Month of Softies..
I absolutely love the idea of doing a self portrait of myself as a child. However, my execution is quite the opposite of my vision. I blame it on several things: 1. I didn't do any preliminary sketches 2. I did the pattern freehand for my doll and her dress 3. I had an unusual amount of stress with our roof being ripped off and leaking when we had massive amounts of rain (flooded in several areas around neighboring cities) 4. I have a migraine.
Anyway, even though I had all these things happening and then some, I got my doll finished
and though she is not exactly what I imagined, she's pretty cute. Now about my doll: She is tallish, meant to be about 10 or 11 years old (though she looks older to me for some reason). She has yarn hair and each piece is sewn on. This was the most tedious and rewarding aspect of my doll. When I was this age, I had a lot of hair but nothing like this. The dolls hair reminds me of Mariah Carey's hair. I would have loved to have hair down to my ankles when I was a kid but being tall, it never happened.
Well, now it did! I guess having long hair is a childhood fantasy of mine. :)
When I made the pattern for the doll, her legs were quite a bit shorter than her arms (I realized this after I had sewn them to the body. Does anyone else make their own patterns?). But you can't tell too much with her long orange polyester dress. Then again, maybe you can. Anyway, I did a zig zag stitch to make the design and heart shape on the front. It's supposed to have a 1970's feel as I am a child of the 70's....though a quiet child of the 70's.
I feel like the face has an ethnic feel, which makes sense I suppose, since I am Bulgarian and have a whole fleet of countries on my mom's side. So, this isn't to unreal.
The face is embroidered and the doll is made from white cordoroy I got for free at a swap meet. Actually, the only thing I bought for this doll was the yarn and I had left over embroidery floss from previous projects. The polyester material I got from www.freecycle.com It's an exchange group where you post what you want to get rid of or what you need and people contact each other. Pretty cool and a nice way to reduce those landfills. Find one in your part of the world! :)
And the legs are stripped stocking materials in honor of one of my favorite little girls, Pippy Longstocking. I was very much like Pippy, climbing trees (in my case a grapefruit tree) in the backyard and feeling truly invincible. I remember at one time thinking if I could try hard enough I could fly and tried to jump off the back steps and for a moment I felt like I was flying and then I'd land hard on the concrete and dust. Even though my knees would be stinging and my hands would smart from falling on the concrete, I felt I did fly...even if for but a moment.
My doll is entitled "70's Child". (In the background of this pic, you can see a pink blanket. This was crocheted by my adopted grandmother when I was a little girl. When I use this blanket (and I have it out daily) it reminds me of her. Her blanket is one of the reasons I learned to crochet too).
Anyway, even though I had all these things happening and then some, I got my doll finished
and though she is not exactly what I imagined, she's pretty cute. Now about my doll: She is tallish, meant to be about 10 or 11 years old (though she looks older to me for some reason). She has yarn hair and each piece is sewn on. This was the most tedious and rewarding aspect of my doll. When I was this age, I had a lot of hair but nothing like this. The dolls hair reminds me of Mariah Carey's hair. I would have loved to have hair down to my ankles when I was a kid but being tall, it never happened.
Well, now it did! I guess having long hair is a childhood fantasy of mine. :)When I made the pattern for the doll, her legs were quite a bit shorter than her arms (I realized this after I had sewn them to the body. Does anyone else make their own patterns?). But you can't tell too much with her long orange polyester dress. Then again, maybe you can. Anyway, I did a zig zag stitch to make the design and heart shape on the front. It's supposed to have a 1970's feel as I am a child of the 70's....though a quiet child of the 70's.
I feel like the face has an ethnic feel, which makes sense I suppose, since I am Bulgarian and have a whole fleet of countries on my mom's side. So, this isn't to unreal.
The face is embroidered and the doll is made from white cordoroy I got for free at a swap meet. Actually, the only thing I bought for this doll was the yarn and I had left over embroidery floss from previous projects. The polyester material I got from www.freecycle.com It's an exchange group where you post what you want to get rid of or what you need and people contact each other. Pretty cool and a nice way to reduce those landfills. Find one in your part of the world! :)And the legs are stripped stocking materials in honor of one of my favorite little girls, Pippy Longstocking. I was very much like Pippy, climbing trees (in my case a grapefruit tree) in the backyard and feeling truly invincible. I remember at one time thinking if I could try hard enough I could fly and tried to jump off the back steps and for a moment I felt like I was flying and then I'd land hard on the concrete and dust. Even though my knees would be stinging and my hands would smart from falling on the concrete, I felt I did fly...even if for but a moment.
My doll is entitled "70's Child". (In the background of this pic, you can see a pink blanket. This was crocheted by my adopted grandmother when I was a little girl. When I use this blanket (and I have it out daily) it reminds me of her. Her blanket is one of the reasons I learned to crochet too).
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