Blog

Hello to all my wonderful friends and fans....

I am now nearing the end of 24 years in making porcelain dolls... For the first 16 or 17 years I made all the costumes myself for the dolls I offered for sale.

When I opened my ebay store in 2005, I realized that I needed to be more than one person to make all the porcelain pieces and the clothing.

One day Mary Lambeth bought a doll head from me through ebay. She said she wanted to display her doll clothing on my dolls... She continued to buy many doll heads from me, adding her own bodies and modeling her clothing on them for her ebay store, but, at first, I never asked to see her doll clothing, and she never offered to show me any of it. About a year later, I finally asked to see what she made... I was blown away! I bought the first dress I saw from her and I still have it!

I just loved her flamboyant style and beautiful hand made ribbon flowers! So, it began... I started to dress most all my dolls in her clothing... and they sold like hotcakes!

Mary continued to sell also on ebay, her beautiful costumes... One day she told me that she, in fact, only trimmed the outfits and that they were sewn by her "silent partner" Shelby...

Shelby, has, for thirty years, been the unsung Great Master seamstress behind Mary Lambeth clothing.

Yesterday I got my very first email from the elusive Shelby... She wanted to write to me directly to say that after careful thought, she has decided to close her business in sewing doll clothing for Mary Lambeth...

It's the "End of an Era".... no more Mary/Shelby clothing will be made.....

So... I immediately closed all my listings of dolls in these costumes as I want to think about keeping them all for myself for now... You will still be able to view many of these wonderful costumes on my site here and those that are in my own personal collection may be for sale in the future. If you see any you really want, please write and I will consider selling.

After talking to Mary yesterday, she feels she will find a new dressmaker and continue on with offering Mary Lambeth clothing... Time will tell how that turns out, but in the meantime, I have to put my own Dollie Dressmaker hat on...

In the past couple of weeks I have been working very hard again... I poured no less than 53 new doll heads! All are trimmed, engraved and soft fired... The greenware shelves are well stocked for future new dolls and heads.

Jim Vickerman has been experimenting with new paints for the bodies to eliminate a problem with crazing of the lacquer paint. If anyone got a doll from me with a body that later developed crazing, Jim will gladly repaint the body for you. All you have to do is contact Jim at joycescompbodies@centurylink.net and send the body back to him.

With thousands of dollars invested in lovely silks, laces, trims etc. it is perhaps a blessing now that I will be forced to start using them up by sewing clothing for the dolls I sell in future.

In spite of my physical problems, I am determined to continue on and find a way to create even more Masterfully, wonderful dolls to offer for sale.

I hope you are all having a very wonderful Summer... I know I am!

Love, Emily