Forever my baby

After my little boy was born, I eventually got around to putting away the baby clothes. However I found that there were some I just could not put into the suitcase in the attic. These were mostly the items I had chosen to bring him home from hospital in, but also a couple of items given by friends.

As my baby grew and became a toddler, it was lovely to see these little scraps of cloth and remember how small he had been. I hit upon an idea that made it possible to have these clothes out and be able to fondly remember them every day - I made them into a "rag doll".

The head is a large polystyrene ball covered in flesh coloured felt, the body is simply the baby grow, with gloves sewn to the cuffs to make hands, and booties to the legs to make feet. The babygrow was stuffed with fibre filling, and all openings were stitched closed. The outer garments were then put on the "baby", and his first little shoes finished off the ensemble to give a life sized, 3D reminder of my baby. I deliberately kept the features very simple.

This really is a simple way of making rag dolls, and providing them with removable clothing.

Obviously, having had a little boy, I don't have much call for making dolls or dolls clothes. But a few weeks ago, I came to the rescue of a Barbie doll in distress. I am a volunteer at our local toy library (http://www.natll.org.uk/). We had a Barbie play set and doll donated. It was a beautiful airline set, and I think Barbie was supposed to be the stewardess. However, despite an enviable selection of luggage, poor Barbie had no clothes. It was felt that the set could not be loaned out either a) with no doll, and especially b) with a doll who had no clothes. Any way a few snippets of printed material, some elastic and a piece of ribbon meant I was able to provide Barbie with a sun dress. A very basic little outfit, but it did the job. I really enjoyed making it, and am now on tailoring duties for any dolls who need a new wardrobe at the toy library!