serena
This is Luna. When V was tiny, I really wanted her to have a doll that would be her lovey. Not just any doll, but a soft bodied, natural fiber doll with a sweet Mona Lisa expression. If money were no object, I would splurge on a waldorf-like doll, but the prices were out of the question. So I improvised with a Furnis doll.
I made a few adjustments to her face such as removing the stitches around her eyes and shortening the mouth to bring it to more of a neutral expression. I also made her a new dress from an old outfit that V outgrew, and more recently, a little “moon” purse.
Over time, I got a little braver and made Baby (above) as a Christmas present for V. I cobbled her together from instructions on the internet on how to make a doll head, and combined it with a body from a Martha Stewart tutorial on fabric dolls (I can’t find the link to that particular project now). For the skin, I bought a thrift store flesh colored T-shirt and the outfit was made from another thrift store woman’s knit tank top. The whole project was very low budget and I was pleased with how Baby turned out.
Aside from this two-doll collection, she also has a dollhouse doll family and a few stuffed animals.
So does V love these dolls? Well she likes them, but I wouldn’t go as far to say that she loves them. We’ve tried to encourage her to think of them as loveys, and she’ll play with them before tossing them aside and falling asleep. The truth is that we are still her loveys.