A Special Angel Doll for "Bob" . . . & A Happy New Year !!!

Happy New Year to you all dear friends & readers !

Welcome to a bright shiny New Year . . . . a New Year always reminds me of a fresh clean sheet of paper & a newly sharpened pencil . . . . maybe a chance to do some things a little differently this time around - perhaps make some subtle changes ?

My lovely neighbour Jenny came to my Cottage just after the craft fair in early November.

She had seen a primitive doll that had caught her eye & had an idea brewing around in her head.
(This is the doll in the photo below with the arrow pointing to her)

The pattern is by Sun Valley Primitives & is called "Raggedy Angel."

Jenny's stepdaughter Emily lives in Australia & owns a vintage caravan which she has fitted out as a mobile hair & beauty salon

Emily has named her caravan Bob ... which stands for "Beauty On Board"
Jenny wanted me to make a Primitive Angel doll that Emily could hang in Bob

She emailed me a couple of photos so I could get a feel for the style of the caravan & thanks to the wonders of facebook .... I was able to do some research on the interior aesthetics of it all.

 

Jenny had put a great deal of thought into this gift for Emily & was quite specific in her ideas.
Her requests were for a doll the same size as Raggedy Angel, not painted striped legs but more stocking style with perhaps some painted flowers, a shorter dress not with a felt christmas tree stitched on but possibly flowers again, the same colour hair but tight curls (to match Emilys hair) & definately a raggedy style face
She wanted the doll to have some things in her arms that could be interchanged for different seasons ... for example some berries/greenery at christmas time.

After much research on the caravans interior, Jenny & I decided on a pale-ish green fabric to compliment the many plants that Emily has, & the fresh, clean, natural palette.

I began by cutting out some wool felt flowers & blanket stitching them to the lower part of the dress

I sewed some legs in a stripey fabric & then handpainted black boots onto the foot area

Miss Pippi oversaw this part of the construction !!!

Rather than paint flowers on (as Jenny had suggested) I felt more confident hand sewing tiny lazy daisies around the stocking part of the legs

After I had hemmed the dress I added a gathered black tulle petticoat to give it some extra dimension ......

...... & left the bottom of the petticoat just peeping out.


Next came the challenge of the curly hair - thankfully I had some hand dyed Jute left over from the previous Prim Angel that I could use
I found a great tutorial *here* about curling dolls hair, but instead of using just water as suggested ... I used a PVA/water mixture as I was concerned about the curls dropping

Winding the strands around knitting needles & waiting to dry was a labour intensive project but gave me exactly the look I was after  -  tight bouncy curls, just like Emily's hair

Next came the issue of what to sit in her arms?
I was able to click/save the image of her logo & print it off onto some calico with freezer paper ironed to the back

I cut out a raw linen heart & blanket stitched the Bob logo to my heart shape
After I stuffed the heart I found (online) some miniature comb & scissor charms which I stitched to the top, then attached the heart to the dolls hands

Thankfully I had one set left of the corrugated iron wings I use for this Angel - although these are detachable, I think they definately finish her off - anything smaller would look quite lost

This is how she looked without any embellishments

I had fun playing around with some bits & bobs to tuck into her arms behind the heart ... chalkboard signs, small silver nail scissors, some christmas berries & greenery, rusty stars etc ... all removable

This is how she looked with all her added bits &pieces

I must confess I felt quite nervous about Emily receiving her .... dolls are such a personal thing & you tend to either love or hate them, there is seldom any real middle ground.
So I was relieved on Christmas Day to receive a gorgeous text photo from Jenny of Emily holding her doll, smiling & giving the thumbs up, & a message to say "she adored her & can't wait to get her home to hang her up in Bob" 


May the year ahead be a good & kind one to all of you dear friends & may you find some time in all the busy-ness of your days to take care of yourselves

Thanks So Very Much for your visits here today,
With much love & friendship to you All,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0