Catalog: Dolls: Antique Dolls: Cloth (231)

It is always fun to find something I haven't seen before, this is a black man oilcloth doll. Oilcloth was a heavy duty cotton or linen cloth that was in the old days soaked in linseed oil until it became saturated. The cloth was then hung to dry to produce an almost waterproof fabric. It often was used to cover kitchen tables, line shelves AND was used to make children's soft toys that were durable and waterproof. This toy soldier dates to the late 1800's early 1900's...

Very nice Beecher doll by a cottage industry in Elmira NY missionary group from 1893 to 1910. They followed a pattern but each doll is just a little different as the sewing was a group project.. This one has been recovered with black fabric over the original brown fabric. The brown fabric was not that sturdy and is often in fragile condition. She is wearing a red calico dress but probably not original. She is 20" tall

Just 11" tall with a great embroidered face this cloth doll has a lot going for her. She is all original. She has yarn hair, finely embroidered face with a stitch raised nose, and pouty little mouth. Her clothes are all original and sewn on. She has black velvet shoes that show wear on the toes, (how does that happen!). She has silk stockings, bloomers, lace petticoat, blue dress with a self belt and lace around the neck. She is a cute and she can be. Circa 1900

Nice old black stockinette doll with the sweetest sad little face. She has a pinch raised nose very nice embroidered eyes and a dearest little turned down mouth. She has yarn hair that is a little thin. She has a very long body and short legs, a true little rag doll. She is 18" tall but looks and feels like a smaller doll.

This nice antique cloth doll has the eighteen hundreds straight red embroidered line for a mouth that allows her to have many or no emotions. She has two dots for a nose but the mother went the extra length to put stuffing under to give her a raised nose. She has really nicely embroidered eyes with little stitched eyelashes on the top lids. She has astrakhan trim hair that is firmly stitched on. She has jointed arms and the knees are stitched to bend so she sits easily...

Funky old embroidered face, button eyed, black cloth doll. Antique cloth dolls feel old as well as looking old. The stuffing, whether it is rags or cotton, should feel compact, not spongy like polyester filling or with raw wool is should have a little give but not much snapback. This doll is a good example of not only looking but feeling really old. She is stuffed with cotton and is quite firm with no snapback. Her body is all continuous so sitting is a struggle...

This doll has a dynamic face with bright blue eyes and long eyelashes. She has great hands with lovely long fingers and thumbs. She is uncomplicated all one piece of fabric in back and in front. She isn't jointed but she does sit. She has normal length arms but when I photograph here with her clothes on they look short. I don't get it is what it is. (See pictures with her clothes off.) She came bald but with evidence of a wig. I plunked one on her but it is just pinned on...

Little Miss Sunshine has a delicately painted face with eyes that look so good I could swear they were glass eyes until I touched them. The are an amber color with a bit of a twinkle. Her nose is a little horizontal line and her mouth is a little pink painted open mouth smile. Her body is continuous from head to toe and her arms are attached. She is stuffed very firmly with cotton so much so that she has popped a gusset and sprung a leak at her neck...

This early cloth doll is beautifully made, all hand sewn, very firmly packed with cotton and maybe rags also, and is reinforced with a wooden stick so her head stable, no back and forth wobble. Her face is precious with bead eyes and embroidered raised nose and mouth. The back half of her head is covered with brown cotton and gathered a bit at the back of her neck and I think it is original and is representing hair or a cap. Her body is lanky with long arms and legs that are fully jointed...

This doll is the first kind of cloth dolls that started to come to market in the 1970's. There were not many cloth dolls in shops or at shows but when I found them they were sort of like this. Simple and straight forward. She has the early hour glass figure and adding to that look is a serious leather corset that was probably made from the top of an old shoe. She is hand sewn, cotton stuffed rather firmly, nicely shaped feet, one nice leather shoe over black stockings...

And yet I don't think she has a clue. She is just quiet and takes it all in...

Antique cloth doll with ink drawn face and hair, a body that is all original and dressed in a period dress, pantaloons and blouse. The wild hand knit red and white wool socks are a surprise but I can picture a little girl putting them on her and thinking they look grand. This is the way I bought her so I have left them on as a talking point I guess... She is jointed at shoulders, elbows, hips and knees. The clothes are sewn on but it feels like her arms have been replaced. The only part of her a...

Under the great blue calico bonnet this doll has a worn and wrinkle face with a pencil dot for eyes and a pencil line for a mouth. Her nose has gone flat but the bonnet makes her look adorable. She is a homemade beauty, she sits like she has done yoga all her life. Her blue calico dress is voluminous and hides her rather average size body. She can almost do a split her legs go so far apart. She had a slip and undies under her dress and has black socks and brown shoes on. She looks so comfortable...

This nice early little rag stuffed doll has an ink/pencil drawn face with a faint wavy hairline across the top of her forehead. Her body is all original and she is firmly stuffed with rags. Her outfit is age appropriate and I have lost her tag so I don't know about her clothes but they are age appropriate, I did add her hat. She is fully jointed and sits nicely. With a petite little body this wonderful little doll can fit almost anywhere. She is C.1880 and is 14" tall.

This very nice center seam face doll with ears and naïve painted face and hair. She has a gracefulness about her. Her arms are created with a curve, she has nicely sloped shoulders that gives her a look of the proper Bostonian. She is cotton stuffed with a little give. She is jointed at the shoulders, hips and knees. Her undergarments are quite lovely. Her chemise has tape as garters that are holding up her stockings. She has pantaloons and a lovely petticoat, a cotton dress and a newly made, b...

I can't believe it, this is Miss Grant my first grade teacher. It has been a lot of years but I think this is her. She has great black fabric hair that feels sort of like mohair? It is sewn on really nicely and dented in to make it look like a part in her hair. Her face is pencil drawn with big circles for her eyes. She has a great pinched nose, and a bit of a raised chin. No real mouth but I can tell it is pursed lips, she always did! Her body was made by a real seamstress. The fabric used for ...

Surprisingly this is and always has been a bottle doll door stop. She is beautifully dressed with layers of clothes. She has flax hair, and ink drawn face with a bit of a startled look. She has on a black hat with great posies across the front. I have had a few white doll doorstops but this is by far the best. She is 15" tall and is circa 1890.

This old antique rag doll has the simplest drawn face. Two round dots for eyes with one line eyebrows a U shaped nose and a little round mouth with the tiniest 1/4" line in the middle. It shows the meaning of pursed lips. This doll is made with muslin and stuffed with sort of lumpy cotton. She has been used and abused and has lived to tell, or not. She has on a blue calico dress and a white apron that perks her up. She is 19" tall and is circa 1890.She needs a good home so she can rest.