Doll Show Goodies and a Chase Hospital Doll

Yesterday I was able to attend one of my favorite doll shows.  It is held twice a year, at a county fairgrounds in an out-of-the-way country town.  I always find something to bring home, and the prices are usually good!  This is my little haul up above.  Here are closer looks:

Buttons.  I am always needing small, white, vintage buttons.  These were $1 per card.  They are tiny.  Just perfect for all the mending I do on vintage doll garments.  You know they are older because they were all made in the USA!  Oh, and there's a lone pack of vintage, white rick rack.  I use that a lot, too.  I love that it's cotton.  All the new stuff is polyester and just doesn't feel as nice.

Vintage doll patterns.  The prices on the envelopes are not what I paid.  They only cost 50 cents each.  These are perfect to have on hand for dressing all the vintage baby dolls I bring home from Goodwill.  I can draft my own patterns, but it sure is nice not to have to!

More recent patterns, but out of print.  I already have these in my collection.  They are so nice.  I wish Vogue still put out nice doll patterns like this.  I may sell these, or replace my old ratty patterns with these fresh ones.  

And oh my goodness...just look at this!  It's a complete doll pattern, but the envelope is only 4" wide by 5" tall!  I've never seen such a miniature pattern before!  It's so adorable.  It is just like a full size pattern with instructions and tissue pattern to make a dress for a 22" doll.  I'm wondering if these were made for children?  In any case, I am going to be on the hunt for more!  It only cost me 25 cents.

Doll magazines!  These were free.  I tried not to be too greedy.  They were on the front table when you entered the show.  I took a couple.  A hour or so later, I saw there were still a lot, so I took a couple more.  By the time we left, they were almost all gone, so I took the last couple of stragglers that nobody seemed to want.  These are fun to read (even though I've read them all before) and browse through the articles that I've completely forgotten.  Also, my taste in dolls has drastically changed over the years, so the articles I may have skipped over before are now of great interest to me!  When I am through with them, I will pass them on to somebody else in my doll club to enjoy.  

Sweet, vintage doll dress and newer tights.  The dress is a very pale blue. I think the tights will fit an 18" doll.--$2.50

The cutest little jointed dog.  This was part of a Betsy Mccall set.  It also came with tights and underwear for the doll, but I gave those to my friend who had a doll they would fit.  I just wanted the dog!  He's only about 2" tall.--$2

4 1/2" Celluloid boy doll, all jointed.  These are the dolls I played with as a child, since my mother gave me all the little German celluloid dolls from her childhood.  I'm not sure what kind of costume he's dressed in, but I will most likely remove his clothes at some point and dress him like a little boy. --$1

Vintage, bendy rubber dollhouse dolls.  These are tiny!  Just 2 1/4" tall.  I bought them as dolls for some of my bigger dolls to hold.  Even dolls need dolls!  $5 for the pair.

Another little set of dollhouse dolls.  The "mother" is 3" tall, jointed hard plastic.  But I bought this pair strictly for the baby, who is a vintage CACO dollhouse doll.  So sweet.  The baby will go into my Keystone dollhouse.

And my favorite purchase of all...a CHASE Hospital Baby.  I have other Martha Chase Cloth dolls, but this particular doll is a little different.  She was specifically made for hospitals to help teach new mothers how to handle their newborns.  She is all cloth and very firmly stuffed and weighted so that she weighs 4 pounds!  She is painted in a thick coat of oil paints so that her skin could be "washable".  She has holes in her nostrils...not sure why?  She was made in the 1930's-40's.  Martha Chase also made life-sized hospital dolls!  They were a little more realistic, and were used for training nurses.

I just fell in love with this little sweetie's face.  She is completely hand-painted.

She even has dimples!

She's in fairly good shape, considering her age!  Most of her thick paint is still intact, with only a little flaking under her neck and in some creases.  She has a tiny scrape on one cheek I may try to repair at some point, and also some paint loss on her head.  It doesn't really bother me, though.

Here you can see her heavily molded hair

I was so pleased to see her body stamp looking almost brand new!  Many times these have faded and worn away.

When I redressed her, I decided to change her into the little blue dress I bought at the doll show.  It fit her pretty well!!  So she will wear that for now.  The white dress she had on originally was tearing in a lot of places with many small holes.  I'd still like to find her another white baby dress, but this blue one will do for now.  She cost me $100.  So not as cheap as all of my other purchases, but definitely worth it!  She will be proudly displayed with my other, antique, cloth baby dolls.  I also gave her a little dolly to hold in the picture.  Because, you know, even dolls need dolls!