Willowmenia

It had been a long, long time between BJD's and I'd almost had reached the point where I thought I wouldn't ever order another one. Then out of the blue I received an email from Liz Frost with a photo of "Willowmenia".

I thought she was just about the sweetest little girl I'd  ever seen. I have always had a soft spot for Liz's dolls and already owned three of her little ladies, Fifi, Mia and Lunette who have been named and dressed as Miss Muffet, Mary Quite Contrary and Little Bo Peep. 

I ordered her in chocolate resin as my other girls are in light tan and fair. She is 33cm (13") tall, my ideal doll size and with the most beautifully formed hands that I adore.

Here are dolls made from the same mould in tan skin (left) and fair skin (right).

When dressing my doll and in keeping with the Nursery Rhyme theme I used for my previous three dolls, Willowmenia chose the name Lucy Locket as hers. But of course she couldn't possibly be Lucy Locket without a "pocket" of her own, so I made her one.

Do any of you remember this singing this nursery rhyme when you were a child?

Lucy Locket lost her pocket,

Kitty Fisher found it;

Not a penny was there in it,

Only ribbon round it.

Historically, the term "pocket" referred to a pouch worn around the waist by women in the 17th to 19th centuries in which they would keep their small belongings. Skirts or dresses of the time had a slit at the waistline to allow access to the pocket which hung around the woman's waist by a ribbon. They were a pre-cursor to the 19th century handbag and the pocket that we now find in our skirts and trousers.