The Ghastlies

I am familiar with the Ghastlies because I made child's quilt out of the fabric line by Alexander Henry and described it in my post for 3/17/14. Apparently the Ghastlies popularity continues because, six years later, a friend of mine emailed me an ad that this panel was on sale. These figures are members of an extended family from the quilt I made back in 2014, but I caved and bought one panel anyway. It was on sale and there was only one left! I hesitated for a few moments since the panel has only a front view of the four characters; but I convinced myself that they were so eerily pleasing they would still be appealing to a child even with different backs. 

I would have to supply my own fabric for the backs so I dove into my drawer of fat quarters and drew out these four colors to coordinate with the figures. They themselves seem to convey a gloomy, spooky aura to me.

I picked a muted coral to match the sash of the uniform, a dusky blue to match the puffy dress sleeves, a mustardy gold to match the evening sheath, and a mottled mauve to match the lining of the cape.

Curious about the design source for these characters. I searched the web and found that the Ghastlies had been painted by the team of the De Leon Design Group at Alexander Fabrics. A Hawthorne Threads blog post titled Meet the Ghastlies was posted 6/14/11 so the ghoulish crew must have made their initial appearance on the fabric scene around 2011. Hawthorne Threads attributed the character inspiration to the writer/illustrator/poet Edward Gorey. He is quoted as saying, "If you're doing nonsense it has to be rather awful, because there'd be no point. I'm trying to think if there's sunny nonsense. Sunny, funny nonsense for children—oh, how boring, boring, boring." One of his books for children is The Gashlycrumb Tinies ©1997 which tells in alphabetical rhyming order how each of the tiny children met his demise: Amy fell down the stairs, Basil was assaulted by bears...

From the Amazon Look inside ↴ feature I was able to learn that a few names for The Gashlycrumb Tinies were Amy, Basil, Clara, Fanny, Hector, and Ida. From other random google searches I uncovered the names Sebastian and Mathilda associated with the Ghastlies. The two little girls who receive these dolls may want to name them themselves, but I have some suggestions. I propose the following:

• Sebastian and Mathilda as parents 
• Fanny as the lady with dress with the blossoming bottom 
• Ida as the lady in gold because she looks like "Ida like to invite you in but..." 
• Basil for the caped figure because he reminds of the British Dracula or Sherlock Holmes
• Hector for the upside-down boy being held by his daddy
• Amy or Clara for the baby, presuming she is a girl

 

The back of the dolls look unique. They seem to spell out a four letter word but you must use your imagination to figure what that word it might be. The mustard gold could be a question mark...? The blue and mauve possibly "O's" and the coral may be a "B". Perhaps a bit mixed up, but consider "BOO?" 

Hawthorne Thread also included this witty ditty:

In Ghastlie Manor on Ghastlie Street

There's a Ghastlie family there to meet.

Mathilda Ghastlie and husband, too

Extend a Ghastlie, "How do you do?"

It's a Ghastlie day for a Ghastlie walk

Under Ghastlie trees around a Ghastlie block.

A Ghastlie time for Ghastlie things

Like Ghastlie pets with Ghastlie wings!

                         

                      – poem attributed to Alexander Henry Fabrics

P.S. I think it may have taken me more time to research and write this post than it did to sew and stuff the dolls; but blogging is part of the fun!