Guest Barbara Johnston shows off a variety of soft-fabric dolls, including a guardian angel, a group of sun bathers, a tattooed doll, and a grandmother with a book of fabric photographs of her family. Before constructing the doll, Barbara explains how to transfer the photographs using the Australian Photo Transfer method.
Transferring the Photo Using turpentine and a spoon, you can transfer a picture from a paper copy to a piece of fabric to make a book like the one the grandmother doll held.
Materials:
photograph
100-percent natural fiber fabric*
natural gum turpentine
blotter
spoon
* Cotton, linen, silk, organza, etc. Parachute silk works especially well.
Steps:
- Make a black and white copy of your photo. The copy must be black and white and not from a laser printer.
- Place fabric over a blotter.
- Place the copy face down on the fabric.
- Soak a cotton ball with natural gum turpentine and rub it over the back of the photograph until the paper becomes opaque.
- Applying ample pressure, rub the damp paper with a spoon to help the ink from the copy to transfer to the fabric.
- Slightly lift the copy to check the progress of the transfer.
- Continue rubbing until you are satisfied with the result.
Note: Remember, the outcome will be a reverse image of your photograph. Thus, if there is writing on the picture, use a sheer fabric like organza so the letters will be readable if you turn the fabric over.
Constructing the DollBarbara next teaches her special method for fashioning the body of what she calls a cookie cutter doll.
Materials:
stiff paper such as a file folder or thin cardboard
scissors
fabric of your choice
chopstick
drinking straw
large gingerbread man or other "person" cookie cutter*
* For pattern; freehand figure may also be drawn.
Steps for the Body:
- Place the cookie cutter onto a stiff piece of paper and trace around to make a template.
- Cut out the template.
- Cut a piece of fabric slightly longer than your template and slightly wider than twice the template's width.
- Fold a piece of fabric in half so that it is wrong side out.
- Place the template on the doubled fabric and trace around it.
- Making 12-15 stitches per inch, sew around the line you traced in Step 5. Leave enough room at the head of the doll to turn it right side out.
- Trim away excess fabric and make small cuts on the doll where its fabric curves in toward the body to keep the seam from puckering when the fabric is turned right side out.
- Turn the fabric right side out.
Steps for Turning:
Barbara has a unique way of turning the doll body right side out. She uses a drinking straw and a Japanese chopstick. She likes Japanese chopsticks because they are tapered at one end and are not so sharp that they will easily poke through fabric.
Steps:
- Insert the straw into the doll and run it down to the bottom of one of the legs.
- Push the chopstick into the end of the straw from outside the doll.
- Slide the body of the doll down over the straw and onto the chopstick.
- Use the tip of the chopstick to smooth out the seams from inside the doll.
Tips:
- To keep her dolls from looking lumpy, Barbara uses a siliconized polyester filling that will not bunch up. She begins by packing stuffing close to the fabric of her doll and filling in the center last.
- Barbara also recommends using a stuffing fork. It's a long, thin piece of metal with prongs on the end that grab the fibers of the filling making it easier to stuff your doll.
- If you want your doll's limbs to move easily, stuff them first and then sew a line of stitches through them where they join the body.
- Make a paper mouth and eyes and pin them on the face so that you can arrange them perfectly on the doll before drawing them permanently.
