Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Last night I had a holiday party to attend for the quilt shop I am affiliated with. We always have a gift exchange and the gift must be handmade. As I said earlier I've been working like mad to get the doll for my class finished, which, by the way, I got an A on (10 out of 10 points). Yay! So I didn't have much time to make a whole new doll, which is what the girls have come to expect from me. So what did I do?

I took pieces and parts from dolls that were never finished for one reason or another and combined them into a lovely little gal who now has a great new home. I had a doll body from a class, no hair, not much of a costume. So I added a new underskirt, wrapped ribbon on her feet for shoes, and gave her a sweet little updo with mohair roving. I had wings on another unfinished doll which were just pinned on .. so I took them too. Luckily they were in the same colors as the doll so it worked perfectly.

Use the world around you for inspiration ... I had watched an episode of Oprah while I was getting my nails manicured (a rare luxury for me) and she was giving away watches that were attached to ribbons which you wound around your wrist. It really looked more like a scarf. So my doll had one - at least she had the ribbon wrapped around her wrist - fairies don't need to tell time so no watchface. I cut a piece of material into a triangle and just wrapped it around her wrist, tacked it down with a couple of stitches, looked great! Make it long enough to go around the wrist at least twice, and end with the point on top. This would also make a great cuff for sleeves.

As I was working I was listening to the radio and they played a song by the B-52s .. remember them? Wild haircolors, big beehive hairdos? Yep, you guessed it, my doll ended up with purple hair in a crazy updo. I took a long piece of mohair roving and laid it down across the doll's head, forehead to nape. I had about two inches hanging over her forehead and the rest down her back. I then sewed it down around the entire hairline with matching thread. Then I gathered the long piece and twisted it into a french twist. Sewed that down to the top of the head. Curled the front piece back into a type of pompadour and sewed that down to the top of the french twist. Hair doesn't have to be complicated to look good.

Here's another great way to get inspiration .. eye candy! I love this book Patti Culea's Creative Cloth Dollmaking
- it has dolls by well known names and by, well, just regular people like you and me. The book has 3 doll patterns in it and lots of great ideas for embellishing.