My Friend, Betsy

When I was very young, my sister became the proud recipient of a new kind of doll - a fashion doll named Barbie! How I envied her! My mother thought, at that time, that a grown lady doll would not be appropriate for my young self, so my younger sister and I were each given a Betsy McCall doll. Here is mine. My sister's had darker hair.

We had noticed Betsy, of course, in the pages of the McCall's magazine. These had been in the monthly magazine since 1951. SO fun to cut out and play with.

In 1952 Ideal Toy Company acquired the rights to produce a doll, and the first one was 14" tall.

My Betsy McCall is an 8" doll made of hard plastic, with jointed arms, legs and knees. She has light brown rooted hair, with 2 small metal barrettes, and her eyes open and close. She was produced from 1957 to 1963 by the American Character Doll Company. Here is an early ad for her.

Look at all the store bought clothes you could get!

Of course, at that time, I wanted those store bought clothes! But, I was so fortunate to have a mother with sewing talent. My mom made so many wonderful clothes for my Betsy. Here is my mom's pattern for many of the clothes.

I recently dug down, and retrieved my Betsy from storage, to share with you. Of course, once out of her cigar box storage, she insisted on trying on all of her mom-made clothes.

At first it was kind of difficult - Betsy seems to have gotten a bit frail in her old age! I had to put a new rubber band between her shoulders to hold her arms on!

But, Betsy is a tough gal, and she REALLY wanted to try on all those clothes!

After fixing her arms, we had to be wash all the clothes, as it had been a few years.... um, ok, a few decades...

Now, to the fashion show!

Look at this! A knitted bathing suit, with a teeny sweater to go over it! Now, I realize, Betsy should have taken her shoes off for this shot, and her pajama shots too. But, these shoes have been on her feet for so long, I was kind of afraid to try to take them off! Poor dear!

Here she is lounging in her flannel jammies. There is a matching robe too.

And, since flannel is not appropriate for all seasons, Betsy needs summer jammies as well.

Check out these play clothes. The best thing is, they are all interchangeable.

A summer dress. Look at these teeny tiny stitches!

This is my favorite outfit. I had a school dress made out of this plaid. We looked alike!

And, for outdoor activities, a lovely red coat. My mother LINED this! AND, made a tiny felt clutch bag! (I swear, if I EVER live long enough to sew as well as my mother did, I will be SO happy!)