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INTRODUCTION<br />
Edith (Edie) and Lindsay Stott opened<br />
their first toy and novelty stand at the<br />
Royal Melbourne Show in the mid<br />
1940s. Together with the windmills,<br />
spiders, skeletons and monkeys for sale,<br />
Edie began hand making beautifully<br />
decorated and dressed cupie dolls.<br />
Edie made the dolls at home, sewing<br />
the various dresses from fabric scraps,<br />
lace and ribbons while Lindsay did<br />
the glittering and attached wings<br />
and hats. Creating cupie dolls is very<br />
labour intensive – involving 12 different<br />
processes - and Lindsay invented time<br />
saving tools to assist in the production<br />
of the dolls. Edie worked all year round<br />
with a concerted effort closer to Show<br />
and family members recall the sunroom<br />
filled with cupies hanging from wires.<br />
Edie created many styles of dresses<br />
to fit the different sized cupie dolls,<br />
ranging from tiny dresses to large circles<br />
of beautiful lace. The early dolls were<br />
attached to curved bamboo crooks<br />
and these colourful cupies on sticks<br />
became a popular fixture at the Show.<br />
Edie’s dolls attracted a loyal following<br />
and many visitors have fond memories<br />
of purchasing them. Over the years,<br />
Edie and Lindsay’s five children, along<br />
with family and friends, helped in the<br />
production of the dolls.<br />
In 2000, after 50 years of involvement,<br />
Edie and Lindsay passed the business<br />
on to their eldest son and his family.<br />
While materials may have changed, the<br />
Stott family have continued to hand<br />
make beautiful cupie dolls following the<br />
traditional processes and techniques<br />
developed by Edie. Each year the ‘doll<br />
army’ is dressed and assembled in the<br />
family lounge room. Now it’s Edie’s<br />
grandchildren who are making the dolls.<br />
Edie Stott passed away aged 90 in June<br />
2016 but her legacy lives on in the<br />
sought after cupie dolls for sale at the<br />
Royal Melbourne Show.<br />
Top left:, Edie in the backyard preparing dolls for Show<br />
Bottom: Left to right Addie Mousley, Florence Hill (Edie’s<br />
elder sister), Ann Robins at the Royal Melbourne Show, 1985.<br />
Photograph by Ruth Maddison, courtesy of SLV
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