best

I must tell you about this gorgeous new book from Corinne Crasbercu. With beautiful photographs, classic designs, and even darling little sketches and watercolors mixed in throughout, Corinne's new book, My Rag Doll, is a visual treat. Here is just a glimpse of the bright and inviting styling in this treasure of a book.

Even the materials-list pages are pretty. Look how the fabrics, ribbons and yarns are laid out for the Red Riding Hood doll shown above.

My Rag Doll takes you through the creation of a simple doll with customizeable hair and features. You can start with a clean and tidy hairdo and let the naturalism develop over time as the doll is loved and dragged about by her human friends. Or, you can style her hair with wispies and frayed ends for a more broken-in effect—see hair-style examples above.

And there are many different clothing and shoe patterns included as well, from dungaries and a raincoat to pajamas and a kimono—and everything in between.

I have a true soft spot for rag dolls. The sweetest gifts I received as a child—and I still have most of them—were all rag dolls made by my mother. My first rag doll can be seen in my baby portrait at one year old. I was so attached to my Raggedy Ann that the only way my mom could get me to stop crying during the photo session was to hand that doll right on back to me.

My next rag-doll baby doubled as baby Jesus in our family Christmas devotional when I was four. Somewhere amongst my keepsakes there is a photo of me as Mary holding my dolly Jesus. Later, for my eighth birthday, my mom made me another doll with a matching moses basket and a change of clothes. Again, there is a photo of me somewhere with my friends all gathered on our front lawn while I tear the wrapping paper off of this beloved gift.

I have often thought about creating the quintessential rag-doll pattern book. Something to pay homage to my long-standing love for rag dolls. I envisioned an intro with these personal photos and an account of my own history making dolls, even having dolls of mine displayed at a museum. Then, a lovely book like this shows up on my doorstep—it's great to have publisher friends—and my fantasy is quite fulfilled. I don't even have to do the writing and pattern-drafting work. I can skip straight to the fun part—gathering fabrics, trims and yarn and making up a rag doll for my own daughter to drag about and love. While I might write my own doll book one day, I'm in no hurry for now. This book is lovely.

– – – – – – – – – – – - 

Stitch Craft Create, the publisher, has offered me a second copy of this new book to give away. To enter, leave a comment below by Friday at midnight MST. If you have a rag-doll memory, share it with us. One winner will be randomly chosen early next week. To purchase the book in advance and also immediately receive a downloadable e-book at no additional charge, click here. Or you can pre-order the book on Amazon. Blog-hop details here—psssst—there might be others giving away a copy of the book.