Step by Step photo record of Hannah being dressed (#1762)

Costuming Hannah
This doll was a commission and therefore is not available for sale but I thought I would share with you the steps I took in taking the doll from the basic doll parts through to the finished article.

1)Here is the doll before being painted, she is at her basic stage of assembly the chenille pipe cleaners were glued into the premade holes using super glue gel. She is already able to stand unaided
2)Hannah is on the right of this photo, she has now been painted and fired a few times to build up skin tone
3)Hannah has now had her joints wrapped in thin strips of quilters wadding. wrapped as tight as possible this help keeps the joints firm.

4)Her fibre fill (quilters wadding) has been zapped with a heat gun, this has two advantages: A) it helps to get rid of any fly away fibres and B) it helps to firm up the pose. Next I sprayed her with a matt varnish. Then painted her shoes, After the shoes had dried I started adding the bodice which in this case was made up of layers of fine cream lace. Then I added her necklace ( paint thin lines of tacky glue, add beads and leave to dry fully then paint with a coat of modge podge to hold them in place.
5) She has now had her trousers added. The fabric is 100% cotton lawn which has been printed in a pale grey which makes a nice combination with the ivory and gold tones used in her jewellery and her bodice.
I don't use specific patterns unless its an era dress where it is definitely needed. Trousers are easily made and after so many years I have managed to learn to cut the fabric exactly to the size of the doll where as I used to find that patterns for 1/12th scale dolls differed greatly in my case I found them over sized!

6) The trousers were sinched into the waist by adding tiny pleats which were in line with her centre seams of the legs. Her waist band was added using a doubled hemmed strip of fabric (measure the waist line and add 1/4 inch) and I have used 3x0.5mm no hole beads as her trouser buttons.
7) Now its time to make and add the jacket. I used a paper pattern first then transferred this onto my fabric to make sure it was a nice snug fit. I gave the jacket a sweeping neckline and lined the front.
8) I have done an open slit back as this helped to add a little movement and also pinched in two darts at the back for a more fitted look.

9) I then added a band at the back by using a strip of fabric 1.5cms long and 1/4inch wide I hemmed all edges and then popped it in place using a dab of fabritac
10) these lovely brass buttons have great detail in them and finished the jacket off well, These were a diamond of a find at Little Trimmings!
11) Before making the sleeves I added in a bust line dart to pull the fabric in and around the arm hole. The sleeves were made to 3/4 lengths as I wanted this outfit to have quite a summery feel to it. The sleeves are made and then slid up the arm and slip stitched and glued in place.

12) The same was done for the other side, Now her costuming is complete! But she definitely needs a nice modern hair style to help bring her to life!
13) I made soft curls from dark blonde viscose hair. About 4 cocktail sticks were wound with good thick lengths of the dampened hair, I then bake them in my oven for 20 minutes, leave them to cool and then open the curls right up by sliding a needle into the curls and dragging down, you will find some fuzzy ends will accumulate at the end I just trim those off.
14) The final touch was a headband cut from a strip of the lace used for the bodice then a fine line of no hole beads added using tacky wax and the tip of a needle to place them in position, yep folks one at a time. Its takes a little time but the effect is well worth it. Once the glue was dry a coat of modge podge was added. One more step was to add another coat of gloss varnish to her eyes (I add approximately 5 coats of varnish to each eye leaving a minimum of 2 hours before the next coat is added and now she is all complete!

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1)Here is the doll before being painted, she is at her basic stage of assembly the chenille pipe cleaners were glued into the premade holes using super glue gel. She is already able to stand unaided	2)Hannah is on the right of this photo, she has now been painted and fired a few times to build up skin tone	3)Hannah has now had her joints wrapped in thin strips of quilters wadding. wrapped as tight as possible this help keeps the joints firm.
4)Her fibre fill (quilters wadding) has been zapped with a heat gun, this has two advantages: A) it helps to get rid of any fly away fibres and B) it helps to firm up the pose. Next I sprayed her with a matt varnish. Then painted her shoes, After the shoes had dried I started adding the bodice which in this case was made up of layers of fine cream lace. Then I added her necklace ( paint thin lines of tacky glue, add beads and leave to dry fully then paint with a coat of modge podge to hold them in place.	5) She has now had her trousers added. The fabric is 100% cotton lawn which has been printed in a pale grey which makes a nice combination with the ivory and gold tones used in her jewellery and her bodice. I don't use specific patterns unless its an era dress where it is definitely needed. Trousers are easily made and after so many years I have managed to learn to cut the fabric exactly to the size of the doll where as I used to find that patterns for 1/12th scale dolls differed greatly in my case I found them over sized!
6) The trousers were sinched into the waist by adding tiny pleats which were in line with her centre seams of the legs. Her waist band was added using a doubled hemmed strip of fabric (measure the waist line and add 1/4 inch) and I have used 3x0.5mm no hole beads as her trouser buttons.	7) Now its time to make and add the jacket. I used a paper pattern first then transferred this onto my fabric to make sure it was a nice snug fit. I gave the jacket a sweeping neckline and lined the front.	8) I have done an open slit back as this helped to add a little movement and also pinched in two darts at the back for a more fitted look.
9) I then added a band at the back by using a strip of fabric 1.5cms long and 1/4inch wide I hemmed all edges and then popped it in place using a dab of fabritac	10) these lovely brass buttons have great detail in them and finished the jacket off well, These were a diamond of a find at Little Trimmings!	11) Before making the sleeves I added in a bust line dart to pull the fabric in and around the arm hole. The sleeves were made to 3/4 lengths as I wanted this outfit to have quite a summery feel to it. The sleeves are made and then slid up the arm and slip stitched and glued in place.
12) The same was done for the other side, Now her costuming is complete! But she definitely needs a nice modern hair style to help bring her to life!	13) I made soft curls from dark blonde viscose hair. About 4 cocktail sticks were wound with good thick lengths of the dampened hair, I then bake them in my oven for 20 minutes, leave them to cool and then open the curls right up by sliding a needle into the curls and dragging down, you will find some fuzzy ends will accumulate at the end I just trim those off.	14) The final touch was a headband cut from a strip of the lace used for the bodice then a fine line of no hole beads added using tacky wax and the tip of a needle to place them in position, yep folks one at a time. Its takes a little time but the effect is well worth it. Once the glue was dry a coat of modge podge was added. One more step was to add another coat of gloss varnish to her eyes (I add approximately 5 coats of varnish to each eye leaving a minimum of 2 hours before the next coat is added and now she is all complete!