the doll

I wanted Brynna's first doll to be perfect. Or at least special in some way. I had planned on finding one for her first Christmas, and looked and looked, but just couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. Actually, there are some pretty perfect dolls on Etsy, but I just can't justify $90 on a doll...

I love the look of handmade, but once I got a picture in my head of what I wanted I couldn't find it anywhere. I have that problem a lot. Anyway, I remembered that my mom had brought a box of my old stuff down with her recently and that one of my old dolls was in there. It happened to be a doll that had been made for me as a little girl (and I just can't keep to myself the fact that my brothers both have boy dolls, too :) So I decided that I would just update that one a bit and give it to Brynna for her first birthday. And I have to admit, I don't think I've ever had quite as much fun sewing as I did working on this project. :) She got a new dress, jacket, and boots, and a hat and scarf. I really wanted to make new hair, but did you know that it's pretty much impossible to put new wool felt hair on a doll that is already stuffed? Well, it is. Just in case you were wondering. So she's got the old yarn hair, but no more bangs.

Here she is before:

And after:

Brynna LOVES her

And I have to post this video... this is what Brynna does every single time we hand her doll to her.

Oh - and this was my other big project for Brynna's birthday - still unfinished, but here's her giant B ribbon board.