New Doll

Our doll club meets in a public library. We decided to do dolls for a display illustrating children's books for them and also donate the dolls if the library wants them to use as a fundraiser. I couldn't decide what doll to do but finally settled on The Secret Garden. I had never read this book before but did see the movie. I did read parts of it and picked the scene where Mary is reaching out to open the hidden gate to the secret garden. She is almost done - just have to add her hands and finish her shoes. For her hair I used some wool given to me by my friend Colleen. It was not cleaned so I cleaned it which wasn't hard at all. Since the wool was almost blond enough, I added highlights with Antique Gold Silk dye from Ribbonsmyth. I rinsed the hair to get the excess dye out and it came out the perfect shade of straw blond. I then needle felted it to the head. I had planned on using a head I had on hand but wound up making a new one. Didn't like how that one came out so I did a cloth over with set in eyes. I wanted to make her look suprised that the key worked though I'm not 100% happy with her face but it's on the doll and it will stay there. I got the design for her clothes from a picture of a child with a name and date of 1912 on the back I saw at an antique mall. I did a quick sketch of the dress. I used vintage trims and the embroidered lawn of her overdress is also vintage. More pics to follow as she progresses.