Have your paper doll memories published in PJ's Paper Doll Newsletter!

We are looking for paper doll memories to publish in our December issue of PJ's Paper Doll Newsletter. If you enjoyed playing with paper dolls when you were little...or still do...comment on this post or contact Janey through PJ's website. Thank you for making memories in PJ's Corner!

Janey's Paper Doll Memories...

When I think back to my first paper dolls, it was the late sixties. "Velvet" was my first paper dolls' name. That was the name I gave the paper doll my mother created. I never had a store bought paper doll; who needed store bought paper dolls when you had your own made for you! My friend Paula and I loved playing with my homemade paperdolls more than with my store bought "Barbie" dolls.

After my mother drew Velvet for me she told me that she would need to be backed with cardboard to make her stronger. My search led me to my dad's garage where I found the cardboard from the "3M Sanding Block Sand-Paks"...the sand paper was left in a neat little pile on the bench.

I still have my homemade paperdolls. They are old, faded, crinkled, and torn, but they have memories that are precious and unique. If you have a paper doll memory that you would like to share, contact Janey at memories@pjscorner.net or send a letter to PJ's Corner, Attn: Janey Loree, PO Box 39, Taft, CA 93268. These memories were posted in PJ's October Paper Doll Newsletter.

Paper Doll Memories...

Owner Phyllis Mae (Freckles) recollects..."In a family of five girls and three boys, my sisters and I loved paper dolls. I remember my older sisters, Mary Elizabeth (Beth) and Shirley Anne (Sheryl) drawing paper dolls, and Marjorie Alice (Marj), Jessie Carol (Cricket) and I having to have our own paper dolls. We drew our own paper doll clothes on any plain paper we could find. We cut out the models from old Sears Roebuck, and Montgomery Ward catalogs and then tried to find clothes to fit. If all else failed we would cut our own pattern from the material pages. We kept all of our paperdoll treasures in old shoe boxes under our beds."

Phyllis Mae (California) took the time out of her busy schedule, creating new paper doll clothes and artwork, to call each of her four sisters to ask them about their paper doll memories. What a time they had reminiscing! Beth, (Oregon) who drew big bows on the shoes of her paper dolls, remembers "Mom gave Shirley and I our first Sears Roebuck catalog", some scissors, and set us on the floor, letting us cut to our hearts content. Sheryl (Oregon) stated "for paper we used anything we could get our hands on, greyish beige paper or anything without lines". She also rememered the "Dion Quintuplet" paper dolls that were in the newspapers. Marj (Oregon) recalls the store bought paper doll clothes were flocked giving them a velvet look. "Phyllis, Jessie and I would play with our paper dolls by the hours,""Once in a while we used a Spiegel catalog, and Mom bought colored contruction paper" for our homemade paper doll clothes. Jessie Carol (New Jersey) declared "paper dolls were our favorite thing when we were little". "We found old catalogs and I remember getting the big baby doll paper dolls, and Margie, Phyllis and I sitting in the doorway (in everybody's way) cutting out paper dolls".

All five sisters agree that they enjoyed hours of fun and entertainment and knew that "paperdoll time" gave their mom a break. If you have a paper doll memory that you would like to share, contact Janey at memories@pjscorner.net or send a letter to PJ's Corner, Attn: Janey Loree, PO Box 39, Taft, CA 93268. These memories were shared in PJ's September Paper Doll Newsletter.