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HISTORICAL FOLK DOLL #1 - Features a 14" doll with primitive hands. The fingers are individual, but not as hard as it would seem if the special technique is followed (uses hemostats - sold on Supplies page) which enables sewers to turn tiny things right side out with ease. Or, a simpler alternative hand pattern is supplied. She has a dyed mohair wig and elaborate clothing with high button shoes. Very much worth the extra work to make her. Kit $42.00 Add
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Kit $36.00 Add
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Kit $46.00 Add
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Kit (for 2) $46.00 Add
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Kit $54.00 Add
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Kit (Blue) $42.00 Add
to Cart NOTE: See the Supplies page for more of this yarn hair and buttons for eyes to make additional dolls. |
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HISTORICAL FOLK DOLL #6-1 - Representing homemade versions of the Raggedy Boy doll. He has a plaid shirt and homespun blue pants. Kit $42.00 Add
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Kit $42.00 Add
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Kit $54.00 Add
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HISTORICAL FOLK DOLL #9
-I wanted to include in this series a boy and girl pair as examples
of all of the many dolls that were made as pairs or as somehow belonging
to one another (two of my all-time favorites are a pair of wonderful
boys). I also wished to do dolls which celebrate hand work as their
main feature, but which use a nicer style of body than just plain flat.
The style chosen for this 15 pair is more dimensional while still
being the easier technique that flat offers, by utilizing a dart system
under the chin (and in the back) that was picked up by the Columbian
dolls and other dolls I have noted in my studies of early cloth dolls.
Included in the kit are pre-printed heads (fronts and backs) with the
design to follow for the simple embroidery. A pattern is also included
for future dolls to print out on your ink-jet printer. The boy has the
1800s short pants with suspenders and a collared shirt, while
the girl has a pocketed apron over a simple dress covering her slip
and tucked pantaloons. Both dolls have simple shoes and stockings, stitched
fingers, knees and elbows and a new method of antiquing that gives the
most realistic results yet. This kit is straight-forward enough for
those who may be just starting out, although modest sewing skills are
advised. These are both about 15 tall. Kit $58.00 Add
to Cart
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THE HISTORICAL FOLK DOLL KIT CLUB -If you join the club to receive this series, you will receive the doll kits one per month until you catch up. After that, they are sent hot off the press, which is not every month. Payments are $38 per month, regardless of kit price which results in good savings, plus shipping. Join any time. Join this Club (Clicking here will add this club to your shopping cart.) INCENTIVE TO JOIN - to encourage people to join the kit clubs, I am offering a coupon for 20% off on most supplies and 25% off any additional kits or patterns under $100.00. Plus, enjoy getting kits once a month at a good discount. |
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IZANNAH WALKER DOLLS - There are few cloth dolls with quite as much charm and presence as the dolls made by Izannah Walker in the last half of the 1800s. The dolls themselves are so rare and costly that only a few museums and very fortunate individuals have them, but they are certainly at the top of any list of early cloth dolls that admirers wish to see. Her dolls had heads that were molded in two parts in cloth and then covered with a cotton stockinette, and although I plan to one day create one that is constructed in this way, for which Izannah is the first woman to hold a US patent (obtained in 1873), I felt that this collection would be incomplete without a simple one that could be sewn at home from patterns and easy techniques. This version adopts the very round head which is sewn of stockinette as a separate shoulderplate with applied ears and a raised stitched nose. Her demure countenance is accomplished by special pattern transfers and painting techniques to make it easy for non-painters to achieve the look. Body construction is like most real Izannahs with the same hour-glass shape torso, separately attached thumbs and painted on shoes. Of course her clothing is also typical with a lace-trimmed tucked dress, ruffled apron, slip and tucked pantaloons. The cat is a period toy sometimes seen in primitive portraits of children from which it is thought that Izannah took her painting style. KITS FOR IZANNAHS FINISHED IZANNAHS SPECIAL 12" SIZE: Pattern
Plus $18.00 Add
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THE NEW YORK DOLL - This 16" doll has made herself quite famous by being chosen to be on the cover of a well-known book of American Folk Dolls, by Wendy Lavitt. She is such a good doll for a cover as she has just about all the best details of this type of doll. Separate fingers, a wonderful and exaggerated face and hair all carefully embroidered, including her remarkable feather-stitched eyebrows, and a costume of just-right simplicity and detail. She has with her the same small cat the doll in the photo has. Silkscreened for embroidery and new antiquing methods included. Online Class on CD available Fall 2007 Note: Price of finished doll reflects lots of
hand-stitched hair. |
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PRIMITIVE DOLL WITH HAND-STITCHED HAIR - This is a 15" primitive doll originally designed as a class doll exemplifying some of the most important details of primitive cloth dolls. The techniques to make her are ones I have been evolving toward since beginning with cloth dolls many years ago. When the instructions are followed, she will genuinely look old and worn. One doll made in my class actually fooled an antiques dealer. Her vintage look is enhanced by the sweet pink calico that is so much like actual pink prints from the 1800's, that she can't help but look old. Her hand-stitched hair and simple face and stitched fingers make her a pleasurable doll to make and her dress, slip, tucked pantaloons and easy shoes are very much what may have been done in the 1800's. Kit $38.00 Add
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| DOLLS TO MAKE WITH VINTAGE
FABRICS USING AUTHENTIC LOOKING AGING TECHNIQUES Finished Dolls (either dress) in vintage prints from about 1850 $175.00 Add to Cart |
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12 THREE-DIMENSIONAL
CLOTH DOLL WITH TRADITIONAL LOOK This doll was designed as a good size for a class - still small, but yet easy to work. She is a compr omise between the 9" Basic Doll and the 15" Historical Folk Doll #5. Her hair is a mohair wig in two styles and she has a painted cloth surface and a stencil for her face. Her clothes, which include underclothes and a nightgown, may be removable, even her real stockings and shoes, just in case she is to be for a real child. Contains paints, stencil, hair, felting needle, buttons, body and shoe fabric. Pattern #106 (mini-kit) $28.00 Add to Cart Finished Doll (olive green dress) $195.00 Add to Cart |
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A VERY SMALL CLOTH DOLL I (ORIGINALLY CALLED THE VALENTINES DOLL) The most perfect of very small dolls - only 2-1/2 inches tall, made with easy to turn and stuff instructions. Ideal for vintage scraps. This sweet small doll is a perfect doll for a doll, a special gift or join two together as friends. Made with easy to turn and stuff instructions, simple ways of making clothing and even iron-on faces and easy hair. The kit has everything you need to make two dolls (one of each color or two of the same) including extra fine underwear & apron fabric. You only need small scraps for dress fabric. Kit $22.00 Add
to Cart
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This 3” cloth doll follows the earlier Very Small Doll (above) with a bit more definition in the head shape and in the detailed face painting. Intended for people used to working small (or use magnification). Made with easy to turn and stuff instructions. This sweet small doll is a perfect doll’s doll or a special gift. The kit has everything you need including wool stuffing, paints, iron-on faces, extra fine underwear & apron fabric. You only need a small scrap for dress fabric (ideal for vintage scraps) and thread for the simple lace made with a sewing needle in just a few minutes. Kit $24.00 Add
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THE FEEDSACK DOLL This is one of the best dolls I have ever designed.
She makes up well, with ease, including stuffing, which is usually one
of the hardest parts. She is very old-fashioned in her style and accessories.
Made from a feedsack, an historical detail common to homemade cloth
dolls, she has a charming face which is accomplished easily with an
iron-on transfer and colored pencils applied to her painted cloth finish.
Complete with leather shoes, striped legs and a dress made from my own
fabric. Her hard-to-find vintage style batise and cotton lace underwear
and bonnet, are overdyed with a special new technique included in the
kit. She is 14" tall. |
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THE FEEDSACK SERIES DOLLS ~ Done with Colored Pencils and Easy New Techniques. This pattern will make two
dolls, a 14" Doll
with Red Shoes and 14" Black Sister. The charm of these dolls
made like my Feedsack Doll (above) is the ease of doing their faces
with colored pencils. Every student who has made these in my classes
easily turned out a great doll. Even the stuffing is easier due to
the style of head. Pattern comes with several iron-on faces that you
fill in with colored pencils. (A complete set of colored pencils is
available on the Supplies page or included in the kitted supplies). |
| THE 9" HANNAH DOLLS I do love small scale dolls best,
and so I find myself going back to the scale I worked in for over 20
years almost exclusively. The 9" Hannah doll was the very first
doll I named and appropriately, after my daughter. This doll to me says
it all in a cloth doll. I have perfected a Columbian-style pattern as
my favorite for ease of successful stuffing and simplified the style
of construction while keeping the important details to keep the doll
dear. She has a perfect small foot just right to either paint on shoes
or not and stitched fingers on her tiny hands. Because of the painted-on
hair, it was easy to add a boy and make this a set The set (both dolls
and small cat) comes as a pattern only including how to make the simple
lace and with iron-on face transfers or as a limited edition kit with
all materials included for the two dolls and small cat. Finished Dolls
can be had as a set or singly (with cat). Click Illustration at right for a picture of a special Ltd Ed Hannah with her own 3" Cloth Izannah (comes with a special wooden stand) $395 Add to Cart |
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A DOLL FOR DISNEY |
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COLUMBIAN DOLL SERIES FOR THE WENHAM
MUSEUM
KITS IN THIS SERIES: 11 INCH COLUMBIAN DOLL SET PATTERN ~ Extensive pattern for the sweet 11" size. Patterns and instructions for a girl with bonnet, boy, black versions, other clothes including small sized coat and bonnet. $18.00 Add to Cart CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTO OF AN EXAMPLE FROM THIS PATTERN
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Pattern $18 Add
to Cart A limited number of kitted parts (this includes everything you need like my other kits) are available to go with the Pattern above. The fabrics are a blue combination pictured below. $38 Add to Cart
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1800s
STYLE PAPIER-MACHE DOLL KIT Finished
Dolls Available. $495 Add
to Cart |
A Brief History Joel Ellis dolls and other similar wooden dolls, collectively called Springfield Woodens, began in Springfield, Vermont, in a factory founded by Joel Ellis in 1858. Ellis made other items, most notably doll carriages, toy carts, some doll furniture and oddly, violin cases. The dolls known as Joel Ellis dolls were only made for one year, 1878, but soon after, a group of men formed a cooperative and made many other variations of the now famous jointed wooden doll using many patents, but primarily all made by Mason and Taylor. With the second group of dolls, the main differences were new composition (various styles) head and more complicated joints. The entire body of dolls is so confusing - it is hard to tell who was responsible for which dolls, that most doll collectors group them all together and call them simply the Springfield Woodens. Only Ellis dolls had the distinctive rock maple wooden head which was then steamed and pressed into molds. This process thus compressed the already hard wood even more and inadvertantly made the heads unable to hold their painted surfaces for more than one season as wood expands and contracts with humidity, thus popping the paint off with the movement. There are virtually no Ellis dolls around today with very good original paint, and even those held by museums have some very old, but nonetheless repaired, paint. The dolls were made with incredible joints and mostly had pewter hands and feet, probably because these could be cast into the shapes, whereas they would be impossible to mass produce by carving. Ellis intended the dolls to be sold undressed so that children could marvel at the joints, but of course children are children and wanted clothing, so Ellis was compelled to hire local women to sew the outfits. I was born and raised in Springfield, Vermont, so it is very appropriate for me to be making these dolls. Since I do not have a factory at my disposal, I have designed a doll that one would know right away is a "Joel Ellis" doll, but one that is able to be produced using simpler methods. My doll has a wooden body with lathe turned arms and legs which are indeed jointed, hands and feet are cast in pewter like the originals and the head, though in the style of an Ellis doll, is my own sculpting and made of sturdy papier mache. The first of my dolls of this type was made in October, 2005. Like Ellis, I find it hard to dress the dolls after all the work on the wood parts, so I include a dress form with my dolls to display her outfit nearby. Each doll is signed and dated. This past year I added a "Mason & Taylor" version, which is to say it has a head more in the general style of M&T dolls with more complicated hair styles and it has the distinctive blue shoes. I plan to add more clothing patterns and a smaller 9" size. NEW FALL 08 ~ 9" Joel Ellis and Mason & Taylors This new smaller size will be compatible with the Early American Series Scale. |
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ABOUT THE DOLLS Complete
Joel Ellis Doll Sets - When I started completing orders
for my new 12" Springfield Wooden doll - my version of the
1873 Joel Ellis jointed wood doll - I could not bear to put the
clothes on the dolls with so much work in the wood and how nicely
it displays undressed. What to do? The solution became to send
the dolls undressed and to make dress forms and hat stands to display
the clothing at the same time. I make the dolls using hand turned
wooden parts, pewter hands and feet made from my own molds just
like the original, and her head is molded from papier mache to
resemble real Joel Ellis dolls originally made in my own hometown
of Springfield, Vermont. The complete set includes: the wooden
doll with both her two-piece outfit and her period day dress (includes
underwear) to display on her dress form and her hard fancy silk
bonnet on on a hat stand. Colors are old New England prim browns.
A great display. You can read more about this historic doll by
clicking on the link at left. Set with either doll (Illustrated at left. Includes undressed doll, choice of outfits with undies on dress form, bonnet on stand). $635. Joel Ellis Finished Set Add to Cart Mason & Taylor Finished Set Add to Cart Undressed Joel Ellis Finished Doll $495 Add to Cart Undressed Mason Taylor Fin Doll $495 Add to Cart Finished 2-Piece Outfit and Undies $48 Add to Cart Finished Bias Trimmed Dress & Undies $48 Add to Cart Finished Ruffled Dress and Undies $48 Add to Cart Finished Bonnet $45 Add to Cart Finished Dress Form $38 Add to Cart Finished Hat Stand $10 Add to Cart NOTE: Finished doll orders will be shipped within one month of ordering. A deposit is charged first, balance at final shipping. CLOTHING & ACCESSORIES PATTERNS
AND KITS: |
ABOUT KITS & PATTERNS The
kits for the dolls come with all pre-worked parts which
will require sanding (by hand is fine or you can use a Dremel tool)
and the drilling of some peg holes which is easy to do with a home
drill (drill bit supplied). No other wood skills are required. All
that you need to put together one of these dolls is in the kit, including
paints, except you will supply wood stain and it is recommended
you use alkyd oils for the cheeks which cannot be supplied in the kit
(but can be ordered at the time you are ready to use them from my Supplies
page). If you would prefer to have a CD* of my complete online class
which has many pictures and lots of historical information plus the
M&T doll
and all the clothing listed below with printable patterns, and many
more how-to's in
place of the normal paper instructions, please click the choice
below and we will substitute the CD (CD is for both dolls) in
place of paper instructions. Please understand that Gail has to
personally shape each body by eye on power sanders and that wood is
not plastic and has imperfections.
You may also order un-worked parts that will require you using
simple power tools to use with lessons included on CD. PARTS SEPARATELY
(Pre-worked): *ABOUT THE CD ~ The information on the CD is compatible with both PC and Mac and provides PDF formatted pages to print out or look at on your monitor. This requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free program that is usually already installed on most computers, or follow the instructions included for how to download. You can also take the CD to many places (such as Kinko's) to have it printed out for you. Patterns have to scale measures so you will know if they print to the correct size. |
DISPLAYING YOUR DOLLS ~ The way your dolls are displayed is just as important as any of the other factors about the doll (such as colors and fabrics used). Of course the most charming way to display vintage look dolls is in antique doll furniture, but this is not always possible. Below you will find some chairs to help address the difficulty in finding just the right props. Chairs can be used for more than one doll - for instance, one doll may be sitting in the chair, while another one may be standing just next to the back of the chair and another one or two may be sitting on the floor using the chair to lean on. In other words, a single chair can be then the focal point of a whole grouping. You should not have all your dolls sitting in chairs - it would look like a movie theater, and many dolls do not sit well at all (for example, I do not like to seat my Historical Folk Dolls #1,2 or 7 (see above). I will also be adding some new items in early 2007 to help in displaying your dolls. For instance, my new wooden Joel Ellis doll due to the elaborate work in her wooden joints, likes to be seen undressed, and yet she has wonderful clothing and even a special bonnet, so for this doll, I recommend sitting the doll down, say on a shelf, and next to her, displaying her clothing on my new larger doll dress form (dolls 12" - 15") and her bonnet on the hatstand which will also be available. I will also be adding in some new wooden display stands for your standing dolls who need support. For small dolls, look at chairs in the Early American and Hitty Series.
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DOLL
CHAIRS WITH VINTAGE FINISHES Red Chair $95.00 Add
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WONDERFULLY TURNED
LADDERBACK ARM CHAIR ~ THE MUSTARD CHAIR This chair is best for dolls in the 10" - 12" range. It is a more refined look than any of my other chairs and is painted a pleasing mustard color with real ash splint seats. Chair is about 11" tall. $110 Add to Cart |
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BASIC
LADDERBACK BENCH AND CHAIR Chair Kit $38.00 Add
to Cart |
| No illustrations available now. | WOODEN
BENCH - NOT SHOWN (YET) PAINTED POUTING CHAIR (for 14" scale dolls). Antiqued green $42 Add to Cart |