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Clara One-of-a-kind Original Izannah Walker-inspired Folk Art Doll by Elizabeth Ruffing

This is Clara, my new original folk art doll! I designed both her body pattern and her dress pattern myself. Her design was inspired by Izannah Walker dolls, and her face is a Jumeau-style antique reproduction. She is one-of-a-kind. There are no others like her.

Her body and her dress are both 100% cotton fabric. Her dress is a beautiful pink quilter’s cotton scattered with pale pink chrysanthemums, a symbol of innocence, hope, and cheerfulness. I sewed two pin tucks and a three inch hem at the bottom of the dress, to make it stand out nicely. A sash ties in a pretty bow at the back. All the seams are carefully finished.

I made her head using a combination of Creative Paperclay and Li-Qua-Ché pourable papier mâché. She is entirely hand painted first with a layer of gesso, then finely detailed with acrylic paint, and then sealed with matte varnish for protection.

She is jointed at her shoulders, hips and knees, and her bottom is weighted with Poly-Pellets so she can sit nicely. Her hands and arms are lightly wired to allow her fingers to have a more realistic curl, and to allow her elbows to bend slightly.

Her hand-sculpted ringlets go all the way around her head, and little pin curls cover the top of her head.

Her antique-style lace-trimmed undergarments are hand-painted and detailed with painted white lace trim and tiny buttons.

Her hand-painted boots have little painted gold buttons on their sides. I named her Clara after the character of that name in The Nutcracker. Lots of hours went into making Clara an heirloom-quality doll. She is meant for display, and would make a lovely addition to a young, or a young-at-heart, girl’s room.

Update: Clara has been adopted. Thank you!

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“Clara”, Izannah Walker-inspired Art Doll

This is Clara, the doll who was waiting so long for a dress and then new shoes. Finally, she has it all.

This is my same Izannah Walker-inspired doll dress pattern I was describing in my last post, done in a pink cotton fabric with little pale pink chrysanthemums. I sewed two pin tucks and a three inch hem at the bottom of the dress, which makes it stand out nicely. A sash ties in a bow at the back to gather in the fullnesss of the dress.

Clara herself is made of 100% cotton fabric which has been gessoed, hand painted with acrylic paint, and sealed with matte varnish for protection. Her head was made with a combination of Creative Paperclay and Li-Qua-Ché pourable papier mâché, which was also gessoed, painted and sealed the same as her body.

Her hand-sculpted ringlets go all the way around her head, and little pin curls cover the top of her head. Clara is a one-of-a-kind original art doll. There is no other like her.

This is a view of her dress, untied, with its sash.

Please click here to visit Clara’s web page.

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Astronauts, unclothed

These look to me like of a group of astronauts who just stepped outside their space station for a little floating exploration. I’m thinking their first thought must have been, “We’d better stick together.”

That, or they are a pile of dolls drying on a piece of black plastic. I kind of prefer the space version. Someone pointed out to me that it is interesting that I frequently create things with wings, or creatures that exist in space or in the sky when I myself have never even flown on a plane and am resistant to the idea. Perhaps I just prefer the fantasy.

These are the pattern pieces for an Izannah Walker-inspired doll dress like the pink one I made before. I made the pattern myself. It is not terribly hard to draft if you have some pattern-making familiarity. I drew the yoke by laying tracing paper over my doll pattern, at the neck. I drew a neckline, then added a line below it, equidistant from the first line from the center front to the shoulder seam. I added a little ease at the shoulder seams. The front and back and sleeves all dip very gently to match the total dip of the yoke from the shoulder points to the center front. It is symmetrical and the same in front as in back, except for the added seam allowance in the back to allow for an opening and an overlap, and so it can be drawn in quarters, then folded and traced the rest of the way.

There is a raglan effect on the sleeve, which is done by making a curve down from the top and then out toward the side seams on the front and back. The curve on the sleeves turns out and down, and then up and out as you draw from the top of the sleeve to the underarm seams. Dress length and sleeve length depend on the doll, but extra needs to be included for hems, casings, or pin tucks. Widths depend on the amount of fullness you want.

I add casings to the wrist area of the sleeves for gathering, and sew the sleeves to the front and back. I then do the hemming and pin tucks if I want any. I finish the back opening and sew a seam about halfway up from the bottom of the dress. I interface the yoke, and sew it together at the shoulders. Then the whole bottom of the dress is gathered onto the yoke. I sew a yoke facing on at the neck edge, sew the back edge of the yoke, turn it right side out, turn the bottom edge of the yoke facing under, and hand stitch it down.

I add snaps in the back and make a sash or a band similar to a cummerbund to gather the fullness of the dress in, and that is about it. Whew.