When I was 10 or 11 years old I saw the cutest dolls for sale at the store. They were jointed baby dolls, all cloth like rag dolls but with hard sculpted faces. I didn’t know it at the time but these are called “pressed felt dolls” and they were pioneered by Madame Lenci of the Lenci Doll Co in the 1920s. These particular dolls were called “My Child” dolls by Mattel.

My mom is usually all about dolls but when I showed them to her she was uninterested. I was really a bit too old for dolls. I didn’t play with them much anymore; I just liked collecting them. I suggested, therefore, that my younger sisters would probably just LOVE the adorable My Child dolls ~ my ulterior motive was to play with them as shared toys.

Mom still ignored me. You might remember the travails of my very first baby doll, the Ideal Velvet Skin Baby Dreams, whose face peeled off. Mom probably didn’t want to deal with another hard-to-clean cloth doll! My Child dolls are hard to clean, and just like the Velvet Skin dolls that makes them very rare.

​The other day our neighbors, who are moving, gave me a big bag of vintage dolls. Lo and behold, there was a My Child in there! So at long last I have one! Of course, I don’t collect dolls now so she’s for sale in my shops. You can get her by clicking the button below. She's marked down through 2/18 as part of my flash sale.

You can still come across My Child dolls occasionally but if they’re under $100 they’re usually really grimy. There is a pretty easy fix, however. Just give them an alcohol bath. You can watch the video of me cleaning one here.