Doll made from teaching technique

Last Sunday was doll club and I showed everyone a wonderful technique. It is called shank button jointing and I believe it was invented by Judy Ward. I really love the technique, you just go through the doll body once and the buttons are hidden inside the arms and legs. With the other button jointing, the buttons are on the outside and you have to go back and forth through the body a number of times. The "number" of course depends on who is giving the instructions or how much trouble I am having doing it! I made this doll out of many different designers parts. The head is Allison Marano's pattern, it was sitting on my sewing table for a couple of years because I didn't like the way the body came out and never made another one, so time to do something with it. The body was Patti Culea's first body in her doll making book, I just had to resize it to 90%. And the arms and legs are from Patty LaValley's "Summer" doll pattern. I originally made "Summer" from doe suede and I love that doll, it was the first time I had tried the shank button jointing and loved it. This time I made the doll with a woven fabric and it worked great. I think the only problem (besides her crazy hair!) is that the arms are just a touch to low, but all in all I like her. She is nothing fancy or difficult, but sometimes it is fun just to do a simple doll. I love her outfit. The tank top is made from a sock and the capris are some cute fabric that I have had for a while. Then she needed sandals and they are made from 3 colors of fun foam with the rick-rac trim. I painted her nails with acrylic paint and put a coat of glitter glaze on top, just like my toes in the summer.

New Doll

Well, I finally finished a new doll. It seems like forever since I have made a doll. Having said that I will use that as an excuse because I don't think I did a very good job on this doll. I am not very happy with the way she turned out. I just need to keep practicing. She was an interesting doll to make as all of Colleen Babcock's dolls are. I left her feet off because that was the last thing to put on and honestly, it was fussy work and I was just not pleased enough with the doll to do it! I think part of the problem is her hair. I felted on the mohair and if I had taken the time to sew it on, the hair would have been a little more poofy and that might have helped. Well, on to the next one.