May 16, 2011

Doll attempt #2

Soon after my
failed attempt at making a doll,
I gave it another shot...


I drew again a body, neck and head, then arms and legs.
This time I gave her a shorter neck,
longer-ish arms
and more tapered thighs.


Then I traced the new doll pattern onto a cream colored fabric,
avoiding the staining process altogether.

This time I didn't cut all the pieces before I sewed them together.
Instead, on the fabric I traced the body/neck/head, 2 legs and 2 arms.
I put another layer under the piece with traced pattern.
There were now 2 layers of fabric. Then I sewed them.

I sewed together the 2 pieces of the body,
leaving an opening only at the bottom.

I sewed together the arm pieces,
leaving an opening at the "shoulder".

Then I sewed together the leg pieces,
leaving an opening at the "hip".

After cutting them out
and turning all the parts right side out,
I stuffed them with stuffing,
sewed all the openings shut,
and sewed her arms and legs to her body.

....by the way....
I found my stuffing laying around our living room.
The boys had been slowly removing it from the recliner
and I had been throwing it away.
That day I had asked them to pick it up and throw it away.
Just to realize it's perfect for my doll!
I went over the trash can hoping it's not too dirty for me to save,
and I had never been so happy when my children disobeyed me!
They didn't make it to the trash can, they just threw it on the floor!
....
....
Now back to the doll.

It was now time to give her a face.
I cut pieces of black yarn, dipped them into mod podge,
shaped her eyes and eyelashes and let them dry on my finger.
I then applied fabri-tac to the eyes and glued them to her face.
From a pink ribbon I cut out her lips\
and glued them on with fabri-tac as well.

Now, for the hair, I had brown yarn
and used fabri-tac to glue it to her head.
Then I gave her a hair cut.
First I cut it straight across
and then gave her layers.

Even then I wasn't done.
She couldn't be naked,
so I made her some undergarments
and glued them on with fabri-tac.


And of course no doll is complete without at least one dress :)


And as perfect as she may seem... she is not.
Her "hair" is too heavy for her head, causing her head to fall backwards.
To remedy this, I opened up the stitching on her neck
and stuck a rolled up piece of stiff interfacing.
Then I stitched her neck back up.

Maybe I'll make another doll and write a tutorial?
   
PS This doll was also made from scraps of fabric and left over yarn  :)

4 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 12, 2011

    Love these doll posts! Both the process info (brave and kind to share that) and final result. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 18, 2011

    I LOVE it! she turned out beautifully! :-)
    There is a likelyhood that I am about to become a stay at home (possibly homeschooling) mom with two girls too - This is Definitely something I'll consider doing!
    Great Job Lena! ~galina

    ReplyDelete
  3. What is her name? you have to name her :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. The boys and I named her Ava (pronounced ayvuh)... well... I named her, the boys agreed :)

    ReplyDelete

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