Posted by admin | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 06-12-2010
Leave the whole thing to dry. Leave it alone for at least three days.
When you take it out, you will have a pressed cloth head, front and back, that you now get to sew together.
Oh, joy!
As I worked my way through this doll, trying to do everything just as Izannah would have done them, I was struck by how sophisticated this simple little doll really is.
The antique dolls have a “pate” as the UFDC called it, which is really a representation of the hair being gathered up into a bun, which is what would have to happen do achieve that hairstyle, with the little curls and such.
You can see it on the antiques, so I put it on mine.
The antique heads, especially the early ones, had to be sewn onto the body. One of the shoulderplates I saw had a seam going down the back of it.
The ears…and I have not made a complete study of the ears….some of them are in two pieces, sewn together, and then attached to the head. So I did that, too.
The UFDC study disc says that there is only one seam on the arms. I accomplished that by putting the pattern on the bias, and then sewing darts on the opposite side.
Sew the piece first, then finish cutting it out.
I think what really blew me out of the water was when I got to the legs, nearing the completion of the body.
Izannah’s doll body is not like anything I have ever seen. The upper legs are actually part of the torso, so the whole thing has to be sewn differently. The seam on the torso and thighs is on the side, but the seam for the lower legs is down the back.
Izannah put the feet on separately, also…I did not!
When I was trying to attach the lower leg to the upper leg, and get both legs to be the same length, I had a real breakthrough.
The lower legs are to be sewn on, and then the leg covering, the second skin, is brought up over the hips and stitched down. You can see that on the antiques.
I finally accomplished the attaching of the legs and having both legs be the same lengh, by marking the thigh, and rolling the extra cloth up, sewing that, and then fitting the cloth from the lower leg over that.
“Just like a sailor putting on a peg leg!”
Izannah grew up in Somerset, MA, across the street from a shipyard. Her uncle, who raised her, was a sea captain. Izannah must have seen many sailors, about town, with peg legs, because that’s all the state of the medical arts at that time.
Putting the legs on….just like a peg leg is attached.
I will leave this for now. I hope those of you that wanted/needed this information are helped. If you have questions, you can e mail me at blufrogg (use the and symbol) at garlic dot com.