers. The bed spread matched the robe.

The back of Night Night Sleep Tight Tutti's box, showing the most common fabric.

The Tutti in this set is wearing a dark pink cotton gown with a white flannel robe with tiny pink polka dots. It seems to be the fabric from the kimono of the baby in Barbie Babysits.

 The variation shown in the Skipper and Tutti reference book...

... is made of the white fabric with flowers from the bassinet to Barbie Babysits. 

Night Night is one of only two Tutti dolls with red hair. The other is Sundae Treat Tutti.The way to tell which of the two you have is to look for the piece of hair on each side of Sundae Treat Tutti's head that pulls up to be ponytailed on top.

Sundae Treat Tutti.

Night Night Tutti has hair that is all meant to be pulled into a ponytail at the base of her neck

Night Night Tutti's hair is also shorter than Sundae Treat's hair.

If she's complete she will have a ribbon on her hair.

Tutti was sold in the U.S. until 1971, when the dolls were taken off the market. The wires that allowed posing often poked out of the rubber 'skin' and were considered a hazard to children. (The copper content of the wires also tends to turn the dolls green, or sometimes blue!)The dolls continued to be sold in Europe for years, but with thicker, tougher rubber skin.
  Join us tomorrow for another doll.