She's All About the Hair...

The women I work with in the prison crafting program are currently making more dolls. This time, they are going to be fantasy dolls that make use of colorful prints for skin tone and wild yarn hair. I think this young lady qualifies with her fluffy blue locks. She reminds me of a Dr. Seuss character. The staff will "adopt" a classroom of children for Christmas and the women are stitching dolls, quilts, and crocheted hats to donate. "Molly the Dolly" is my contribution, and I have another doll underway. I used a pattern from Elise Piper's and Mary Dilligan's book, Creating & Crafting Dolls, shown below. I like it because the center seam construction causes the face to be shaped rather than flat. It's also quite simple in that the arms and legs are all one piece with the body, so there's no need to struggle to sew them in them separtely.

Molly is sitting atop one of the many quilts the women have made. Some of the program participants are sewing for the first time, while others already have sewing skills. This quilt with a masculine look is going to be donated to a Veteran's Aid program locally. Like many of their "Mother-hen" volunteers, I'm proud of the work these women are doing. They are successful with more limited sewing tools than the well-equipped sewing room has. We're also fortunate to have many volunteers who rotary cut and donate squares for the  quilts. Otherwise, the women cut quilt pieces with scissors which is much more laborious. And the rewards of a program like this one are not easily counted!

Here's the book. It's full of inspiration, patterns, and great ideas.