hello louise.

in celebration of sew mama sew's six weeks of softies, i finally worked up the motivation to sew margot's first official doll (not counting foxes or monsters). say hello to louise.

i designed louise myself, but she was inspired by all of the beautiful rag dolls from around the internet--like emily's black apple dolls and salt water kid's back pack dolls.

i had a lot of fun making this doll, and spent maybe a bit too much time designing and making all of the accessories. they're all removable too (even the hair bands!), which i think will be fun for margot in the future. right now she just takes off the shoes and then says 'shoes, shoes, shoes' until i put them back on, only for her to take them back off within two seconds. it's a fun game.

i kept the base colors pretty basic--black and white stripped leggings and a black polka dotted top. this way, she's pretty timeless and adaptable, and i can make future clothing to fit margot's whims. for now, i'm enjoying margot not being able to communicate her whims and instead making clothing to suit mine--like a mustard yellow flat front skirt with an elastic back waistband for easy removal (which i now want in my size) and faux-leather chestnut mary janes.

both margot and i are undecided about the coat. while it was ridiculously fun to make a fully lined coat for a doll, i think it turned out a bit too 'business casual'. margot i think agrees, because she always wants it to be taken off.

i had a hard time getting good pictures of margot with louise today, as margot was on a mission. i take most of my blog pictures in her room, because it's the only one with natural light, and today when i had my white board on the floor taking pictures, margot decided that the board was a bed, and thus it must obviously be stuffed thing nap time.

so she proceeded to bring all her stuffed animals to the board, all the while putting her finger to her mouth and saying 'shhhhhhh.' she then laid down herself (sort of) and said 'sleep, sleep, sleep.' needless to say, she's the cutest person ever.

fun story--jon named the doll. he really wanted louise to be margot's middle name, but he couldn't win me over on it. i'm not sure getting naming rights to a doll is a very good consolation prize, but that's what he got. she's a pretty swell doll at least.