The latest addition to my little set of seasonal dolls is finished! Please say g’day to Ms Spring!
Ms Spring is, obviously, a spring-y kind of a girly; she is actually made from the exact same ivory calico as her sister Ms Winter but has light coffee-coloured skin thanks to a long hot soaking in a cup of strong coffee. Not Ms Spring herself, of course, but her fabric prior to her making! She has green/blue eyes, and tawny golden blonde hair. I’m super pleased with her hair! It started out life pale grey in colour; Morris & Sons Empire 4ply, 100% Australian merino “French Grey”, and I dyed it in a yellow/orange dye solution, the same dye-bath that I used for this jacket. I wanted the colour to be a bit blotchy and two-tone, because natural hair IS is a bit variegated in colour so that’s a more realistic look…. so dunked the completely dry wool straight into the bath and just minimally swirled it about, just a little bit. I’m so so happy with the pretty range of warm golden yellows I got! I also really adore her side-swept fringe ‘do…
Up top, she is wearing her cocktail dress; a blush pink sequinned number which is in my humble opinion, the most divine shade of pink ever invented!! How much would I like a dress for myself in this colour?? SOOOOOOOOO much! I know, I know, I should just make one. Sadly though my actual life involves zero need for a pretty pink sequinned dress, so I’m just going to settle for making one for this young lady instead 😉
Her matching necklace is all pink; pink jewellery wire, with a pink-y apricot pearl bead.
on Wednesdays we wear pink….
Her summer dress is a checked yellow rayon, beautifully drape-y… this fabric is a little fray-y, so I went to the effort of a narrow rolled hem. So fancy!
Really though – really – my personal piece de resistance for this dolly has been her winter outfit… this turned out rather chic, if I say so myself!! I’d made the denim blue leggings, and knitted her little blue beanie… and then just couldn’t settle on a good colour/look for her turtleneck sweater dress. I actually made three other rejected candidates, prior to this one! None of them were just right, too dull, or too bright – it’s really important to me that all the pieces in my dolly’s wardrobes tone together really beautifully and have a lovely and harmonious overall colour scheme. I love this dolly’s colour scheme; it’s soft and sorta cheerfully pretty in a muted way, a bit stronger than pastel but definitely not bright. I just couldn’t settle upon a fabric/colour that fitted my vision. Then I made this ivory sweater dress, which is nice, but still not quiiiiite right, and finally I hit upon the idea of adding embroidery to the yoke, to make it look a bit like a fair isle sweater. Well, that’s what I think, anyway! And it all clicked into place! It has blue -the same blue as her beanie -, the orange is the same wool as her hair, except I soaked it in the dye bath for a lot longer to just get a stronger colour – and grassy yellow/green. Now, it’s perfect, I think!
And of course she has a duffle bag! to carry all her stuff! It is made of wide-wale corduroy, that I dyed also to get this shade of caramel brown, and it has a pocket both front and back too. Goodness knows what she is going to put in those pockets, but as we all know, a girl can never have too many pockets, no?!
Oh! of course she has underwear too… a pair of lacey boy-leg briefs, with an embroidered yellow rose on the front, so you can tell the front from the back.
you can see her light, coffee-coloured skin shade better in this picture, I think 🙂
Here she is, with everything!
But wait, not quite everything! There’s more! Lastly, just one more thing… when I sent Ms Winter off, I made at the very last minute a drawstring carry bag, with an inset tulle window, so she can see out… this can store her and all her clothes and possessions in one place, for when she’s not being played with, or out on display or whatever. So, of course I had to make one for Ms Spring too, in a shade of spring-y turquoise that fits nicely in with her particular colour scheme.
She is currently listed for sale over in our shop 🙂
Ms. Spring is really charming and I so love her clothes and would really like to have her wardrobe in my size. Clever idea of the bag with the window.
So sweet! I’m glad she can see out so she doesn’t feel trapped.
When I was a little girl I was always hunting for a doll who had brown hair and blue eyes like mine. If they had brown hair they had brown eyes and if they had blue eyes that had blonde hair. So frustrating! So I made my own and I still have her 60 years later. Her name is Cynthia. Not as lovely as Ms Spring but after all, I was only 8!
Ms Spring and her style is so charming! I love especially the yoke sweater! 🙂 And the shuttle bag for travels is wonderful!
Hello, Miss Spring! Your hair is beautiful with it‘s golden shades and you have such a cute wardrobe. Have sweet dreams in your sleeping bag!
Your sweet attention to detail shines through in the ever lovely Ms. Spring. She has the most perfect wardrobe and accessories. Someone will be very lucky to have her.
She’s utterly adorable!
Now that my children are adults, I do miss the fun of making dollies and accompanying outfits.
I love this! I have been wanting to get into dollmaking solely so I can make all kinds of fabulous doll clothes, but my daughter is more into trucks & superheroes so it’s hard to justify the time/expense unless I am just making them to sell. Which would be fine, but I always get anxious that my stuff isn’t good enough to sell, even though it’s good enough that I make all my own clothes…Some kind of sewing imposter syndrome or something…
Ms. Spring is better dressed than I am, no kidding! I might just make all those super-cute outfits in my size!!! Actually, I think I will! I hope Ms. Spring doesn’t mind a copy-cat…..
You’ve done it again. She’s wonderful.
Absolutely gorgeous, and love your attention to details, right down to the colouring to match her complexion. Beautiful!
Hi Carolyn,
My granddaughter would love Ms Spring. Would you consider selling the pattern so that I might make one for her? I would be so grateful.
Thanks so much,
Amy
thank you so much Amy! As it happens, I am planning to release this as a pattern pretty soon; shouldn’t be too long! Thank you for the interest 🙂
so, so cute!! I think that is the cutest doll I have ever seen!!!