Arts of Delight

  This sweetie was also made with Gail Wilson's Izannah pattern, but I still couldn't get her head round enough, so she has a wig made with wool roving. The braids are the easiest style for me. Love the bows! She has the full complement of undies (batiste chemise, pantalettes, petticoat) and a period correct dress. Her face is done in coloured pencil on painted muslin. I like the effect!

  I have a few dolls that have been made from a Gail Wilson pattern in my quest to get a round-headed doll. I have had mixed success, with the heads turning out to be mostly egg shaped. However, I have turned this into an opportunity to put a head of hair on them. I finished this doll yesterday, but decided her dress was too plain. I looked into my Izannah Walker Pinterest board and saw a dress that used chain stitch embellishment, so I decided to try it out. I am happy with the result. I think this girl has a very sweet expression. She just insisted on being a redhead and I complied. I really, really like redheads! All her undies are made to her measure. I created the pattern for her blouse myself. I have always liked the look of a blouse under those dropped shoulders from the 1830's-1840's. Her dress skirt has cartridge pleats, I just love the way it accommodates a lot of fabric into a tiny waist.

  This doll is one of three cloth dolls I began making after the complex costuming required for dressing the Grodnertal dolls. I needed something simpler and familiar, a bit easier to put together. I am trying to rediscover how to get a very round head for a stuffed cloth doll, but haven't been doing so well. I used a Sue Farmer pattern for an Izannah Walker inspired doll, with some modifications to the body, combinations and dress. I decided to go the extra mile and make her a corded petticoat, the precursor of the crinoline. Very time consuming, but very worth it. It really makes the skirt stand out. This doll's head emerged very pointy, so I put a wig on her, which transformed her looks! It is made from jersey and wool roving. I am very pleased. She is listed in my Etsy store today.

  I forged ahead and made another Grodnertal type doll. I really like her face. I had to adjust her arms a couple of times to make them look right, but I'm happy now. I had some shot silk that I had been saving for something special and she was crying out for it, so I bit the bullet and went ahead designing a beautiful dress for her. I was once again reminded of the adage "Measure twice, cut once," after I sat back, having cut out the pieces for her dress, and realized I had used the wrong sleeve pattern! I had intended that her sleeves would be even bigger than they are. Still, the dress looks pretty good. I used the instructions from littlecabincreations.blogspot.com to make Van Dyke points for her collar. Not difficult, but REALLY fiddly. I made her a stand, but it is a bit too tall. Don't know if I can find the strength to make adjustments to it. She is a jointed doll, and all her clothes are removable, so you can play with her. I plan to put her into my Etsy stor...

I was away for a week, visiting my daughter out west on Galiano Island, so my dolls had to wait for their next steps to completion. After my last Grodnertal doll, I made a cloth doll from a pattern. I tried to get the head to be rounder, and so I made a few heads before I got one that was close enough to round to satisfy me. This meant that more cloth dolls needed to come to life! I also wanted to try a pattern from Sue Farmer that I   had used once in the past. This one is stuffed with cotton, a heritage stuffing, but I am not impressed with how lumpy it looks. Still, she is at the stage of getting her face painted, so she gets her crack at Becoming Real very soon. My latest Grodnertal was reproaching me, since she was clad only in her chemise and pantalettes. I grabbed some batiste and whipped up a petticoat and yesterday finished draping her dress pattern. I have cut out her dress using some shot silk taffeta that I bought from Delectable Mountain Cloth in Vermont, years ago, wh...

After doing small, small  sewing I turned to making an all cloth doll, just to simplify things a bit . I used a Gail Wilson pattern, with some modification, and had a jolly time sewing and stuffing. The pattern I used was supposed to produce a very round head, but I have only been able to achieve that once. The rest of the time, the heads are egg-shaped. Still, she turned out well and it was delightful to make her a cap and apron from one of my vintage hankies. Her dress fabric is from SVDP. I dyed the body fabric myself. Her hair is a boucle from VV that I dyed myself. It was a sickly beige originally.

 Here she is, my latest doll. Making her body was a learning experience, and the next doll I made was modified because of it. The period Grodnertal dolls were mostly dressed in Regency styles, so I have been looking at a lot of paintings from that time. I think it may be my favourite costume period. Because of the scale of this doll, all her clothing has been hand sewn. Draping the pattern for her dress took a couple of days, and sewing the dress took a couple more. There were lots of adjustments to make. I had to piece her hat. The silk fabric came from a thrifted blouse, so I needed to cut it carefully. After all the fiddling this took, I may make a little rag doll, as a palate cleanser.