Lil Red and Bit O' Pink

In the last two days I made a Little Red Riding Hood doll with accompanying cape, skirt, belt, pillow, mini-quilt, and pet wolf from a Moda panel by new designer Stacy Iest Hsu. I added some baby ric-rac in red for decorative trim on each item. It is on the outer edges of the pillow and mini-quilt and on the bottom edge of the wolf. It is repeated on the top edge of the doll's skirt, on the underside of her cape, and in her hair buns as ribbons.

I used a soft draping batting in the mini-quilt. I put no interlining in the cape but the ric-rac on the edge helped it stick out a bit. For the ties on the cape, instead of ribbon I fussy cut the decorative edging that came with the panel, sizing the strip 1" wide, and capturing the pink scallops. I drew it through my bias tape maker to fold the long outer edges in to the center, and then pressed it in half and stitched it for the cape ties.

I was bemused that even for so simple a project I whipped out an arsenal of tools. From top to bottom, I used my sliding hem gage to check the width and find the center of the belt that passed through a casing on the upper edge of the skirt. Next is the bias tape maker for the cape ties. I could not be without my needle threader for when I whip-stitch closed the opening of the stuffed items.  I used the DRITZ EZY-HEM to turn over and press the top and bottom edges of the 'Lil Red's skirt. I used my white, smooth, somewhat feather-shaped tool on the cape to coax out the corners and smooth out the curve along the outer edge when I turned it right side out. I also used this tool to coax out the ears of the wolf, the buns in the doll's hair, and to smooth the seam shaping the top of her head.

The doll's accessories, despite the number of convenience tools, were the easiest part of this project. Turning and stuffing the doll was the hardest part. It is fortunate I made the accessories first. If I had done the doll first I would have become disheartened at the effort and might have given up. With all the accompanying doo-dads completed, I had no choice but to forge ahead. First, after sewing the front and back of Lil Red together, right sides facing, I had to turn her right side out. Easier said than done with those long slender arms and legs. Luckily I had a tool for that, a pair of turning tongs. Here is how they help.

Insert one long arm of the tongs inside the item to be turned, into a corner or in this case down into the toe. Clamping the tongs closed, work that part right side out up the length of the opposite arm of the tongs.

Once the right-side out tip emerges, you are home free. Remove the tongs and pull the rest of the part right side out.

I repeated this for the other leg and both arms.

Once the doll was right side out I smoothed those seams with the white smooth tool and a tool called That Purple Thang.

Now the stuffing part begins. It is not easy to get the fiber fill down into those long appendages. I suppose experienced doll makers do it all the time but I struggled. I pushed and stuffed with a variety of implements. In the center of the photo That Purple Thang was great. The flat edge could act as a paddle and push in one orientation or I could twist it 90° and it was slim enough to fit along an inside surface and smooth out bumps. I also resorted to the tubelike body of a yellow highlighter and the back end of a seam ripper.

At one point I even used a wooden spool holder that was just the right size to fit down an arm and be a stuffing pusher.

When I made the pillow and the wolf, I'd first cut out a rather thick, somewhat stiff, batting piece for each of them. It gave a bit of shape and substance to these accessories. In retrospect perhaps I could have done that on the doll, too and saved having to stuff the legs. But then turning them with that thick stiff batting within may have been more difficult. The following picture shows two pillows and wolves. Why? Two granddaughters, of course! Hence the reason for the ric-rac. One set is accented in red and one in pink so they can tell their sets apart when they play together.

The cape ties on the two dolls are also a bit different. The two dolls look cute side by side, just as I think the cousins will playing together. Actually, the cousins will look way cuter than the dolls.

The mini-quilts, like the skirts and capes, are also differentiated by the red and pink, ric-rac near the edges and red or pink quilting lines between the blocks.

The complete sets came out adorable and were well worth the effort. Now what will I do when the younger cousin has a little sister...?

Linking up now with this week's Let's Bee Social.