Here is the finished fabric doll with an embroidered face and implanted hair. The seams are done with the same colour thread as the fabric so it is less visible. The stitches go through each part to join them together so that they are attached firmly but this means it’ll have a stitch on the surface. I’ve incorporated gold sequins instead of just having stitches so it prevents the fabric from being pulled in and breaking. It looks nicer as well when they look like metal screws rather than having a trying-to-hide visible stitches.

embroidering the face, even my signature beauty spot is stitched

implanting hair using silk floss, takes a lot of time

even when there is enough hair, the skin of the head is too visible when parted so I have coloured the gaps in with a fabric pen afterwards

the finished hair and face

the joints with gold sequins

finished doll front side

back side

from the side

she can sit on her own

on my palm, this is how small she is

I’ll think of a special way to keep her in a good condition but she can stay in one of my garment samples’ pocket for the time being.

Happy Valentine’s Day, I’m in love with her!

After I’ve realised that there’s no way for me to get a working visa while being self-employed, I felt very disappointed that I will have to stop selling my work when my visa expires in 2013. I will have to be employed or I will have to leave UK as well… Although I will continue stocking up my stockist and consider doing craft fairs until then, I lost some sort of motivation to make things for sale. So, this is what I’ve been up to, making a fabric doll for myself. When I don’t think about the price of my work, I can spend time as much as I want and make something really special. This is just a prototype so it’s not complete but here are the images of the process of making my doll.

First, I made a doll using air hardening modelling clay.
In this way, I can create the patterns for each part by moulding fabric around them.
I can also use it as a guide to compare it with the fabric prototypes of each part.

I have done about a hundred prototypes in total to get the patterns right. I tried to make my doll look like a ball-jointed doll with movable joints so it is made out of 15 parts. I paid attention to the curves of the body and tried many combinations of how to attach each section together and where the seams are.

And here is the finished prototype made with calico, filled with toy stuffing.

You can see that she is not flat but made with gentle curves.

The back of the body. She is very flexible and able to do many different poses.

Very cute, she can perch on my palm.

Maybe you’ve noticed already but her design is taken from my girl illustration.
This is it for now but I will blog again when I finish the final doll with her face and hair.