Ballerina Doll

As promised, here is more information about the doll I made for my niece's birthday gift. I used the Jo Doll pattern, from the etsy shop "Bit of Whimsy Dolls." I loved the pattern, it was great! And I am excited about making more dolls in the future for gifts, and hopefully for my own little girl someday (if we are ever blessed with a little girl).


I followed the pattern the whole way through, except that I changed the hair shape and created a bun instead. Then I add a little tulle skirt. It is actually a rather big tulle skirt for such a little doll, but I think it is super fun. It is also a removable skirt so she could always take it off if she wanted.


Another variation I made on the pattern is that I added little ballet slippers made from felt and ribbon. I just drew up a little shoe pattern, cut it out of felt, and sewed it onto the little doll legs before I did any of the sewing from the pattern. Then I tied up the ribbon the way that you tie point shoes (lucky for me I have done my fair share of dancing so I know all about point shoe tying).


One note I want to add for my own memory, and to help anyone else who might want to make a doll using this pattern, is that it would be better to trace and embroider the face before doing any of the sewing. I waited until the end like the pattern says, and it didn't turn out quite as great as it could have. The embroidery wasn't that hard, but sketching on the face was hard and I think it could have turned out better if I had done it before. At the very least, you should trace the face onto the fabric before sewing so that you know where to embroider later on. Hopefully those notes help someone else who might use the pattern.

Another thing, sewing up the bottom of the doll was SUPER hard for me. It definitely did not turn out very good, which is unfortunate because it is sewn on the outside so you can see my horrible stitching. I am grateful for the tulle skirt that covers my poor sewing. Hopefully my sister-in-law (who happens to be much better at sewing than I am) won't judge me when she looks at it. I find comfort in the fact that it is for a four year old and she will probably never look at the seems or the sewing.

To make the tulle skirt I just measured out a piece of elastic, cut it, sewed the ends together and wrapped cut pieces of tulle onto it. I don't know what the technique I used is called, but I would bet it's pretty easy to find youtube videos of tulle skirt making on the internet.