More details - Briony and Blake

When I made the first two dolls, I tried painting their faces using transfer dyes, painting onto paper and then ironing the image onto the cloth. This wasn't easy as the dye colours are so strong it was difficult to get subtle shades. So when I made Blake and Briony I used fabric paints and painted directly onto the cloth face. I used fine line pens for the details of the eyes and lips. I stuffed the nose slightly to give the face more shape.

With these dolls I also tried machine stitching some of the hair onto the head pieces before putting the head together. This certainly cut down on the amount of time needed to make the hair but made it a little more tricky to attach the head to the body.

Briony's pretty underwear is trimmed with lace sent to me by my cousin, Irene.

I've had a go at making Briony a pair of school shoes but they are still coming up too small and I haven't attempted to make shoes for Blake. Briony's little socks were cut from the top of a pair of children's socks and stitched around her foot to fit.

I've made Blake a school tie. I'm very pleased with this. It was made from red bias binding which is perfect for little ties. I've made it a bit too long but can easily shorten it.