I love being able to make a doll from cloth that has all those things but is also soft to touch and hold.

About the Artist

Since I was a child I loved to draw faces. I sketched off and on for many years. I've also loved dolls all my life. After raising a family I started sewing again. When I went to the fabric store and saw that fabric paints were available, I decided to try making rag dolls using the paint rather than buttons and embroidery thread for their faces. Each time I went back to the craft stores I noticed doll wigs, angel wings, pretty ribbons, beads and pearls etc, before I knew it I started to imagine all those things on a cloth doll. I bought a cloth doll pattern and used the pattern for body proportion. I drew the faces then painted them. I began adding nice wigs that I could comb and style myself rather than using yarn. I made their clothes adorning them with pretty shoes, stockings, hats, and ribbon as would be used to dress up any little girl. I love being able to make a doll from cloth that has all those things but is also soft to touch and hold. They have contoured features and pose- able bodies. It's been very exciting to be able to put all three of my talents together to make a doll just from my own imagination. People say they've never seen anything quite like my dolls. I agree and tell them that that's because there are none. I make them up.

I start by cutting out pattern pieces from cloth to make the doll body.