Customer Reviews

Baby Dolls and Their Clothes: Dozens of Projects to Make

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love the dolls in this book! There is a pattern, but it is loose enough to allow much of the design to be left up to your imagination. I made the cutest little mommy and baby dolls for my 2 month old son for Christmas. He loves to stare at them and tries to reach for them. I will definitely be making more! Even though I am adult, I love to hold the supersoft dolls as well!

I bought this book, not to learn to make dolls, as I have been making Waldorf dolls since I was 12 and still in Waldorf School myself, but as a teacher of Waldorf dollmaking workshops. I wanted to see weather this is a book that I could recomend to students of mine or to people who ask me which is the best book to learn from. After careful appraisal, this is my review.

Baby Dolls and Their Clothes has good points and bad points. It is a good book in that it offers clear photo instruction on the making of a Waldorf-style doll, and the making of simple clothes. Anyone who has a small amouth of knowledge of sewing and use of patterns should be able to use this book for instruction on making dolls.

However, this book leaves much to be desired.

Most of the dolls in this book are quite amature looking, having their facial features improperly placed or improper proportions, or both. Facial features should ALWAYS be made with the eyes and mouth in an equalateral triangle, a point which is mentioned by the author, but not used in practice on many of the dolls. Cheeks on the dolls in this book tend to be pinked far too low, on level or below the level of the mouth, rather than on the apples of the cheeks as you would see on a real child. The author also suggests marking the features with pencil, which is not advisable if you want the features to last more than a day or two in serious play or cuddling. Embroidered features (or painted features as in Making Dolls by Sunnhild Reinckens) are very resilient and quick to make.

Hair, a subject of much debate, is not covered very well in Baby Dolls and Their Clothes unless you want to make a doll with long hair. My personal opinion is that, while the method given for sewing on long hair is better than most methods used for hair these days (such as wigs, which are not sturdy enough for a doll that will be played with or slept with), the best method for making a dolls hair is still to sew in the hair with a sturdy rug stitch which will not pull out easily. Wigs, or hair that is simply sewed down to the head with another piece of yarn or thread, fall apart quickly and will have to be repaired or replaced. Hair sewed directly into the head lasts practically forever, if sewed in well and tightly. As an example: I still have my doll with sewn in hair from childhood. She was slept and played with every day from kindergarten though grade school. She had one face lift, and a new set of clothes sewn on. Her hair, however, is as strong and full as the day I got her. Wigs, on the other hand, are not strong enough for play. I have repaired dolls from Magic Cabin who's wigs were torn to shreds and the poor dolls scalps were bare and worn. Wigs may save time in the short run, but in the long run it is better to sew in the hair.

The head making instructions in this book are strange to me, as they suggest using a ball of yarn to make the inner head. The problem with this method is that it makes the head too round, and is also more expensive to buy the yarn rather than the plain wool! Simply stuffing the tubing to make the head tightly with wool is a less expensive, more versitile way of making the head. Besides this oddity in the intructions, the way of making the head shown in the book is basically the method used for all waldorf dolls, and is a fairly good method.

There are, I'm sure, more things I could say about this book, but I do not want to detract from the parts of it that are quite worthwhile. The intructions for making clothes are excellent, in that they show you how to make a basic pattern using YOUR doll's measurements and how to adapt it to make many styles of dresses and pants. This is an important skill for a dollmaker, amature or professional, to use, as all hand made dolls vary somewhat in size, even if they are all, say, 16 inches tall. You will get the best fit for your dolls clothes making patterns this way, patterns specific to your doll.

On the whole, I would not recomend this book to a beginning doll maker as it lacks the clarity needed to learn the skill of dollmaking. ...

The dolls in this book all look a very similar style to each other; but it is one very charming and sweet style of doll. Big soft knit-cloth baby dolls with yarn hair and simple faces. Perfect baby doll for children and adults. With clothing patterns.

This book is filled with very helpful, close-up photographs of the doll-making techniques used in the construction of traditional Steiner-inspired dolls. However, it does not contain patterns (as you would find in a kit) but small photographs of construction paper patterns intended to be photocopied and enlarged. I agree completely with another review which suggests using this book in conjunction with a kit (available from Little Joys, Weir Dolls, and Magic Cabin), especially if you are new to this style of doll. The clothing styles described are very traditional (the only exceptions being a tyrolean dress & coat and a fringed leather dress ". . . as befits a young squaw"). The author also includes instructions for several "easy-to-make" dolls: permanent clothed, woolen, knitted-body and bag-bodied, as well as instructions for a few miscellaneous toys. Overall great photographs, occasionally uneven instruction, and poor "patterns" (the only advantage would be being able to use them to make an odd-sized doll). Although the author gives instructions for knit-bodied dolls, she does not include instructions on how to crochet the cap/wig that is often used on this style of doll. Also missing are suggestions on techniques & materials to create more ethnically diverse dolls (i.e. using boucle, spacing of facial features, etc.). Still, a very good source of basic construction techniques for the Steiner-inspired dolls.

For those wondering, a made to order Waldorf doll will cost you anywhere between $75-$125. (Perform a search on the internet for Waldorf dolls to see what I mean.) Waldorf doll kits are available at a greatly reduced price and that is how this review starts...

I purchased a Waldorf Doll kit off the internet and stitched the doll together. Directions for boy hair were lacking with the kit and few clothing patterns were included so I purchased this book hoping to pick up where the kit instructions left off.

This is my first attempt at making a Waldorf doll and after reading the book, wish I'd purchased this book prior to starting my kit for one simple reason; the piecing together of the head, body, and arms are very clear due to the color photos. Just knowing what the body is supposed to look like is half the battle.

As to the hair: I can totally understand and appreciate the hair instructions. Compared to the kit instructions, the hair instructions with color photos from this book are a breeze. My only beef in connection with the hair instructions are that they are for girl dolls NOT boy dolls AND there are no wig intructions.

Also, I strenuously object to the loose interpretation of the word "patterns" when used in accordance with this book. These so called "patterns" are about 2" by 2", which means you have to carry the book over to a copier and enlarge the "patterns" several times over to get a working copy.... No big deal for someone who is experienced at piecing clothing, but would probably be a slightly daunting challenge for a beginner seamstress. Honestly though,if you can muster the nerve to make the dolls, clothing is a breeze...

In spite of the patterns, the clothing ideas in this book are spectacular. Designs include directions for booties, underwear, dresses, rompers, jackets....Designs to cover all ethnic persuasions..

The rest of the projects in this book look very simple to do and I defer my remarks about that to the reviewers before me.

The author of the book takes a learn as you go approach which is great for making an original doll but difficult when rounding up the sewing notions necessary to complete a project. The book gives no hint for amounts needed for wool stuffing or general guidelines about doll head length and circumference.

Thankfully my pre-purchased doll kit included exact measurements and quantities of skin and stuffing. The kit definitely picked up where the book left off.

In conclusion, this book makes an excellent supplemental to a doll kit and I recommend it for the photos depicting the finished body and the clothing design ideas for the dolls.

I found the patterns and illustrations easy to follow and the clothes simple and very cute. Any child would love to have one of these toys. There is only one complaint I have about this book, ALL the adorable animals are not featured in the pattern section. Ferrari illustrates some of the doll pages with the cutest little animal toys but there are no patterns for these tiny charmers. Valeria, could I talk you into creating another book on these darling animals? I'd buy it!

I've had a couple of books on "Waldorf" doll construction, and this one is by far the best. Construction and sculpting techniques are laid out in concise steps with a photograph accompanying each step. There is also a chapter about puppets. There are a few shortcomings however. The patterns are either miniscule or non-existent, there could have been more elaboration on the topic of wigs/hair. There is scant information on embroidery techniques for faces (the author seems partial to fabric markers), and stitching techniques for attaching the head and legs are not clearly spelled out (but by looking at the photos, I surmised a ladder stitch). A resource guide for materials would also be very helpful . Nonetheless in my humble opinion, the benefits of understanding the construction techniques outweigh these shortcomings (a little imagination, creativity and using the old noodle should more than make up for any perceived "gaps" in the book , therfore four stars. Happy dollmaking!!