Ballerina Doll for my Niece

So my little niece Emma loves all things pink, princesses, ballerinas, and crazy lol.  For her fourth birthday, I asked her what she wanted and she told me, "A ballerina and a car that goes backwards and forwards."  I took care of the ballerina part for her :).

(This is a typical self selected outfit which I would totally wear at 30 if it came in my size.)

I was originally going to make the doll form as well... but then I found a muslin doll form at JoAnn's that was ready for personalization so I snatched it up!  (I didn't take a picture and can't find it on their website).  The doll unfortunately had wires inside of it's arms and legs for posing so I performed a minor surgery and extracted all wires!

Back view:

To make the hair I wrapped fleece around the head, secured with a hair tie, and sewed around the hair line.  I then covered the hairband with a coordinating piece of elastic that matched the straps of the top I created.  After I secured the hair, I just took my scissors and cut long strips out of the fleece left over (I also trimmed off some excess so that it had an even end.)

To make the top I just wrapped fleece around the body to determine the size and then stitched the back.  I did end up cutting down a little under the arms.  I also added on the straps.  Everything is stretchy and four year old friendly since I eventually plan to make her more clothes.  The tutu was made using pinterest tutorials for a normal sized tutu- it took about an hour to make!  ACK!   The face is hand painted with fabric paint.  And the necklace is made of glow in the dark beads, but can be taken off and worn as a bracelet.

I couldn't figure out how to make shoes... Emma then requested "shews" so we are using these socks!

I spent $3.99 on these.... they wouldn't transfer for ANYTHING.  Thus why I had to hand paint.

Emma LOVES her doll.  She takes her everywhere.  It really only took me 2 hours start to finish and I am so happy with the end result!