Rocket's birthday is only a few days away, and I am nearly finished with her doll. Originally, the doll was a project that followed a pattern. Of course, once the body was made, well it all went off the grid. The only thing that is true to the pattern at this point is the pleated skirt and the shorts. Rocket's sense of creative individuality struck, and I have been fussing for two weeks to make this birthday doll fit 8 year-old expectations.
So, the first pattern change was the eyes. They had to be blue, not black, and just the right kind of get-your-attention blue. Then the mouth had to be changed. Can't be a little straight line, has to be a smile. It's not so easy to stitch a smile onto a doll's face and make it look like a continuous line, let me tell you! It took me five attempts.
Then, the hair. Okay, it was going to be a light turquoise blue from the beginning, but it was going to be constructed like a wig with braids that just gets sewn onto the head down the middle and around the back. NOT so much how it worked out! Curly hair became the order of the day and each and every loop of hair has to be hand-sewn to the head. I spent over five hours sewing curls to this little head. Over FIVE hours! I will not be taking orders for dolls with curly hair again. The end.
The shirt is a tank top that came out a little roomy on the sides; so I opened up the body and added more stuffing to shorten and widen the torso. There's still shoes with a "fur" cuff--I'm working on dark brown with fuzzy alpaca/acrylic fold-over flaps--and a cardigan sweater. Actually, the one thing in this special order that I am okay with is the cardigan sweater because that's knitting with my eyes closed compared to the embelllished intarsia multi-piece pullover that was part of the original pattern. I had enough intarsia with those little hearts on the tank top.
Rocket seems to absolutely love the doll, which is the important thing. She was ready to adopt it when it was naked and faceless into her repetoir of dolls. Oh, and I almost forgot. No longer will we be calling this doll by its pattern name Posy; it's new name is Judy.
I'll show off the final product on Monday as one of my Monday Masterpiece posts. Have a great weekend and happy knitting!
So, the first pattern change was the eyes. They had to be blue, not black, and just the right kind of get-your-attention blue. Then the mouth had to be changed. Can't be a little straight line, has to be a smile. It's not so easy to stitch a smile onto a doll's face and make it look like a continuous line, let me tell you! It took me five attempts.
Then, the hair. Okay, it was going to be a light turquoise blue from the beginning, but it was going to be constructed like a wig with braids that just gets sewn onto the head down the middle and around the back. NOT so much how it worked out! Curly hair became the order of the day and each and every loop of hair has to be hand-sewn to the head. I spent over five hours sewing curls to this little head. Over FIVE hours! I will not be taking orders for dolls with curly hair again. The end.
The shirt is a tank top that came out a little roomy on the sides; so I opened up the body and added more stuffing to shorten and widen the torso. There's still shoes with a "fur" cuff--I'm working on dark brown with fuzzy alpaca/acrylic fold-over flaps--and a cardigan sweater. Actually, the one thing in this special order that I am okay with is the cardigan sweater because that's knitting with my eyes closed compared to the embelllished intarsia multi-piece pullover that was part of the original pattern. I had enough intarsia with those little hearts on the tank top.
Rocket seems to absolutely love the doll, which is the important thing. She was ready to adopt it when it was naked and faceless into her repetoir of dolls. Oh, and I almost forgot. No longer will we be calling this doll by its pattern name Posy; it's new name is Judy.
I'll show off the final product on Monday as one of my Monday Masterpiece posts. Have a great weekend and happy knitting!
What a great project! Too cute! Aren't making plushies a blast!
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