Doll Hospital: Miss Tolly Gets New Feet (Work In Progress 2)
4.5.2014. (Cont'd from 4.2.14) The most pathetic thing about poor old Tolly was her feet. (Photo below.)
Her felt shoes -- though firmly attached -- had worn away, exposing clumps of old cotton batting. A toss in the dryer loosened the stuffing for good. (See below.)
I was trying to get my head around how to fabricate a new little foot when I got the clever idea to go find some baby socks instead. Imagine Jim and I in the infant section at Target having a serious discussion about teensy socks -- such choices!
We finally settled on some plain blue knits. I put in some sole-shaped batting, then replaced most of the original stuffing -- trying to preserve as much of her magic as possible -- along with a puff of Poly-fil.
On the outside bottoms I painted a "sole" with layers of gesso, gel medium and acrylic paint. Then I made my own yoyos for an embellishment and added a "strap" of red bias tape. Pretty nifty.
Still wanting to keep as much of the original doll as possible, I stuffed the shreds of her felt feet into the socks (the felt being still firmly sewn to the doll's leg cords). Then I whipstitched her new feet to the bottom yoyo on each leg. Tolly seems happy with them. And I feel like her fairy godmother.
