I want you to meet...

Klara

Klara was born almost two years ago, when we opened a gothic shop in Warsaw. She's been our good spirit since then. She has embroidered eyes and painted lips, I made for her a velvet skirt with satin red ribbon, lace blouse and a velvet choker with a rose. She even has a pair of long white Victorian knickers with lace underneath that skirt! ^^

Amelia

The idea to create her was inspired by the crocheted dress and a hat I found in a thrift store for 50 cents. Amelia is a very romantic girl, always day-dreaming, you can meet her in the park with a book of Byron's poems in her hand... ^^

I'm also making one more doll right now, namely Lenore - a character from "Lenore: the Little Cute Dead Girl" , spooky but funny flashtoon.

Tutorial:

If you want to have your own doll like that, here is the pattern for the body (print it out and enlarge if necessary, my dolls fit the size of A4 page):

Cut two doll shapes out of the cotton or linnen fabric. If you want to embroider the eyes and lips, now is the time (if you're going to paint them, you can do it later).

Sew them together right sides facing each other, but remember to leave a small hole to turn the doll inside out! (I leave it at the hip area).

Turn the doll inside out and stuff it with a cotton-wool, helping yourself with a pencil or a chopstick to make sure the stuffing gets to the ends of the hands and feet.

Whip stitch the opening

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The base doll is ready! ^^

Now, onto the hair: you can use several methods, I used two of them to make my dolls.

Either, cut the pieces of linnen fabric, pull out some loose threads and leave about 5mm of fabric to sew it onto the doll's head. (here is Lenore in the making - I still need to add one more layer of hair onto her head, but you can see the technique I used)

Or, thread the needle with some yarn and sew it one by one onto the doll's head, cutting the thread each time and tieing the knots to secure it.

And this was my surprise from the last Sunday planning post! *^-^*