Welcome to Toy Tuesday! Today's sweet little collection is little girl's sewing kits...I had one as a child, although mine wasn't like either of these. The larger kit- Junior Miss Sewing Kit by the Hassenfeld Brothers (Hasbro) is from the early '50s. It features lots of fun fabric pieces (I assume they are original, but I can't be certain), a measuring tape, needle, thimble, patterns and instructions, scissors (which would hardly cut fabric- but even in the 50s toy companies were safety conscious!) and a little dolly model to dress. I'm sure there was once some thread. It also includes some sort of hard rubber eraser, but again, I'm not sure if that's part of the original kit.
One of the pieces of the pattern sheet is missing... the idea was to trace the pieces onto lightweight paper, then cut the fabric, so some naughty little girl must have cut into the original patterns. Now I'll never know what lovely fashion is missing!
I love the fabric pieces included, especially the fun 'ski' pattern that looks like it was illustrated by
Lois Lenski. Very colorful & charming!
The second little sewing kit is called Gingham Girl, by Alma De Journette. It's a 'sewing free' kit- you simply tuck the fabric around the paper doll, and add paper trims and accessories. The styling and artwork is so cute! Alma De Journette was know for her Curly Top Paper Dolls, and I think technically this would fall in the paper doll category, not the sewing category. But alas, I don't have a paper doll collection!
I never quite caught on to the whole sewing thing. I took sewing classes in junior high, and made a few dresses and outfits for myself in my younger years. But the magic of sewing eluded me. I've always been an impatient person, so I think the Gingham Girl would have been more my style.
*Just as I was posting this, I found this charming Lois Lenski illustration of... you got it, little girls sewing! How cute is this?
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