Maisy Doll

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I've just been so busy! My niece turned three, and I really wanted to make her something special and girly. After four nephews (plus my son), she's our first and only girl in the family right now. And since she was three, I knew I could make something a bit nicer and not worry about her eating it.

I pored over all my knitting patterns, looked at all my animal patterns, but decided what I really wanted to make was a doll. And so I made the Maisy doll! It's inspired by a '40s cloth doll pattern, but I made quite a few changes to make it more like what I had in mind. Here she is:

She has a hand embroidered face with hand sewn wool yarn hair that's styled in a cute little bob. She's made of heavy cotton fabric with safety jointed arms and legs. This is her purple outfit, complete with cotton blouse, heavy wool jumper, and wool shoes. Of course, she needed more outfits than that, so I sewed more:

A white blouse with a red cotton dress and a soft camel-colored wool coat with hand knit red scarf (seed stitch pattern). I also gave Maisy her own dolly with bead eyes and embroidery thread hair sewed into braids, and I sewed up a little pink striped dress for it. So cute!

I have to say, as much as I like the doll, I equally, if not more, love the case I made for her. I found a vintage-looking suitcase, added a strap to hold the doll in, a peg for hanging up the clothes, and a small box with a latch at the bottom for holding all the doll's accessories. Everything is really secure in it too. I loaded it up, then shook it really good, and everything stayed in the right spots! It really makes the whole kit and caboodle feel like an heirloom, passed down from a grandmother. Maybe it will become one!