A young teen with a boudoir doll, December 1924. You could buy a pattern for the girl’s dress or a pattern for her “French doll’s” dress from Butterick.
Thanksgiving signals the last chance to start making Christmas presents.
Half of page 28, from Delineator magazine, December 1924.
Butterick offered plenty of patterns for making dolls and doll clothes in Delineator magazine’s November and December issues.
Butterick French Doll pattern 10296 on a page of dresses for misses aged 15 to 20. December 1924.
It may seem odd that doll patterns were so prominent with illustrations of patterns for girls 8 to 15 and “misses 15 to 20,” but Boudoir dolls were popular with grown women, too — my Aunt Dot still had one decorating her bedroom in the 1980s.
My Aunt Dot with a friend, about 1919.
You could buy the heads for home-made boudoir dolls separately, and just make the doll’s body and clothing. I was surprised to see that the “French doll” pattern also included a Pierrot costume:
Butterick pattern 1026 in the Pierrot variation. 1924.
This exact pattern showed up for sale, so we know that it could be made with four different looks:
Doll pattern 10296, one version.
Doll pattern 10296 in a version with long, sheer sleeves.
Butterick French Doll pattern 10296 in a third “French” costume.
Pierrot is also a French character…. Doll pattern 1026 in its fourth view.
So many doll patterns were illustrated on one page of the December issue that I have to divide them into more than one blog post. I couldn’t find the pattern description for doll 10296, but I did find one for this set of stuffed animal dolls:
Butterick doll pattern 10302, Delineator, December 1924.
The faces are embroidered onto the fabric of your choice.
Butterick 10302; Delineator, December 1924.
“Old Dog Tray” was the “ever-faithful” hero of a song by Stephen Foster; Peter Rabbit was the star of many Beatrix Potter stories. [Her Peter Rabbit wore a blue coat, so I guess the red vest on No. 10302 was easier to make and an attempt to avoid copyright infringement…. I was the kind of child who would have been silently disappointed that he didn’t look right.] It’s also confusing to me that the “Ugly Duckling” is a full grown duck, not a swan, while the fuzzy yellow chick gives new meaning to “Chicken Little.” (In my little 1940-ish book, Henny Penny was illustrated as an adult hen wearing a bonnet and shawl, but this earlier illustration sides with Butterick.)
Oh, Dear: time for me to think about the dreaded Christmas shopping….
witness2fashion 
