Stockinette Bottle Doll

Name: Stockinette Bottle Doll

Made by and When: Unknown maker, circa 1930s to 1940

Material: Heavy glass bottle, stockinette, stocking, stuffing, embroidery thread, cotton fabrics

Marks: None.

Height:  19 inches

Hair, Eyes, Mouth: No hair, embroidered eyes with blue pupils, needle-sculpted unibrow and nose, red embroidered mouth with three vertical strips of white embroidery thread that serve as teeth

Details: The head and torso are stuffed brown stockinette. The stockinette torso is covered with red fabric. The arms and hands are stuffed stockinette. The hands have stitched fingers. One hand is covered in black stockinette; the other is covered with brown stockinette, an indication that the maker might have run out of brown stockinette. A black sheer stocking covers the bottom half of the padded bottle body, and red tartan plaid material covers most of the stocking.

Clothing: The handmade clothing includes a red, green, and yellow plaid long-sleeved dress, an ecru sheer neckerchief and apron, and a red sheer half-slip. The apron has one pocket and minor wear areas. Pearl drop screw-on earrings are attached to the stockinette ears. A replaced red cotton scarf covers the head, which is otherwise bald.

Other/Provenance: The curator named this doll “Mama Laney,” which was inspired by the octogenarian donor’s first name. The donor shared the doll’s provenance: My memory goes back to 1945 when I was 3.   I know she was there before me.  She was in our living room in Spokane, Washington, and I wasn’t allowed to touch her. She went with my family to Yakima, WA in 1946 and then to Logan, Utah in 1947.  There are some repairs made to her clothes which might have been caused by me, but I don’t know if it was my mother who repaired her. It doesn’t look like her needlework. Maybe she was repaired before my parents got her.  We moved again in 1957 to Ft. Valley, GA and finally to Riverside in 1962.  I took her with me after I got married. Her clothing and stocking base is tattered in some places. I have her original apron and neckerchief; I did have those recreated somewhere in the 1990’s.

The new neckerchief and apron are stored. Laney wears the original neckerchief and apron. In addition to the distressed areas of the original apron, a small circular wear hole over the doll’s right eye exposes some of the cotton head stuffing.

Gallery

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