Dolls! Making Ella's Felt Dress

Here is Ella posing amongst the pansy flowers in her new dress. It is not finished though; I still have to attach the skirt and do the scallop edging along the hem.

Here is a close up of the button hole stitch. I think that is a really good way to finish the edges, even though they do not fray. I do not do any hand stitching, so this was interesting and kind of therapeutic to do. It is very different working with 100 per cent wool felt. It has such a woolly feel to it! No wonder the Italian Lenci dolls from the 1920's and 1930's who had clothing made from felt lasted so well; it is such thick durable fabric. I would imagine insects and moths were a problem though.

Ella's head got an attack of the wobbles after I sewed it on to the body, so I will need to insert a wooden craft stick to support the neck and keep her head upright. I don't like doing this in toys, even though she is only going to be displayed.

Dolls! Hair for Ella & Cloth Doll Sewing Techniques

Here is Ella with her new hair. It came from a huge ball of acrylic wool, which was made in Romania.

For this pattern, some of the pieces are cut with the seam allowances included. The rest are traced onto the fabric, and then sewn on the traced line. After the piece is sewn, you cut out along the seam allowance. I guess this second method makes it easier when sewing fiddly shapes.

Trace, sew then cut method

Not sure how I will do the felt outfit, perhaps I will start with the dress that was provided with the pattern.

Here are a couple more shots of the entries in the doll show that I went to two weekends ago.

Dolls! Face for my Ella Cloth Doll

This is the face that I painted for my Ella cloth doll (see a photo of Lynn Hyland's original design for Ella here). I have not managed to achieve a little girl look, so I might just leave out the peter pan collar on her felt dress and the bloomers. Perhaps when I sew the head on the body and do the hair, she might look like a little girl. Mmmm...

Here she is trying out the felt colours that I might use for her dress.

Dolls! All the Fun of the Doll Show

I went to a doll show with my Mum on the weekend, and came away this this little beauty. The doll is a more modern style, 5 1/2 inches tall with mohair hair and painted porcelain shoes and socks. The outfit (dress, underwear, coat and hat) is a copy of a what looks like a French style from the 1800's. I got the doll at one stall and the outfit at another. Historically she is probably not the right doll for this clothing style, but I think she wears the outfit with flair.

A beautiful face

Just look at the hat!

I took this photo of some of the Doll Artisan Group's entries that had received awards in their various categories in the competition:

There was a lot of talent at this show, and I am glad that I went. I also managed to get a wig, shoes and socks for my vintage 1950's Sweet Sue doll that needs a bit of work to make her look her best.

I have been grabbing ten minutes here and half an hour there over the last 3 weeks, so there is some progress on my Ella doll; I just have to sew the arms and legs on and then stuff the head and paint the face.



Dolls! Fabrics for Doll Clothes in the 1950's

I received my photocopy of vintage McCall's pattern 1720 in the mail this week from dollieduds.com. Isn't it gorgeous! It was published in 1952 and is for the American Character Sweet Sue dolls. I was reading the fabric requirements on the back of the pattern envelope and was surprised that they suggest wool jersey for the view A or B blouse. Wool jersey! I have never come across that kind of fabric in the fabric chain stores that I haunt. I would imagine that in the 1950's it was easily available, otherwise they would not have suggested it for these doll clothes. Modern mass produced dolls clothes are certainly not going to be using wool jersey!

A big thankyou this week to princess char who signed up as a follower to my blog. It is always such a compliment when someone wants to become a follower. She does not seem to have a blog, otherwise I would have given you the link.

My RTW clothing alterations are creeping along so I only spent about 10 minutes on my Ella doll last weekend; she is not going to get completed in a hurry at this rate.