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Making a mini me

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 fabric glue along all the seams and glued extra strips of thin fabric along the longer seams for extra stability. I also glued all the raw edges before adding decorative and strengthening blanket stitches along the hood and collar.

I did find with this pattern that I didn't like how the hood simply stopped at the back of the coat. I'm planning to redraw the pattern and extend the hood around to the sides as well at some point, but not with this coat. I can't face unpicking, unsticking and risking the coat fraying to death! 

Because I didn't like the hood very much I made her a crocheted hat as well. I didn't use a pattern for this, I just made it up as I went along. I used a 3mm hook and (UK) double crochet stitches, started at the top and worked in the round.

She’s also got a circle skirt from a very simple pattern I drew up. Simple fold a square of fabric into eighths (as if you were making a paper snowflake) and cut a tiny piece from the point. It really is tiny, and you can always cut more if you need to. Next measure the fabric against the doll with the point at the waist and decide how long you want it. If you want a hanky hem then cut a straight line at the bottom, or if you want a regular circle skirt cut a curve. Finally cut a slit from the waistband about an inch long - this is where you'll add your fastening. Hem as needed, add a closure and you're done. I also added a ribbon waistband and a gathered netting underskirt layer to give it a bit more pouf.

Mini me still needs a top and some boots but she's nearly fully clothed. I'm going to make her a long sleeved top from another Requiem Arts Design pattern and use Walkercolours' tutorials on YouTube to make the boots. If you're interested in these tutorials visit my 'useful links' page.
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