It is with the greatest sadness that I learned today of the death three weeks ago of Hilary Spedding, the Dollshouse draper.
Hilary had a great influence on the development of my miniatures. I found her at Miniatura, I think twenty three years ago, where she was trading principally as Golden Key Miniatures with her knitting patterns, small scale wool, silk threads and needles. Crucially, at that time she also carried the Sunday Dolls range of doll kits, which drew me like a magnet. As I wanted them all and had money for one or two, I fell easily and frequently into conversation with Hilary at each successive show while I remained a visitor. Hilary was reliably knowledgeable about everything she sold and soon started stocking doll dressmaking patterns and, at first, just a few packets of small scale fabric.
Over time the fabrics, ribbons and laces stocks grew, threatening to push the knitting off the table. Hilary was one of the first people in miniatures to stride bravely into full size factories and demand things in small sizes for miniaturists. At first she was derided but she persevered until her range and choices were second to none, her table spread to twelve feet and she was obliged to take on help during the show because her stand was besieged to the degree that it became impossible to get near at peak show times. A few years in, when her house was full of fabric, she told me she had had an extension built to cope with the volume and I thought at the time how very unusual it was to have a warehouse added to your own house. By this time Hilary was outsourcing the cutting and packaging of lengths of ribbons, laces and fabrics and arrived at shows with giant wire stands crammed with hundreds of packets. She was finding stock from all over the world, having items specially made and working harder than you would think anyone could.
She once told me that before a Miniatura she had sat up all night packing stock but knew her husband would be worried if he thought she hadn’t slept. So just before the alarm was due to go off, she popped her nightie on and lay down gently on the bed, pretending to wake up as it sounded.
Hilary was a good friend when I was a customer and and even better friend when I became an exhibitor. My first Miniatura was nerve wracking to say the least. I had saved out of the housekeeping, going without dinners for months to make the table fee. At the show, as so often happens to new exhibitors, whilst people looked, no one was buying anything. By Sunday afternoon I think my face must have betrayed how very out of pocket I was, or, perhaps, Hilary, who was just over the aisle from me, had been watching. Anyhow, Sunday, about four o’ clock, when I was in despair, Hilary appeared, with her business chequebook and said ‘Right, I want some dolls to dress myself and some as presents for friends. I’ll have that and that and that….’ I never forgot this great kindness to me. It was this good deed that caused me when I began writing Miniatura show reports for magazines, to try my best to get to the new exhibitors and make sure they got a little bit of publicity that would draw them to the attention of collectors. That I have done so for sixteen years is entirely due to Hilary, who so generously helped me; all I was ever doing was spreading her kindness around.
We often talked at shows. Hilary was warm and witty and very wise. When I came into miniatures I had background. I remember at one show expressing surprise at a customer, I think singing, as she shopped. At the time I was taking miniatures very seriously and trying to ‘get it right.’ ‘Why shouldn’t she be happy?’ asked Hilary, ‘She’s just enjoying her life.’ This was an absolute revelation to me, as I had previously been living my life through gritted teeth. Thinking about it, I resolved to lighten up bit. Subsequently when writing, I did try to let the lighter side of life get an airing. Readers immediately responded to the humour, which became the basis of so much I do today.
A few years ago Hilary contracted a mystery illness which was never diagnosed. She stopped coming to shows and was often in and out of hospital. Her husband, son and daughter in law gradually took over the business, running it to the high standards she set.
I remember Hilary telling her daughter off at one show when her daughter was just a teenager. I wondered what she was doing; she was standing to the side of the table, staring at her knees. Hilary knew: ‘For goodness sake,’ she said, ‘stop admiring your lovely legs and get on and serve some customers!’
Hilary Spedding was there at the beginning. She was inventive, creative, resourceful, funny, generous and wise. Miniaturists were able to accomplish so much with her help. Everything she found for us is preserved in dolls houses all over Britain and abroad. Hilary Spedding was the original Dollshouse Draper. She was loved and will be missed.
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48th scale will be here at the end of the week.
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