The Steps To Making A Miss Nettle Custom Order Doll Part 2

Now we are on PART 2 of making the Miss Nettle Doll custom doll project. You can see PART 1 HERE.

My fourth step is making the body.

As I stated in PART 1 the doll's head was going to be a bit top heavy so I had to make adjustments to her body design. I made her neck and shoulders wider and legs longer to help compensate for the bulk of the head.

Luckily felt and stuffing are very lightweight so it wasn't too hard to figure out the right body ratios

This isn't the type of child's doll that can be undressed and that made making the body so much easier. The torso and arms are the dress color

The torso is sewn together and stuffed, then the legs are sewn together and stuffed and sewn onto the bottom of the torso. Somehow I either lost of didn't take photos of this process, darn it!

 My fifth step is making the clothes and other details. 

I drew out the shape of the skirt once I had the legs attached and knew the length of the doll.

The character has a underskirt that peeks through in the front of the skirt.

 This was great cause it allowed me at do a double skirt, darker yellow on the outside and light butter yellow on the inside giving the doll more stability. 

After the skirt was made and sewn securely to the torso I made the doll's shoes and sewed them to the feet.

One of the last things I do on a doll is add the arms.I triple sewed them through the body they way you do for a button joint without any buttons since this child is so young.and the arms can be raised a lowered.

To finish her off I made her cape that attaches in the front and is not removable.  Because felt can stretch out of shape if pulled and I didn't want to add more bulk by lining the cape the way I did the skirt, I did the extra step of blanket stitching all the way around the cape to help keep it's shape.

There was one very last detail to the doll that I had to do at the very end after I finished the cape. Miss Nettle is a Fairy and has wings.

I designed a set of wings, cut them out of double pieces of felt, blanket stitched them together to give them some weight and allow them to curve giving a more wing like appearance. 

The doll's wings were triple sewn onto her torso and then I made slits in her cape and then hand button hole stitched around the holes so the wings came through the cape and the holes wouldn't get distorted over time. Whew!

The final step is photographing the doll.

If I were putting this doll in my shop I'd do a whole photo shoot for it but since it was a custom and the client saw work in progress pics along the way I just shot these in my kitchen, lol.
 
Introducing my version of Miss Nettle. I sent my client a video of the doll and all of her features and she loved it!

My mom was kind enough to hold the doll, yep in our kitchen, so I could get full shots of her all the way around. She's a good carrying around and snuggling type of doll. Her final size was 18 inches tall and off she went to her new home.

My client told me her son knew who the doll was right away, carried her around and slept with her that first night he received her! That made me so happy. There is nothing greater than making a child happy!

I hope you enjoyed this project in my Maker Series! More of these projects can be found if you use the search bar and type sassy packrat studios maker series.

 

The Steps To Making A Miss Nettle Custom Order Doll Part 1

I was approached by Facebook friend who owns one of my art pieces this month, asking if  I could make a specific doll for her son who was turning 4.

***Disclaimer: This is a OOAK doll and I only made one and only will ever make just that one. 

Her son loves the Disney show Sofia The First and his favorite character is Miss Nettle. Now since I do not have small children anymore and my grandson lives so far away I wasn't familiar with this show. Miss Nettle seems to be a misunderstood fairy, a lot like Maleficent but in a more happy Disney way.

My first step in designing any piece is research.

I hopped on my computer and did some research on the character, and then I thought sure I can make this doll. Also during my research I saw that no one makes this doll, even Disney isn't making a soft doll version that I could find.

So I pulled some pics of the character from the internet and watched some video clips of the character singing and moving around to get a sense of who she was. 

I wish this show was around when my kids were small, they would have loved it!

Then my client and I went over the details of pricing and size of the doll. 

My second step is ordering supplies.

I packrat felt like, well a packrat! So I do have a lot of felt but I'm slowly moving into using all wool blend felt which I only have a few colors of and none of the colors I needed for this project. So I made a list and ordered felt. 

My felt order came and I was happy with the dress and hat colors but not the hair color. So back to my computer to order more felt. I also got a swatch chart ( which I know I have somewhere but can't find since I moved my studio into this room ). Tip: Always get a swatch chart! It can be a bit expensive but it's the best way to make sure you are getting the color you think you are.

I have my swatch chart pinned to my bulletin board so I don't lose this one! 

Now the hair color (bottom) and the cape color (middle) are right. I originally intended to use one color for the hair and cape but changed my mind since I had to order more felt anyway.

The 2 colors in the first pic that weren't right are perfect for Halloween projects so I will absolutely use them.

My third step is getting down to the business of designing the doll. 

While I was waiting on the felt to arrive I started the doll design. Since this is a doll for a child and not an art doll, I approached the design steps very differently. Sturdiness, durability and recognizing the character were the 3 most important things. This being said, the final doll really ended up being a combination of child's doll and art doll.

This character has a very specific hair style which I had to figure out how to do without making her too top heavy. A real person with that much hair wouldn't be able to stand upright with such a tiny neck! 

I designed the head first because it was the most detailed part of the doll and would take the most time. Getting this part right would make the rest of the doll so much easier.

I used lower grade felt to do a prototype of the head so I had all the details and shapes worked out before I cut into my lovely more expensive wool blend felt.

Then I realized the body pattern I planned to use (the same as my fairy tale dolls) wouldn't hold up the to weight and size of her head, so I had to give her a thicker neck. Plus I had to re-design the torso 3 times before i got it right.

Once the torso was to my liking I had to increase the length of the arms and legs to keep the doll in proportion, all while keeping the agreed upon size in mind; partially for pricing and partially to fit in my custom sized shipping boxes.

The did the face in my own personal big eyed style. It's meant to give the idea of the character but not look exactly like the character.

I was originally going to do the hair like my fairy tale dolls (below), with the details stitched on very simply. And quite honestly that's how I quoted the price.

But I was feeling nostalgic about my son whose birthday is coming up and he's all grown up with a son on his own now and I just felt like doing more for this sweet little boy and his mom who wanted to give her son the doll he wanted.

I decided to make the hair more dimensional than I originally intended. I stuffed and stitched her curls to get the exact look I was hoping for. I also stuffed and stitched curls on the back of her head too. I'm glad I went the extra mile because the end result made me so happy! It also went a long way in making this doll look like the character.

In the original prototype design I planned on the hat being part of the head like this doll below.

But the character's hat is a very big part of her and an 3D version was the way I had to go. A lot more work but completely worth it!

I hope you enjoyed this post and in Part 2 I'll finish the doll.

The Making of A Custom Ornament.

I was asked to make a custom ornament this year by a customer that I made custom ornaments for last year. It's sooooo nice to get repeat business! Anyhoo I thought I'd document the process for those who are interested.

 The client sent me a photo of their new dog. I did an ornament of their Yorkie last year. I then made a graphic of the dog. She has such beautiful markings but it's a felt ornie so I have to simplify them.

I printed out the basic shapes and started to cut and layer the colors.

Teeny tiny stitches.

This sweet Doxie has blue eyes so I used blue mini buttons. The white details have been layered on. The ears attached and the hanger too.

Here she is all sewn and lightly stuffed. Much more of a challenge then the Yorkie of last year.

I think she's really quite sweet! Just needs a bow then she's off to a new home!

Here's last year's Yorkie. I think I did a much better job this year. ;0)

New Ornaments In The Shop and Lots Of Custom Orders.

I had a little pattern cut out, a mini version of my plush penguins but wasn't sure I was going to do finish them. Well I'm glad I did cause they seem to be quite popular little things! I even have some custom order penguins too.

Working on lots of Custom Plush Tardis Orders that are shipping all over the world and here in the US. Isn't the pink one awesome! A special order for a lovely girl in the UK.

As always I have owls. Here's the first of many. Just need to sew up the rest of them!

Super happy things are selling. Glad I stuck it out and didn't close my etsy shop.

A Peek At A Custom Order

A team member of mine saw a plush Tardis I did for a swap in my blog banner and wanted me to make one for him. You've seen it in bits and pieces and in the background of various other posts. I finally listed it today and he snapped it right up. I'm considering doing a listing to take custom orders for the holidays, cause it is very time consuming to make but fun.

Couldn't resist getting the toys out! LOL!

This is so much better than the one I did for the swap! Still want to make one for me but probably never will. Random Fact: I hummed the Doctor Who theme song when making this. Annoyed everyone around me! Wee Oooooo.....

My Studio Has A New Resident.

This new resident comes all the way from Jolly Old England

and has been long awaited. I've been wanting one of

these meerkats for some time and found out the the

artist does custom orders so I ordered one as

a special birthday present to myself.

This wonderful custom meerkat was created by Heather

of niftyknits on etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/niftyknits.

She was amazing to work with on this very custom and

special meerkat. We convo'd back and forth until she

knew what I wanted and I was so happy to see the

finished meerkat and could hardly wait until his arrival.

Now that he's safely on American soil I think it's safe

to say that this is a CUSTOM Doctor Who Tom Baker

meerkat. Tom played the role of Dr. Who for 7 years

during the mid 1970's to the early 1980's and was my first

taste of Dr. Who. Although I adore David Tennant's Dr.,

Tom Baker has a very special place in my little sci-fi heart.

The 4th Doctor had this crazy long, wrap around several

times scarf. A big overcoat and brown floppy hat. The hat

would get lost as he set it down frequently and would forget

where it was. He also carried pockets full of weird things

and would offer people "jelly babies" all the time. I've

never been quite sure what those were but I guess they

are what we in the US call jelly beans.

I love that his coat and scarf come off. His hat doesn't but with his

history of losing it, it's better off attached to his head. 

Sorry about this long and rambling post but I just had to share my

joy with you all! Hope you don't mind too much!

Custom Order I Recently Finished

I was asked to modify an existing design for a group of cheerleaders. I think they came out very well with hair styles and skin colors to match the actual girls. Also I modified the uniforms and color to match the girl's uniforms. The cards each have that particular girl's name on it too.

I have this style of person in baseball, soccer, and basketball for both girls and boys plus ballet girls too.

I can modify most any art I have so please keep that in mind if you are looking for something more personalized than I have in my store. I also do custom graphics to meet your needs when time allows.