Becky

Becky- Beautiful Baby of Jerusalem By Rivkah Rosenfeld, copyright 2007

General Instructions Please read through the instructions of each lesson before you start. Be sure to place pattern on grain of fabric RST = Right Sides Together

Important Tips • Body patterns indicate that they must be taped together because they are extra long.

• You'll need a tracing wheel and tracing paper to transfer certain markings. If you don't have them, use a pin to make hole marks through the pattern and fabric so you can draw the line later. • Some pattern pieces are drawn with no seam allowance. Please take note when the piece says “trace.” Tracing will require that you do not add a seam allowance, and the sewing line is on the line you have traced. Do not cut out the piece on the tracing line itself unless otherwise indicated. When sewing pieces without seam allowances, fabric edge and presser foot edge match up. Always trace onto the wrong side of the fabric. • Set stitch length on sewing machine to 1 .5 for head and hands. You may even want to make it smaller on fingers. If you forget to adjust the stitch length, you will see the stitches. Setting the stitch length smaller is especially helpful when turning small fingers because it helps prevent them from popping. • Don’t forget to change thread tension and/or needles for different fabrics. Always use the right needle for the right fabric. Periodically change needles between projects as well. • Head is sewn last because the face is painted on fabric, allowed to dry, and then cut out and sewn along with the rest of the head. This way, if you make a mistake or are not happy with your doll's face, you can easily make another one without feeling obligated to work with a doll that is already sewn and completed. BODY There is a bit of prep work to be done before assembling the body. •

Tape the pattern tops and bottoms together as indicated.

•

Trace the pattern as you normally would, on the wrong side of the fabric. You will have one long body front and one long body back.

•

The CURVED GUIDE LINES are very important.

Darts and curved lines are VERY important. They should be drawn on the RIGHT side of the fabric, as well as the WRONG side. Accuracy is essential! To transfer the markings accurately to both sides, a tracing wheel and tracing paper is very helpful. Simply use two pieces of tracing paper: one below the fabric and one on top of it, but under the pattern piece you are tracing with the wheel. Just make sure the side that rubs off will rub onto the fabric. Dritz makes "dritz for dolls"- a packet of double faced tracing paper. It makes it very easy. Notice the two pieces of tracing paper, and the tracing wheel. Markings will be visible on both on the front and back of the pattern.

Here you can see the blue marks, indicating the tracing. I had to darken it with a colored pencil to make it visible to the camera! Yours will be a dotted line.

If these tools are not accessible, lay the pattern piece on the fabric you have cut out. Use pins to make pin holes through the lines on the paper and through the fabric. Use a pen to connect the pinhole dots. The darts (body back) are mirrored. After drawing them accurately, iron or finger press a midline to form a fold between the curves. I drew the line in for you to see. You can draw it, too, if it's easier for you than pressing. It doesn't matter. Let's assemble the Body. 1. Begin with body back: There are X's on the pattern. (not shown in the picture above) Transfer these to the fabric now. Bring upper and lower X's together on both sides and tack them down by taking a quick stitch on the machine. You may find you'll need to make adjustments later, so make it very temporary as if you were using pins. Here is what it should look like. Notice the gaps >< and the formation of the baby's "toosh."

2. Sew the dart on the WRONG SIDE, taking care that the seam should be as accurate as possible. It's a good idea to hand baste before using the machine. 3. Those curved lines you traced on both body front and body back.... line them up so they are touching each other. This is one of the reasons why you made the line on both sides- makes it real easy to see. Pin the line in the midpoint. This line must not shift, because it will have to be sewn later.

Pin the corners as well, just to make sure. 4. Close those gaps > < (sew them closed). It will be a continuation of the curved dart. It will look like one long seam. 5. Pin body front to body back at side seams, RST. Start pinning from the shoulders and work down to the feet. Side seams should fit from shoulders right down to legs. If there is any excess selvage at the bottom of the feet, don't mind that. It's factored into consideration. (see picture above) The main concern is that the line should be pinned, and the side seams should match. 6. After you've done your pinning and made any necessary adjustments, go ahead and sew the side seams.

7. Finish up by sewing neck/shoulder area. Don't forget to leave the top of the neck open. 8. Sew the bottom of the legs closed. There may be some excess but you don't have to trim it off. It's a good idea to reinforce this area with a zigzag stitch. 9. Sew crotch. Here it is so far. You are looking at the front.

10. Remove the pin. Turn through the neck opening and press. Make sure all the seams are nice and neat. 11. Turn the body inside out again. Before stuffing the body, the legs must first be attached. Now is the time to make the legs and the arms. Before we do that, we must create the joints. JOINTS Both arms and legs have joints. The joints are essentially discs that are positioned in the "mouth" (opening) of the legs/arms, to maintain a round shape in that area. 1. On a piece of paper, draw and cut out a circle 4.6cm in diameter for arms, and 6.7cm for legs. Use a compass to make the circles accurate. These will be your templates. 2. Decide what material to make joints from. You can use wood, thick plastic or any material you can cut with a craft knife. You can also model them with air drying clay, which is very easy to do; however, you will have to wait until the clay hardens. Polymer clay can be used as well. The joints should be approximately 1/8" - 1/4" thick. 3. Use an appropriate tool to cut out the circles. You should have 4 total.

4. Carve a groove along the exterior edge of each joint. Again, use tools appropriate to the material you have selected. My discs are made form wood, and I've chosen a craft knife and a blunt nail to make the groove.

Please try to make the groove as wide as possible, because you will need to rest thread inside. If you have difficulty, it may be easiest to sculpt the joints from clay. Set the joints aside. LEGS 1. Trace the pattern onto the fuzzy side of doe suede or robe velour. (Note: the right side is the smooth side! Unless you want your doll to be "fuzzy," which is ok). 2. Set seam allowance to 2.5 or 2.0. Sew the legs, RST (you're sewing on the fuzzy side). 3. Stuff firmly until 1/2" before the top. Insert the disc (instructions to make disc follow

below). Make a gathering stitch around the top and gather the leg closed.

At this point, you'll want to make the arms also, using the same procedure. ARMS 1. Trace and sew the arms as you did the legs. 2. Turn and stuff them firmly until 1/2" before the very end. 3. Position the joint and sew closed as with legs. Set aside.

ATTACH THE LEGS Body is still unturned. 1. Thread up a long doll makers needle with strong thread. 2. Position foot inside body legs, as if in a bags, toes pointing toward front and disc joint downwards. Push the joint flat up against the seam of body leg.

Secure the legs in place: 3. Starting from outside, anchor thread (outside of body leg) and pull thread up at the center. 4. Pull thread through to the inside of the "bag", where the leg is. Hold seam down. 5. Use nylon fishing thread or very strong thread or beading wire for this important step. Wrap the thread into the grooves of the joint, making several turns. This will force the fabric into the groove and lock it in. Tie off when secure. Repeat for other foot. Hint: if the grooves are too narrow, and you find it very difficult to make it stay in there, here is what to do: Using a short sharp needle and quilters thread, do a herringbone stitch over the thread in the groove. This will make it stay in place. Refer to the following picture. Please note, the fishing wire is invisible and the thread is off white!

Here's a close-up detail. Can you see the nylon thread in the middle of the herringbone stitching?

6. Very carefully turn the body right side out to check how the feet look. If they need to be turned and adjusted, do so now. (Note: if you had to do the herringbone, you won't be able to turn the legs because they won't be able to rotate freely.) Turn inside out again, exercising caution so the feet do not "pop off." (they can't pop off if you've done the stitches!) 7. When satisfied, use use beading wire to secure legs in place, around groove from joint. If wire is not available, use strong thread and wrap it around several times tightly. Repeat this process for the opposite leg. 6. Carefully turn the doll. Don't pull on the legs because they can pop off. Secure the legs permanently: 7. Thread up a short needle with regular sewing thread to match the fabric. 8. Ladder stitch the wire permanently inside the channel (two opposite sides of the groove). This will prevent the legs from popping off. Keep the stitches small to keep them hidden as best as possible.

9. Stuff top portion of legs gently till the curved line.

10. Now re-pin and stitch the curved line on the machine. You'll be going through some stuffing. Keep it a thin layer. It's a good idea to baste by hand first to ensure accuracy.

11. Continue stuffing the doll. Stuff firmly.

SHOULDERS The shoulders are a separate pattern piece. They are meant to be flexible and allow the arms to swing freely. 1. Sew the shoulders RST. There are three seams: two sides and one bottom. Looks like a little bag. 2. Clip corners. 3. Press raw edges under 1/4" and stay stitch. 4. Position the arms in place. This part can be tricky. Notice on the shoulder pattern, the longest seam is marked "shoulder seam." This seam should be on top. Before securing the arms, let's make sure they are in the correct position: Place the arms into the shoulders. (Two arms and two shoulders mirror each other).Remember, the shoulder seams are on top. Put the arms in, with the thumbs

between the two seams. Be sure they mirror each other.

Hold the shoulder piece up to the doll's body, trying to match the long "shoulder seam" with the top of the actual shoulder area on the body. Do the arms hang right? You don't want them to be extending backwards or in a funny position. Rotate the arms until they look right on the body. When satisfied, carefully hold that position and attach the arms / joints the way you did for the legs (grooves, etc). 6. Turn. 5. Pin the shoulders to the body, with seam turned in. Ladder stitch in place. Some gathering may be necessary. The shoulders should just swing and allow the arms to dangle. No need for stuffing.

PAINTING THE FACE In order to make the face as close as possible to the original, I made a photograph of the doll and used a photo editor to make a black and white "pencil sketch"

The sketch looks kind of funny, but I can see the exact size of the nose and correct shape of the mouth. The eyes look really odd, since they are the kind that close when the doll lies down, and the lashes are super thick! But I can easily transfer them to the face I'll be painting, and make them look perfect. In essence, we have everything we need to get started. Even a little bit of shading to show us where the baby cheeks and dimple under

the lips belongs. To make this more useful for our purposes, I adjusted the size so it would fit just right on the face pattern. This will be our guide. Transfer it to your fabric and then we will paint right over. You can use as much freedom as you like- choose your eye color, skin tone and so on- but the features will be there for you to work with. To transfer the image, notice there are two separate pages with the same face. One is the actual pattern, and the other is just the iron on template. 1. Put the transfer paper into the printer and print the iron on transfer template. 2. Iron this onto your fabric. 3. Paint the face as will be described below 4. When you are done painting, transfer the markings that appear on the original pattern piece, and cut it out as indicated on pattern. Now you are ready to assemble the head. Painting the Face For this project, I used Genesis Paint. I love this paint because it dries when you want it to. You can paint in layers and not have to sit there and wait for your work to dry before you can continue. To dry the paint, simply heat it. Believe it or not, I put my "face" straight into the oven on a baking tray and a piece of parchment paper, at 130 degrees Celsius (275 F). Each time I put another layer on it, it goes right back in with no problem whatsoever. HINT: did you know, you can put a stuffed cloth doll into the oven? Yes you can! If you can IRON, you can heat in the oven!! PLEASE NOTE Becky is based on an Arranbee doll which has a teeny sweet little face. I'm making several Becky doll examples so you can see different styles of face painting. Some of them are done by other artists. I thought it would be a delicious, fun way to present the doll, and help "get the creative juices flowing!" When I first made this class, I made the face on the "large side." The pencil sketch was resized until It looked correct to me inside the template. When I was done, the face looked beautiful. But when I sewed the head together, I found that the face was a bit on the large side... too large actually! I was suprised. Although I made the necessary adjustments on the pattern, I decided to go ahead and continue the lessons with the larger face, rather than the new smaller one, for two reasons: 1. It is easier to see the details 2. A good piece of information to know! I certainly learned something about prepainting faces on fabric before cutting sewing the actual head. I guess I'm "making an example" of my "mistake!" Just for fun, I'll show you how the large face looks on the doll. You will be as suprised as I was! That said, let's get started. 1. Begin by ironing the face template onto the fabric (right side).

2. Begin with some preliminary shading and outlines. Use a colored pencil. The iron on is slippery so you will have to ascertain what will work for you. I used a watercolor pencil which was dampened.

3. Use an angle blending brush and FLESH 07, FLESH 08 to color the face. Go around the entire face, forehead and chin. Notice the left side is slightly darker.

4. Use a thin brush and BURNT UMBER for outlines around nose and creases in eyelids.

6. Mix BURNT UMBER and WHITE. Make a dark line on the right eyelid, and on sides of nose and nostrils. Soften the lines you did in the last step a bit, as well. Add some PEYRROLE RED on the lips, cheeks and above the left eye. Put WHITE on the tip of the nose, chin area, and very center of forehead. Also, under both eyes and above the right eye. Can you see the subtle shading?

7. Blend with the angle brush. Be sure to wipe it off first. If you need to add any more paint and make any adjustments, do so.

Put the face into a preheated oven, for about 2 minutes. Now we are ready to make the eyes.

Make circles around the pupils with ULTRAMARINE BLUE. Put WHITE on your thin brush, and blend it into the blue. The left side should be lighter than the white. Leave an outer rim the original brilliant blue. The pupils still have not been touched. Can you see how easy this is? You've even got the little "cone of light" reflections clearly visible.

Put this back into the oven as before. Now go back and paint the pupil with BLACK, but use a bit of WHITE to maintain the same highlights you already see. Back to the oven. Fill in the whites of the eyes with WHITE, and the cone of light little dots in the pupil. Use a bit of BURNT UMBER and BLACK to make a more defining line above the eyes. Notice how the right eye is still heavier. Take the opportunity to blend anywhere you feel you should.

Finish the lips: Paint the areas that are still unpainted RED. Blend a little bit with more PEYROLLE RED and a bit of WHITE. Put a bit of white in the very center of the top lip. Back into the oven.

Note: the flash on the camera made the "shine" from the iron on reflect a little. That is not visible with the naked eye! You can clearly see the different shading going on. Almost done!

Back into the oven one last time! Use a black or brown micron pen to make the finishing touches: Eyelashes, spokes in the irises, and eyebrows. Also make a bit of feathering in the bottom lip and a separating line between the lips. If desired, you can outline them too. If desired, give a little swoosh with your colored pencil to outline the chubby cheeks and chin, or if you prefer, do it with a bit of sienna paint before coming to the last "firing" in the oven. I used the pencil.

HEAD Before sewing, the first thing to do is transfer the markings from the face pattern back onto your painting. Use an air erasable marker or tracing paper. Cut out your pattern pieces and you're ready to sew. (1 face, 1 head center, 2 head side, 1 neck). 1. Sew up seam on head back. 2. Stitch head side to head center. It helps to start at the notches. Begin again at opposite notch, flipping head over and this time, sewing upwards to top of head. You will need to sew along a curve. Go slowly and be sure your edges match. Prepare Face: 3. Sew darts and finger press up. Try to make the darts as "inconspicuous" as possible so that when the whole head is turned and stuffed, they won't be pointy. You should trim the darts down to the seam, iron the area, etc. It's important that the darts should "blend in." Attach face to head: 4. Pin face onto head at pin points as indicated on pattern. The pins represent the very center. 5. Pin at bottom corners and at notches. 6. Sew, taking care that pins do not shift

. NECK This next part is tricky. There is a line marked "gather" on face bottom. The line looks like this: _._._._._._._._._._ The gathering will form a chin. How much gathering should you do? There are two guide O's on the neck. Those two O's go on the seams of head side and head back. All the space between those guide marks will be gathered.

1. Sew the neck seams. 2. Pin neck onto head, RST matching O's as mentioned above. The neck is inside the head. 3. Sew, leaving space between O's. 4. Gather chin. 5. Finish sewing neck to face on gathered edge. 6. Turn and stuff head firmly. 7. Put neck inside head, RST. Pin and sew. (we'll soon talk about this in detail). NOTE: If you use cotton fabric, then the gathering will be real "gathering." If you are using doe suede or felt, then you'll barely gather at all.

DONE! FOR FUN.... Remember I told you I would show you how, interestingly enough, the beautiful face looks too large on the doll after it is sewn? Have a peek!

As my grandmother used to say... "Haddaya like that?!" She's pretty but not exactly what I had in mind! After this "first run," I did another face. I adjusted the iron on template a final time. The face is much smaller. Compare this photo to the face I painted above. They are both the same, more or less- but this one is much smaller. I also decided to make the lips less red, although the Arranbee dolls have fire-engine red lips. I like the way this one came out! She really does look like a baby!

Here's "super saturation" eyes in action... I manipulated the image so we can see only the main components of the face. Compare it to the black and white photo. Not too shabby!

Notice how I always make a dark shadow over the right eye. I guess this is sort of my "signature." I think it looks very vintage for some reason, and it also looks good because it has a shadow effect. Here is another BECKY example. This one is done with oil on felt, free style. No template. I just copied the face. Not too bad, I think. I did this one before I thought about the template, and after the doll was sewn. I love the look of authentic oil. But it took 2 weeks to complete! The layers had to dry.

OK, back to business. Before we got sidetracked into faces, we were discussing the neck. At this point, you are probably wondering, "wow that is a long neck... are we making a giraffe?" The reason for the neck is, I wanted to make sure that the head would not flop around. If the neck were shorter, a dowel or some sort of stick would need to be utilized in order to stabilize it. This long neck eliminates that completely.

You can sew the neck closed or leave it open, it does not matter.

HAIR Since this is a replica of a vintage doll, I reminded myself of some pictures I have seen of old fashioned dolls. These dolls have curly poodle hair that was painted on. I think they look very sweet and charming! I also remember a very sweet reproduction doll by Daisy Kingdom. Those dolls were around about 10 years ago. They were made of vinyl and were irresistible because they looked vintage. Their hair was also "molded on." Rather than curls, the dolls had waves. GOSH these dolls are so adorable!

My daughter had that doll- the one with the brown hair. I love it. I can see lots of shadows and it would look fabulous with oil paint. The blonde doll above looks easy to paint! Of course, you can make tight curls too! Another option- iIf you choose, you can use a baby doll wig. The wigs are relatively easy to find on the internet. The size you would need is size 14-15. Remember, this is a baby doll so you would not want a long, curly wig. For my demonstration, I am going to make a doll with curls in the back and mimic that wave in the brunette doll just above. I like to paint the hair with a bit of whimsy. You'll soon see what I mean. This is an advanced class and I know that there are different levels of painting ability to all those reading this- myself included! Please set yourself free and just let me inspire you. If you like my whimsy, go with it. If you want a more "exact" example of hair, then use a fine brush and work slowly and carefully, building up layers of shade and color. To paint the hair, decide what color you want and prepare different shades of that color. I choose to go "brunette." This is my palette:

• • • • • •

Burnt Umber Burnt Sienna Quinacridone Crimson Diarylide Yellow (If I had Ochre I would use that!) Black White

Before you begin, find something that you can put the neck into, to support the head while you paint it. (a glass, tall mug, etc). Think of a big flower in a vase! The best thing is something that you can put into the oven, if you are heating the paint this way (as I am). 1. Lay down a dark coat along the back of the head, up to the nape of the neck. (Burnt Umber)

2. Draw some "baby hair" along the front of the face- on the forehead and a little bit around the sides. Lay the paint there, too.

3. Dry the paint. If you are using the oven, insert the neck into a metal cup or something that you can place on the bottom of the oven. Pretend it's a big flower in a vase! 4. Go over the Burnt Umber with Burnt Sienna. Now you have a warm chestnutty color with pretty highlights.

5. Concentrating on the hair around the face and top of the head, paint Diarylide Yellow and Quinacridone Crimson on with a thin brush. 6. Make highlights with white. 7. Use white to make "roots" in the hair, and Black or Burnt Umber to make it look the "dip" in waves. Look at the Daisy Kingdom doll above. See the dark areas between the waves? And the light parts in the very front and in the roots?

8. When you are satisfied, dry the paint again. Now we paint curls in the back of the hair. 9. Make spiral shapes using all the colors, blending them into each other. These are "curls." Use both a shading brush and a small thin brush. Make the "curls" large and small. Have fun! I like this kind of painting. It's fun and looks very whimsical. Just paint randomly and enjoy the process. 10. Check your work and decide if you need to add any more shading, details, whatever.

Refer to the photos above for ideas on how to shade, or just have fun playing with the paint. It's very relaxing! When you are through, heat the paint. Step back and admire your work! Last but not least, you should seal the Genesis paint. I have discovered that it can actually scratch off the fabric. As I am writing this class, I do not have Genesis varnish, but I am sure this is a good choice because it's their product. I will use Createx Fabric Medium. This is what I normally use for colored pencils on cloth doll faces.

If you've used oil paint, obviously, you don't need to seal it. Sit back for about a week and wait for it to dry! ATTACH THE HEAD TO THE BODY Make a "well" in the opening of the body- try to move the stuffing around to make room for the neck. If necessary (it probably is) remove some stuffing. Insert the head and check to make sure that it's firmly in place. Ladder stitch head onto body and prepare to make the hair. Now let's make the dress... DRESS The dress is quite straightforward and easy to make. It assumes basic experience in sewing.

There dress consists of: Bodice Front Bodice Back Sleeves and Cuffs Collar Skirt Store-bought trims, lace, etc. I used cotton quilters fabric to make BECKY in this lesson. This gives her a "country" look. I let my daughter go through my stash and choose the fabrics she liked. You can use anything you want- vintage fabrics, silks, swiss batisste, even organzas- or any fabric you love. The pattern is very versatile. Use your imagination!

You can use any type of fabric you like. Cotton quilters fabric for a sweet, cute doll, delicate silk or vintage fabric. The pattern is very simple. Basic garment sewing experience is assumed. SKIRT Use the same fabric as bodice and sleeves. 24” X 8”, plus lace on the bottom, about 3” wide. If desired, make a 24” bias strip of coordinating fabric. Should be thinner than the waistband. As an alternative, make piping, use ribbon or other trim. Gather at top and attach to bodice.

OVERSKIRT 40” X 7 ½” with 1” hem. Gather at waist, fitting over doll to get the correct size. WAISTBAND 16” X 2 ½” . Make a bias strip with your iron Here is an illustration of a bias strip. (as you can see, I don’t draw well. I can paint faces and sculpt but I can’t draw for beans!!) The red represents the fabric being folded from the top and bottom, towards the midline.

Fold at midline and sew over raw gathered edge at waist. Check to see that it fits comfortably. Cut off any excess.

COLLAR

Use a coordinating fabric (optional). 1. Sew along outside edge RST. 2. Turn, Press, and attach to bodice. SLEEVE CUFF Make from the same fabric as collar. Create in same manner as WAISTBAND. The pattern is already drawn. Gather sleeve at wrist and attach cuff by hand. If your sewing machine has decorative stitches, try those on the collar, hem, etc. BOOTIES Use an old unwanted sweater, or anything that is actually knitted. It should not be too thick. Use your judgment! Believe it or not, I made my booties from unwanted shoulder pads from a sweater. 1. To sew the booties, trace the pattern and sew all around, leaving the top open. I like the purl side to be the right side, knit side wrong side. 2. Turn the top edge under and sew it down. Easy as cherry pie! 3. If you want to decorate the booties, you can run a ribbon through like a lace, and tie a bow. Or add ribbing to the top. It’s not necessary.