Doll Making - The Eyes have it

August 03, 2011


I'm so excited about making my vintage-style cloth doll - she is turning into a real little person! You can read previous posts on my doll making journey here.

Today's discovery is when making something with a "soul" the facial features really do make or break the overall "feeling" of the person or creature.

I wanted this particular doll to have very striking eyes and tasked my honey with helping me come up with some ideas.  He draw a number of very different eyes including square ones and ones that might look in place on a Jim Henson creation, but I wanted something a little more realistic.

We sat together on the couch whilst I explained I wanted her to look sophisticated, happy yet serene, pretty and friendly.  (Not much to ask from a pair of eyes is it?!)


I liked the realistic version in the first photo, and really wanted her to have luscious eyelashes, so stitched five lashes.  They looked great, but when I did the second eye they started to look a bit much.  Rather like a stick insect had crawled onto her eyelid...

It was unpicked and replaced with something halfway between the original and the slightly pared down version below - She did retain half the line underneath and ended up with four lashes!


Yes - There was a lot of stitching and unpicking going on today!

Will report back shortly with a pic of the result (when the air erasable marker has disappeared).
Update:  Click here to see her eyes finished :)

You can now read about my entire doll making journey here:



  1. Doll Making 
  2. Lips
  3. Eyes   (This post)
  4. Colouring the Eyes
  5. Hair
  6. Clothes





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