Lila, a free doll pattern!

I am still in pursuit of the perfect doll.  This is the 8th doll I have made since Blythe was born and I think it may be my favorite, though I still love the first sweet cloth doll I made with a crocheted dress.  It's simply adorable.  This doll has much more to her, but it's hard to compete with the emotions sewn into her first doll.  (However, that doll was naked for 4 months!  I finally took her on vacation with a skein of pink and white cotton yarn and made her a dress.  Vacation for me usually involves yarn.)  I am already planning my next 2 dolls.  I am not sure when this obsession will end.

Lila has Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice line of yarn in "Pink Poodle."  I had to modify how I baked it because it behaved differently than any yarn I had used before.  I am going to have to add to my "Step Two: Making Curls From Yarn" for doll's wig.  Blythe choose the yarn.  I took her to the store and went through every skein of acrylic yarn with her to choose one.  I would pick up a skein and ask her do you like this one and if she said no I would put it down.  If she said yes then I would hold up the last yes and ask her which one she liked better, then I moved on to the next.  It took about half an hour.  It was a silly process, but I wanted to make it just like she wanted.  I bought the material from Hobby Lobby, but that is for an upcoming post.

Materials needed to complete the doll:

printer and paper

1/2 yard of skintone fabric

Iron on interfacing for the fabric

Something to draw on the fabric 

5" embroidery hoop

3-4 colors of embroidery thread for the eyes

Black embroidery thread

Hair color embroidery thread

Skintone embroidery thread

2 colors of embroidery thread for the lips

1-2 skeins of yarn for the hair (depending on the length you desire)

Here is my pattern:

(Right click on the sheet you want and left click "Open image in new tab," then print--Ctrl P or Apple P.  Make sure that it is printing at 100% and not "fit to page.")

I didn't make a tutorial for her construction because, even though the pattern has been refined to use fewer pieces, she is constructed exactly like Nancy.  *I have made a new and improved way to construct my dolls.  Look at both tutorials because Nancy's tutorial breaks things down and goes into much more detail with the first steps.  Betsy's tutorial is an easier way to join the front and back together and it is a simple difference.  :o)

  

Here are instructions for the face embroidery:


I will put on the hair tutorial in a couple of days.  It is a modified version of Nancy's.
I will post the dress and fringe boots patterns and tutorials soon as well.

One more pic, and then the hair tutorial and pattern!

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