Poetry

I finished my 9th wall doll today. Her name is Poetry because she holds Leaves of Grass, a book of poems by Walt Whitman.

Latest Challenge: Doll Parts Swap

In November, club members were asked to bring an unfinished doll- basically one that was cut out and stuffed only- to the meeting concealed in a bag. All the bags were put on a table and everyone picked one. All dolls needed to be completed and brought to the February meeting. At that meeting we would try to guess who completed the doll and who began the doll.
Here is a picture of the doll that I picked:

All cloth approximately 10 1/2 inches when the head is added

The first major challenge is to get her to stand independently. The feet are quite small and offer no support, but the legs do not bend so she can not be seated. Also, I really like the shape of the legs and don't want to lose that aspect.
Since the February meeting falls on the fourteenth, my plan is to make a Valentine Doll. Not a very original idea, but it's what I'm going with anyway.
To solve the problem of support, I opened her heals and ran a brass tube up each to the hip to support her body. Then I made a pair of paper clay shoes around her feet, painted them black, varnished them to represent paten leather, added a few bows and voila! She stands!

She has a very unusual torso shape. I thought the small waist demanded a big skirt. So I made her one using Valentine style fabric. Underneath the skirt is a netting slip to add the poof. She has a pair of white tights and red underpants. WOW. I also made her a felt jacket embroidered with black hearts. It is tied at the waist with a black ribbon and her lapel pin is one of her skirt hearts on top of a piece of black felt cut into a heart shape.

Second major challenge is the head! It is a pancake head- I have absolutely no experience with this type of face. The good news is I have two sides to work on so if the first side is a disaster I haven't completely ruined her.

I finished her and I will say she was a challenge for me! I hope whoever she belongs to likes the choices I made when completing her.

POSTSCRIPT:
Mother Nature won- the February meeting was postponed until March due to a major snowstorm. So we didn't get to swap our creations until yesterday! I think I hit the jackpot. Pat Hinga took my doll parts and created this little fellow. I think he is absolutely wonderful.

Originally, some time last year I had planned on attending a Peggy Wilson workshop. but in the end I came down with the flu and missed it entirely. The prep work for this class was to cut out and stuff the body parts. I think I stuffed the head but that is it. So I ended up bringing the unstuffed body and two stuffed heads to the club swap. Pat picked my bag and voila! she put her creative talents to work. The hat is crocheted, the vest is embellished with stitchery and the shirt even has little buttons. Pat designed all the clothing herself. He is just delightful- I could not be happier.