Embroidering a doll face

This doll is made from off white Kona cotton and is my original pattern. So far I have lightly penciled in her face. I do this freehand, but it would probably be better to transfer the face somehow from a flat drawing. I always vow to myself that I will find a foolproof method for doing this-next time! I am that lazy, this is one of my bad dollmaking habits-DON'T COPY MY BAD EXAMPLE! hehe!
Next I have stitched in the eye outline, eyelashes,pupil outline, eyebrows and nostril dots. For this I use 1 strand of DMC cotton, #838. I have also done the upper eyelid and nose in #3032. I use the tiniest stitches possible!She is lying on the fabric that I will be making her dress out of. I like to use the colors in the fabric for reference when I choose my floss and colored pencils.

My little Patsyette

This was my birthday present last month-isn't she cute! She is called, "Saucy Stripes". I am hoping to get some clothes made for her and perhaps offer some on ebay.

My latest little EFA girl

Here is what I have been finishing up this week. This little girl is about 13" tall and made from an Edith Flack Ackley doll pattern from the Dolls to Make for Fun or Profit book, from 1938. I love the sweetness of Edith's little dolls. But as much fun as they are to make, I can never get the shoes to fit right. I either stuff the feet to fat, or the knit I use for the socks is thicker than what was available in the 30's, but they never seem to fit. I even tried to alter them this time, and it is a little better, but still not right.
I chose some 1930's reproduction cotton in bubblegum pink for her dress and matching feedsack print for her apron, in keeping with the era. I also did some tiny hand crocheted lace on the edge of her collar that I learned from Gail Wilson's online Hitty class. It turned out really cute!

Lookie what I got!!

My lovely new friend BonnieJean noted my lament on the VCD yahoo board, that I was unable to get the Madame Alexander doll that I wanted when McDonalds was giving them away in Happymeals a couple of weeks ago! I started trying to collect them when I saw the little ballerina-she was so cute!
So BonnieJean sent me the ballerina, a darling little snowman(perfect for my collection that I will be pulling out soon for the holidays!), and a wonderful little handmade beeswax thread waxer for hand sewing! How awesome is that!




Thank you BonnieJean!
Here are all the Madam A dolls I have collected! They are so cute!

Vintage Cloth Doll Artists Ebay Group

With the help of my two friends Bettsi and Kathy, I have started a new group on ebay for dollmakers and others who sell cloth dolls and supplies for vintage cloth doll making. The idea is that we all put the initials vcda into our auction titles and then a potential buyer would type that into the ebay search engine and everything we have to offer will come up all at once! I see it as a one stop place to shop for great cloth dolls and supplies.
Kathy has made a wonderful banner to put into our auctions that identifies us as a group.
So I hope it takes off!

Tea party

Here are a bunch of dolls I have lately completed. From left to right is: Gail Wilsons Hitty, Gail Wilsons Early American doll and her little doll, EFA little girl doll, EFA baby doll. The wicker furniture my big sister bought for me when I was a little girl at a toy shop. There are actually 4 pieces(another chair not shown) and I remember it was $12. ! The tea set was my mothers when she was a little girl in the 1930's. It is quite chipped and cracked and the sugar bowl lid is missing and one tea cup doesn't match! But doesn't that make it all the more DEAR!

EFA dolls

The first EFA doll I have recently made was the Baby doll. Her pattern is found in the "Dolls to Make for Fun or Profit" book, by Edith Flack Ackley, published in 1938. I love this book! Ediths positive attitude and enthusiastic writing style, as well as her practical humor just make it so charming!

I am not totally happy with the costume. The collar is too bulky, and her shoes turned out awful! I would like to make her some new shoes out of leather.Her dress is completely handsewn, and I always have trouble with bulk when I sew by hand. I think the seams just aren't as crisp so it is hard to get a sharp edge, even after pressing. I actually made this doll body, face and hair some time ago, when I first discovered EFA and her charming dolls. I was into using vintage materials then, and I did her face in vintage darning thread-which as you can imagine is quite thick. I had to redo some of the face with floss-it was just too harsh.

If you were able to examine my little decorative herringbone stitch you would see that some of it is very fine and some is slightly wider! Not exactly what I was going for, but practice makes perfect! hehe!