Craft Idea--Rag Dolls

this isn't the doll pattern I mention below, but I still like it

Last night I dreamed I was making rag dolls again. For several years I sewed and sold handcrafted items to supplement our income. Old-fashioned rag dolls were my favorite thing to make. I found I could do several things with one good doll pattern

• add a dress and pinafore and she was a little girl
• add a little doll in her hand and she was an adorable little girl
• put a quilt in her hands and she was a quilter
• put a baby wrapped in a quilt in her arms and she was a mother
• put a rolling pin or an sack of flour in her arms and she was a homemaker
• paint the feet brown and add a few stitches resembling laces and the doll was wearing winter boots, add a pair of pants, a wool shirt, a knit cap and a little wooden sled and he was a little boy playing in the snow
• add a carpenter apron with a few miniature tools, a beard and a tiny bird or olive branch to his hand and he was Noah
• add a red triangle for the nose and red hair and she was Raggedy Ann (or Andy)
• add wings and she was an angel
• add big, floppy ears and he was a rabbit
• paint two dots on the face for the eyes, paint a whole clove stem orange and glue it on for the nose, and glue whole allspice in a curve for the smile and it was a snowman
• paint the feet black, add a red, pointed hat, a beard, red pants, a red shirt with a strip of white down the middle and a few black buttons and he was Santa
• add a bag to Santa and it was the perfect place to put a gift card
• add excelsior to the neck, leg and sleeve openings, a straw hat and a necklace of corn kernels and he was a scarecrow

One afternoon a few years ago I sat down and sewed several dolls. I didn’t have anything in mind other than they would be given as gifts to someone in the future. Last night’s dream made me want to sew dolls for gifts again.

(By the way, I'm not a seamstress. I can sew straight seams for curtains and do primitive hand-stitching. Doll making is a combination of the two. It's relatively easy if you want to try.)