McCall's 7432 - 17" Mary Poppins doll

This great doll pattern was released in 1964 to tie in to Disney's "Mary Poppins" movie starring Julie Andrews.



The doll is 17" tall and is designed in a separated pancake style for easy construction. She has mitten hands and is jointed at the hips and shoulders. She has crewel wool yarn hair and embroidered features. A transfer is included for embroidering her face and the pattern on her carpetbag.



What makes this pattern special is her interesting outfit. Her "Nanny costume" consists of a long skirt, lace-trimmed "pettiblouse," full-length felt coat with pleated back seam, embroidered carpetbag, gloves and stockings, unusual felt hat and boots, and crocheted scarf.


For those who are tired of making the same old thing, this vintage pattern offers a breath of fresh air. It would be interesting to adapt the wardrobe patterns to try and make some of the other outfits from the movie for the doll to wear. The accessories, particularly the carpetbag, would be useful for other dolls as well.

I would love to hear from anyone who has made this pattern.

Design 7339 - 32" Baseball Head Boy doll pattern

This mail order pattern came in its original Alice Brooks envelope. There is no copyright date on the pattern, or postmark date on the envelope, but the zip code used in the address indicates it was mailed sometime after zip codes were introduced in the mid-sixties. This is a transfer pattern; unfortunately the ink from the transfer has bled through to other sections where the pattern was folded.

The pattern makes a baseball-head style boy doll, 32" tall, with embroidered features and "straw yarn" for hair and eyelashes. Because of the large size of the doll, two entire sheets are required for all of his body parts to fit. No clothing pattern is provided; instructions call for "discarded or outgrown" size 2 clothes for him to wear.

He is a cute boy with freckles and applied ears. His hands have separated fingers with the exception of the third and fourth fingers which are joined together. The eyelashes are another unusual touch. The maker is instructed to stiffen them with clear nail polish, if desired. Depending on the stuffing used, this doll may be very heavy. A large upholstery or mattress needle is recommended, with heavy string or rug cotton, to join his arms and legs to his body.

There are many patterns to make both a boy and girl doll, but very few that make just a boy by himself. Of course, a pattern for a girl in this size was also available.

Design 7083 - Doll Toaster Cover

I got this pattern in its original Alice Brooks envelope, ordered from the Hartford Courant, with a postmark date of 1961. It makes a doll toaster cover with the doll's head, torso and arms on a cardboard base that sits on the toaster, which is covered by her skirt.

The doll part of the pattern is a transfer; the pattern for her outfit is meant to be cut out and used as a tissue paper pattern. She has a very exotic-looking face with features that may be embroidered, painted or drawn with crayons(?). She will be about 7" from her waist to the top of her head. The instructions call for "straw yarn" for her hair. She is made with separated pancake construction and has mitten hands.

This pattern, with the same illustration, was also sold as #7073. I'm not sure if the pattern pieces are different at all; but the instructions are a little more detailed and the pattern is called a "Multi-Stamp Transfer Pattern."

I was amazed in researching this pattern to see how many different doll toaster cover patterns were produced. It must have been a fad at one time.

Made to be Loved - 6 dolls with outfits 1955

This pattern is copyright 1955 by the Educational Bureau of Coats and Clark, makers of thread and sewing notions. It consists of a 22" x 17" sheet, printed on both sides and folded in quarters, which has the instructions and clothing patterns; and an 11" x 17" sheet which has the body patterns.

This pattern was apparently made for school use - it indicates that a teacher's file copy is available free upon request, and the pattern leaflets are 5 cents each or 25 for a dollar. The description on the cover reads, "Take your choice from this most adorable of sextets and see what Mother's scrapbag will yield for his, her, or their outfits."

The dolls make up at 14" tall and are separated pancake style. The neck is sewn to the back of the head to give the doll a chin. They have mitten hands, embroidered features and yarn hair. All six dolls are made from the same pattern. The maker has a choice of three different faces to embroider, with three different girls' hairstyles, and one boys' hairstyle.

This pattern has very detailed instructions with lots of clear illustrations - excellent for a beginner. The clothing patterns include underwear, two hats, and shoes to be made from felt. Socks are to be purchased. All outfits are made to be removable.

Betty Ann, pictured below, was made by Caroline Snow of Warner, NH in 1966. She is one of my favorite dolls.

McCall 1007 - Clown & Donkey pattern

McCall pattern #1007, published in 1942, makes a clown about 14" tall, in two variations, and a donkey about 6.5" tall.

There has been some debate among vintage cloth doll collectors as to whether this pattern was designed by Edith Flack Ackley. Those who feel it was not, say that she put her name on everything she designed, and her name is not on this one. Those who feel it is her design point to the fact that the clown pattern is virtually identical to the one in her book, "Dolls to Make For Fun and Profit," published in 1938. It may be that her name is not on the pattern because she designed the clown but not the donkey; or it may be that McCall purchased the right to her design, but didn't credit her because of changes they made; or it may be that they copied her design, without feeling the need to credit her. If you have an opinion on this, or any further information, please feel free to leave a comment.

The clown is a pancake doll, double stitched across his shoulders, elbows, hips and knees to create joints. Both clown and donkey have embroidered features, with a transfer included for the embroidery. The clown's hair is made by sewing loops of wool yarn to his head. For one of the clowns, you make short loops and leave the top of his head bald. The illustration makes it looks like he has ears; but it's just the way the hair is sewn on (see the photo below). The other clown has longer loops, all over his head, which are then clipped shorter. The donkey has a yarn mane and braided tail.

The clown's costume consists of separate trousers and a jacket which is made to look like a shirt and vest. The two costumes are similar but not identical. The jackets are made to be removable, but the trousers are stitched to his body. The shoes may be made from leather, oilcloth or felt, and they are stitched to his feet. A scrap of ribbon makes his tie.

The doll shown below is beautifully made. He is not marked or tagged in any way. He was purchased at a doll show in New Jersey.

McCall #1014 Upside-Down Doll or Single Dolls 1942

McCall #1014 makes an "Upside-down" doll (what we would now call a topsy-turvy doll) or two different single dolls. The dolls with legs will measure 15" tall. This pattern has a copyright date of 1942.

The single dolls have identical body construction, with different embroidered faces and different hairstyles. One face has a serene expression, while the other has a surprised look. The maker is instructed to use "Shetland floss...embroidery wool or four fold Germantown" for the hair. There are darts in the back of the head to shape it. They have mitten hands and no soles on their feet.

Each doll wears a dress with short puffed sleeves, but trimmed differently. There is no underwear pattern for the single dolls. The dresses are made to be removable, even on the upside-down doll. One doll wears a hat, the other has a bow in her hair.

Dolls made from this pattern are not as commonly found as some of the other topsy-turvys. Black/white dolls, storybook dolls like Red Riding Hood/wolf/Grandma and awake/asleep dolls seem to have been more popular than blonde/brunette.

Glossary of Terms for Vintage Cloth Doll Patterns

There is an infinite variety of ways that a cloth doll can be constructed. But many vintage cloth doll patterns fall into a few basic styles. Here are some of the terms I use on this site to describe those methods.

• Pancake - these dolls are made of just two pieces, one for the front and one for the back. An Edith Flack Ackley doll is an example of a pancake doll.
• Modified pancake - still two pieces, but with darts to give the doll a little more of a three-dimensional shape. Simplicity 7234 is an example of a modified pancake.
• Separated pancake - the body parts are all made of two pieces, a front and a back (or a right and a left), but they are sewn and stuffed individually and then joined together.
• Baseball head - this type of doll has the head constructed with two vertical seams down the face - usually right through the centers of the eyes - like the seams on a baseball, to make it round. Design 7143 is an example of a baseball head.
• Thread jointed dolls have separate arms and legs attached to the torso by a sturdy piece of thread or string. For thread jointed legs, the thread would be inserted at the outside of the top of one leg, go through the leg and the bottom of the torso, through the other leg and be secured on the outside. Arms may be jointed in the same way, through one arm and the top of the torso, and through the other arm. Baseball head dolls like Design 7339 are almost always thread jointed. Ella DeHart's George and Martha Washington are another example.

I will add more terms as I go along.