It’s been a while since I made any dolls.
By that I mean a proper doll doll, rather than a miniature creature.
I have something of a stash of dolls that I haven’t quite got around to photographing and adding to my Etsy shop.
But the other day I had a photo from this blog post shared by massively popular Facebook page Folt Bolt (1,153,151 followers, no less!)
It reminded me that rather than leave my dolls languishing in a trunk, I really ought to sort them out and get them on sale.
And the 8,234 likes, 629 loves and 1480 shares elicited by Folt Bolt’s post also – ahem – rekindled my interest in making them.
I keep having to do something different each time though. I don’t much like repeating myself when it comes to dolls.
I’ve made cat dolls before. But not like this feline flower fairy.
The main difference, other than her leafy wings and petal-tastic hat, is down to my forgetting to appliqué her face on before sewing her up.
And I also made her legs too thin to turn – a classic beginner’s mistake that I used to make quite often when I started making dolls, but hadn’t done for ages.
(Of course, if I used an actual pattern to make the legs I wouldn’t have this problem, but me being me, with my lazy ways, I just eyeball them instead.)
Anyway, the face faux pas forced me into trying a new thing, which was good.
Instead of using appliqué and embroidery, I painted over the pattern on the fabric with acrylic paint, and when it was dry I drew and painted on the features.
On the whole I think I prefer embroidered faces, but you can’t sew on painted fabric without leaving great big puncture marks from the needle, so needs must.
Better than unpicking and starting again.
It feels good to be keeping my hand in on the doll-making front.
Even if a feline flower fairy face wasn’t quite what I had in mind to start with, happy accidents are always fun. ♥
Very sweet – glad you’ve had another look at the lovely dolls, and what a great response to our Liberty ones – I have another little doll project for you, when I can get it together…!
Love her! So whimsical & charming. She’s purrrfect!
She’s wonderful! I am like you, thinking I can just wing it when I try something new. Making a pattern first is sensible, but sometimes you just need to jump in and play, even if it doesn’t work out. Congratulations on making Folt Bolt’s FB page! I can’t wait to see your doll making coming back to life. You are very talented, don’t forget it 🙂
Thank you! The plan is to get my dolls on sale this week (ties in with reactivating my Etsy shop to apply for a stall at an Etsy Made Local event) so that will galvanise me a bit. I find it very de-motivating to my doll-making when I have a graveyard of unsold dolls hanging around.