Following a vacation trip to the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area, I became fascinated with the wonderful handmade dolls made by young Amish girls. These dolls were made for play and were dressed in the same clothing that the Amish children wore. The children themselves dressed in smaller versions of their parents clothing. Most vintage dolls that I have seen are about 12″ tall and are sewn by hand using muslin and cotton fabrics. An outfit would consist of dress, smock, socks and a hat. Boy dolls had pants, shirts and hats. Fabric colors are solid and are dark (black, brown, navy, dark green, maroon, purple etc.) Printed fabrics were not allowed. The dolls were faceless for the Amish order believed that it was sinful to capture one’s likeness in photographs, portraits or dolls. Very rarely you might find an Amish doll with lightly penciled eyes, nose and mouth made by a child who could not resist the temptation to add a face! One can easily find souvenir examples of these dolls today but it is truly great fun to find a real old doll from the 1920′s, 1930′s or 1940′s. They are a fine example of American folk art.