Tag Archives: Dollmaking

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  🙂

O hello, dahlings!

This is Ms Winter.   So very pleased to meet you!

Her first name?  well, what is in a name?  Is a name, “just a name”, or does it mean something?  We all know someone who makes us think, “well she certainly doesn’t look like a “Carolyn”, I’ve always thought she looks just like a ____  “(fill in the blank)  When I was making this young lady, I did not intend to give her a name myself, in fact I purposely tried to avoid thinking of one.  Howeeeeeever, the same as when I made my Sally doll, I couldn’t help it but a name did pop into my head in those quiet zen moments as I was working on her.  So, in that respect, she actually does have a name; a quiet maker-born name… but first things first, let me start at the beginning.

I really enjoyed making my first doll Sally, which is why I decided to make this other… she is quite similar but actually quite different too in many little but significant ways.  I used the patterns in “the Making of a Rag Doll” by Jess Brown for Sally; whereas I drew up my own new patterns for this girl and for all her clothes.  The new girl is taller, has a smaller head and is quite the lanky skinny-minnie compared to the pear-shaped Sally.

She has pale skin, blue eyes and a thick long mane of charcoal-black merino hair… technically “beluga” hair, actually the wool leftover from these hand-knitted gloves, as well as from the heels and toes for nearly all my hand-knitted socks.  Just like Sally, her hair fully covers her scalp and can be styled a little.

I started out thinking of her as a Winter girl, thus her colouring; and was just going to make the above winter outfit for her… black merino tights,  a black and white striped sweater dress (leftover from this little top) and a knitted beanie (leftovers from these arm warmers)  The pattern for the beanie is adapted from that free one from the tiny sparks website, designed for preemie babies.  I’ve previously used it when I made a bunch of little preemie outfits.  And I added a pompom.

But of course, the minute I’d finished her winter outfit I couldn’t resist making a summer outfit for her too;  an elegant and ladylike wrap dress – le dernier-cris!! – in a swishy, prettily floral rayon.

Having two outfits made me realise, of course she was going to be getting undressed every now and then…. which can only mean one thing; underwear.  Even dolls deserve pretty underthings! so I made a little pair of lace boy-leg knickers for her too.  I embroidered a tiny rosebud with flanking leaves on the front,  just because.

And then I thought… all these very casual clothes: what if this glamorous young lady wants to sashay out after dark?  Every girl needs a chic little sparkly number for a special occasion, yes?  So I whipped up a hot-pink, sequinned, raglan sleeved sheath; in a mini-length in order to show off her enviably long slim legs; and for a finishing touch, added a matching jewelled necklace to nestle at that alabaster throat.  Oo lala!

But, all these clothes? How is a girl to get from A to B with all this lot?  Not to worry! she has a lovely cherry red duffle bag with a black strap to sling over her shoulder, as she dashes through traffic twixt office and taxi, taxi and theatre.  Just like all the cool girls.

Just a note to be real here; the duffle is actually empty in the below picture… she has a tendency to topple over when it’s packed full with her wardrobe!

Oh, her name?  Well, that’s for me to know and for you to find out!  Anyone who likes to “pin” will be able to find her name easily enough… !  There now, that’s a clue!

This is the first girl in a small seasonal set that I am planning to make, and sell in our shop.

Later edit; I made little raspberry coloured drawstring carry bag, with an inset tulle window so that she can see out… this can store her and all her stuff for when she’s not out and about  🙂