Hapless Little Rag Doll

I've had my sewing machine for all of five minutes and therefore am instantly a master seamstress, right? Sure, I jumped right in with two feet and drew my own little rag doll pattern freehand, cut it all out, matched everything up, pinned my pieces together, started sewing and stuffing and was super excited about how cute it was going to be... until I realized my poor dolly looked even more disproportionate than I do. Three attempts to make her some sort of clothing this morning weren't even successful because I'm so sewing illiterate that I don't know what she needs to help accentuate her good features. So instead of clothing her, I've decided to play up her more attractive qualities (hair and eyes, naturally), accessorize her with a crafty little choker and call it a day. How does she look? Is she seriously creepy or oddly charming?

Either way, she is destined to be my inspiration to always measure twice and cut once. She will serve as my reminder to always, always, always take the importance of proportion into consideration. And the poor girl will be stuck with me for all her days. Her limbs sewn to the outside of her body because I couldn't figure out any other way to get them attached to her torso like they should be. I also couldn't manage to conjure up a logical way to join sleeves to any type of garment I fashioned. Of course the latter had no bearing on this little project whatsoever because none of my little friend's clothes fit her anyway and I've now forced her to run around in the buff. I am confident that someday I will be able to style her a glamorous wardrobe; I just need to keep working on it patiently.

This project was definitely not a bust, though. Aside from the yarn used on her hair and the thread to piece her together, my dolly is made entirely of clothing recycled from my closet. And speaking of her hair, it was created using the process I hinted about yesterday. I found the process in a post by Tantehilde and absolutely loved it. This method definitely made creating and applying the hair the easiest part of this project.

On the agenda for the rest of the day is creating a dedicated craft room and going back to the drawing board on some nifty little rag dolls. Fortunately for me, Teresa Brady was kind enough to share her pattern, which includes the body and the clothing so that everything is proportionate, at Things of Cloth so I can keep plugging away at them.Wish me luck!!!