South Devon, UK

Vintage Cloth Dolls 
Please note I am not an expert in antique dolls and cannot value or date them for you.

Her stump hands and feet are made from faux velvet (red gloves and blue shoes) and she is properly attired with petticoats and pantaloons underneath her pretty dress. 

She also wears a mob cab. Her hair seems to be made from some wiry yarn and her face appears to be made as a molded cloth-over technique.

She had been in the shop for some years and was now looking for a new home, having become a little care worn. 

Having been so excited about receiving her I forgot to ask about her maker and how long she's been in the tea shop etc., so when I know this information I shall add it to this webpage.

These Ada Lum style dolls, bought via USA in 2007, are very clean and new looking and possibly not originals from the 1950's and they have no maker's stamp on them either. 

Indeed, the fabric used for their heads, hands and legs seem more modern. They have cute little embroidered faces, removable shoes and traditional style clothes. 

Ada Lum and her fellow missionaries made and sold such handmade dolls in traditional costume to make money for refugees who were trying to flee from post-revolutionary China.

(Left) Pattewala Indian letter writer & Indian Farmer (collected in mid-late 1950’s)
Cloth dolls with fabric over molded faces & filled with sawdust.