Doll:Liberty Belle

Innovations in inexpensive printing methods encouraged the production of dolls printed on fabric. By the 1880s, doll pieces on fabric sold by the yard; seamstresses (young and old) purchased the fabric at the store, took the it home, cut out the pieces, sewed them together, and stuffed them with cotton, rags, sawdust, or other materials at hand. Or, stores sold ready-made printed cloth dolls of Santa Claus, Punch and Judy, Uncle Sam, Buster Brown, and other popular figures of the day.