A year of dolls..... February!

Back in January, in a heady fit of enthusiasm, I pledged to create a little toy doll each week of this year, from my virtual collection of Pinterest images of antique dolls.

Unbelievably, I'm still on track, and have completed 8 new little dolls so far this year!  I'll gloss over the fact that I was still working on the last one on 28th February but that's what deadlines are for.

Of course, I haven't just given myself a deadline for January, or February.... I've given myself deadlines for each month this year.  Four new little dolls each month.... one a week.

That's 52 dolls.  

And here's me feeling smug about having completed 8 of them, on time.  Even with my parlous grasp of arithmetic, I can work out that I have another 44 to go.

And each one has to be designed from scratch, along with the fabrics if necessary, and dyeing silk ribbons and trims as required.  Not to mention wigging materials preparation.  
And the boxes..... mustn't forget the boxes. 

Still.... 8 down, on time.  So yayyyyy me!

Here are my February dolls, along with their original inspirational photos.

I had the fabric for this one's skirt and jacket made specially for me, as close to the original as possible.  In this tiny size there have to be some concessions to scale, and the materials I have available, but I was pleased with the way she turned out.

I already had a small piece of a wonderful blue and purple shot silk, which is almost identical to the one in the inspiration photo.  It's difficult to photo, but the silk positively shimmers and the colours show up beautifully. 

Tartans in this tiny scale are very difficult to find, and tiny print tartans in fine silk are impossible to find, so I had this fabric made specially for this little doll. 

I didn't have just the right shade of silk ribbon to match the inspiration costume, so I had to dye some specially.  Those tiny strung pearls around her neck were a nightmare... they're the size of poppy seeds, and even with the help of my magnifying lamp, persuading them onto a fine silk thread had me tearing my hair out.  I won't be trying that again any time soon!

To give a better idea of scale, here she is against my fingers.  And I have very small hands!

I'm honestly torn about selling any of these tiny dolls, as I love each and every one of them, but for this weekend only, they, along with some others I made last year, are available on my dealer page of the Mini Miniature Show.

Each one comes nestled in a tissue-lined colour coordinated box with illustrated lid, accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity.

This weekend I'll be deciding on the next 4 for this month, so watch this space!