March 2nd thru 24th 2017  

Dale – “California Rag Wall Doll”

Maurine's

Fiber

Friends

I originally met Dale Thall when one of my students, Nancy Shinder, brought her to my home to meet me since we both enjoyed doing macramé.  Every time Nancy left my home after one of her classes she would say, “Goodby girls” to all the dolls I had made.  Nancy finally took my “California Rag Wall Doll” class and made “Fleurette” which is on my website. 

'The next thing I knew was that Dale wanted to make her own “California Rag Wall” doll.  She came to my home March 2-3, 7, 10, 13-14, 21, 24, 2017.  She had purchased her 100% cotton fabric in advance of the class – 2 yards of a fancy fabric and ½ yard of a solid contrasting for the cuffs, belt and legs. 

I told Dale in advance that the doll would decide how it wanted to look.  It was the boss.  Since she was working with fabric for the entire doll and was needle sculpting the face – nose, around the eyes, lips and cheeks, the doll would decide if it wanted a big nose or a small nose.  Did it want green or blue or brown eyes.  It told her the shape of the lips it wanted.  It also told her that it wanted eye lids with glitter on it and fake eye lashes.  So, Dale listened to her doll, which she named “Freya”, and it became beautiful. 

I was very proud of Dale and her creativity. 

I had 3 students during  February and March 2017.  On March 3rd Dale and Sheila came the same day for their classes .  Sheila Loggan had already begun taking her “Introduction to Weaving” class with me and Dale had started taking her “California Rag Wall Doll” class the day before. 

They started to talk about their heritage and discovered that they were cousins, eighth removed.  It was fascinating listening about their common background going back generations.  

At the end of the pictures below you will see pictures of Dale and Sheila –newly found cousins.   

Dale is laying out her fabric.

Getting ready to measure.

Marking her fabric.

Getting ready to cut her strips for weaving.

Cutting her strips with a rotary cutter and a quilter's ruler.

Pressing down hard when cutting is important.

The strips are all cut.

Dale will weave these strips for her doll's body on this Harrisville peg loom.

Gently pressing down the freezer paper templates is important before sewing around them for the head and hands of her doll.

The head and hands are pressed down and ready for sewing.

She carefully sews around the front of the face right next to the freezer paper.

She has the other part of the head and hands all set to sew after she finishes the first part of the head.

Sewing around the fingers of the doll's hand.

Dale is preparing the doll's skirt for a finished look.

Dale is holding the finished skirt.

Time to stuff the arms with fiberfill.

Needle sculpting the doll's nose.

The doll's face is all needle sculpted.

Outlining and coloring in the doll's features.

A happy doll artist.

The face is looking great.

Working on the details is very important.

Time to add the eye lids.

Pipe cleaners go into the fingers for bending.

Getting ready to attach the arms to the doll.

The arms are in place and the rod is attached to the back and  top of the doll to keep it stable.

The neck is attached and all the doll needs is its head.

Measuring the length for the hair.

Getting ready to cut the hair.

Sewing the hair on top of a strip of Craft Velour with a strip of tissue paper holding the yarn down until it is all finished.

Dale holding her almost finished doll.

Adding a little glue to keep her hair in place.

Dale named her doll, Freya.

Rear view of Freya.

Side view of Freya.

Dale and Freya.

Two students - Sheila learning to weave and Dale learning to make a California Rag Wall Doll.

Sheila and Dale in the class at the same time.  Turns out they are distant cousins.

Sheila and Dale - two distant cousins.

Cousins - Sheila and Dale.