A Maureen Carlson Design

A Tutorial and Storykeeper Doll Pattern for Fabric Doll Body.

Uses Purchased or Sculpted Head - a Maureen Carlson Design - 25 pages

MAKE A STORYKEEPER DOLL

Collect your memories and small keepsake treasures and place then into the pockets of this one-of-a-kind doll. It is one-of-a-kind because you make it from the scraps and fibers of your life.

This 25-page tutorial and pattern comes as a 5+ MB digital file which prints at 200 dpi.

The tutorial includes full instructions for choosing materials, sewing the body and inserting the head and hands so that they are posable. it DOES NOT include instructions for sculpting the head and hands. The tutorial does provide ideas for how to use your own sculpted or purchased set of head and hands.

An earlier version of this pattern was published in an article written by me for Southwest Crafts Magazine in 1990. At that time we sold a set of resin hands and a head which were sized to fit the doll. We no longer have that in stock. Instead we now provide two push molds which were made in a similar style. These can be purchased separately in another listing here on Etsy:
Push Mold F7 - What a Character® 2 inch Storykeeper Face and Push Mold 11 - Hands, 1 1/2 in. The height of the doll is 6-8 heads tall. So using a 2 inch head, the height would be 12 to 16 inches tall.

This poem, from the cover, tells the story of what inspired me to create this doll.

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My Storykeeper Doll

I look about me and see the odds and ends of
things that I have gathered from my years of living.
These objects tell me stories—
stories of past, and present, loves,
of good times,
hard times,
of things accomplished and of those only dreamed.

These, my stories, remind me of my comfortable
strengths and of my hidden shadow side.
They nurture me,
encourage me,
energize me.

By telling my stories I begin to understand them.
But I need a safe place, for stories of my life
reveal me to the bone.
Could I begin by telling my stories to a doll?
Could I?

I fill the pockets of my Storykeeper Doll with an old
letter, a dollhouse doll, a trinket, a cross, an acorn,
a magazine cover, a heart, a nail.
I tell her the secrets, the sadnesses, the joys that
give them meaning.

She listens, helps me cry where I haven’t finished crying,
and laugh were I have missed the humor.
We note the conflicts, and marvel at the synchronicities.
Then she reminds me that I am a Story worth telling,
and she helps me tell it.

Written by Maureen Carlson
© 1990 , 2012 WeeFolk Creations