Finished fairy doll part 1

Two weeks ago, I began making a doll for Granota’s 4th birthday. You can see the beginning stages here. This week I sewed up a little fairy dress, embroidered the face, and sewed on the hair. Whew!

The hair was the most interesting part of this process. In the past, I’ve seen little bags of doll hair at the thrift store, so I went trolling back when I started this project and couldn’t find any. I did, however, find one of these big Barbie heads.

Half-brushed

I got it for $1.99, which is a pretty good deal, especially considering that this doll bust has enough hair for at least three other dolls. That is some thick and luscious hair. As artificial hair goes, that is. Next step: hair transplant.

I found this tutorial that explains how to make wefts of hair. After smuggling the Barbie head up to my sewing room, I began cutting off hanks of hair as close to her head as possible.

Oh say can you see my eyes, if you can then my hair's too short

This was going pretty well and I got a few locks sandwiched between tissue paper like the tutorial says, adding more as I sewed along until I ended up with this.

Shining, gleaming, Streaming, flaxen, waxen

I measured around the fairy doll’s head and cut that long strip of hair into sections that I could sew onto the doll. At this point, my sewing room was a mess. There was hair all over my sewing table, all over my cutting table, all over my lap, and the floor, and every now and then, some of it made it to the trash can. Making the wefts wasn’t particularly difficult, but it certainly was messy.

Last night, after Granota was asleep (because it’s not enough to wait just until she’s in bed. Bedtime with my kids is like the Whack-a-Mole game at Chuck E. Cheese) I finished embroidering the face and managed to get most of the hair sewn on. I sewed on the last weft and the part today. This fairy has one thick head of hair! Here she is, all finished:

For the most part, I’m pretty happy with how she turned out. There’s something weird with the lower face. Either the lack of chin or too-long neck. I’m not quite sure. Also, it bugs me that the stuffing wouldn’t stay in the nose. Hopefully Granota is not as picky!

I used purple thread on the eyes (she’s a fairy, why not?), but it doesn’t really show up now that they’re done. Oh well.

Two-tiered petal skirt

The dress was made from green and teal shimmery polyester of some sort that I snagged out of the remnant bin. I had to line the bodice of the dress with a thin piece of pale blue cotton because the pink of the doll showed through the green too much and made a rather putrid color. The silver wing fabric was also a remnant bin find. And, now that I think about it, the doll itself was made out of an old crib sheet. So how about this for a cheap project, huh?

Tomorrow is Granota’s birthday, so I will post part 2 after she opens her gift. I really hope she likes it!