Topsy Turvy Doll mini - Doll & Sailor Mars

I was in such a hurry to get these last few dolls wrapped that I forgot to take a photo of this topsy turvy doll with both heads showing, like I have for my previous topsy turvy dolls. So I instead had to edit the picture above to give you an idea of how these dolls look together, not that you will usually ever see both dolls at the same time being flip doll.

This particular doll is a gift for my sister, I have a few sisters so I have a few dolls I have made for them. As with my other mini flip dolls I used the face template that came with the pattern, that of the traditional happy / sad face. I embroidered black for the eyebrows, black and white for the eyes, a pale tan colour for the nose, then I used red embroidery for the happy lips and a light pink for the sad lips.

The last bit of embroidery was done to the hands of each doll to give definition and create fingers. The hair for each dolls head is made from yarn stitched first in a layer to cover the head, then followed with a second layer to create the length of the hair. This was done to ensure no bald spots on the dolls heads.

I loosely based the ginger haired doll on my sister, as her hair is gingery, and the material for the dress was once a skirt of hers that she gave to me a while back. I like to use recycled materials as opposed to buying new materials and as my sisters tend to donate their old clothing to me for this purpose, so they often find familiar patterns in the items I make them.

This black haired doll is actually based on the sailor scout Sailor Mars, from the amine Sailor Moon, I chose her as she represents the month of my sisters birthday. The hair for this doll was sewn in the same ways as the ginger haired doll, only with the added fringe that Sailor Mars has. The outfit is a simplified version of Sailor Mars' fuku, that is a white top with her signature red skirt, only as I didn't have red material I used a maroon instead.

This mini size topsy turvy doll was made with the intention of it being a display piece as opposed to a play piece, however that dosen't mean that a doll this size is no good for play. This doll measures about 8.5 inches from head to head and about 9.5 inches from head to hem as the skirt hangs a little lower to fully cover the doll under it. As with everything I sew, this flip doll was completely sewn by hand, including the hair and dresses, so as a result these dolls do take some time to make.