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I don’t know where exactly I saw it, but I thought it was the cutest idea ever, and I kept it in the back of my mind to use one day; in an elementary classroom there was a life-sized statue of a goose. The goose had different outfits in anticipation of different holdays. What fun! For the children especially! Holidays bring us all together and are a good source for many of the traditions we hold dear. Anticipation of those holidays is half the fun! Wouldn’t that be a great idea for an O.L.D.?

The time had finally come. O.L.D. No. 68, third in the Sewickley Series, was going to be my goose. She’s a Patsyette doll from the Effanbee Patsy family measuring a mere 9″. You can see her adoption page HERE.

I confidently sat down and decided which holidays I wanted to do. Ideally, I would have liked 12 altogether; one for each month. Alas, holidays don’t always fall in line that way. I narrowed it down to seven logical choices and got down to business.

First up, Thanksgiving. This would be a cinch! I’d do a witch for Halloween, and they could both share the same basic black linen dress! PIECE OF CAKE.

“Oh. Hmm….” I thought to myself in my musical voice. Turns out, a pilgrim is pretty dull in color. Only black and white! You know what’s not dull in color? A TURKEY. I couldn’t find a pattern I liked, so I kind of made one up as I went. I chortled as considered making a tiny axe for Patsyette to carry too, but was stopped by a horrified mayor. “No!” she cried. I listened.

Making the Thanksgiving outfit with the addition of the turkey took longer than I thought it would. No worries! Halloween would be a breeze. After all, I already had the witch’s dress! Then I decided that since the Pilgrim had a turkey, the Witch should have a cat. This time, I found a pattern I liked. Excellent! This should be no problem at all…

The instructions were in Japanese on a Spanish speaking blog. “That’s okay, I’m a visual person…” Still, it took me awhile to realize that the step-by-step pictures started on the right side of the page and moved downward and then towards the left. This still would have been okay. Alas, I started out with black velvet. It proved too much of a slippery bear to sew for something so small. All this realization didn’t happen at once. It took all day! WHOOSH. Another day lost. I started the cat over with wool felt the next day and finally finished. Time for Christmas…

The elf ears were a late addition. I love them! Christmas went fairly smoothly. Maybe I could finish this thing! If there were ten days in a week, that is…

Nope! It was clear I was going to have to whittle the number of holidays down from seven to four. Since the ones I’d done so far were all clustered together in fall and early winter, I decided to do a 4th of July Patriotic costume so that Patsyette would have something to get her through the summer.

The good news is, this leaves the door open for….ANOTHER GOOSE. The Mayor came up with an excellent idea for that future goose. I can’t wait! In the meantime…

Carole was adopted by Kathleen S. of Houston, Texas. A new mother! Of an O.L.D., at least. Thank you, Kathleen!

And with that, I leave you! Happy snowy spring, you’re my favorite.

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While Carole is not a Sewickley doll, this collar is from what I call the “Sewickley Stash.”

I’ve never seen Dot at a loss for words before, but there she was, staring at the newcomer, saying nothing at all. I could see why. It wasn’t just that this new girl was tall – the tallest O.L.D. so far – it was that she was BIG. Big everywhere!

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” I asked. She had one of the friendliest faces I’d seen.

“Carole with an “e,” she promptly replied.

These big girls are tricky and sometimes hard to place. Not every prospective little mother out there has space for a girl like this!

Dot still hadn’t made a sound, Betty stood at her side, sweet and quiet as always. They looked so small, what with Carole towering over them. I looked at the small space on the sofa, where Dot and Betty had been sitting together reading before the knock came at the door. Suddenly, I had an idea…

Thus begins Carole with an “e”s description. She is O.L.D. (Once-Loved Doll) No. 67 and you can see her adoption page HERE.

The average height of the dolls I usually present is around 16″ give or take, thanks to the large number of 13″ girls that I love so much. Carole is a respectable 26″. Imagine a room full of these large girls. Not everyone has the space! So I had to make her clothing extra, extra special and try that much harder to do right by her. Therefore she took more time than most. Her coat alone took me two days!

Plus, I wanted to make more than one dress for her. The vintage seersucker I’ve had on hand for years had become almost invisible to me. Until Carole arrived! It practically leapt off the shelf – after wriggling it’s way out from between aaaallll the other fabrics.

Traditionally, seersucker is blue and white stripes. I had solid royal blue, and red, white and blue stripes, which made a more patriotic outfit a natural direction in which to go.

And for the first time ever, I was able to use baby shoes on her feet. The straps have to buckle at the very last hole to fit! They’re the cutest things, patent leather with suede soles from the 40s or 50s.

So here we have a very large girl, wearing human-sized shoes and taking up as much fabric as two or three regular-sized O.L.D.’s! How could she possibly not take up more space?!

Being big in size also means you have a generous lap for others to sit upon. When placed that way, Carole takes up very little room at all. Plus, other dolls enjoy her company.

“Pat in the Hat(s)” Patsy was adopted by Hillary P. of New York, NY! She is the same excellent woman who adopted the tooty-fruity Carmen Miranda. Thank you, Hillary!

And with that on this beautiful, Spring-like day, I leave you! Happy Thursday, you are my sunshine! And, of course, my favorite.

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