A New Style of Doll for Me

 

This is first share of a new style of doll that I have been quietly working on for a while. Little Abigail is the prototype of a series of little girl and boy dolls I want to make around the themes of fairy tale and fable.
I have been trying to do this forever and failing because the dolls were not young enough. Red Riding Hood is around ten years old in my mind not a young woman.
So I had to start with proportions and went back to the great Suzanna Oroyan and her books to get those altered child sized proportions into my head. I then went on to explore fabrics for the body, abandoning calico, my usual first choice, for a heavy wool felt. Which gives a much smoother finish when stuffing such a larger head. These eyes are not quite right and I want to explore different types of hair but I am happy for a first complete doll. I then needed to work out patterns for clothes and new to me shoes. So again thank you to Barbara Willis and Simone Gooding for showing me how to create a pattern for a fully formed shoe. I now have to work out how to create them in leather.
The first dolls I want to make are Alice, Red Riding Hood and the pair Hansel and Gretel. Just playing, loving the costumes and exploring folk art motif more fully.