Monday, June 4, 2012

A fun Springfield Dolls themed Blog to check out



I love Springfield dolls and I was on their Facebook page recently and was thrilled to find this wonderful blog all about Springfield Dolls called Springfield Collection Dolls this blog is run by Miss Maggie who is not affiliated with Springfield Doll Collection but has a profound love of these dolls.
I loved her post about head coverings and how to make them for our dolls. Her post about how to make a Hijab for dolls is truly wonderful! I personally believe that doll play with 18 inch dolls should represent all girls and their beliefs and cultural clothing. This post not only showed the Hijab but also offered other head coverings and an explanation "Lots of different cultures advocate head coverings for girls and women. Amish, Muslim, some Fundamental Baptists, some Primitive Baptist, Charity Gospel, Mennonite, some Catholics, German Baptist, some Methodist, Jews, some Hindus, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, the list goes on and on. For most head covering cultures it's a religious mandate, for others it's a matter of modesty. For dolls it's matter of matching one's dolly mommy."
I could not agree more with Miss Maggie.

  Click here for the free pattern on her blog.

Miss Maggie also has some wonderful links to free patterns, You tube Channels  and personal photos of her Springfield Doll Collection like this one
Showing her Olivia and her Springfield doll from 1997! Such an interesting post check it out by clicking here .

So if you are a Springfield Doll lover like me, or you want to add to your doll family, check out Spring Field Doll Collection's Website by clicking here. To follow Miss Maggie's wonderful blog you can visit her blog by clicking here and she has a wonderful follow by email option which I am happy to say I am now receiving !



Miss Maggie was kind enough to share enough to share a bit about her background with us today...

"I've been Miss Maggie on the Internet since 1999 when I first created Hillbilly Housewife, a frugal food website. I owned it until 2008 when I sold it to it's current owner. I'm the creator of a free K-12 homeschool curriculum that uses online resources and texts. It can be found at OldFAshionedEducation.com.  It has thousands of users worldwide. I think it's been online since 2007. After selling Hillbilly Housewife I created FrugalAbundance.com, which focuses on making a Gluten-Free, Casein-Free diet affordable, among other things."


"I've been interviewed on Public Radio, and written extensively on making healthy food more accessible to all families, especially those with lower incomes. I've had articles and patterns published in a variety of magazines and anthologies."


"I've been sewing for dolls for over 35 years. I've always collected dolls, but became more interested in them when I discovered the internet, and my collection has increased accordingly. One of my favorite doll families is the Springfield Collection. I discovered them at a craft store in 1997 and have been a fan ever since. Springfield dolls make doll ownership accessible to children in all income brackets which I think is vital for a child's education. Kids learn so much playing with dolls and it gives them a way to work out their understanding of the adult world. When a child grows up with limited financial resources there are additional stresses which may not be readily apparent, but which certainly affect the child. Owning a good play doll gives children an outlet for expressing themselves, helps with creative problem solving and allows the child control over one aspect of their lives all of which increases self-esteem. In this sense Springfield Dolls are almost doing a public service, providing good quality playdolls, that all families can afford."


"I find it a great pleasure to sew for my dolls and hope to create an additional website where I'm able to offer some of my creations for sale, but that's still months away. I've sold doll clothes at art stores, craft fairs and church bazaars and on ebay intermittently and always had good response to my doll designs."

As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

10 comments:

  1. Thanks Karen, it's an honor to be recognized :-)

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  2. I love Maggie's blog. She's been nice enough to feature a couple of my videos on it. It's nice to see folks sharing some Springfield Love! <3

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  3. I am so happy to be able to share your blog and videos with others.

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  4. Awww, what a shame, the link no longer works anymore for the hijab pattern! :( I got so excited when I saw your post, as I have many AG dolls that represent different cultures and religions, and I've been looking for a hijab for ages! Oh well... back to searching again I suppose. Thanks for the beautiful pictures!

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  5. That is too bad, I wonder why she took it down. Thank you for letting me know.
    If I find out I will re publish the link here. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

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  6. Hey, thought I'd share this pattern. It's for hijab and it's still up. This should be JUST WHAT you're looking for, Anonymous.

    http://frugalabundance.com/hijab.pdf

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  7. It's back up on Miss Maggie's website, Frugal Abundance, Anonymous. Here's the direct link-- http://frugalabundance.com/hijab.pdf

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  8. Thank you that does work! I have saved it as a PDF pattern so if for some reason it goes missing again email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

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  9. You're welcome! This is one of those things that I wish was available on a more "commercial" scale... AG and a lot of other doll companies have OTHER religions portrayed (most notably Judaism, with the character Rebecca Rubin and the GOTY Lindsey Bergman from 2003), but not Islam. It'd be nice if someone would start a line of Muslim fashions for 18" dolls. I've half considered it myself, but I'd want other input and other creative minds.

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  10. I agree there is a market and a hole. I would like to see all girls of faith represented in a positive and respectful way.

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