For this class, I have been working with a few items that I haven't worked with before. Though I have a lot of experience with sewing, before this class I had never made a doll. It was a large motivator for this project to figure it out.
My idea was to make a life-size rag doll of the character I was illustrating. I searched for patterns for ideas for making the doll, and in that search I came across tutorials made by a Japanese dollmaker. Using her patterns as a jumping off point, I started on making my doll.
I used a thin ivory-colored cotton and stuffing. I sewed the large parts together with green and red thread on a sewing machine. After stuffing the parts, I hand-sewed the openings shut and attached the parts together. I chose to leave the joints exposed with the exception of the legs, which I covered with a pair of children's opaque tights.
The hardest part of putting the doll together was by far the head and the hair. Initially, the head was too small for the size of the doll, so I had to remake it. Sewing the four parts of the head together proved to be a tricky thing on the sewing machine, but once that was done, it was pretty easy to stuff. I used almost an entire ball of yarn making the hair. The yarn was hand-sewed onto the head in multiple pieces, and then cut for styling. The face was drawn on with fabric markers.
I finally found the shoes after going to about three different Goodwills, and the dress was hand-drafted and made by me.
Making this doll got me sparked on making smaller ones for friends. I made this doll as a going away gift for a friend. Everything on it is hand-made or customized. These are incredibly therapeutic for me, since they take a lot of concentration to complete and make perfect. I'm planning on making a lot more of these in the future.
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