Not just a pretty face

Some time ago a sewing friend was asked to make a rag doll. She happily agreed then realised that the type of face she had previously used was no longer available. Feeling a hand made doll should perhaps have a hand made face she asked me to sew one.

Design picked off the internet I set to embroidering a face.  As she was happy with the result I was not long thereafter sewing another. More doll requests followed and she asked me to show her how to sew the faces for herself.

Doll Face

Here I am showing the stitches for each part of the face.  I mark the design on using  felt tip pens that say "washable" on the box.  They are available at most supermarkets.  So far I have had no trouble getting the ink washed out.

Moving on several months and as mentioned previously a charity event at work was planned. I asked my friend if she would make a doll for me for that. 

She agreed and I sewed another face, she made and clothed the doll.

Finished Doll Face

Here is the finished face, brown eyes to match her hair.

The clothes are all removable as we both agreed clothes that were not had irritated us as children.

Now when making dolls previously they were for friends  and went without shoes, on the expectation outgrown shoes from the recipient would fit.

In this case I thought some shoes would finish off the doll.

So I made shoes out of pink felt with velvet ribbon to fasten them on. 

Pink shoes

Once the shoes were finished, well a lady needs a bag to match (even if a picture of the shoes has just a glimpse of bloomer she is still a lady!), back to the felt and ribbon, having added the bag strap I had a little bit of ribbon left to cover the snap fastening.  

It was not until after I had stitched the covering loop on I realised the significance of the shape I had made in pink ribbon.

It was nice to have a bit more involvement with the doll and not just sew a pretty face.

Complete outfit

Sitting pretty

So I have taken her to work and handed her over to the charity committee,  They were thinking of doing a name the doll game for her..I will let you know how it went when I post about the Christmas fair in aid of SARCOMA UK at the end of this week.  Wish us luck. 

My added Forestella for this post is