Bit of Whimsy : MerMae Doll

As promised here is evidence of my madness...

 Behold the mighty MerMae doll made from the delightful pattern available at Bit of Whimsy Dolls. I don't know exactly how I discovered this pattern line, but it must have been close to two years ago that I first purchased a pattern from them. I own five of the patterns and this is my first attempt. I am not kidding when I say I procrastinate.

All the patterns come with very well written instructions (plenty of photographs in the steps) and the designs are simply charming. You'll love them all. When I first started this doll a mere three days before Luca's birthday I thought the hardest part would be the face since I don't embroider. I actually thought I'd whip up this beauty in one evening. HA! Double HA!

Dolls (and I guess plushies in general) are not as easy as they look. There is a lot of tedious little fussy work. The stuffing is the part that killed me. Luckily I had ordered Cluster Stuff eons ago which is much more ideal for doll stuffing than the polyfil generally sold at craft stores.  It doesn't make lumps in the doll. If you are going to make a doll and you've never made one before, remember this... stuff till you think the seams are going to rip. Stuff till you feel like you've been doing bicep curls at the gym.

The face actually wasn't too bad. I did my very first French Knot (for the eyebrow dots). Super cool and super easy, thank you You Tube. And as you can tell I dipped into my Heather Ross fabric stash.

Oh and of course you are all wondering how she was received in the face of other more exciting gifts. I was pleasantly surprised that Luca likes her so much. Of course the iPod Touch trumps everything in the entire world but the ipod doesn't offer nice cuddles in bed at night. So here's a big raspberry in your general direction Apple.

p.s. Luca has been going on and on forever about getting an iPod Touch. We have been encouraging her to save for one knowing that would take years. It's amazing how many kids at her school have these gadgets and many more. Also, don't get me started about the American Girl doll collection some of her classmates have (those beasts are $100!). Anyway, Chef found out you can by a refurbished older model iPod from Apple for waaaaaaay less than a new one. The gift was given from parents (us), grandma and my sister. A group purchase. So I don't really know why I just defended a present we got our daughter to the world, but I must be feeling a little judged. So I had to kind of clear the air. Thank you for listening.