Sirena Queen of the Mer-People

Meet Sirena.
She is my first fabric Art Doll.
She was made for a swap on AlterNative UK

I used to make rag dolls that children could play with and I have made paper art dolls, but this was so different to do.

I knew I wanted to do a mermaid as I am certain I will see one on the beach one day but how to go about it?

I had a couple of drawings of mermaids that I have been working on for a while - I'm not fast with a pencil ;0) - and wanted to use those ideas.
I didn't want her tail to point straight down I wanted her to look like she could swim off at any moment.

Well now I know why most mermaid doll's tails point down!
Roger is usually the best champion of my work but every day he would whisper very quietly "sorry love but this bit isn't right" and another draft pattern would hit the bin.
Then one evening in he came ready to whisper his fateful words and...... complete silence.
"You've done it!" he said giving me a big hug - yippee!

I played with the idea of making a "proper" doll and sewing right sides together and turning her but told myself she is an art doll and decided to sew round the edge on the right side - phew, no resizing of the draft pattern!
Next I drew the outline onto heavy cotton and painted her.
I used some felt behind the tail pieces and quilted the tail, I put the two sides together and stitched round the edge. I made a little cut in her belt and stuffed her.

This is where I think I made a mistake as I lost definition of course.
Her face and neck run into one another and she has a flat chest! Next time I would use layers of felt and quilting to get the look I want and probably not stuff the doll.

I enjoyed beading her and adding her wild hair.
It was quite hard to leave the raw edge and not do the finishing I have done in the past but I am really pleased with her and I am happy to report so was Jo my partner.