Design
Concept
In 1989 I was challenged by Elinor Peace Bailey to make a cloth doll for her book Mother Plays with Dolls. I had never made a doll before, but it sounded like a fun challenge.
This doll ended up being a bit autobiographical. She has my wild curly red hair, made of unplyed yarn. At the time I made her, I was two years into my 30-year career of teaching and lecturing on the national and international quilt seminar circuit. I was also still working as a flight attendant for United Airlines, and often came home from a busy teaching trip, only to rise early the next morning and don my airline uniform. The doll is dressed in the sort of outfit I wore as an itinerate art teacher, something bright and splashy on the top and comfortable travel clothes underneath. On one arm she carries a typical quilt conference bag, embellished with pins representing various quilting tools. On the other arm she carries a typical flight attendant tote bag with the United Airlines logo, made from a piece of one of my old uniforms. A scrap from one of my uniform scarves hangs out of the bag. The tunic was a piece of painted silk left over from an ensemble I made for the Fairfield Fashion Show in 1989. It was supposed to be a sleeve for a blouse, but the dye ran as I was painting it, so it ended up as a doll dress.
Exhibitions:
- Mother Plays with Dolls (exhibit was in Houston for the International Quilt Festival (probably 1990) and may have traveled after that)
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