Jpop Dolls has re-released the delightful doll Mouse by Daisy Dayes, this time in tan resin. As I myself have one of the dolls from the first run in fair skin resin, I decided to show her off.
Inspired by two projects by doll fashion designer Martha Boers (Antique Lilac), a dress pattern and project is included here for Mouse and similar-size dolls.
Mouse is 16 cm of cuteness. She was one of the first dolls by artist Daisy Dayes to be factory cast and sold at Jpop Dolls. She came with a simple face-up and glass eyes. Mouse has single joints, but she is able to touch her face to some degree and stand well on a flat surface. With two torso joints, she can bend and curve. The ball joints for her legs are molded into the lower torso, giving Mouse a fair amount of mobility in moving her leg. She is not the best at sitting up, preferring to lean or slouch. The best feature of the doll is her face sculpt which is adorable with pointed ears and painted little worry brows.
To celebrate her re-release, I decided to create a new little felt dress project for Mouse. The simple pattern is easy to assemble. The decoration on the dress is based on two Martha Boers tutorials, one on chain-stitch embroidery and another on felt flower embellishment. This simple shift will also fit other dolls of similar size such as Lati Yellow.
Materials Needed:
Mouse’s dress pattern PDF
Felt and felt scraps (I use wool or wool-blend felt for all of my doll projects. It is more durable.)
Embroidery floss
Hook or snap fastener
Beads (optional)
Step 1
Cut out 1 front piece on a fold and two back pieces of the pattern out of felt.
Step 2. Sew the dress together as shown.
Step 3. Outline the dress and the armholes with a chain stitch. To see how to do this stitch, check out Martha Boer’s tutorial on her website Antique Lilac HERE.
Step 4. Create a floral embellishment with chain stitch and felt. For the stems, I embroidered simple curly lines of chain stitch in green. For the flowers, I was inspired by Martha’s tutorial for felt flower decoration on doll clothing that can be found in a newsletter on the website Adele Sciortino – Costuming & Trim. (To access the newsletters, sign up to the site. The newsletter that includes Martha’s tutorial is Fall 2010.)
Since Mouse’s dress is so small, I cut out simple felt circles for my flowers and added glass beads for the centers. (The center could also be made with embroidery floss.) With tiny scissors, petals could be easily cut into the circle if desired. The leaves are attached with a few stitches of green embroidery floss. You can decorate your dress simply or cover it completely with vines and flowers and/or fruit.
Step 5. Add a snap or hook at the back of the dress.
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