Merry meet all,
I hope you all had an amazing holiday!
I watched an episode, Demon under the Stairs, from the Haunted Museum recently. As I did, I suddenly experienced the worst pain in my jaw. It might be coincidental but the timing sure is worthy of note. Like I am not kidding, it was the most painful thing I ever experienced next to the nightmarish experience I had at the dentist’s office. Needless to say, I am no longer visiting that dental office. I am buying a big chunk of selenite to protect me from anymore possible ‘attacks’. I mean you know, just in case.
I watched a video about demons on YouTube in the past. As I watched, I felt a big muscle spasm between the shoulder blades. That really hurt too. Maybe it was coincidental or maybe I need to up the ante of this pain I suffer when watching certain videos. For any of you who are reading this, I do have psychic protection posts I wrote in the past on this blog.
Energy is real and all around us. Energy makes everything happen. We are composed of electromagnetic energy. The Universe is energy. A leaf has an energy as does an orange. As I type, rain falls from a grey leaden sky. I keep pining for summer but winter is here. Sometimes I have seen so much ice and snow in my backyard it seems that summer would never return, but it does. I hate winter but I know it passes. The change of the seasons never ceases to amaze me. Everything is energy and nothing is finite.
I am inspired to sew a scary doll. She is not haunted but she will be hopefully if I take her places that are speculated to be haunted. The photo shows the layout of the pattern pieces. The body of the doll is white. The hair which will be mostly made up of black and some purple yarn, she will have buttons for eyes, and her dress is a black and white spider print fabric I stashed in the sewing cart. The sleeves are the same fabric as the dress. The stockings are a grey fabric with a black bat print and the boots are black. She will get a witch charm necklace, a broom and a witch hat. I think she will be so Goth and cute. I can’t wait to work on the doll! Then of course, she will need a name. No, I will not name her Morticia. There are a thousand dolls named Morticia. Claudia would suit her though. Maybe she will need fangs and a driving hunger for blood?
Ha! The entire doll – the body of the doll and the dress has to be sewn with a 1/4″ inch seam allowance. I had to find out how that is done. My needle plate shows a 3/8″ inch, 5/8″ inch and 7/8″ inch seam allowances. So the 1/4″ inch seam allowance is before 3/8″. You can now imagine that means a tiny, narrow seam allowance. Now I know where that is indicated because 1/4″ inches is 2/8″ inch. I have to see slowly and carefully. Wow. I will never be so precise as now. I made a doll in the past and I was never this careful. That’s because I am now using a pattern. To make it worse, the body of the doll and the clothing which will forever be a part of the doll is white. It will all show if I screw up. I will mark with tape where the mark is where I have to sew. Sewing slowly and keeping an eye on it will be the only way to get this done. This is not a rush job. I have never needed to sew in a 1/4″ inch before. Needles to say, I don’t look forward to it but it is not impossible. That’s why marking rulers and understanding math can come in handy- and patience!
I can’t wait to stuff the doll and sew the costume. But that comes after patiently sewing the doll and minding the seam allowance. Or it is all for naught. Too much work to go through for nothing. But anything worth doing is worth doing well. I will post photos as I go along. This will be a fun weekend project. I googled goth scary witch dolls. I am going for a scary cute goth look. The buttons I wanted to use might be too big for her face. I ordered black skull buttons online at Amazon. I don’t want to use regular buttons on the doll. I need a button at the collar and on her boots. Skull buttons will make her look edgy and with attitude.
If you want to make this doll, use the pattern by Kwik Sew 4390. That is the pattern I used. You have to have all the fabric at hand that you will need. The clothing is sewn to the doll’s body and is never intended to be separate from the doll. The body of most of the doll is white. The stockings and the booties (See legs of doll in the photo) are the clothing. The arms are white and the face and neck. The hair piece that gets sewn to the head of the doll has to be the haircolor and the yarn has to match. Since the yarn hair was black, I used black cotton for the hair front and hair back. Be sure to use matching thread. Sew the eyes on last or before you attach any other parts to the doll. I wanted to use big buttons for her eyes but the buttons were too big. Here are some photos I took on the progress of the doll:
When you sew the arms and legs, you cut out four pieces. The arms have to look right on the doll and are reversed of each other. One right arm and one left arm. The same goes with the legs. Our arms and legs face a certain way. It is no different with a doll.
When you sew the head to the body (front), keep a straight seam allowance. If you want to, you can use a pencil and mark a very light straight line from the notch marked on the forehead all the way down to the neck. The seamline of the head of the doll to the body must be straight. The notches and points have to meet. It is the same with the back of the doll. I stuffed the arms and legs tightly and packed the stuffing down firmly using a wooden dowel but not hard enough to tear fabric or seams. You have to get the details of the doll’s body right or otherwise don’t bother.
Leave the back of the doll open for turning and stuffing. Take your time with this. Take your time making the entire doll. This is an act of creation so go slowly. Sew the doll with love and it will show. I sewed the smile on and traced a light line on for the smile with pencil then stitched over the pencil marks. I sprinkled in mugwort and mandrake then stitched the back of the doll by hand. Once you have correctly and nicely sewn the body, you can progress with the clothing.
The right arm of the doll’s sleeve cap features spiders. The left arm of the sleeve cap features the webs (where the spiders hide!). I drew an eyebrow on her brow very carefully with a sharpie pen and I did the same with her lashes. The pocket fabric is upside down and the collar fabric is wrong side up but it somehow works. The pocket can still hold spells!!! For the hair braids, you sew the braids to the head where the darts are. You can use whatever color yarn you want, but have lots of it on hand. If you want, you can sew a weft of the yarn hair and then sew it on by hand. You have to sew the yarn on by hand, Mark with a water soluble marker where you want to sew on the yarn. I have included a video here to better demonstrate how to sew on the yarn. Before you sew anything, watch this excellent video!:
I highly suggest you sew on the yarn by hand. If you use a hot glue gun, you will regret it. It won’t have that seamless look. Hot glue makes a mess. Sewing with needle and thread spares you lots of agony. I made the doll a dress and tacked it on to her body the same I did with the collar. I sewed on a pocket to the dress before I sewed the dress together. I had to sew the dress by hand because for some frustrating reason the machine refused to sew this fabric together. The dress comes with a slip. I gathered the fabric together but I had more luck just cutting the fabric to truly fit her body and I pinned the slip to the doll. Make sure to use thread that is the same as the yarn and the head of the doll.
I made the doll!!!! I love her and she is just sooo cute! I was successful in sewing the slim seam allowance. I stuffed the arms and the legs then I sewed the back of the doll’s head to the body. I sewed the back of the doll to the front of the doll. If you want to make your own doll and are trying this, you can’t catch the seams of the arms and legs when doing this. Then I finally stuffed the doll. Tear the wool into little pieces then put the stuffing into the doll. Be sure to pack it in carefully. You also have to stuff the doll’s head firmly because you don’t want the doll’s head to be floppy. I recommend watching how the woman in the video sews the doll body if you are inspired to make a doll yourself. It is incredibly helpful. I love my doll Miranda Spiderella. She is cute and scary! A perfect combination.
I might hunt a little rocking chair for her for a nice place to sit. I am sure I will eventually find something. This will be fun and hard work. I will let you know how it turns out!!
After this project is complete, I want to sew myself a brown winter coat.
Blessings, Spiderwitch
The Paranormal Quill 