Laura Ingalls Doll by Alison Bushell (1985)

 

Laura Ingalls doll is 10 1/2" tall (27 cm) and was designed by Alison Bushell. The pattern was published in the Summer 1985 edition of National Doll World Omnibook magazine. Although the television series about Laura's life, Little House on the Prairie, was no longer being produced by the time this pattern appeared, the show was still being shown in syndication, and the books the series was based on were as popular as ever.

Laura is a baseball head style doll. The instructions call for her to be made from cotton fabric. The back of her neck is longer than the front for a slightly more natural appearance. She has mitten hands with stitched lines to suggest fingers. Her arms are sewn on with hand stitches at the shoulder. Her legs are sewn to the front of her torso, enabling her to sit.

Her facial features are very simple. The maker is instructed to sketch them on freehand and then stitch with embroidery floss. For her hair, the instructions call for the head to be covered with machine-knitting yarn in broad stitches, then a hank of yarn is sewn at the center part and braided. A few extra strands sewn to either side of the head give a more realistic look.

This pattern includes a wardrobe of old fashioned clothing including two dresses, an apron, petticoat and drawers, black stockings and side button boots, a sunbonnet, straw hat, fur cape, wool hood  and knitted mittens. Laura also has her own doll, a pancake style girl with floss hair who wears a dress and pantaloons.

This pattern looks like it would make a nice doll. Unfortunately the photos accompanying it are poor quality and black-and-white, making it difficult to see what she actually looks like. She has fairly complex construction for such a small size doll. The diagrams do help, but the details of the costume, coupled with the somewhat vague instructions mean this pattern would be best for an experienced, or at least confident, sewer.