A Christmas Portrait of the Artist

 Betsy Drake, age 6, in Arlington, VA, circa 1948. The artist poses with her favorite doll and favorite cat.

Christmas has always been magical to me. My father would ring bells from the rooftop on Christmas Eve after we went to bed and there were sooty smudges around the fireplace on Christmas morning. Mother was the great cookie baker and the season was joyous at our house.

I can recall looking at an ancient Old World Father Christmas book when I was about six years old and they truly intrigued me. That coupled with my being the consummate fabric junkie, doll making was the perfect marriage of two loves. But my life had to fast forward some fifty years before I began designing and creating my magical men.

The workshop is located in Black Mountain, NC in the wonderful mountains of the Western part of the state. When the weather turns chilly, I fire up the wood stove and stitch away in blissful karma and comfort getting ready for the late fall orders for the Christmas season. Hobbes the Cat rules the workshop and she sleeps in a basket on the worktable keeping a half sleepy eye on production. She asked to be on my website. She plays in the fabric scraps and gets annoying from time to time. But she is my business partner so what can I say.

Plaid is a favorite fabric of mine and one day a light bulb went off. Why not create a Tartan Santa!. I had a huge piece of Clan Donald with the wonderful knotted fringe. Whipped out the scissors and snipped away. The fact that it was the ex-husband's made it pretty funny and provided a lot of therapy. Tartan Santa was launched and has proven to be immensely popular. With the help of the Internet, it is very accurate to confirm with customers their particular Tartan before it is ordered from Scotland. Santa can also be fashioned out of vintage family clothing such as Aunt Nellie's velvet shawl or Granny's satin dress. If the Santa is for your mother and she loves beagles and cardinals, Santa can be appropriately adorned. Santa always has a "critter" with him such as a moose, dog, cat and maybe a raccoon or two.

I start booking orders through the summer and early fall, but due to the demands of the "real job" I am limiting the number of orders that can be promised for Christmas. But it is Christmas at my house all year long and Santa can be made at any time.

Enjoy my website and view the gentlemen of Christmas Past. And I wish you a Merry Christmas and to all a good night.

Betsy Drake