Make Under Doll

One afternoon I got a call from Janet and she was super excited about these Tree Change Dolls she saw online. I had seen them as well and we decided to make some. SO exciting! I LOVE projects! I was put in charge of making some clothes. Perfect.... easy peasy I thought... WRONG! Doll clothes are a bear. Tiny clothes with tiny seams and having to make SEVERAL drafts to make things fit. Fun... yes, a challenge... yes, but like I said... A BEAR! 

We wanted to dolls to look like the girls which was simple in theory, but in actuality it was a lot of pressure, trying to figure out an outfit that was like the girls but still easy enough to make super tiny. Lucia, for the most part was pretty simple. I made a jacket out of felt... I love working with felt! It came together really quickly (only about a hour and a half!).

And then we gave her a white T-shirt and a blue metallic skirt. We were going for a rocker feel. 

Violet was harder... she is very girly, but no longer into princesses. I had thought of making her a princess dress but since she too old for that I decided to go with just a pink dress with hearts on the skirt. I was totally flying by the seat of my pants and in the end it came out alright, thank heavens Janet had other doll clothes as well. 

Then I crocheted her a little shawl which was fun and dressed it up a bit. Much better! (E's dress will be pictured later.)

While in Houston Janet and I worked on our dolls... till 2 in the morning for a few nights. It was so much fun! First step... remove the faces!

Violet, Lucia and Ethnie's dolls all fresh and clean!

Then we started to paint. Talk about intimidating! We looked at pictures of the girls and painted away. It was really difficult to figure out the balance between doll, eye and lip shapes, natural and still wanting them to be animated.

Ready to put in the pupils. At this point you just don't want to mess things up because you'd have to start ALL over. Making things the same shape was tricky, but so much fun! I love a challenge!

And then I messed mine up. Maybe you can't tell but it was a bit sad. I fixed her pretty well and I'm sure E won't even notice. 

Face complete! Hair braided like E has hers all the time, all ready for clothes... and shoes.

 And she's done! I found the feet on another doll as a thrift store and got them until I make up some pink rubber boots out of oogoo. I am totally in love with her!

I made the little dress to match E's "park" dress that she wears all the time!
 

 Before and after and such a difference! This was SUCH a fun project! Thanks so much for including me Janet! I can't wait to give it to E!