Catalog: Dolls (266)

This doll couldn't get much cuter. She is a tight package, stuffed with cotton, the clothes fit her perfectly, figuratively and otherwise. Her face is made as a separate piece of fabric like it was a second face but after looking carefully at her I think it is her original face and it was how she was made. She has on pantaloons, petticoat and calico brown and tan print dress. On her head she is wearing an old straw hat theat is coming apart a little but is so great on her...

What do you think, I think she was maybe made with big round eye glasses for an adorable little girl who had glasses just like these? Not only does she wear glasses but this is a second face under this one. I am not even tempted to peek, this one is so great. She also has a replaced arm that has leather below the elbow. She is firmly packed with rags, her arms are jointed and her legs are continuous and she can do a forced sit...

Not all black dolls have black bodies. Some of the best dolls I have had were dolls that the maker took an old rag doll and gave the doll a black head. In the Jim Crow era, it became common in the north for mothers to teach their children about the plight of African Americans, by making a black doll for them. So mothers even ones that were not really skilled at sewing were making black dolls. Putting a black covering over a rag doll was one of the easiest ways...

As found all hand sewn, sepia drawn face, forever clothes, (been on her forever) that are hand made and now in tones of brown. (Skirt has faded from blue to brown in the front.) I call these dolls, relics! They shouldn't be redressed in my opinion but enjoyed for what they are. Under her apron, blouse and skirt are underclothes that look like they were all made by the same hand. Her cotton stuffed body has jointed arms and continuous legs that with a little persuasion allow her to sit...

This doll has a very soft worn kind of look. Her face is mended right down the middle and the is darkening just below her shoe button eyes but she still has a very nice sort of sad soft look. I realized I had her dress on backward when I started to photograph her. She has a really nice pocket that she has been sitting on all these years. She is 24" tall. She is stuffed with cotton that has settled so she sits nicely even though her legs are continuous with her body. She makes a gentle statement...

This is another example of a make-do doll. She has a very early body that probably had a china or papier mache head. It was sure easier to just make a cloth head and put it on a doll body that had a broken head than to make the whole doll. She is 24" tall and is firmly stuffed with cotton. The body is 1860 and the head is 1890, pretty cool. She is wearing a early soft red dress and a full slip and a flannel blue and white striped petticoat. She is a real character and her name is Lizzy.

Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn, The sheep’s in the meadow, the cow’s in the corn. Where is the boy who looks after the sheep? He’s under the haystack, fast asleep. This is an uncut pattern for making a doll, Little Boy Blue. It is late 19th C. It is in very good unused condition but does have some age toning. The colors are crisp as is the fabric. It has been folded and put away for most if not all of its life. I show the front and the back...

Very much played with cloth doll with a painted face and great ears. At one time her cheeks were round circles of pink not it looks like dirt from play. You can see all her features, red painted mouth, a suggestion of a raised nose, (it has been pushed in over the years and very nice ink drawn eyes with probably blue eyes but are not just dark either blue or black. She has a nice little shaped body, she sits well, and she is firmly packed with cotton...

This antique cloth doll has look that she came from Pennsylvania. She has the one continuous swooping line for her nose. She has on a flannel dress that is also hand sewn. She is rag stuffed and quite heavy. She is plump with big arms and legs and feels and looks like she is all original. Her head moves back and forth a little but is not floppy. Just out of some play box over 199 years ago. 18" tall and circa 1880-90

This doll is from a collection in Maine. She is stockinette that was originally early polished cotton and was recovered 50 t0 75 years ago. So she is all original just recovered. This is not that uncommon if the doll was valued it was repaired. Old black fabric dye had iron oxide that was corrosive and weaken fabric. It is why this face has some holes. Her face has beautiful embroidery, the nose has to be the fanciest I have ever seen...

This 13" needle sculpture painted black doll is so much nicer than most. Someone spent a lot of time hand sewing and painting her features. She has ears and yarn hair sewn on but spotty at this point. She has a curvy little stockinette body. Her homespun, (really homespun) butterscotch checked dress even has a pocket in it. She is cotton stuffed pretty firmly. Her hands have long thumbs and stitched defined fingers. She sits easily. I think it is possible that her dress is original. Over her dre...

This all handsewn little linen doll has the most unusual and expressive embroidered face. A rectangle shaped mouth, fine little stitches for eyes and pupils, curvy stitches for ears and dash lines for hair, all in red floss thread. Jointed arms at shoulders and elbows, and same for the legs, at knees and hips all stuffed fairly firmly with cotton. Not original but nice, she is wearing a calico pink and red skirt, over a pair of pantaloons, with a red blouse on her top. She is really nice early l...

This antique straw stuffed doll had an embroidered nose, just traces left, ink painted eyes and eyebrows and stitched and painted mouth, both a mere shadow of itself. Her body is all original and as I tried taking off her clothes they had been on and not disrupted for a long time I decided not to pull them all off. I took pictures so I think you can see she is really okay and nice. She is stuffed with straw so she is crunchy sounding and not stuffed really firmly. She is nicely constructed and h...

This late 19th C. stockinette doll has a lollipop head with an embroidered face that is more an suggestion of a face than a hard drawn face. Her face is open and kindly, her body is some what soft and comforting to the touch. Her clothes fit really nicely and her pantaloons and petticoat match. She is as found and her clothes feel and look like they have been on her a long time. The back of her head looks like she might have had more stitches to look like hair but only has a few now. This doll i...

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.

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...

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. She h...

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. She is very sturdy, no motion to her head or ...