Cotton Mother Dolls Picture Gallery

The earliest of the dolls, Helga, was made from a kit designed by Sammycakes. I adapted Samantha's design to allow Helga to be pregnant and birth her baby, but the design development continued through several dolls and the pattern and material have changed significantly since. For example, in the tandem nursing picture, you can see how Helga's breasts are made separately and sewn on; the newer dolls have pieced and shaped torsos with the bosom "built in." Helga and her family (husband Zadok, baby, and toddler) are made with cotton muslin; I now use cotton interlock because the stretch helps give the dolls a more "pregnant" look when the baby is inside and also because of the skin tones available in this fabric.
Helga & Zadok	Sling Baby	Nursing dress	Here is how the nursing dress works	Tandem nursing
Click on a thumbnail to see the full-sized picture.

Rosamunde was the next doll I made. (She became a gift for my midwife). I totally redesigned the doll's torso to get a "pregnant" look, but I was still using the woven cotton muslin fabric, and Rosamunde looked pregnant even when her baby was out! I improved my design for the womb and baby's placenta and amniotic sac with Rosamunde, but I still needed to swich to knit dollskin fabric -- and plastic instead of metal snap fasteners!
Rosamunde pregnant	Laboring	Head is out	Birthing shoulders
Birthing body	Baby is born	Nursing immediately	Postpartum

Hester is the first of the cotton interlock dolls made with all the design improvements. Her torso is pieced together, the knit material allows her belly to stretch with pregnancy, and her nipples are made of plastic rather than metal snaps. (I had not yet sewn the snap-fastener belly-button onto Hester's baby, or made Baby's cord, placenta, and amniotic sac, when these pictures were taken.)
Pregnant belly	Non-pregnant belly	Hester	nursing	her baby
The cotton interlock fabric that I am now using for doll skin comes in four different skin tones. Hester, above, has golden skin. Emily, below, has peach skin and brown hair. Suzanne has peach skin and blonde hair. Her baby and toddler have tan skin. The baby's cord snaps on and off the "belly-button".
Emily with her baby.	Suzanne with nursing toddler.	Emily's baby, placenta (maternal side showing) and amniotic sac.	Suzanne's baby, placenta (fetal side showing) and amniotic sac.	Suzanne's baby with diaper and blanket.

This blonde doll went up for auction on eBay on December 6, 2008.
A prenatal visit with the midwife	With baby in the sling	Nursing dress in action	Baby on lap	Baby and placenta
Nursing right after birth	Just one more push!	Head crowning	Nursing dress	Prodromal labor!