Sasha's Blog: September 26, 2011

Our newest doll, Mariel, is Sophie's first creation. She drew the face and spent an entire Wednesday learning to embroider and embroidering it. She then attached the face to the back of the head and stuffed the head. A few mimosas were consumed, but the results you can see for yourself. As for me, me encanta Mariel!

I spent last Sunday assembling her, but first, there was some disassembly. When Mariel was imagined, we visualized brown or black hair, so we made the back of her head black. Since then, we tried different colors by pinning bundles of hair on her head (such a fun part of making a doll - deciding on the colors of the eyes, hair, arms and legs, dress, petticoat flowers and necklace!) Sophie decided on "dirty blond," which is taupe, in the
world of tee shirts. So I took off the back of the head and replaced it with off -white muslin, then re-stitched the head, staying as true to the original shape as possible. Luckily, with a new, razor sharp seam ripper, the disassembly went smoothly.

As I was sewing on the two foot long "bundles" of taupe hair, a Strauss waltz came on the radio. Mariel and I looked at each other for a split second, then started dancing. (My dolls are designed for dancing, as you can see by their full-skirted dresses, petticoats and long limbs.) Mariel got a little carried away and started doing cartwheels. That was when I realized her hair was too heavy for her neck, which was bending back as we whirled around the room. So, I gave her a haircut. Alas! Too short! So I spent this weekend cutting and bundling more hair and sewing it on. I also made her a blue-green taffeta dress. (Thanks again, Evette!) The blue-green dress ended up not working, but Carmen generously offered her blood-red taffeta dress and purple petticoat in exchange for the blue-green, Voila! Mariel was finished and Carmen had a new dress.  The finishing touch was a ruby red necklace, like Carmen's. Photos will be posted soon!

As you may have noticed, I missed my blog post last week. But I can't wait to tell you about the Moulin Rouge Dancers at the Hollywood Bowl and my newest creation-in- progress, the first of the "Dugout Buddies,"Andre Ethier!

Have a great week!

Sasha

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