Dolls! Rich Girl, Poor Girl, Part 1

Here is the first of the two dolls I spoke about in my last post. I have tried to make this one look old by using soft colours and tea dyeing all the fabrics including the embroidery thread I used to highlight the shape of her shoes. It was great fun to try this dyeing technique.

I used the pattern for an attic doll from the book Making Cloth Dolls edited by Dorothea Hall. I changed the pattern so that my doll looked like a young child. My inspiration for the outfit was from the children's novel The Family From One End Street by Eve Garnett. I think this story was set in the 1930's and all of the children's clothes look baggy and well worn.

I used artist's quality pens and pencils and a white gel pen for the highlights on her eyes. I initially applied the colour very lightly, but it did not stand out enough. Perhaps I should have left it a lot lighter in keeping with my vintage doll theme. The rosette in her hair is made from the selvedge of her bloomer fabric.

My reference books of antique and vintage dolls show some wonderful ideas for faces. Here are some quick sketches I did of some of them:

The back of her head shows how I lifted off some of the paint to make her look old, and even sanded it back in some places with an old pumice stone, of all things.

I used acrylic paints on her shoes and hair.

Now it is time to start working on the Rich Girl version. She will get nice shiny shoes and her clothes will not be faded. I am not sure what her face will look like, as I find that evolves as I work on a doll. It will be interesting to compare the dolls and see whether I have managed to make one look old and one look new.