First Pattern Chosen

Today I decided to go with the Afri Coco pattern as the first doll. I have the pattern traced out on freezer paper and placed on the fabric I will use as the "skin". Next the pieces will be sewn together, the first step to bringing her to life. Once that's completed it is usually smooth sailing. Sometimes these dolls I make start out as one thing but will end up totally different than what I see in my head. Well, let's see how this girl turns out.

Pattern And Fabric Selection

Today I pondered which pattern I would use to make my cloth doll and narrowed it down to three. Each one is a free pattern from the cloth dollmakers magazine called Soft Dolls & Animals. The first one is a pattern designed by Michelle Munzone called Afri Coco from the September 2006 issue. Next is a pattern designed by Jeannie Rigby called Hibiscus from the March 2006 issue. Last but not least is a patter designed by Kooki Davis called Ethiopian Queen from the May 2005 issue. Each doll is an African design which I thought would be appropriate since the fund raiser is during African History month. I hope to make at least 2 of the 3 patterns. I would love for one to be the Ethiopian Queen, but she would be the most challenging of the 3. So, what I've decided is to make one of the other 2 first and see how much time I have left to put into the second doll. They are due for completion by the last Friday of February. I have also picked out a few fabric choices from my stash. I pulled out what I could find with ethnic flair. I haven't decided which fabric(s) I will use with what pattern just yet. I will have all these decisions sorted out by this weekend for that's when I want to begin my project. To the left is a photo of the fabrics I have to choose from. Better yet, I may even go shopping for more fabric. That's the best part of dollmaking for me....fabric shopping!! One can never have enough fabric. Well, that's all for today. I will return soon with the final choices. In the meantime, you may want to take a look at some of the dolls I've made in the past. You can see them at my picturetrail site.

http://www.picturetrail.com/vt183

Introduction

Hi....My name is Venus and I'm new to blogging. This is my first entry so bear with me. I thought I'd start this blog with telling you I've been asked by a fellow co-worker to make a doll or dolls for an auction. A couple of times a year my employer does a fund raiser for the United Way Organization. They offer items for sale and also have items up for auction with all the proceeds going to the charity. Next month will be the next fund raiser so I've agreed to make a doll or perhaps two (time permitted) this year. This will be the first time anything I have made would be auctioned. It will be pretty interesting to see just how much the highest bid will be and I'm pretty excited about it. I will be spending the next couple of days deciding what type of doll to make, what fabrics I will use and so on. I thought this would be a great opportunity to start my blog to show and tell about the experience. My next post will be about what I've decided. Be back soon!