Christ Child Dawn - The twenty-fourth door

Happy Christmas Eve!

In last year's advent calendar I told you about the tradition of the Christkind (Christ Child) who is the gift bringer in my area of Germany - an angelic figure with wings and golden locks, sometimes with a halo, sometimes with a crown.
The idea to turn a Topper Dawn into an angel eventually, obsessed with making wings as I am, just had to come to mind when I first thought about projects for this year's calendar, but not before I finally started working on her in November, it came to me that she wouldn't just be an angel, she would be the Christ Child on Christmas Eve which of course is the gift bringing day here in Germany.

P.S. I know that I usually talk a little about how I made an outfit, but it's Christmas and it doesn't seem the time for detailed descriptions.
If you have questions, let me know in the comments!

Dawn was a registered trademark of the Topper Company. I am not affiliated with Topper in any way.

Vampire Bat Angie

I have to admit it to myself, I am not very good with jewelry at the moment. There's a pair of earrings in my drawer that is only waiting for me to decide on earwires. There are also a few small beaded hearts in a baggie waiting to be used in something. I keep picking things up and putting them down again.

Feeling so little motivation right now has a lot to do with what's going on, in the big world and in my small world.
Luckily that doesn't seem to mean that I can't get creative at all. My muse obviously thought that it was about time for me to work on a doll design that - together with two others - has been on my table for months now. This time I actually doodled a sketch of three outfits (during a meeting when I wasn't needed) that had already been in my head even months before that, more to remind me than to follow them in detail.
My doll outfits develop during the process, and not even I can tell what they are going to look like in the end.

For this one, I used an Angie doll for the very first time, a lovely Topper brunette with the head mold P10.
Her hair color doomed her to become the bat lady. You may remember that I have become quite fascinated with bead embroidery wings (ooh, just had an idea for another design), and I definitely saw Angie mostly in black with bat wings. If I still rerooted heads, I might even have been tempted to give her black hair. And call her Angelina for a more romantic vampire name.

The first decision was about the dress being tight or an opulent ball gown style, the flowing nightgown style was out right from the start. One thought that popped into my head, probably because I had been watching old Addams Family episodes on YouTube, had been a dress like that of Morticia, but first, Morticia is not a vampire, and second, I want to make my own designs.
So the dress finally became tight, but there is no plunging neckline, no long sleeves - not only because they are difficult to make with beads as the arms are so close to the body, but because I wanted the contrast of the arms against the wings - and instead of the "tentacles" at the bottom the skirt flares out at a higher point and is a little longer at the back.

To sew crystals to part of the skirt, was a spontaneous decision. Black and siam red is a combo that is irresistible to me. Only when it got dark and I turned the light on, I noticed that I had used both dark and regular siam crystals. It's hard to believe as in these pictures the dark siam seems almost black, but in daylight you have to look very close to tell them apart if you use black thread. Luckily, I liked the effect of different "blood drops" and therefore just added a few more of the light siam crystals instead of ripping everything out.

As usual, I beaded and beaded on the dress until then it was almost too late to make the shoes. Will I ever learn?
Then I realized that I have never thought about vampires' shoes before. Ballerinas, high heels, slippers? I took the easy way out with some simple sandals because they aren't seen underneath the long dress, anyway. They have slim ankle straps, soles and two straps across the toes.

Much more interesting are the wings, at least to me.
I haven't succeeded in getting a good video (yet, I will keep trying) that shows the sparkle of the silver lined red bugle beads against the AB shimmer of the shiny black sequins.
I could have used matte black sequins or shiny ones without the AB finish, but I love the effect of black exploding into color with a small movement.

You know I love making accessories, but they wouldn't have worked in this case.
Angelina just got a small choker with a "vampire bite".

I am still contemplating either trying my hand on some red lips and vampire teeth for her myself or outsourcing the task to someone who's quite probably better at it.
Even that doesn't happen, however, I am really happy with my dark beauty!

Update April 2024:
I finally tried my hand at a vampire smile, but after many attempts, I gave up on the teeth because they didn't go together with the eyes, and I really didn't want to mess up the eyes. A wide smile didn't fit and just two white dots looked ridiculous, at least to me, as if she had crumbs on her mouth or something.
The red lips, however, work much better with her overall look than the pink ones did!

Angie and Dawn were registered trademarks of the Topper Company. I am not affiliated with Topper in any way.

Autumn Dawn

A small tin with old bead soup in autumn colors called to me this weekend. When the beads call, you have to listen and I did.
I happened to have a doll in my beading box - because who doesn't - and could start right away, then one thing led to the other.
Let me introduce Autumn Dawn. I think it's quite obvious how she got her name wearing those colors although it's probably more like late summer, walking around sleeveless, in crop top and sandals like she does!

Actually, the name is a little misleading. Just the head is from a Topper Dawn, the body is from a Dawn clone marked "Hongkong B & G" about which I couldn't find out anything. The doll came to me like that, I don't know what fate brought those two parts together.

I think I have mentioned before that I often start with the bottom part of an outfit, in this case with the skirt that I made from the bead soup. As the beads not only had different colors and finishes, but also differed in size, I opted for a colorful  tiered skirt with wide folds to hide the irregularities a bit.

Next were the sandals. As the bead soup had not been enough for a floor length skirt, they were much easier to do than the shoes usually are when I have once again forgotten to bead them first and don't have much space for working.
Autumn Dawn's one foot is a little straighter than the other one, so to make sure the sandals would stay on, I beaded the wide straps at the ankles (my first odd count peyote, by the way).

The top is a new design. Usually I start working from the waist, either directly on the doll working my way up, or I make a front and a back part working from the bottom up and then join the seams at the sides.
This time, however, I made the peyote back part sideways and then extended it on both sides, finally joining them in the front which resulted in a crop top. Two straps on both sides made it sit really well.
To give it a little extra, I added the bronze drop beads at the front and sides.

Dawn likes accessories, but a necklace would have been too much, so she only got two little bracelets from different beads.

The hat. I can't resist a hat and my excuse is that Dawn's hair refuses to stay in place. This hat from gold lined and amber AB beads was mostly inspired by the amber beads' limited number, but also by one of my favorite Murphy Brown episodes. I was so tempted to add a tassel, follow the link and you'll know what I mean.

Last but not least, the purse. For someone who only carries around her beloved shopper, I am definitely obsessed with beading purses, totes, etc. for my dolls.
I chose the color to resemble linen, with matte "leather" for the strap, and embellished the purse with small golden spacer "flowers".

There you go - Autumn Dawn :-)

Dawn was a registered trademark of the Topper Company. I am not affiliated with Topper in any way.

Dawn on vacation

Still summer, still hot ... Dawn desperately needed a vacation. Other than Jessica last year, she didn't plan just a weekend stay, so some thought would have to go into the packing.

First of all, Dawn decided on doing something drastic (which even I had thought about in a weak moment the other day and that really says something).
She needed a haircut and other than me she didn't want "as much as necessary, as little as possible". She didn't want a pixie, she wasn't that brave, but a good deal had to go. There, her head felt so much lighter now and the hat fit better, too!
Dawn loves this hat because she can wear it so many ways. The brim is folded up and embellished in one spot which she can wear in front like she had seen on a Hercule Poirot episode once - even if the sun hat shown had had a much wider brim - in the back or how she finally wore it, on the side.

With temperatures like the ones we have these days, Dawn insisted on a tank top, best in a fresh color. The lime green one wouldn't have been my personal choice, but she was right after all, it worked great with the new black linen pants and her favorite old leather belt.
Just the white sneakers with the rubber soles now and she was all set.
For jewelry she chose a simple bracelet.

At first, she wanted to travel light with a small backpack - I couldn't help but point out that it reminded me very much of a grumpy face. Come on, don't tell me you don't see it, too.

Then, however, she got Granddad's battered old leather suitcase from the attic after all.
You never know when you feel like going out dancing, do you? Her favorite mini dresses went into the suitcase, however, when I asked her if she wanted to take high heels, sandals or ballerinas for those, she said her sneakers would work just fine.

I'm sure she has everything she needs, and if not, she can always go shopping.

Now an extra information about Dawn, I hope she won't mind me telling you that.
There are Topper dolls that have visible nipples and bellybuttons and she's one of them. I completely forgot to take a picture of her before she was dressed, so you will just have to believe me.

So, Dawn has left for her trip, I wonder if she'll bring me a gift back from wherever she's going to!
At least she has already sent me these pictures from one of the local sculptures ... which looks strangely familiar to me ;-)

For those who are interested in beading techniques:
- The tank top and belt are peyote.
- The pants, the sneakers (except for the soles), and the backpack are Herringbone. The "zipper" does not open, by the way, I'm a beader, not a sorceress.
- The suitcase is bead embroidered on white backing and lined with a dark blue satin fabric. The inside straps are faux suede with golden jumprings. Like for the backpack, I used two different browns to enhance the feel of worn leather. The edges and the center of the bottom are a narrow metal tape that I filed down a bit for the battered look. The buckles and hinges are golden Delica beads.

Dawn was a registered trademark of the Topper Company. I am not affiliated with Topper in any way.

Dawn is going boho

Usually I need a break after completing a doll outfit. I take a while relishing the feeling and admiring my own work - yes, I know that doesn't sound very humble, but it mostly is a very interesting path from the first row of beads to the completed doll and I'm always amazed myself that it has actually happened!
This time my bead mojo was strong enough for me to start on a new doll only a few days after finishing the wedding outfit and once again there were experiments, failures, and a complete change of plan.
You see, my first plan had been pink, but I had problems getting the same pink in both size 11 and 15 seed beads, so I checked the colors I had on hand and went for a favorite opaque luster red instead.
Luckily red with some golden accents looks stunning on this girl with her long blond hair and luckily she's not as afraid of color as I often seem to be myself or this dress would be black now ;-)

My second plan had been a kind of evening gown which I'm not going to say more about in case I'll do a variation of it eventually after all (how often have I said that about things?). The reason I didn't follow that plan were the gloves.
Did you know that Dawn has really small hands? Bead gloves simply looked too bulky, even with 15s, and of course there wasn't a chance I could have made a thumb with beads.
So the gloves turned into sleeves instead, 3/4 long which is a preferred length of my own.
When I was still a knitter, I hated sleeves. It was my old problem of having to make the same thing twice, boooooring. This time I made the sleeves first, that's definitely a new one for me.

What I really like about making these doll outfits is how one thing influences the other, often unexpectedly. After the sleeves I made the top and when I was at the top of the top - I often start from the waist because the beads don't try to run away there - and joined it with the sleeves, it hit me. A Carmen neckline!
And the Carmen neckline called for a wider, flowing skirt.
You may think at first that this dress doesn't look that different from that of the Fairy Queen, but actually there are several things I did like this for the first time.
There's the neckline and my first long sleeves, there are tiny crystal embellishments (you have to trust me on this, it's hard to see here), and not only is the waist a bit higher up which accentuates Dawn's lovely figure, but the skirt also flares out higher up, and after increasing always in the same spots for some rows, the skirt then falls down straight while the Fairy Queen's skirt is increased all around and all the way down to the bottom.
That's the fun about making these dresses, even though you are limited by the beads not being flexible, you can still play with designs.
I think Dawn likes it, too, judging from the way she's showing off her new dress.

The dress didn't seem to need many accessories, so Dawn is just wearing some simple gold sandals - I'm sure she would also have liked to go barefoot - a classic two-toned coated hematite ball chain and a cute little daisy chain. Maybe she has just made that herself before going to the market?
Yes, she has been to the market with her netted cotton tote that she has also made herself, no doubt, and she has brought home a huge ear of corn which actually fills up the tote. Hopefully it's organic, but I'm sure Dawn knows what she does! ;-)

I already have at least two new designs in mind, one of them will take more planning because of the technique I think I'll have to use, however, so I can't promise when there will be more to see.

Dawn was a registered trademark of the Topper Company. I am not affiliated with Topper in any way.

The Bride

It has been almost a year since I made my last beaded doll outfit which was Miss Francie Bennet, but this weekend I felt the sudden urge to grab one of my Topper Dawns and give her a new outfit.
This particular Dawn has several problems, mostly with her legs, so the only plan I had at that point was some kind of a slim skirt to hide them.

When I got my very first Dawn, I had begun to make her a wedding dress which I didn't like anymore when I was halfway through the project which is why she finally got an evening gown instead.
How about revisiting this idea?
There were several reasons to go for it. With a wedding dress you can go overboard if you like and your doll won't be able to complain. I knew I had plenty of pearly white seed beads in both size 11 and 15. A wedding dress has always been part of fashion shows. It's almost May, the bridal season is upon us. I'll use any excuse I can find.
Of course I don't have a husband for Dawn, but she'll have to live with that.

As the dress became more elaborate this time, I refrained from making many accessories - less to read for you!
Dawn is wearing a simple silver necklace and a "pearl" headband (which looks classy, but also helps to hide that some child in the past seems to have tried to cut her hair into bangs). At first I started making a short veil flowing down from the headband, but it wasn't heavy enough to fall over Dawn's hair in a pretty way, so I took it back off.
I also didn't bead shoes this time, but happened to have a pair of what I think are clone shoes in white which worked better for her little problem feet (I can so relate even if mine are not little!).

Now to the dress.

As planned, the skirt part is slim and long enough to hide most of the shoes because I didn't like the look of them with the dress much, both for the material and the tone of white. I promised Dawn she won't have to walk long distances ;-)
The front part of the skirt is embellished with lines of tiny silver lined crystal seed beads for a reason. There are tiny gaps in the "fabric" due to the Herringbone technique, and is it because I know Dawn's problems or because I think I can actually see them, at any rate I felt the need to distract from them a little. Also, I like a bit of silver sparkle!

The top part is a mix of Herringbone and Peyote and has off shoulder straps. They do hide an imperfection on Dawn's arm, but actually I made them because I liked them with this top.

I also wanted the dress to have a train, that had even been a plan for my attempt at that first wedding dress years ago.
The decision fell on this tapered train that begins like an overskirt at the waist (I have loved overskirts since I was a child, my drawn ladies always wore an open one). Not making it straighter at the edges is not because of the Herringbone technique that is worked in bead pairs, by the way, I just liked the different look.
For a second, I thought about embellishing it as well, but then I decided against it. Instead I added the little bead "chains" at the front.

Flowers had been on my mind, too. A flower on the headband or one at the neckline, at the waist maybe, but it all seemed too much.
Maybe I will give her a single flower to hold eventually.

I already have the next project on my mind, but it will probably have to involve the loom, and so far I have been hesitating to get the loom out around den Dekan (my kitten).
We will just have to wait and see what happens.

Dawn was a registered trademark of the Topper Company. I am not affiliated with Topper in any way.

Jessica goes travelling

One week later and Jessica has finally chosen the outfit to go with her bead embroidered overnight bag.
She wanted it to be fashionable yet comfortable, classic but not boring.

The white sweater is a moderate A-line and has a turtleneck that isn't folded over, but covers the neck completely. The edge is a decorative, lacy look.
The short sleeves are woven differently to add interest.

Jessica loves wearing long and bold necklaces over her sweater. Here she chose a copper tone Y necklace with a crystal and a huge (from her point of view) freshwater pearl. The brown and white tones go so well with her outfit and the accessories!

To add a bit of color to her outfit, Jessica grabbed her slim scarf made from a multicolor mix. Just a touch of yellow makes the sun come out, she says.
She can wear it like this, but also as a head scarf.

Among her favorite pants are these woven palazzo pants. They are wide and comfortable and even if they look blue at first sight, they also have that beautiful gold tone mixed in that you see if you take a closer look. It's one of Jessica's favorite colors (and mine ;-)).
She thought about wearing boots with them, but in the end she decided to wear her brown slippers after all. You never know how much you have to walk when going sightseeing.

Now the whole outfit in one picture ... Jessica looks quite happy with it, don't you think?

Oops, can't forget the bag. All of her important stuff is in there, she said, although she refused to show me what exactly she was taking.
I have the suspicion that she raided my snack shelf for her trip, and that bag is looking heavy! She better bring some souvenirs home for me :-)

 

Jessica was a registered trademark of the Topper Company. I am not affiliated with Topper in any way.

Ms Dawn is going out

Ms Dawn is going out and she's not wearing a mask. Dawn is in the 20s - the previous century's decade, that is, not her 20s and not the 20s of our century.
Dawn may be born in the 70s, but she doesn't care. She's a Flapper at heart and she demanded that I took her golden and hot pink dress off and gave her something a little more elegant. She became my "Mini Flapper" (compared to Flapper Barbie and Flapper Christie) and this is the story how.
If you please, you may imagine the following read to you in the manner of an announcer at a fashion show.

Ms Dawn's sleeveless dress is worked in the peyote technique in a subtle combination of dusty pink and grey with a hint of silver shimmer in both. It goes up all the way in the back and features a rectangular neckline in the front.
At the bottom seam it is finished with a small fringe.
Pink blossoms accented with a small center bead are generously scattered all over the dress except in the upper part of the back.

For jewelry she has chosen a classic and unobtrusive long necklace from clear beads that she is wearing sideways. She has refrained from adding any more jewelry on this occasion so as to not take attention off her outfit at all.

The headband that picks up the flower embellishment of the dress is perfect with the slightly windswept look of Ms Dawn's bob. Unfortunately she wouldn't share the secret with us how she manages to tame her full hair, but we suspect that the lovely grey headband makes up a big part of it.

A night out is impossible without wearing an elegant evening cloak. Ms Dawn's choice is this custom made model matching the color of her dress perfectly. It is bead loomed and has a high peyote collar. The hems are embellished with small clear accent beads for a sophisticated look.

These fashionable sandals too are designed to match the colors of the outfit. For a better fit on the foot they have small pink straps. With sandals as comfortable as these Ms Dawn will have no problems to dance the night through if she so desires.

An accessory that can't be missed is a purse, big enough to hold the most important things for a night in the city. At the last minute Ms Dawn has chosen this cute little drawstring pouch that matches her outfit instead of a silver clutch that her friend suggested because she can just hang it from her wrist.

And here's our Flapper now, waiting for her friends at the big cat sculpture.
Thank you for joining us and we hope to welcome you again to our next fashion show at La Maison Cat!
Enjoy your night as our Ms Dawn no doubt will, too.

Dawn was a registered trademark of the Topper Company. I am not affiliated with Topper in any way.

The Fairy Queen

Do you remember Dawn, my little Topper doll? After having her lying around without clothes for years because 1. I didn't even know back then what or who she was, 2. I had no idea where to get clothes for her, I had finally made a fancy little dress and accessories for her out of seed beads.
As Dawn is only 6 1/2 inch - compared to the 11 1/2 inch of a Barbie and 11 1/4 inch of a Francie - it may not be instant gratification to make something for her, but it's definitely quicker. I couldn't help myself and had to get more Topper dolls, two more, to be exact.
After making the dragonfly pin, I knew what I wanted to do with one of them.
Dawn was to become a fairy!
Only she's not really Dawn, but one of her friends as the head mark 11C as opposed to 11A told me. She's Jessica who used to be a stewardess (yes, that's what it was called back then). It's kind of funny because last time I had thought that Dawn was a Jessica, and now I fell for it the other way round. I should have noticed that her hair was not as full, but I'm so used to different Bubble Cut hairstyles on vintage Barbies that I simply didn't think about it.

As usually, I made the dress first.
What do you think of when thinking of a fairy? Tinkerbelle? Flora, Fauna and Merry-weather from Sleeping Beauty? Cinderella's fairy godmother? Oh, no Disney fairy at all? Maybe one from a fairy tale book you read as a child? From a fantasy movie?
Do you imagine a long dress, a colorful hat that reminds of a witch's hat? Something short and green? A cloak with a big bow? Something glittery? Something colorful like flowers? That's the fun part about it, your imagination is the limit.
My imagination sent me to a combination of reds and browns with some gold mixed in. I made the dress using the Herringbone technique which has proven to be the most versatile so far, at least for me who's not that much of an off loom beader (yet?). I like the "pleats" in the skirt and hope to be able to reproduce this in a bigger dress eventually.
This time I forgot to take a picture of Jessica just with the dress on, but I'll get to the accessories again later.

Next were the wings. It's two sets of wings which I made in the bead embroidery technique with golden seed and bugle beads. Instead of enhancing the golden look as I did in the dragonfly wings, I used tiny clear AB seed beads with the sequins here.
Sewing the wings on was quite a fiddly thing to do, especially with the arms constantly getting in the way. The hard part was also to sew them on in a way that wouldn't make them move too much, after all I don't want them to fold up in the back, so you won't be able to see them.
I would say this part challenged my patience the most, and yes, there was swearing!
Here's a close-up of the wings.

My first thought had been to give my fairy a wand, but the typical wand with the little star on top seemed a little stereotypical. Instead, I decided on giving her a long staff, something sturdy, something to emphasize her power as a queen even more than the little golden crown of seed beads and coated hematite.
After thinking for a while, I remembered having wood skewers left over from my polymer clay days. I used size 15 seed beads to cover one of them in peyote, going from coated clear beads at the bottom to golden ones at the top.
The Swarovski crystal came in very handy although the story goes that it's really a citrine found by the dwarves and gifted to the Queen of the Fairies ;-) I could have used the same one in a smaller size, but the Queen made very clear that she didn't think small.
For the connection between staff and crystal I glued on a thick layer of golden seed beads to strengthen the thread connection. It was one of the rare times when glue and I made up a good team!
The staff is attached to the hand by means of a little bracelet and I can even move it into different directions without it falling off.

Last but not least came the everlasting struggle with the shoes. As I had already mentioned in my post about Dawn, the Topper dolls have tiny feet thanks to their size. Once again I tried slippers like I made them for Francie before, I tried to make the soles in different sizes and use differently sized beads, but to no avail. Even when I admitted defeat and got back to the sandal design, I still had to experiment with that.
This is attempt #6, I think, the one that finally made me happy. They stay on her feet and they fit the outfit. I didn't have a golden thread, but I have a gold metallic pen coming to cover it and even like this the "golden yellow" was still the best choice.

Thank you if you have made it to here. I'll end this post with a picture that is giving you a better idea of the Queen's size. This is an ordinary step on my stairs, so you see that our fairy is indeed one of the "small folk".
Don't let it deceive you, though, I'm sure she knows how to use that staff, for magic or to hit you with it! ;-)

Dawn was a registered trademark of the Topper Company. I am also not affiliated with Topper in any way.

Evening gown Dawn - Part 1, The doll and her story

I know I say that a lot, but I don't remember where Dawn came from. You must keep in mind that we went to a lot of fleamarkets, and sometimes things came home with us together with others. Maybe she tagged along with a Barbie doll or she was in a doll case.
Dawn had been lying in a box for many years. I simply didn't have anything for her to wear because she's so small, and I can't sew. I often thought about beading an outfit for her, especially after I made the Flapper and hippie outfits, but even that was more than five years ago, shame on me, after I messed up measuring a new Francie dress and I was frustrated. I never even cut it up, it's in a drawer - ugh, all those drawers!

A while ago, however, I started beading a dress for Dawn, a wedding dress. I got as far as the bodice and a skirt that was around her calves when I ran out of the white Delicas I had used. Even more, I didn't like the dress much anymore and thought seed beads would probably look better. So Dawn ended up not in a box in this time but in another one of my drawers. From time to time I took her out, but cutting up bead projects is so frustrating (see above), and the sorting of the beads - two kinds of white and two different sizes for one of the whites - can almost make you cry. Not that I finished that yet.

I completely forgot to introduce Dawn formally, though!
Who's Dawn?
Dawn and her friends were fashion dolls produced by Topper Toys from 1970 to 1973 when the company went bankrupt (there was a short lived comeback from 2000 to 2003 at Checkerboard Toys). On different sites I read that they were very popular, especially because Barbie started having problems at that time, and still are as collectors' items. They are rather inexpensive compared to other dolls, however, because they were produced in very large numbers.
I can't remember seeing them around at all, but then I was deeply in love with my Stacey doll and her outfits at the time and didn't have the need for a different doll. I like the Barbie doll faces better, for example the eyebrows, but for such a small face this is done really well. I like the little smirk Dawn seems to have.

When I looked into her history, I was quite amazed about how many outfits she had, but also furniture and cars, even her own fashion show stage. How could I have missed that for so long?
Not that I intend to start a new collection, but I noticed how much I missed researching aspects of a doll's life, too. This sounds so very wrong. What I'm trying to say is that I always enjoyed doing research. When we started out collecting, there was no internet. We bought books like encyclopedias, price guides, but also brochures and catalogs wherever we could get our hands on them, and we spent hours to learn the important facts - especially about Steiff and Barbie. Due to the internet I haven't done that in a long time, and if you show me a Barbie outfit now, I can't tell you the outfit number or sometimes even the name in a nanosecond anymore.
Seeing how much books about Dawn dolls cost, I won't get one although I'm sure it would be big fun, but I'm not getting drawn into this one, thank you very much. Instead I found my fun on several websites that I'll link to at the end.

Back to my Dawn. This little lady - because little she is indeed - is 6 1/2 inch. She has short blond hair, quite coarse and so far it has resisted all my attempts to make it sit a bit closer to her head. Neither washing nor brushing did the trick. I think it has to do with it being rooted thickly. So all I did was trimming her bangs and the back a bit.
At first I was confused and thought that she may be a Jessica because of the short hair, but the bangs and the markings on the back of her head, K11A standing for the head mold, tell me that it is a HTT Dawn. I love technical terms ;-) HTT means Head-to-Toe. They came with a short bubblecut hair style and several wigs. As you can tell from the picture above, Dawn has rooted eyelashes, very thick ones, too. I am a little jealous...
 

My Dawn had very swingy legs and also quite a swingy waist which would influence the making of her dress later.
Unfortunately she won't be able to take that dress off and I forgot to take a picture of her butt markings first. They say Topper Corp Hong Kong which helped me identify her in the first place.
Unlike many Dawn dolls she doesn't have the green knee problem which can be caused by the copper in the knee joints. Her legs won't hold a bend anymore, though.
Dawn's feet have square holes, so you could make her stand up on pegs.

Kudos to you if you have read this far, but I thought Dawn did need a little introduction, and the post would have become way too long if I included the outfit as well, so I'll get to that in part 2. I hope it will follow in a few days, I have to have an idea for the shoes first, everything else is done.


Thank you to these pages:
The Dawn Spot
Jennifer Chronicles
OverZone - Dawn Doll Archive
The Spruce Crafts 

Dawn was a registered trademark of the Topper Company. I am not affiliated with Topper in any way.