My "Vintage" Sewing Years: Part 1 Cloth Dolls

My "Vintage" Sewing Years: Part 1 Cloth Dolls

When I was much younger computers or IPads and cell phones didn't exist yet. I wrote with pen and paper, drew with pencils and sketchbooks, and crafted - by hand. (Yes, I am, as my oldest brother delights in saying, "older than dirt"!)

A friend found out about my "crafty past", and suggested I do some posts showing what I used to do. @michelle.gent is doing a Saturday Craft - Make or Bake post series, and has invited us to join her Here. Just add your link to the comments on her post; or create your own post showing what you have made - or baked, and post using the tag #make-orbake. (Please note this is only for crafts or baking, NOT photography or writing!)

In this post I'm showcasing a few favourites from my doll collection. I made all of these by hand (no patterns), including the clothing, hats, shoes and accessories.

One of my favourites, inspired by the movie, "Mary Poppins". This 22" cloth doll has a 3-dimensional face to give it contours, and the facial features are hand-painted. Her hair is yarn, styled and sewn to her head.

The clothes were so much fun to make - especially that hat! This one is my pride and joy.

All my dolls were unique, one-of-a-kind collector-types, and for obvious reasons, ones like this were not washable.

15" Sock Doll with Button Eyes and braided yarn hair with ribbons. She is wearing a blue dotted-swiss hand-made dress and matching bonnet. I also made underclothes of cotton and lace; and shoes for all my dolls - too bad I didn't think to take photos of that. This doll can be undressed, so was more "child friendly".

15" Cloth Baby Doll with Embroidered Face. She is dressed in a yellow and white gown and bonnet with gold velvet ribbons.

My sister crocheted the blue and white baby blanket - I couldn't follow a pattern if my life depended on it; however I did crochet the stuffed animals.

The photo that prompted this post: A five-foot cloth doll with yarn hair and hand-painted face. She is dressed in a full-length brown and lace dress that I used to wear! And yes, that is my dog Duchess lying on her with her ball - she loved that doll!

Wow, she was a big doll!

Yes, she was taller than me! I used to sit her in one of my chairs as if she were a "guest", lol. My dog at the time was a Shepherd/Collie mix, and this was her favourite place to hang out and sleep. :)

They're awesome I like the fact that the faces have different styles I especially like the embroidered one x

Thank you so much! Your mom inspired me to do this post, so I'm glad you like it. All the dolls I made were unique, one-of-a-kind - no two ever the same. And I did not use patterns, either, lol. But I did have a lot of fun doing it. My sister and I would work all year on our various 'crafts', and then sell practically everything in the Fall and Christmas craft fairs - I loved it! :)

I can't imagine having a doll that big, but I especially liked your sock dolls. They're just so cute.

Awww, thank you so much - I really appreciate your visiting my blog and giving me some support on my post. That was the one and only very large doll I ever made, and eventually I gave it to someone who fell in love with it. I'm not sure if dolls are an interest of yours (I'm taking a bit of a break from poetry), but my next post will be on wooden spoon dolls - I think they're fascinating!

OOh! These are awesome! I'm glad you took my badgering as encouragement ;)

You haven't ~~badgered~~ steered me wrong yet; thanks so much for all your encouragement! xox

I love the last doll she is so gothic and beautiful. Well done on all of them a remarkable gift

Thank you for your lovely compliment. I really enjoyed making all of them, and no two are alike. If you have an interest in hand-crafted dolls, my next post will be on Wooden Spoon Dolls.