Internet Antique Gazette

Izannah Walker – Early American Cloth Dolls

Izannah Walker began creating cloth dolls in her Central Falls, Rhode Island, home in the 1850′s and on into the 1880′s, becoming one of the earliest of the commercial doll producers. The process she used (which allegedly came to her in a dream) was alternating layers of cloth and paste that ingeniously stiffened cloth dolls and hardened them to a papier-mache-like quality. The bodies were formed in [...] Click here to continue reading.

Early American Cloth Dolls

The early American cloth dolls demonstrated the ingenuity and creativity of many settler families. When both money and material goods were scarce, it was not unusual for a mother to make a doll for her child by simply knotting whatever fabric scraps she could find.

If a corncob was available, it became the doll body. Fabric scraps were used for the arms and legs and clothing. As materials became more [...] Click here to continue reading.