Dare Wright Media has just republished two of Dare’s most beloved books. Edith And Midnight and Edith And The Duckling. These are two charming stories which were beautifully photographed on location, Midnight in the first book is a real pony that Edith befriends, and the Duckling in the second book is a real duckling. And you get another opportunity to appreciate Dare Wrights creativity in making over her beloved 109 series Lenci doll. The photographs in the new books were restored from Dare Wright’s original negatives negatives. So even if you have the original books you may be interested in these for the quality of the pictures. The Edith doll is a solid body 109 Series 20″ Lenci doll from 1925. If you have a shabby Lenci doll missing the outfit you can draw inspiration from the books of Dare Wright and dress her up as Edith the lonely doll.

Inspired by Edith’s* hat in the book ‘Edith and the Duckling’ by Dare Wright, I dressed a shabby old lenci doll in a similar outfit that Edith wears in the book. I cut up an old sweater to make Edith’s sweater and I knitted a hat like the one Edith wears in the book – see it in the final pages of the story. You can download the pattern for the Knitted Hat which fits a 22 inch Lenci Doll – its an easy-to-knit hat can be made in a couple of hours. In Plain knit embellished with bands of Seed Stitch, and finished with a tassel, it is a delight to make. The doll on the b/w picture above is the actual doll I made over wearing the outfit I made and she is holding an original stuffed toy identical to the one Edith has in the Lonely doll books, which I found on eBay.
The pattern pdf features a re-dressed 22″ 109 series doll of 1925 wearing the knitted hat I made.

Download your pattern now:

You can also find small vinyl dolls dressed as Edith. One from Madame Alexander used the standard Madame Alexander face mold, the one I prefer is harder to find is the 10″ Edith doll from Kids at Heart which has a face more like the Lenci doll and had a range of separate outfits -it can be found on eBay from time to time. Best of all is the redressed Lenci doll which always finds a place on display in my home for the holiday season together with a vintage Schuco Bear just like Mr Bear and small Steiff bear like little bear.