My Mother bought me a fancy bed doll when I was a young lady. I was somewhere between being a kid and being a teenager. She hoped having the doll to decorate my bed would get me into the habit of making my bed each morning so the doll could sit on it with her lovely dress, fancy hair and angelic little face. But, before we bought the doll my Mother explained that it was not a doll to play with. Instead she was just to be put on the bed or the shelf for display. She told me that once I took the doll’s hair down or took her dress off it would not be the same. She was right. I found out by doing it.
It would be nice if the bed doll gets another chance to be fashionable. For one thing, it’s a chance to repurpose some of the old dolls in thrift stores. I always see shelves of them, most half dressed or missing all their clothes. Someone needs to come along and take care of those girls.
Also, if you get into the design and creating of the dresses you can become a doll fashionista. Look at old fashioned dresses, gowns from TV and movies and bring in new modern themes to create custom gowns designed by you.
I’ve seen these dolls called boudoir dolls too, a more romantic name than bed dolls.
This doll comes from Grammas Junk on Etsy .
Vintage bed doll from Nimbles Nook on Etsy .
Pinterest: Free Crochet Bed Doll Patterns and Accessories
Pinterest: Flapper, Smoker Boudoir Dolls and Others
Flickr: Vintage Half Dolls and Boudoir Dolls
Epatterns Central: Bed Doll Patterns
The Dollie Boudoir – History of her.
About.com: Doll Collecting: Boudoir Dolls
Jazz Age Club: The Boudoir Doll Craze
The Wayback Times: Meet the Boudoir Dolls
Frau Wulf’s Boudoir Doll Blog (No longer being updated).