the Kimberley doll pattern

For anyone who liked my dolls and maybe wished to make one for themselves…Cassie and I have made a pattern!

The Kimberley doll pattern is available to buy in our shop right now, just in time for Christmas making!  You can get it as an instantly downloadable pdf and there are also a limited number of paper patterns.  This is the same pattern I developed to make my recent seasonal set of four; the Mses Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn … I enjoyed making them all so much! and am so happy they’ve been liked so much too  🙂

Included is the rag doll pattern, naturally; and her full wardrobe…  I know when I was a kiddy the most enjoyable thing about playing with my dolls was dressing them in a variety of clothes; the more the better! and my favourite dolls all had lots and lots of clothes which I delighted in changing out regularly.  This is why I strived to give the Kimberley doll plenty of outfit options!  All pieces included in the seasonal girls’ sets are here; the “winter” turtleneck tunic dress and a pair of jersey leggings, and the knitting pattern for her chevron-patterned beanie with pompom; a twirly summer wrap dress, lace knickers, and raglan sleeved mini dress, which so far I have chosen to make in stretch sequinned fabric as a cocktail dress for “my” girls.  Additional patterns included are for her zippered duffle bag, and also for the dust bag that is designed to hold her and all her belongings when she is not being played with.

I also include instructions for giving the doll a full head of yarn hair and an embroidered face.  The example I used for the pattern is basically the same face that I have given all my dolls, but I would like to point out that how you do the face for your own doll is a very personal decision and you can, and should! use your own artistic license and go with whatever takes your fancy!   Something  interesting I’ve found is that the smallest, tiniest variations; a slant to a mouth, wider-set eyes, offset or asymmetrical eyebrows, can affect a facial expression quite a lot.  And hair! that’s a whole other story too…  🙂

Some of the technical deets:

The Kimberley doll stands 43cm (17″) high.  Most of her clothes can actually be made from scraps and small bits and pieces of fabric, but following is a complete list of requirements should you buying new:

The Kimberley doll is named for the Kimberley region of Western Australia, following our theme of naming our patterns after places in Western Australia.  Well, we already had “Perth” and so decided this would be a nice theme to keep up and we have so many beautiful places here in Western Australia that are obviously very dear to our hearts.  Though we were partly influenced by the thought it would be nice to have a girl’s name for a doll pattern too, so very fortunately we do have one girl’s name in the state!  The colours of the Kimberley rocks are what I was going for in the background colour of the pattern cover.  I was pretty thrilled when Cassie recognised this straight away without my having to explain it, hehe…

It’s so weird; for many years I never suspected I would have become interested in making dolls, it’s not “serious” like making clothing for yourself or anyone else for that matter, and for a long time I’ve been quite serious about my sewing and devoting myself to making a full and proper wardrobe.  But well, doll-making has been such a nice diversion, just something purely whimsical, you know?  I hope it gives a little bit of frivolous enjoyment to others too!

By the way; selling of completed handmade dolls made using this pattern is permitted provided design credit is given to Carolyn & Cassie Pattern Co.