Why do I make dolls? Because every time I finish one, I fall in love.
I spent way too much time making this dress. But, I DO like it!
Hmm. Now I am remembering that I was going to make her a little shawl. I have just the right color- an ochre. Maybe I will go do that now.
It is a girl with mermaids!
And, the Heather Ross fabrics are out again.
Back of the pinafore- button and sash.
A double underskirt with ruffles at the hems.
I’m out of practice. I took her outside and took a number of photos, but couldn’t choose the one I liked best. This one shows her hair the most clearly.
I like the pose of this one.
And I like the color contrast on this one.
Any opinions?
This was my studio, mid-afternoon. She was finished but I put her in the window to look at and be sure. There are 2 more girls on the desk, waiting for their dresses.
Another very hard to photograph girl- I’m going to have to learn more about under and overexposure on my camera. She has a dark purple body and a black cashmere pinafore. The pinafore has an embroidered sash. The camera wants to blend it all together. I did my best to show the colors and detail.
The sweater had moth holes and I decided to use them instead of avoid them in the pinafore.
Embroidery on a ribbon sash-
She has a skirt made from my favorite angora/wool blend. It is so soft and yet has body that makes it hold it’s shape. Cashmere can be floppy and stretchy. Yes, and talking of stretchy cashmere, yesterday I thought I was all finished here but… after I went to bed last night, I was thinking about her pinafore and decided it need to be lined. It was too “relaxed”- Â not staying in shape the way I’d like. Today, I added a wool felt lining to the bodice and sewed it on with buttonhole stitch all the way around the edge. It is one of those things that doesn’t really show and only I care. But it felt so satisfying when it was finished and everything seemed to fit so much better.
and her shoes-
I will be putting the fish, the Moonbeam girls and this one on Etsy, probably tomorrow afternoon. I have put away any more girls for now- they are just giving me too much trouble! I am working on lady pillows and babies- sewing them up and then I will do the decorative work. I am hoping that I’ll be doing some traveling in the next few months and it would be nice to have some dolls all ready to take along and do the handwork on.
Yesterday was the April crafty meet-up. There were 9 of us there- the biggest group yet! It was loads of fun. Look what Sharon made for Crystal! Â Next meet-up- May 12.
I spent a bit of time on the embroidery on this one.
The closure is a pin so it can be moved.
The airy piece of fabric that I used for the cape/shawl is something I picked up all the way back here. It was a sample from designer Jack Lenor Larsen and is all wool.
I am putting some other photos of her in my Flickr photostream.
All covered with her cape-
Sneak peak of her brighter clothes underneath-
Here she is without her cape-
I played with a new way of making hair- several layers of wool.
Here is her cape, laid out. You can see her skirt and underskirt, which is made of another printed sweater of an angora/wool blend- so soft.
And here are the 2 girls together. These girls are making me very happy.
Hurray- girls again! I am excited about this doll and the 3 more I am working on.
I have had this idea for girl dolls in my head since last summer- forest, woodland, fairy tale, wood nymph… I am not really sure what words to use. Sort of a darker, more secret version of Little Red Riding Hood?
Here she is without her shawl-
yep, snow.
Look who got finished today!
It was so much fun to work with these bright colors- especially because we’ve had some gray days around here recently.
Her colors and dots were inspired by my little friends that live next door. They came over at the end of the summer and I let them decorate my unfinished dolls with die cut felt bits. You can see some of their handiwork in this post. This girl has been sitting on my desk for the past few months and those dots grew on me. So, they are now on her skirt!
It was a real struggle to get some good photos of her- I am using my old camera and, guess what? It is not as good as my new one! My g10 is on its’ way home from factory service (Hurray!) and I am hoping it will get here today. Red is always hard to get right though. Also, whenever there is something fuzzy in the photograph, like her mohair scarf, it really messes up the focus. That is my excuse for all the photos in this post- in case you were wondering.
Here she is with all her goodies- she has an elastic waist cashmere skirt, a red wool coat, a black felt purse, and a blue mohair scarf that matches her eyes.
She has a cashmere bow in her hair.
A side view with the bow peeking out-
Her wool coat has wool felt trim and handstitched button holes.
