Crissy was produced by the Ideal Toy Company starting in 1969. Her main feature her "growing hair" which came in the form of a ponytail that could be lengthened or shortened by turning a knob on her back.
Crissy was approximately 18 inches tall. She had red hair and dark brown sleep eyes. The original Crissy came in an orange lace dress with orange shoes. The earliest versions had a floor length pontail, but the ponytail in the later versions lengthened only to the top of her leg.
Some of the Crissy's in the original production year had more of a golden brown tone hair than red hair. This was an odd and rare variation. The Crissy in the first photos above on this page and on the right above, is a true "brown hair" Crissy. You can see the difference as she stands next to the standard "red hair" Crissy
Ideal produced an entire family of dolls to go along with Crissy. Above is Crissy's blond haired cousin Velvet. She was approximately 15 inches tall and had the same "growing hair" feature. The first version of Velvet came in a purple velvet or corduroy mini dress. The photo above is of the second version of Velvet produced in 1971 called "Moving Grooving Velvet". She came in a pink and white lace party dress. She also had a twistable waist.
Here is "Mooving Grooving Velvet" along with another Velvet I found on Ebay that was customized to have curly base hair and is wearing a handmade outfit.
Crissy also had a friend from Ireland name "Kerry". Here she is wearing a dress made from one of the several Simplicity Patterns that were available during the time Crissy was produced.
Speaking of handmade clothing, here are Crissy, Kerry, and Velvet's friend "Mia", all wearing outfits made from Simplicity Patterns.
Coming soon....More photos of Crissy, her family, and friends, as well as more photos of clothing made from vintage patterns.
I recieved a Velvet doll on my fifth birthday in November 1970. I remember seeing Velvet on her commercials with Crissy and in the Sunday sales flyer. I begged my Mom and Dad to get her for me. I'm surprised I never knew of Velvet's friend Mia until years later. She would have been more appropriate for me because she had brown hair (like me) and when I was young, my family called me "Mia" because my brother Marc could not say my name "Maria" that well. I really enjoyed playing with Velvet until I was probably about 9 years old and my Mom threw her out because she thought her hair had gotten too ratty to play with. Oh well! I guess you can't save everything. Recently I was able to find a reasonable replacement. Thank God for Ebay!