About Haversham Dolls
Haversham DolIs are created by Maggie Smith who also runs StitchPrint. The dolls
are a response to recycling fabric scraps and as a way of using the odds and ends which Maggie loves collecting.
Haversham Dolls can be purchased in our on-line shop and at various exhibitions and fairs. Check our Newsto find out where to see the dolls.
that their story
is
intertwined with
mine."
"I guess my generation had it drilled in to us that you didn't throw things which could be used again, away; repair and reuse were a way of life. I remember as a child, last year's leather sandals (I only had one new pair of sandals each summer – usually red) had the toe section cut away to allow my toes to be free, so I could play in them without fear of scuffing and keep the new ones for "best". We also thought nothing of wearing second hand clothes passed to us by friends, family or neighbours. My father often came home from work with armfuls of comics and annuals passed on to us from colleagues whose children had finished with them.
My grandmother, who in her youth had been tailoress to the Duchess of Devonshire, was a dab hand at making beautiful dresses, hats and bags from left over fabric. All the dress fabric scraps were carefully rolled up and squirreled away in a large oak coffer she had in her room, to be produced when a party dress was wanted or a doll required a new outfit.
I have continued to collect buttons, scraps of lace or trimming, and behave like a magpie with broken necklaces, beads and ribbons. It isn't just about thrift, for me, it's also about appreciating small things and feeling that finding the right button or fabric scrap to complete a project, is a triumph, and an enormous satisfaction that a niche has been filled! "