Dollmaking

My first Waldorf inspired doll

I feel a bit like an idiot that I did not know about Waldorf dolls before this month. Obsessive hand crafting and these dolls go hand in hand, and so should I.

Above you see the 16" doll I made this month from a kit from Weir crafts. The hair is organic merino wool, the stuffing is Eco Wool. The face is stoic. I think there's 0% synthetics in this doll - even the thread is 100% cotton.

And I am frickin' in love!

Here I am slitting her neck open

Not with the doll necessarily - but with the process. I am somewhat of a process knitter, so it only makes sense that I would be a process cloth doll maker, as well, if you know what I mean. I didn't have sewing machine, so I did it all by hand. I had to take off her head once and reattach it because I was dissatisfied, and I made many mistakes. Mistakes I am determined to learn from.

The stars aligned and I scored a used sewing machine from a cousin that I can use to make future dolls, etc. It's an oldy - I can't find the reverse, and it does one stitch - forward - at adjustable intervals. It's plodding and tenacious. It's totally growing on me, because frankly, fast, loud sewing machines scare me. I know they're going for my fingers!

My beloved dinosaur

I am teaching myself to use it by making clothes for the doll. This has driven home a fundamental fact to me:

I need a serger!