Make Your Own Southern Belle Cloth Doll and Her Wardrobe

With this easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide, even beginning needlecrafters will be able to make a charming doll with a wardrobe of nine different mid-nineteenth-century costumes. Designer Claire Bryant provides all the patterns, information, and helpful hints you'll need to create an engaging group of young ladies from the Old South. There's pretty Bonnie Jean, about to become a bride in a full-skirted wedding dress trimmed in ruffles and lace. Myrna Ann, Bonnie's sister, is the bridesmaid in a lovely dress with tiers of ruffles and a scarf neckline. Sensible Louise Matilda, who wants to be a secretary, prefers wearing a simple dress without crinolines, and Jean Eleanor appears in a riding outfit, complete with hat, cape, and double-layered skirt. Additional costumes include a satin ball gown, a lovely afternoon dress for paying calls, an elegant lace-edged dress for a garden party, and a fur-trimmed black dress for church. In addition to changing the doll's outfits, you can also alter the features and personalities of these figures by painting and embroidering different facial expressions and changing hair styles on one basic body ― and you can do that simply by arching eyebrows, lengthening lashes, and fashioning various hairdos with wigs, synthetic fiber, or yarn. The choice is yours and the possibilities are endless! A list of materials, patterns, and directions are included for each outfit.