a handmade doll

She’s kind of a beauty.  Er, no?

Well this isn’t the first doll I’ve ever sewn.  I made one with my mom’s help back when I was a Girl Scout a few years ago.  But the other night it was nice and quiet in the house and I kinda just felt like making a doll.  Just to see what I could come up with since I’m such a novice with my shiny new sewing machine.  I knew my little girl would love it no matter what (well, that’s actually still to be determined.)

(pardon the completely open back dress . . . I just didn’t want to over complicate things for myself so I just focused on the front side.)

Again, as in my fabric fish post, this is not a tutorial what so ever.  Just more of a “hey, I’m gonna whip up a doll with very little sewing skills.  So you could do this too.”

I used materials I already had on hand:

• yarn for the hair
• buttons for eyes
• left over fabric
• a simple pattern cut out of construction paper
• stuffing
• needle and thread (and my new sewing machine)

For the backless dress number I simply cut out a piece of fabric the same shape as her body and used the sewing machine to sew it onto the front part of the doll body.  I did this before I pinned and sewed the back piece to the front piece.  (see, not a tutorial.)

Here are some shots of my handy work.  No so handy, but I’m definitely learning from my mistakes . . .

After I sewed the front and back together on the machine, turning her right side out was the hardest part.  I made her legs and arms too skinny and ended up using tweezers to turn them out.  No wonder the pros usually do the limbs separately.

The hair was easier than I thought it would be.  I found this great little tutorial on using yarn for hair on the blog made by bedtime tales.  Again, I’m just a novice sewer, so this doll’s hair is definitely not red carpet ready.  Still lots of room for improvement.

I ended up stuffing her via the top of the head as well as that little slit in the leg area.  I hand sewed those areas closed.  I also hand sewed the button eyes.  I tinkered with the machine to stitch the mouth and nose.  I just wanted to see if that was even possible to do.  It sorta was.

Doesn’t she have kind eyes? . . .

BOO!

She means well.  My daughter has mixed feelings about her.  But I like her.  I’ve already created a persona for her — she’s shy and only uses two to three word sentences.  The next doll will be better.  I promise.

Until next Monday!

Jennifer

linking up with Skip to my Lou