This is Topsy. She is made in the 130 x 180 hoop, but her skirt has to be made on the sewing machine. I've tried to recreate the style of doll we used to make in the 1960's.
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7844"How to Make Upside-Down Dolls" by John Coyne and Jerry Miller, published in 1977, which features patterns and instructions for ten upside-down dolls
If you want this pattern book for the 10 upside down dolls including Red Riding Hood,Granny and the big bad wolf there is one on USA ebay now for $3.99 and free shipping. There is also one for a much higher price. I have 2 copies of the same book one for myself and a spare .
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234498Moderators. If this shouldn't be here go ahead and delete it. Teresa
Historical Background: Considered a controversial doll by some, the authentic Topsy-Turvy doll, features a black doll with a headscarf on one end and a white doll with an antebellum-style dress on the other end. The black doll could represent a maid, slave or servant and the white doll could represent the master's child or the mistress of the house.
The original Topsy-Turvy dolls were created before the Civil War in the Southern United States on plantations where slavery was prominent. Arguments arise as to whether the dolls were made for the slave children to play with or whether they were made for the white children who lived in the plantation house.
Topsy-Turvy Doll Positioned for Black DollWith one identity on one side and an opposite identity when flipped, slave children could have played with their prohibited black doll and then flipped it to the white doll when the master was around. Others believe that the double-ended dolls were made for white children with the black doll used as a maid for their other dolls.
Stephanie V. Siek writes that this doll "was a mirror of the African-American woman's life. She took care of white children, but had children of her own -- the white child is present when the black child is invisible, the black child is present when the white child is invisible."
Kimberly Wallace-Sanders has explored the possibility that Topsy-Turvy dolls were made by the black mammies to represent the two categories of children they took care of: the white master's children verses their own. After the Civil War, the white side of the doll was identified as that of a child, while the black doll suggested the black mammy caretaker.
Black and White Topsy-Turvy dolls began to be mass manufactured after 1900. One of these dolls made in 1901 was purchased with the advertisement: "Turn me up and turn me back, first I'm white, and then I'm black." The Babyland Rag company produced a Topsy-Turvy doll with a hand painted face in 1901. Later, wooden Topsy-Turvy dolls were made with jointed arms.
Regardless of its history, this is a very unique doll and many storybook and nursery rhyme characters have been based on it since its inception. These upside down dolls have been used to teach the differences between the characters, showing contrasts between two opposites, good or bad, rich or poor, average and prominent, innocent and evil, subservient and authoritative.
Topsy-Turvy Doll Positioned for White DollDuring the mid 1900s, McCalls, Vogart, Redline and Butterick pattern companies began producing their own Topsy-Turvy Doll patterns. Vogart's pattern in the1940s was titled, "Topsy and Eva Doll--One doll with two changeabout faces." Redline's pattern in the 1940s was called Topsy and Eva. McCalls' 1940's pattern #1014 was for an "Upside Down Doll," but both dolls were white. Some of these historic patterns are now available as copies.
Some of the dolls that were made in the mountain regions of North Carolina in the1970s featured one doll head on one side and 2 to 3 doll heads on the other side, like Goldilocks and the Three Bears (with three heads), or Little Red Riding Hood on one side and Grandmother on the other side, but with the wolf on the back side of grandmother. Even Hansel and Gretel appeared with two heads (the children) on one side of the doll and the evil witch on the other. Some of these dolls are featured in a book titled, "How to Make Upside-Down Dolls" by John Coyne and Jerry Miller, published in 1977, which features patterns and instructions for ten upside-down dolls. The introduction in this book mentions the Crafts Unlimited group and craft cooperatives that the doll makers in the Appalachian area belonged to. Many of their dolls were sold in New York City and Chicago. John Coyne states, "This book is the first time any of these upside-down dolls have been shown in a 'how-to' fashion."
We don't know if the original Topsy-Turvy dolls were used in a teaching manner or whether they were just played with. Only a very few of these flip-flop dolls remain from the early 1900s. Several are located in museums and others are in private collections.
Valerie Borey who holds a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Minnesota and an M.A. in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago writes: "Although the Topsy-Turvy doll had changed substantially in design since the pre-war years in the American south, it retained its essential capacity to emphasize the differences between the powerful and the powerless. For this reason, it is a doll uniquely able to detect and reflect cultural tensions as they changed with the times and economic conditions. As if a looking glass into the American social order, the two-headed, reversible, upside-down doll is able to turn things, well, topsy-turvy. In this sense, it is more than a doll--it is a symbol of power, of resistance, of secrecy, and of revolution."
it.
4 comments
by pennifold
23 Jan 2017
Brilliant notes about the Topsy-Turvy dolls Teresa. Thanks for all that information. Love Chris
by jrob
edited 23 Jan 2017
Great history lesson, thanks. The quote credit goes to: http://www.historicalfolktoys.com...
22595I remember these dolls! Loved mine. Where did you get the pattern for her? My 2 year old Granddaughter would love her.
1 comment
by spendlove
23 Jan 2017
The design is my own. It is available from my Facebook group - Engineered in Stitches.
1130Well done! I don't remember these. My daughter was born in 1968. Perhaps they were popular in England. My daughter loved her Pooh bears and quickly got her first Barbie. Kay
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by queenofhearts
23 Jan 2017
Kay,
My three daughters were small in the 60's (born in 60, 63 and 65) and I don't remember these either so you aren't the only one. I remember the Barbies of course and Chatty Kathy and Betsy Wetsy to name a few.
8586713243184913902Brings back memories Sue, great work she is lovely. Sandra.
2433166023Love this dolly. What is kitted hair? I googled it and got nothing. Anyway, she's beautiful.
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36064421044Thats great, is the hair done in the hoop as well? Jo
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2958318460Nice one! Just as pretty as the old ones and a more beautiful face than the painted ones (I never got two identical eyes).
I still have a pattern for a 'Victorian doll' complete with clothes, cap etc., torn out of an early-70s copy of Woman's Own. Could be a twin sister of yours, or a great-aunt more likely.
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