Josephine Parnell is well known for her wide range of soft stuffed toys and dolls house bears, including the kit for Norvelle, a bear kit for learners. Now she has turned her hand to traditional style rag dolls, made with similar techniques to her soft stuffed bears. This kit for Victoria requires a bit more skill than her beginner's kits. Victoria's body is made from lightweight ultrasuede, which requires a fine sharp needle and patience as well as some sewing skill. The kit is well designed, with easy to follow instructions and well designed parts. This is a lovely way to create a custom doll for a mini scene.
Kit Contents
The kit for Victoria, the miniature rag doll, contains a pattern for cutting the doll pieces, a tiny cotter pin to make the jointed head, washers for the cotter pin, and small holed beads to sew on for the eyes. A generous piece of ultrasuede for the body as well as pipe cleaners for the arms and legs is included. In addition to the pattern and instructions for the doll, Josephine also includes a clothes pattern and instructions for a dress (shown in the photos with the doll on these pages) and a pair of drawers for the doll.
Dress fabric, thread, and hair are not included, although Josephine does give instructions for making hair from embroidery floss. When the doll is made up it will fit standard doll's house child's clothing, like the crochet apron shown here by Rosalie Pinske of Needleart Treasures by Rosalie.
Price The kits are ₤7 each, or close to $12, depending on the exchange rate.
Completing Your Miniature Rag Doll Kit
The beginning stages of assembling a dolls house child sized rag doll from Josephine Parnell's kit for Victoria.
Photo copyright 2009 Lesley Shepherd, Licensed to About.com Inc.This miniature rag doll is simple to cut out, the pattern pieces are not complicated and the ultrasuede supplied does not fray. Seams are kept to a minimum and the size of the legs and arms make them not too finicky to turn, although you need hemostats or fine tweezers, which are also useful for stuffing your doll. The parts must be cut out carefully following the instructions, but the pattern is easy to follow. A 2mm seam allowance is allowed for all seams.
Only two stitches are used to complete the doll, the back stitch and the ladder stitch which are both clearly easy to stitch. Parts for the face (eyelids and nose) are very small, so Josephine does not recommend this kit to a beginner.Final Results
This is a pleasing little kit to finish in a short period, with a satisfying result. The doll will stand alone, and can be posed. The head will turn as it is attached with a cotter pin. Josephine's pattern for the head allows you to create the effect of cheeks and a small chin, and the ultrasuede fabric stretches gently allowing good shaping of the dolls arms, body and legs. The doll's standard child size means it can be fitted with wigs, or wigged with an easy hair style from mohair, viscose, or embroidery thread. Any number of dress patterns or dolls house children's clothes will fit the doll.
In addition to this kit for a dolls house child sized rag doll, Josephine also makes a kit for Elizabeth a rag doll sized to be suitable as a dolly for Victoria.
These little rag dolls would make an enchanting set of angels or fairies for a Christmas tree, and could be made up as a club project to show a school class or group of children. (If you wig and dress them differently you could make them into convincing boys).
How Much Skill Do You Need?
Completed and ready to wig and dress, the Victoria rag doll stands beside a bear also sewn from a Josephine Parnell Kit.
Photo copyright 2009 Lesley Shepherd, Licensed to About.com Inc.This kit involves sewing of some very small parts (the nose and eyelids) but the eyelids can be glued, and there is sufficient material to practise making and sewing on noses, if you are not sure of your sewing skill level. As the material for the body is ultrasuede it does not fray, making handsewing easier, but it is a tough fabric and requires the use of a fine needle to avoid obvious holes in the fabric. Ultrasuede is not a good fabric for people who like to rip out seams and begin again. A patient sewer with basic skills will have no difficulty following Josephine's instructions.
If you are not used to sewing ultrasuede or fine leather, you may want to practise your stitches a bit to make sure you can stitch even small stitches before you begin this project. A good way to practise would be by trying to sew through duct tape or electricians tape which is folded in half, sticky sides together. Except for the issue of the glue, it gives you a similar experience to that of sewing leather or suede by hand. You may also want to check your fingernails. You will either need your fingernails or a set of tweezers to hold the small pieces firmly together as you stitch.
