Throwback Thursday review: Blooming Dolls

Quick update on me since I went kinda heavy on the self pity a couple'a weeks ago.  I'm still on a walker for the time being, giving my sciatic nerve a chance to finally get its head on straight and heal, and I stopped taking the prescription painkiller because it made me ridiculously sleepy, and when I get sleepy I get cranky and unsociable.  That's no way to behave at work, so after the medicine ran out I didn't get it refilled.  So I'm still on the walker and sans medicine, but I must be doing something right, because my left leg has stopped spazzing and cramping and waking me up multiple times a night, and my overall pain is diminishing.  I'm far from where I was in April of '24, but things are looking up.

Now that that's out of the way?  I'm not a big fan of reviewing dolls that I received as gifts, as reviewing them feels like I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth.  I think I've said that once before.  But Treesa suggested that this doll might make good fodder for a Throwback Thursday post, so that's what I'm gonna do.  This is Violet, my Blooming Dolls puppet.  She was once Treesa's beloved friend, and now she's mine.

The Blooming Dolls were cloth dolls with yarn hair, and they folded up into flowerpots or served as hand puppets.  They came in two different sizes and had two different types of eye, and they did NOT have individual names oh yes they do!  I scrounged up an old advertisement for these dolls, and they do indeed have names of their own, though one has to enlarge the picture to read them.  "Violet" is the name that Treesa gave this doll, but from what I can tell this particular doll was named Olivia Orchid.  The flower on Violet/Olivia's head looks like an African violet to me, and I think "Violet" fits her so I kept that.  These dolls were terribly unpopular, so much so that CapToys almost folded.  Indeed, I don't think CapToys was around very long anyway, since Ghost of the Doll only has three entries for them:  Blooming Dolls, Merwees and Sqwish Puppies.  I love obscurities like this!  Soooooo...since Violet has a puppet sleeve that folds I'm gonna whip out the trusty tape measure.  When her sleeve is unfolded she is thirteen inches long, and when it's folded she's fifteen inches long.

Here's how she compares in size to her best friend Gillian Ida, and to her other friend Primrose Jessalyn.  None of these dolls are huge, and please forgive Violet's slouch.  Puppets tend to do that, unless they're part-vinyl like Puppetrina is...and come to think of it, Tam said that Puppetrina's head is floppy too.  Anywho, here's my Pennsylvania trio.  Gillian Ida is a fourteen-inch Cabbage Patch Kid, and Primrose Jessalyn is of a comparable size to Gilly, so that'll give y'all an idea about how big Violet is.

Dominating these dolls' heads are permanent hats with flowers, but I'm gonna save that part for clothes and go straight into Violet's hair.  Violet has yarn hair like a Cabbage Patch Kid, and it's styled in two chunky braids like that of some Cabbage Patch Kids.

She's also got some bangs up front; these like to go all willy-nilly and I'm always having to straighten them.

The braids themselves needed a little tidying when Violet came, but that was no biggie.  Truth be told I actually like dolls with yarn hair because it's easier to style and maintain...but it can get fragile with age.  If y'all have worked with yarn then y'all know how it lose its strength and pull apart as it ages, as it has done with Valencia Rose.  Y'all can't see this, but she's got a couple'a broken strands tucked into those pigtails.

I make note of this because Violet's hair appears to be made of more robust yarn...either that or I didn't put her through the washing machine and the drier (I did do that to Val).  Either hypothesis holds water, I s'pose.  Either way Violet's hair is holding up well and I am glad.

Blooming Dolls' faces had two variants, painted eyes and plastic eyes, with Violet being the latter.

These heads are made of a stockinette material similar to the stuff that makes up Cabbage Patch Kid bodies, and thus it can snag or develop runs.  Indeed, Violet's left cheek has one little snag, but no holes or runs.

Here's a better look at those eyes.  They're plastic button eyes with unusual red irises and eyelashes jutting out from the pupils.  Yowza, if you've ever gotten an eyelash stuck in your eye then you know that that's not fun.  She's also got a stitched bubble nose that I think is cute. 

Underneath the eyes and nose Violet has a printed mouth and printed freckles...in green.  Yep, green.  My favorite color. 

Violet has a flower growing out of her head, so it makes sense that her body would have a lot of chlorophyll in it.  For the uninitiated, chlorophyll is the pigment that makes foliage green, and it disappears during Autumn.  Oh yeah, and there's some blush under the freckles.  So a cute face overall.  Nothing vava-va-voom, but it's cute.

Since she's a hand puppet Violet's body is pretty flat.  She's got stubby little arms and stubby little legs.

Fabric puppets don't usually have a lot of sewing detail on their hands, and indeed, Violet has little flippers.  Perfect for fingers to accommodate.  

Violet's legs are not hollow and dangle like a rag doll's legs.  She's got yellow shoes sewn on.

The shoes are made of the same fabric as the puppet sleeve:  thin but soft, buttercup yellow, very basic fabric.  The logo is printed on the bottom front hem, removing all doubt of this doll's identity.

Here's the back, very much the same except for a giant seam that runs down the middle.

Since the upper part of Violet's body is made of the same stockinette as her face, she's developed a few snags here and there.  They're mostly on her back where her dress closes (spoilers, her dress closes with Velcro).

I also found a single loose thread on the back of the sleeve.  Just one, easily trimmed.  Overall I'd say that Violet's body is pretty well-constructed.

Now to clothes, and here's where the boundary between clothes and Violet's body get kinda hazy.  Violet has this flower growing out of her head, complete with pink (pink?) soil.

I can see where the designers wanted it to look like an orchid, but it still looks like an African violet to me.  African violets and orchids are not at all related, by the way.  The petals feel a little like the parachute material that my Puffalump Kid is made from, but the leaves and the soil are soft like Violet's puppet sleeve.

Now...here's where I think this flower could actually be a sewn-on hat:  the crown is green.  If it were dirt it would probably brown, unless it's moss-covered dirt.  Heck, I dunno.  Since Violet's lips and freckles are green I'll just say her flower is growing out of her head and be done with it.

Violet's dress is a simple smocked number, made of thin flowered fabric with a white felt collar.

Here's the collar; it's a little grubby, but that can be fixed.  It's sewn securely to the neckline of the dress, and it's held up significantly better than Hedda Get Bedda's collar (also felt).

The hem is nothing to write home about.  It's got some easily trimmed loose ends.

I love the print.  It's blue-green on sky blue, very like what my Walda doll wears.

The back closes with the aforementioned Velcro, which did a bit of a number on Violet's back and now won't hold shut at all.

Lastly, while fumbling around with Violet's sleeve, I found her tag.  It shows who she is, how she can be tossed in the washing machine (but not the drier), and how she dates to 1987.  In other words, she's my age.  I love it when I can find a doll that dates from 1987...or when one is sent to me, as is the case here.

Oh right, I forgot to show y'all how Violet can fold up!  Blooming Dolls are dolls and puppets rolled into one, but they can also fold up into potted plants, like so.

During the folding up I got my favorite picture of Violet.  She looks so cute peeking up over her flowerpot skirt!

She needs some bows on those braids!  I'm just now catching on.  Y'all know how I love ribbons and bows in doll hair (or my own).  I'm thinkin' green or yellow...

Sooooooo...well, Violet and her Blooming Doll sisters are an interesting concept, that's for sure!  I...I might've thought to create a doll that doubles as a potted plant, but by the time I was a pup in the nineties dolls like that were semi-common (examples here and here).  Violet is a passable little puppet and a cute, soft doll; indeed, she's one of the ones I hug when I get frustrated.  There's just...well, like all rag dolls, there's not much to her.  She's not amazing, not terrible, just average and cute.  I love how she folds up into a flower, I love how she can peek out of her "pot" if I want her to, and I love her green smile.  I guess that in the fickle doll world that was the late eighties Blooming Dolls had no place, and I mean NO PLACE!  She had to compete with the Cabbage Patch Kids, My Child, and mayyyybe Julie...I don't know how big of a seller Julie was.  But either way the Blooming Dolls were a flop and that's kinda a shame, but that also makes them more interesting.

Blooming love,
RagingMoon1987