I finished up a few dolls this week that have been stuck in my head for quite some time. A few months back when I was brainstorming ideas for Christmas themed dolls I was writing down different things that remind me of the Christmas season – things like snow, evergreen trees, gingerbread, gumdrops and candy canes. And then I started thinking about the board game Candyland with all the different candy-themed characters. That’s when the idea popped in my head – a candy cane doll!! She would have candy cane socks, white hair, little elf-like shoes, and a fancy red and white Christmas dress. I could even make several of them in different color schemes – I loved it!! I sketched out my idea onto paper, and loved how it looked. I was so excited about it!!
Even though I had this clear idea I kept putting off actually creating the doll. I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able to do them justice. I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced this, but it can be very frustrating. I worried about it and procrastinated until it was almost too late. Then, last week I finally got the guts to attempt it. I started with the red and white one and it went really well (and she sold almost instantly!!) so I made another, in green and white. I cannot believe how great they both look – I’m so SO happy with how they both turned out. Exactly how I had imagined them, they even have tiny little candy canes in their hair!!
When I started this project I was worried since it entailed a few things I hadn’t done before. For example, the tulle skirts were something I was unsure about, since I had never worked with tulle before. I did a little research, found some tutorials on making tulle skirts and gave it a go. First step was to make the bodice portion of the dress, which I made out of simple cotton. Next, I measured their waists and cut a strip of elastic. Then I measured how long I wanted the skirts to be. I doubled that number and added about an inch – I believe it was around 8 inches. I then cut strips of tulle 8 inches long. I got these rolls of white tulle from a friend that were about 6 inches wide. So each of the strips were about 6″x8″. Once I had a nice stack I started layering them onto the elastic.
I folded them in half over top of the elastic and bunched it up as tightly as possible and then secured it with pins. I continued this until I had filled the elastic. Next, I got out the sewing machine and carefully stitched a straight line across the elastic.
The skirt was a little thin after only one layer so I added another layer of tulle on top in order to fill it out a little more and stitched that down as well. In theory, you could do as many layers as you wanted, as long as your sewing machine could sew through the layers. For my skirt, though, I was happy with only two layers.
The last step was to simply attach the skirt portion to the bodice and then put it on the doll.
I think the dresses turned out so great!! So sweet and festive!!
The red one has found a new home in Australia, but the green one is still available for adoption in my shop. And with Christmas less than a week away I don’t think I will be making anymore this year. Next year, however, I plan to make a whole bunch of Candy Cane dolls!!