The Finished Rag Doll

I finally finished making K3's rag doll just in time to wrap it up on Christmas Eve.  It took much longer that I thought it would, but then again, going from scratch, the first item always takes longest to make.  I know the next one will only take about an afternoon from start to finish.  But this first one, well, it took about two months.

With the time I spent researching--aka trying to find a pattern for the kind of rag doll I wanted--then sewing and stuffing it, and then figuring out how to make the yarn hair-- which meant more research aka internet searching-- well, October and November went by.   The doll body was sewn, and the face sewn on too, and a messy head of hair, by Thanksgiving.  Then she sat while I contemplated an outfit for her and worked on other sewing projects (like that lap quilt with the deer).  

When I finally decided to start making a dress and undies for the doll, then dug out the old patterns for doll clothes that I had from when my daughters were younger, I found out that the doll clothes patterns I owned didn't exactly fit the rag doll I'd made. . .

So I had to figure out how to make them larger.  Thank goodness for a printer that will reduce or enlarge what you put into it!!

After that, things went quickly.  Now that I've gotten the gist of it, I figure the next one will go from fabric, yarn, and poly-fil, to a finished, dressed doll in four or five non-stop hours.

The doll itself is a 22" doll.  The clothing patterns I had were for 18" American Girl type dolls.  What I did, was cut out the pattern pieces, and enlarge them 125% on my printer.  Except for the skirt, which I left the original length but added about 2" to the width so it wouldn't be too straight and tight to the doll's legs.

K3 loves her doll.  Her mommy loves it too.  And I've already had a request from one family member to make a doll for her daughter.

Hmmm.  I sense a possible new source of pocket cash for me :o)  DH says I should make up a display doll for the Farmer's Market next year, and take orders for them.