. brightmeadowknits: December 2011

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Dotee dolls

I'm participating in a Dotee doll exchange on Mary Jane's Farm.  I'd never heard of Store dolls before.  It seems they were created originally by a woman named Dot Christian.  The doll body and head is from 3-5 inches long, it has a "tail", usually made of beads, and is usually made of beads.  There is a ribbon loop sewn into the top for hanging.  Usually the face is blanket-stitch appliqued to the body. The face can be drawn, painted, embroidered, or printed.   The key to success for this doll is embellishment.   You can see a whole slideshow of dolls at Flickr in the Dotee  dolls group, or google For Dotee  doll images.  

 Embroidering the doll's  face was something that I could do on my embroidery machine.  I've been wanting to learn how to use the PE-Design software for a while to do something other than import and change existing designs.

After only about 6 hours, I have figured out the software and created several in-the-hoop designs for Dotee dolls.  They require some refinement, since I need to change the order of sewing.

Moving my laptop closer to the sewing machine might also help, I really got a workout yesterday going up and down the stairs... But at the same time, I am also converting my cassette tape collection to MP3s, and the stereo is downstairs.

I've made a few cloth bodies for the dolls, but I also want to do some knitted dolls. Maybe make the tails out of I-cord.  I'll post photos here when done.