My next stop in Switzerland County, Indiana's Amish settlement was to the home of an Amish doll-maker. Â The hand-made, homemade dolls are absolutely gorgeous. And I am not someone that usually plays with dolls! Â The almost 80-year-old Amish woman who makes them learned the craft from her mother. Â She painstakingly makes the dolls. Â Each one can take a full day or more to make. Â She has a pattern that she uses for the dolls and the clothing.
"The clothing is the most difficult," she says. Â She did not want her name used for this article and I was super excited at first because I thought she was going to tell you how to order the dolls from her, but then she thought better of it. Â She was worried that some in her community might not approve of her selling dolls over the internet. Â But I am thrilled to at least be able to share these photos with you. This is some rare craftsmanship.
The funniest thing to me is that she makes two types of dolls. Â One is a cloth-type doll that is faceless and entirely hand-made. Â The other type of doll has a vinyl pre-made face/head and the Amish woman makes the clothing for it. Â Both dolls are charming and beautifully done but, personally, I like the faceless one best and I hope to be able to send her a check for one for Aster because her prices were so reasonable. Â But, here's a surprise:
"The doll with the face sells a lot better among the Amish," she said with a chuckle.
I've written before on this website how the faceless dolls are more of a touristy thing than a theological reality among the Amish.  While they don't often want their faces photographed, there are no theological restrictions against showing the face of a doll.
Personally, in this case, I liked the faceless dolls best because they are 100 percent hand-made and the attention to detail is just exquisite.
farmhousebarb
These are beautiful!! I have always loved dolls..my mom sewed for the Cameo doll co. which was in our small town until the late 60's. They were most famous for Kewpie dolls. I was the lucky recipient of many dolls because they always supplied her with the ones she was sewing for! I also like the faceless one best,although the other is really cute!
Missy
The Amish families that I used to associate with had primarily the vinyl dolls dressed Amish, and surprisingly enough some of the little boys also played with baby dolls.
[email protected]
Kevin where to I go to purchase a faceless doll please.
Rosa
What lovely dolls! I've been searching for dolls like these and this is exactly what I've been looking for. Is there a way I can contact this lady and order through the mail? Please let me know! Thanks so much!! 🙂
Kevin
Rosa, I'm sure this lady would be glad to send you a doll if you order one..I'll email you her info (she didn't want it posted online), if you haven't heard from me in the next day or so, email me at [email protected], because I may forget to get back with you! - Kevin