Pam's Dollhouse - a doll customisation journey

My mini-me needed boots - I love brown knee-high boots, especially in winter. I've drafted a tights/socks pattern that I haven't got around to making up yet, but I used it as a base for a boots pattern. I traced it out, making it a little larger all around, then cut it into two parts - the leg and the top of the foot. I found some lovely faux suede materiel that was really thin and easy to work with. I used it to make the boots, including a fabric sole, adding stitching detail around the join of the two pieces of pattern and along the top of the boots. I deliberately made them loose enough that I wouldn't need a fastening or opening anywhere along the seams. The two boots didn't turn out exactly identical, but for a first attempt they were close enough for me to be happy. The next challenge was finding something suitable for a sole. I eventually settled on using a firm foam that had been included as packaging materiel in something I'd ordered. It was handily cut...

Having repainted the doll for my dryad I started playing with other design ideas. I liked the pink and green in the original Venus doll but went for a slightly more muted pink. It reminded me of the gorgeous cherry blossom tree at my parents' house, so her name will be Blossom. I wanted something floaty and ethereal for her dress and came up with the layered design below. I have no idea how I'm going to make it yet, but at least I have pictures to work from! I haven't quite decided on her hair design either. I ordered some nylon hair which looked (on the computer) as if it would be the perfect shades of pink and green, but when it arrived the green was too blue. It will make perfect mermaid hair at some point! But it needs a rethink for the rest of the hair. More on Blossom's progress when I've finished her clothes...

As I'm making a mini Monkey I thought I'd better make a mini me as well. I chose Operetta as the base doll for myself as her face shape is most like mine. I haven't started working on the doll yet - for a change I decided to make her wardrobe first. I love autumnal colours and I think autumn is my favourite season, so I chose a colour palette of browns, oranges, reds and greens for her outfit. I found some gorgeous striped fabric in a bag of scraps I got for £1 from my local fabric shop. The pieces are very small, but more than enough for making doll clothes. The fabric was perfect for making an autumn coat from a pattern by Requiem Arts Design. I added green buttons to the front and the closure is velcro, but I may change that later if I decide she'll wear her coat open. The fringe at the bottom was a happy accident ! The fabric started to fray when I cut it and I thought it looked pretty good so I frayed it evenly all around. Because of the fraying I used fabri...

I told Monkey in a moment of over-confidence I would make her a doll that looked just like her. She has a lovely tan - think like your typical Californian blonde - so I'm using Howleen Wolf as the base for this doll. I re-rooted her hair with blonde nylon. It was my first time using nylon hair and I went far too thick to start with, so I had to pull out a considerable number of plugs to thin them out before I was finished. I patched over where I'd cut off her ears with fabric, then managed to make a large hole in one piece when I stabbed in a plug too enthusiastically. Once I'd finally got the thickness right I used far too much glue inside the head and it took a good week to dry. *sigh* Lessons learned, I'm glad that's all done! Once that faff was all over I curled her hair using pipe cleaners and foil, and dipped in hot ad cold water to set the curls. I cut her hair once the curls were in and styled it a bit more. Monkey has quite short curly hair and that...

I'm so stoked right now, because Dollightful has released her tropical collaboration video! There's something really exciting about seeing something I made in a video by my favourite doll artist (alongside about 4,000 other beautiful dolls!). If you'd like the watch the whole video, it's here:

This week I've been working on drawing out some patterns for clothes and testing them out. My favourite so far is this skirt. I used a factory outfit to get the basic dimensions, then worked out how long I wanted the skirt and how high I wanted the waistband to be. The blue skirt, modelled by Catrine, was the basic skirt design I came up with, with a silver ribbon added at the bottom and a bow at the back to hide the velcro stitching. For Draculaura's skirt (...I think it came undone when I was taking pictures... oops!) I shortened the pattern and added ruffles to the bottom and a ribbon at the top and on the ruffles. I pulled threads out of the tweed-type fabric to give it and frayed edge and I used the thread to sew the beige ruffle and the bow on, so that it all matches.   I'm going to try a few more styles with this basic pattern - making it full length, having a high-low hem, a mini skirt and a petticoat - and then will see it I can modify it again to make a ...

The first Monster High dolls I bought for customisation were a set of two from eBay - Clawdeen Wolf and Venus McFlytrap. As I mentioned in another post, I don't have any pastels or airbrushing kit, and I don't really want to invest in them at the moment. So what was I to make of a green doll like Venus? I had two ideas - something to do with plants or something to do with the sea. I did a few sketches and decided to go along a plant-based theme and make her into a dryad. Her hair was in good condition but I wasn't sure I wanted that colour, so I cut it off and kept it for a future project. After the usual prep (sanding down any lines in the plastic, clean face with acetone, take out hair roots, etc) I repainted her scalp in a dark brown and also painted the ends of her arms and legs in brown acrylic paint. I had the idea that she would have the same colouring as a tree, so I used a brush to get lines in the paint like bark. I fully expect the paint to chip off a littl...

So here is my first finished complete customisation! For the first half of her preparation click here . When I showed her the finished face up, Monkey looked at doll and said ‘wow, that good!’ So gratifying! Anyway, after doing the face up I tried to decide on her clothes. When I was trying to get ideas I found a picture of a Polynesian girl in a black crop top and tropical print skirt. I made the top first by sewing a simple tube of black jersey fabric and adding a strap made by plaiting cotton sewing thread. I had some gorgeous tropical fabric which I wanted to make into either shorts or a skirt. I didn't think I had quite enough to make a sarong-style skirt, soI drew up a pattern for shorts based off the jumpsuit Clawdeen had been wearing when I bought her. I made a mock-up first and then made these cute little shorts for my new doll. Finally I added an anklet of plaited embroidery thread and a flower hairband made of a plastic bottle seal covered in black fabric and pin...

Although this month marks the first time I've ever attempted a complete customisation of a doll, I have re-rooted hair before. My daughter (henceforth referred to as Monkey) got a little fairy doll for her birthday earlier this year and the poor little thing had such thin hair you couldn't do anything with it. I'd fairly recently watched a video (can't remember by whom, sorry) and the artist had done the re-root using different textures of hair, wool and other fabric. I liked the look so I thought I'd try it on Monkey's fairy. I used three different types of wool of varying thicknesses, embroidery thread and also left the doll's original hair in place. I made a re-rooting tool from a cut off needle and a small block of wood and started playing. I'm quite pleased with the end result, considering it was my first attempt. I didn't bother to take the head off and glue inside as it was such a small cheap doll, but I did style it a little bit by cu...

So this is how I do my MSC (Mr Super Clear - sealant) sprays. I have a big rooftop patio, so I take the doll outside, check which way the wind is blowing so it doesn't all blow back in my face, and spray outside. Because I'm out in the open and have the wind to help, I don't wear a mask while I spray, but I do hold my breath. I use a towel to hold the doll so that I can cover my hand and arm so that they don't get sprayed (MSC can cause skin irritation). After I've sprayed I stay outside for a couple of minutes to let the worst of the smell dissipate, then I bring the doll inside and lay her on a windowsill by an open window to dry. I wash my hands and face afterwards as a precaution, but this method seems to work for me.

Spurred on by Dollightful's challenge, I bought some dolls from eBay. As Monster High seem to be very popular among customisers I bought a Clawdeen Wolf and Venus McFlytrap. As I don't have any pastels or airbrush equipment I chose Clawdeen to start with because her skin tone is already natural. I prepared her - cleaned her face with acetone, cut off her hair, cut off her ears, pulled off her head and cleaned out the roots and glue from inside. The doll's theme was going to be 'tropical', but I had no idea what her outfit would be. I did, however, know that I wanted her to have natural Afro-Caribbean hair, so I used black wool, split into strands, and re-rooted that with a home-made tool. I cut off a needle and stuck it point-first into the rubber on the end of a pencil. Crude, but it worked! Once the hair was finished it was time for the face up. First layer of colour down Again I wanted to go with natural colouring, so the eyes would be brown. I know...

I'm Pam, a full time mum, and this is my doll customising journey. I've been watching doll artist videos on YouTube for a long time. My favourites are Dollightful and Walkercolours. When Dollightful posted a challenge to collaborate with her by creating a doll to be featured in a compilation video, it was the kick in the pants I needed to get started. I already had a lot of the supplies I needed - watercolour pencils, wool, fabric, sewing supplies and acetone. The only things I needed to buy were the dolls themselves and, of course, a tin of Mr Super Clear. The posts in my blog are going to chronicle my efforts to learn how to customise, my successes, failures and things I've learned.