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 Click HERE for What's New!
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Cloth Doll Making Sewing Patterns by
Arlene's designs include Flower and Garden Fairies, "I Love You" Dolls and more!
Click HERE to see Arlene's patterns.
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Cloth Doll Sewing (Doll Making) Patterns, Books, Face Stamps and Stuffing Forks by
Click HERE to see Barbara's patterns, face stamps and stuffing forks.
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Cloth Doll Making Sewing Patterns by
Happy Heart Patterns
Ginny's designs are easy-to-follow projects with detailed instructions and full size pattern pieces. Her creations are designed to make you smile and lighten your heart!
Click HERE to see Ginny's patterns.
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Jean Nordquist's
We are presenting a sampling from "Jean Nordquist's Cloth Panel Doll Collection."
Jean has been collecting uncut cloth panel dolls from the late 1800's and early 1900's for many years. She has printed these designs on fabric for you to cut and sew.
Many of these originals were printed advertising on cloth flour sack. They were and are still popular and an easy doll to make!
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Click HERE for designs printed on fabric
which are ready to cut and sew!
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Cloth Doll Patterns by
by
Jill Maas
Endless Creativity From New Zealand!
Click HERE to see Jill's patterns.
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Patterns by
Dollmaker's Journey Welcomes...
Jorge Fernandez from Santiago, Chile
Jorge's designs are full of detail and creativitiy. They are also available in both English and Spanish!
Click HERE to see Jorge's patterns.
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Patterns by
Magic Threads
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Original Cloth Doll Designs!
 Created by one of America's top cloth doll artist and designer, Kezi Matthews, these are cloth doll making patterns at their very best!
Kezi's patterns are a rare doll making treat. They are easy to follow while enhancing your doll making skills and giving you gorgeous results!
Created by one of America's top cloth doll designers, Kezi Matthews, these are cloth doll patterns at their very best with full sized patterns, easy to follow detailed directions and quality design.
These beautiful patterns are loved by doll makers and cherished by pattern collectors.
Click HERE to see Kezi's patterns.
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Cloth Doll Fabric Sewing Patterns by
Cloth Mannequin Doll Sewing PatternsPrairie Crocus Studio
Laurie's mannequin doll designs capture the true natural human proportions and range from a 24" (1:3 scale) woman doll to 3" miniatures (1:24 scale). These realistic bodies also include plus sized male and female mannequins.
You will also find historically accurate pioneer style clothing patterns for the whole 1:12 scale family.
Basic body patterns include Women, Men, Children, as well as Mermaids and an Elf mannequin pattern.
Click HERE to see Laurie's patterns.
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Cloth Art Doll Making Sewing Projects, Patterns,
Booklet and CDs by
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Leslie (National Institute of American Doll Artists, Member) has been designing art dolls, hats, and textiles for 25 years. Leslie believes that working and creating with your hands is a direct link to your soul. It is this sewing, mending and stitching together that reaches into yourself to pull out the beauty of your creation.
Click HERE to see Leslie's patterns.
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of Sweet Meadows Farm
Traditional, Primitive, Country, Bunnies, Pumpkins, Snowmen, and More Fun Cloth Doll Patterns and Sewing Projects!
Click HERE to see Maureen's patterns.
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Raggedy Pants Folk Art Designs
Cloth Doll Patterns for Raggedies, FolkArt Whimsical Dolls, Snowmen, Critters and More!
Over 60 Original Designs!
Click HERE to see Michelle's patterns.
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Doll, Stocking, and Gift Bag Patterns by
of
Art Dolls by norma & The Whimsical ElfTM
Dollmaker's Journey Welcomes... Norma Inkster
Norma Inkster's first doll designs with Dollmaker's Journey are all truly works of art. The designs and her attention to details make her dolls pop right out of their photos. Norma's goal is to create movement or imply action with her designs.
We have also deviated a little from dolls by bringing you her Whimsical Elf designs which include a variety of stockings and gift bag patterns.
Click HERE to see Norma's patterns.
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Cloth Doll Patterns, Book and Free Patterns by
An introduction to Pamela Hastings by Pamela Hastings...
About my doll making:
 My grandmother taught me to sew when I was five and made my first doll. Like most, I started with costume dolls, but then discovered Lenore Davis and Soft Sculpture in the Sixties. My work since then has been sculpture and art-based, rather than realism-based.
By disregarding "pretty" and "realistic" my designs can express a lot of emotion and fun without being technically difficult to make. My personal work can get more elaborate and has been shown in art galleries in the US and abroad.
I enjoy working with women and helping them to recognize their own creativity, encouraging jumping off from the pattern. I've written and taught about using the process of doll making as a way to transform one's life. In that way, my patterns move way beyond "toys" or "cute" and at the same time the unusual colors and shapes are just a lot of FUN.
Best,
Pamela
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Dollmaker's Journey Welcomes
Rita Carl of Reets' Rags To Stitches
We are featuring a Christmas Holiday Selection of Rita's original designs. Enjoy!
Sewing Patterns by
Reets' Rags To Stitches
Unique variety of patterns that include wool applique, pieced and appliqued quilts, whimsical wall hangings, dolls, ornaments and more.
All Original Designs by Rita Carl!
Click HERE to see Rita's patterns.
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Preemie Doll and Clothing Patterns by
About the Doll Designer:
Sandy Eding is the mother of an extremely premature baby (25 weeks), who developed this pattern out of a passion to show just how tiny and beautiful preemies really are. Frustrated by the fatness of regular dolls and the inaccuracy of most "preemie dolls," she set out to create dolls that would be true to life, depicting preemies as realistically as possible.
Click HERE to see the Preemie patterns!
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Cloth Doll and Animal Making Sewing Patterns by
Cloth Doll Designs from Austrialia
Suzette Rugolo is one of our very popular designers from Australia. Her designs are inspired by characters from history, fairytales and books. Her patterns include unique techniques for molding features, applying hair and fur and ways for you to make her beautiful designs come to life!
Click HERE to see Suzette's patterns!
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Designer Profile
COLETTE WOLFF: A STITCHER'S JOURNEY
See Colette's Patterns... Click HERE!
Cloth, a sewing machine, and a threaded needle have been constants in my life. I study stitched fabric disciplines, I create with and write about stitching fabric.
My Mother taught me to sew on my Grandmother’s treadle sewing machine when I was a child. My Grandmother taught my sister and me to embroider on the stamped pillow cases and hand towels that we would buy at our local Woolworths' dime store. I remember helping my Grandmother tie a pieced quilt that was spread out on the dining room table. In my teens I started making clothes for myself using that same treadle sewing machine and patterns from Simplicity, Butterick, and Vogue catalogs.
 I like to say that I’m self-taught in the fiber disciplines I work within—sewing, cloth dollmaking, soft sculpture, quilting, embroidery, garment making, fabric manipulation—but that doesn’t credit the many patterns, books, magazines, and museum exhibitions that were my surrogate teachers along the way.
In the late 1960s, a craft shop owner talked me into teaching a quilting workshop. My local library had two quilting books. I checked them both out, studied, designed a quilt block project that included both appliqué and piecing challenges, and devised a lesson plan that kept me one class ahead of my six students for six sessions. That was the first among years of positive, learning-while-doing-and-teaching experiences.
I also owe a debt to the negative learning experiences I had. When I wanted to learn from what others had done, I was often frustrated by sloppy patterns and inadequate, inaccurate instructions. Fueled by frustration --- and naive confidence --- I thought I could do better.
PLATYPUS was invented to publish the patterns and instructions for dolls and toys to stitch and stuff designed by Colette Wolff. It began in 1969 with one mimeographed pattern and a classified ad in a folksy women's magazine. A year later, the first PLATYPUS mail order catalog included six patterns. Inventory continued to grow and successive catalogs expanded accordingly. Sales increased during the '70s and '80s when display ads for PLATYPUS patterns appeared regularly in national craft magazines. I also wrote articles about dollmaking and quiltmaking for these magazines and traveled to teach classes and seminars around the country.
 The last PLATYPUS catalog-in-print, #11, was published in 1991. Entitled "Special Things to Sew," it offered 50 items: two informational booklets, 10 pattern leaflets, and 38 pattern booklets, 15 of which included patterns for multiple items-to-make. PLATYPUS discontinued operations in the mid '90s, but requests for PLATYPUS patterns and instructions never ceased.
The research required for one of my PLATYPUS pattern projects, a fashion doll wearing authentic 18th and 19th century garments, introduced me to fabric configurations I never knew existed. Intrigued with the possibilities of viewing these three-dimensional techniques separated from their usual dressmaking environment, I gradually understood the potential for sculpted surface design inherent in fabric maneuvered with needle and thread. But first I needed a “vocabulary” of techniques. In 1996, The Art of Manipulating Fabric by Colette Wolff, a manual of three-dimensional textile techniques, was published.
 Textile art describes work created using fiber materials and fiber construction. It’s an inclusive artistic discipline — for me, a place where the skills acquired for PLATYPUS andThe Art of Manipulating Fabric merge. As a textile artist, I can choose from that diversity of techniques to make one-of-a-kind sculpted works of stitched fabric. The process stimulates and absorbs my creative imagination.
Colette Wolff
See All Colette's Patterns... Click HERE!
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Nancy Hall
 I have loved creating things with different types of materials for most of my life, but over the years I have always come back to the fiber arts. My first endeavor as a doll maker began when I made a doll for my daughter with the same costume as she was wearing in the Nutcracker Ballet.
I enjoy making dolls that are brightly colored and embellished. The ability to take a flat length of material, sew and manipulate it into a shape, then bead, paint, embellish it into the final form I want, is what I love.
Doll making enables me to explore a variety of techniques, not all of them fabric or fiber related. I use woodworking tools to create bases for the dolls. I have learned basic jewelry techniques to enable me to make simple jewelry in the size I need, as well as soldering wire for armatures and supports. I use felting techniques, dye my own fabric using a variety of different types of dyes and have created my own fabric using a fabric collage method plus free motion machine sewing. I use colored pencils, water color pencils, gel pens, permanent ink pens and acrylics to create each face. A variety of fibers including yarn, llama, alpaca, wool fibers, mohair and trim are used to create the hair style for each doll. I am constantly looking for new techniques that I can incorporate into my doll making.
I begin each doll by creating a body of cotton, knit or silk. The bodies are then stuffed and sometimes may be dyed, or painted with acrylic paints. I make the costumes with a variety of fabrics – cottons, silks, satins, brocades and hand dyed. I then embellish each costume by hand sewing lace, ribbons, trims, fiber, and beads. After the body is created and costumed, I finish the head, attach the hair and sew it to the body. Over the years I have won many awards and ribbons for my dolls. They have been featured in ads for Fire Mountain Bead and Gems, and have traveled for many years with the Hoffman Challenge. My dolls have been shown in Soft Dolls and Animals, and featured in Doll Crafter and Costuming.
Click HERE to see Nancy's patterns. |
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Kat Lees
Hello my name is Kathy Lees, nickname “Kat” born and raised Jersey girl. My dad was a Lobster fisherman, my mother worked for International Flavors and Fragrances. I have four brothers, myself being the oldest.
 I am married to my best friend and husband affectionately called “Macgyver” by Annie Hesse, which has stuck. We have two children and two grandchildren.
Ever since I could hold a pencil I was always drawing cartoons from the newspaper.
My background is in retail, promotion, and design. I have had many careers, Bee Fashion, Home Interiors consultant, Real Estate Secretary, worked for the Virginia Downtown Development Association, promoting the downtown. Have fought the blue law in Virginia and went lobbying to the general assembly, this was very interesting. I have painted murals, furniture and do Interior Design work to this day. Worked for the Natural Bridge Wax Museum, owned and ran Mountain View Bed & Breakfast for six years.
My doll making career began in 1979 when I could not buy a cabbage patch doll, so I took a local class. I wrote a post to Doll Crafter Magazine pen pal section looking for doll makers and the famous, Gloria “MIMI” Winer answered my post. Gloria being the wonderful person she is invited me to her home for three days. Little did I know then that I was going to test her Universal Doll Pattern. I really do believe Gloria made most of it. She is the most generous person I have ever met and I might add a fantastic hostess. I learned a lot of major lessons that weekend that are still with me to this day.
Over the years to follow I have won several ribbons and awards. I teach hands on and online classes. I design my own line of patterns. I even was lucky enough to be part of Historic Dolls our doll club in Maryland took to the White House. I created a doll of Mrs. Laura Bush herself. What a wonderful experience that was for 6 of us. My dolls have appeared in Contemporary Doll, Soft Dolls and Doll United Magazine.
I currently live in Florida and belong to the “STITCHIN SISTERS” doll club in New Port Richey. I will continue to support the doll world, take as many classes to expand my knowledge base and perfect my craft. I love what I am doing and cannot exist unless I am creating and designing.
Click HERE to see Kat's patterns. |
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| Patti
LaValley
 My name
is Patti LaValley and I live in the country in the
small rural town of North Plains, Oregon. I'm a self-taught
cloth doll artist, using my skills in drawing and
painting to create my character art pieces. I have
been involved in many types of arts and crafts throughout
the years. I discovered cloth doll making about 25
years ago after I inherited some vintage patterns
from my dear friend Grandma Morgan, a 103-year-old
doll maker. My passion for dollmaking developed through
a love of textures and colors within a piece of fabric.
I like the diversity that dollmaking allows, too.
To me, the ultimate form of expression is accomplished
when all my skills can be incorporated into one art
form. When I bring a smile to someone's heart and
face through my dolls I feel I have accomplished everything!
I love meeting other dollmakers at shows and gatherings,
where I have made many new friends. Presently
I have a line of over 20 cloth doll patterns that
include lovely ladies as well as whimsical and fantasy
creations. I also teach online cloth doll classes
and offer cloth doll workshops for doll clubs, craft
guilds and other events such as conferences and doll
conventions.
Click HERE to see Patti's
patterns.
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| Cynthia
Sieving
 My
Name is Cynthia Sieving; I am a fabric sculptor. I create a variety of cloth people, animals and other
fabric based art items. My first memories involving
fabric are from my preschool years. I had a cigar
box with a darning needle, crochet thread, buttons
and leftover scraps of cloth. When I got a little
older, my grandmother taught me to sew. We did
not work from any existing patterns. Newspaper, a
measuring tape and a pencil were our tools. I learned
how to turn a flat piece of paper into a three dimensional
form. Then one day I discovered the wonderful world
of commercial patterns. Although I was now working
from patterns, I still felt the need to make changes.
It was more of an art form to me. Just making
a dress became a creative process. I could add
to or change the original pattern in a lot of different
ways. As I grew up I was fascinated by
all the different things I could do with cloth. Using
pleats, darts and tucks, I could change anything I
wanted. I found that color and trims could turn the
same pattern into something completely different.
I became interested in learning any technique that
had to do with cloth. I learned to do crewel,
quilting, cross-stitch, and tapestry work. I am still
finding many different techniques to learn, and I
hope I never stop learning new ways to work with cloth. For the last ten years
I open my home for one weekend and fill it with all
the wonderful things I have made that year.
Since I have been doing this most of the same people
have come back year after year. So it is important
that I have all new things. It wasn't long before
I was running out of patterns to buy. I tried making
variations of Santa Claus figures. Soon I found
that the small changes I was making just didn't satisfy
me. I decided to try to create a pattern from
scratch. I went back to my grandmother's method of
pencil and newspaper. My own first patterns
were not all successful, but I was happier and more
excited about sewing than I had been in a long time. The first year that
I decided to make dolls was very scary. I didn't know
if I could sell them. I wasn't sure whether
the time and materials spent completing the dolls
would make them too expensive to sell. Who would
ever even want them at these prices? My first
three dolls were a court jester, an old west dance
hall madam and a golfer. I had so much fun making
them, I didn't care if I sold them or not. I just
had to make people. There was no going back
now, making them was too much fun. My imagination
started working overtime. These little people
would be in my life forever. Everyone loved my creations
as much as I loved making them. I could hardly
believe it. Since that time, I have
been making dolls nonstop. Who will I make this
year? I have no idea! That is the fun of it. I think
of a person or animal, and I am off. In the
last year I have begun turning my own work into patterns
for others to enjoy making. Pattern creation
is as challenging as making the doll itself.
My goal is to make a doll pattern detailed, but fun
to make. Sometimes this is a difficult combination.
However I think I have managed accomplish this in
both "Snail Mail" and "Mr. Sandman". My goal is to start
teaching and giving talks on doll making and the use
of cloth. I hope to share my knowledge and ideas
with others. I am not sure how to make a living
at doll making, but we all need to have a dream. My dream is to be able to devote myself full-time
to doll making and to the creation of patterns to
share with others. Cynthia Sieving
Click HERE
to see Cynthia's patterns. |
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