Friday, July 23, 2010

making a waldorf doll - the eyes & hair

                 
                                
eyeseyeseyeseyeseyeseyeseyes

you will need:
embroidery thread in your chosen colour
long doll making needle
jerry garcia {playing}

following the instructions in your guide, or here , embroider the dolls eyes in the
places you have marked with pins.
it can be a bit tricky marking those spots.
you will put them in, take them out, say to yourself are they too close? too far apart?
in the end, you will get it just right.
 {if you don't, take them out and do it again.}

 practicing your intended stitching first on a scrap is a GREAT idea.....

the mouth is very simple.
thank goodnes..
just two simple stitches.
for some great inspiration look at the faces here .



hairhairhairhairhairhair

the hair is my favorite.
my book has the most amazing hair instructions.
for this doll, i have chosen hair from a goat.
a southern speaking texan angora goat.
{this must be one.gorgeous.goat.}

right. the hair.
i am taking three strands and twisting it in the middle.
 take a threaded needle and begin to sew down
the dolls hair by taking the needle thru all layers where twisted to the
center of the head.
start in the front just where your head stitching begins.
going down this sewn line,
repeat this until the top of head is covered.
next step is to go down about an inch on the left side and go right
round the head with small stitches
tacking down every other bit or so of hair down to the head.
i have placed pins below to show you where to begin and end sewing.

maricristin sealey has some excellent directions for curly hair, short wispy hair, etc.
so if you were using yarn she recommends that it be cut to shoulder length
when doing this method.
since i am using animal hair, which is quite short, i am winging it with my own method.
underneath the top layer of hair, i have made two additional rows of hair.
by tacking down  twisted strands of hair all the way across. i left the curly ends untacked.
repeat this until the hair looks full all around and no bald spots.
i finished with three layers :: top layer down the line, and two layers across underneath.

.:: seal of approval ::.

next ..... the clothes!!


13 comments:

  1. These hand made dolls just keep on sneaking up on me - maybe it's another sign that I should try and make one ;)
    Yours is super cute!

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  2. She's lovely! So clever...thanks for popping over.

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  3. That last pic is divine!
    This is such a great series. I'm book marking it to come back to when I have a bit more time. X

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  4. I love the hair. Its beautiful! x manda

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  5. these are adorable..i have tried making dolls but mine didn't turn out too well...

    so HAPPY to see you at farmhouse

    i'll be back soon
    kary

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  6. Love it! Thanks for all the links. Cami's birthday is mid-sept. I need to order my materials.

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  7. so sweet. can't wait to see her little outfit. i love waldorf dolls and their expressionless faces. they still have so much character and ours seems to have taken on son of my son's personality. lol. xo m.

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  8. maar! i can't believe this!!!
    i'm falling for that hair too...

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  9. What a nice tutorial! I will have to totally put this on my list of projects. I've been wanting to make a Waldorf doll, but didn't know where to start.

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  10. That last pic is super-special! :)

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