"Y" is for Yarn

We're almost done! Today is "Y" day!

Today's project actually took me a while to come up with. I switched it three times. Yes...three. Ridiculous. So, today we have..."Y" is for Yarn-Haired Cloth Doll. I'm very well aware that it's a slight stretch. But it is what it is. There's a word that starts with Y in there. And it's a real word. Close enough. Originally, she was going to have yellow yarn hair. But...the only yellow yarn I could find was either way too pastel or a crazy neon. Annie told me that I was being prejudiced against blondes. I told her to stuff it. This doll was just going to have to have brown hair. And now you are all caught up on the "Y" project saga. You're welcome.

This project also serves as a double whammy. Not only is it my "Y" project for the A to Z Challenge, it also acts as a project for April's Sew Crazy Monthly Challenge over at Crazy Little Projects. That worked out well.



I used Amber's free pattern for her Cute Cloth Doll and went for it. I more or less followed her directions. I'm not a complete noob to sewing, but you would have thought so. This project gave me fits at nearly every turn. I may or may not have goofed up a couple of times...like, say, sewing the hair on so that the head was rotated 90 degrees. Whatever. It's my first non-monster or animal doll. What do you want?

I added more hair than Amber did on her doll. I wanted to make sure that it extended all the way down the back of her head. I think that part worked out just fine.

I also made her bangs wider. Again...trying to cover some head space. (Notice...head longer than wide. Oops. That led to a problem that showed up later...)

And then I had a little issue with the appendages. Because I wasn't paying attention, I forgot to attach the sleeve pieces before I started putting the arms together. That resulted in some minor seam ripping and a loss of about twenty minutes. Not a horrible mistake...all things considered (and by all things I mean all of my dumb mistakes).

But...because I added extra yarn, the hair took up more space when I went to sew the whole thing together. It made sewing the body a little more tricky. It was quite bulky. I had a couple of areas that I had to go back and touch up and I still have a few little seam areas that show on the arms.

It looks like a weird tadpole.

Oh...and did I mention that I am completely out of fiber fill? Ya...stuffing...not so much. But I have TONS of batting. So that's what I went with. She's stuffed with strips of batting. Close enough. Improvisation is the name of the game around here on a regular basis.

I went Amber's route and also used the machine to sew the bottom of the doll together. I was going to hand sew it, but I managed to make a mess of my thread after two stitches. (Who does that? Oh right, me.) I bagged the whole hand sewing thing, placed my pins, and ran it through the machine.

Once I was done, I realized that my rotation of the head and the way that I connected it to the body made the doll's neck a little too long. She had a little bit of E.T. neck going on. So...I added a Peter Pan collar and a little central button to camouflage it a little. It wasn't a solid fix, but it was something.

Painting the face on was also a bit of a challenge. You see...her body is felt. (Because Collin said the peach colored felt would look better than the white colored fleece that I had. Those were the choices people. I told you...improvisation.) Well, felt doesn't like paint. Or maybe paint doesn't like felt. Felt's kind of fuzzy. So things get weird. Especially when you try to "clean them up" when the paint is still wet. Because you're a dummy. And may also be slightly sleep deprived. So now she looks like she got a little bit crazy with the lipstick. It's a little smeary. She's special, what can I say.

Overall, I think she turned out pretty good. For my first doll that was supposed to look like a person, she still looks pretty much like a person. I call that a success.

Thanks to all of you stopping by from A-to-Z Challenge! I love new readers. Make sure to leave me a comment below (including your blog address) so that I can return the favor by visiting you.