The Dress I Chose and the Doll Chosen to Wear It

Amber by Annette Himstedt, 1999

Amber by Annette Himstedt has been neglected for so long that I need to hang my head in shame. The doll was purchased new from a Himstedt doll dealer in approximately the year 2000, having been placed on layaway due to her cost.   Standing 30 inches from head-to-toe in bare feet, she represents a 7-year-old Jamaican girl of the 1970s.  Amber has auburn natural-textured human hair, portions of which are braided.  Her inset eyes are hazel.

Amber's hair was initially worn down as shown in the above photo where she is dressed in her original orange dress and holding a garland of brightly colored, enamel-painted flowers.  I had to remove the garland from her hands and store it some years ago after noticing small stains it caused to her wrists.

Along with other dolls representing doll genres in the various chapters of my first black-doll reference book, Amber appears on the front cover. (Additional dolls that represent the types of dolls in other chapters of the book appear on the back cover.)

Never fully bonding with her, I have contemplated selling Amber on several occasions but never made an actual attempt because I know in today's market I would probably suffer a great monetary loss.

Recently after two collectors added an Amber to their collections for a fraction of the dolls' original cost and shared images of the dolls dressed in children's clothing, I thought the affection for my doll might intensify if I too redressed her. In 16 years of ownership, redressing is something I had never done or considered doing for Amber.

After it arrived, I decided Amber would be the doll to wear the dress from Betty.   With seven (7) being the number of completion, the following seven photographs illustrate Amber's first redress in the dress I chose in answer to Betty's question, Which print do you like best?  

Amber has stripped down to her original underpants, which she will continue to wear under her new dress.  Her orange string necklace with floral pendant and orange headband remain.  Before this photo was taken, we removed the Annette Himstedt signature-bearing red ribbon that was tied around her left wrist, as seen partially in the first photo and better seen here.  We also removed her sandals and noticed red stains on the bottoms of her feet from the red innersoles of the sandals.

Here Amber wears the yellow blouse Betty made.  It has a snap closure in back.

The green and yellow African print dress I chose from the four styles Betty offered is a perfect fit.  To accommodate the matching hat (next photo), her original headband had to be removed.

Completely redressed, Amber continues to wear her necklace and her original sandals with the blouse, dress, and open crown-style hat that Betty made.

Her hair, which has been in a ponytail for years, was pulled through the top of the hat with some of her braids draped over the front.

This profile photo illustrates how she wears her crown.

Amber took one final photo.

Betty, Amber and I truly thank you.  As a result of her new dress, she no longer has to be worried by future considerations of being adopted out.  In this richly colored dress, she is definitely a keeper.


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Which print do you like best?

Leleti by Annette Himstedt, owned by Betty Ativie, models a lovely green and yellow African print dress with matching crown-style hat and yellow blouse.

The question in the title of this post, "Which print do you like?" was asked of me by doll-friend Betty Ativie.  That question was sent by text along with the above and next three photos.

Leleti kindly models another dress and hat choice that I was given by Betty.

In this photo and in the next, Janelle by Lorna Miller-Sands wears African print dresses and hats that match Lelelti's.

The prints are all so lovely, I thought, but if I have to choose just one, it will be...

...revealed in the next post, modeled by the doll I chose to wear it.

Thank you again Betty for your thoughtfulness and for sharing your sewing expertise with me!


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Letters to Editors

As mentioned in yesterday's post, Past Doll Articles of Note, I am in the process of purging my doll magazine library.  My doll magazine reading is now limited to digital subscriptions and referencing hard copies of the back issues I plan to keep.  I can read digital versions online with an option to print articles of note at my discretion.  Selling the issues I no longer need is part of my self-imposed reduced paper and clutter act. 

I became aware of now, doll-friend Bettie Ativie during the late-1990s when I penned the "Spotlight on Collectors" column of DOLL-E-GRAM, which is no longer in circulation.  Betty graciously allowed me to profile her by submitting answers to my questionnaire and sharing images of her dolls.  I shall never forget the very impressive photograph she shared of herself with twin Fatous by Annette Himstedt.    This period was pre-Internet access for both of us when our communication was solely by snail mail. 

I am so happy my process of magazine elimination includes reading the Letters to the Editor.  Otherwise, I would have missed Betty's letter to the editor of Contemporary Doll Collector, which was published in the May 2009 issue, some 11 years after our initial correspondence.  As a result of this letter, Betty and I reconnected and have since communicated on a frequent basis through mailed letters initially,  by email now, and by phone on a couple of occasions.  Betty has also shared dolls from her collection for my blog and has inspired some of my other blog posts.

Letter written by Betty Ativie to the editor of Contemporary Doll Collector, published in the May 2009 issue (click to enlarge).

The second letter to the editor of a doll magazine that I am keeping was written by my dear friend, Ruth Manning, whose friendship I will cherish and whose memory will live forever in my heart.  As mentioned in this blog post, Ruth and I met in 2003.  During one of our many telephone conversations, she and I discussed the routine absence of magazine articles on black dolls.  We asked ourselves, "Why do we subscribe to these publications when they rarely include articles on the dolls we love and collect?"  I suggested that she do what I had done in the past, pen letters, either mailed or electronically, to doll magazine editors to broaden their awareness of our unmet need.  She did.  One of Ruth's letters to editors was published in the August 2009 issue of Doll Reader.  Before discovering her letter, I made a mental note that this magazine would spark interest on eBay from Annette Himstedt doll enthusiasts.  Himstedt is featured on the cover, dolls from her personal collection are shared, and her farewell to dollmaking is the overall theme.  

A snapshot of Ruth's letter and Doll Reader's reply follows (if necessary, click to enlarge). 

Ruth Manning's letter to the editor of Doll Reader magazine, published in their August 2009 issue

Their ability to spark interest will remain a mystery because these two magazines will remain in my existing doll reference library.

To view the doll magazines I am selling, which are currently listed on eBay, click here.  In order to take advantage of eBay's 50 free listings per month and up to 12 free pictures for each listing, it will take me several weeks to list all magazines I am selling.  So please continue to check my listings and feel free to share the link.  Thanks in advance!

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