dimensions and pose. Sitting, she is 6.75 inches tall. I then wrapped the armature in thin strips of polyester batt-building up her body shape- and randomly sewed through it with upholstery thread to secure. I then cut 2 inch wide strips of her body fabric and sewed it in half. Treya was made with 1 inch wide strips of the same fabric but I found it frayed very easily. I was hoping that by sewing the strips in half the fraying problem would be minimized. It did help some, but because the strips were now twice as thick, I still needed just as many stitches to tack down the strips to the armature. Basically, I started at the feet and wrapped the strips around the armature working my way up to and around the head, and then put hundreds of tiny stitches in the fabric to hold the rounds together. Slow and tedious work. I might try cutting the fabric on the bias next time so it has a bit of stretch and wrap smoother, and with any luck tighter so as to require fewer stitches.
Many people have been looking at my wrapped armature and thinking that this doll is a man. Okay, yes, it has broad shoulders and a broad (and yes-flat) chest in comparison to its waste. And I accept that if I was going for human, then I've definitely got the basic shape for a man. But this shape wasn't unintentional. These dolls are supposed to be trees. When I look at a tree in the summer, I see leaves, beautiful green leaves. Very full and lush. The branches are mostly hidden by these leaves and the trunk doesn't draw my focus. I attempted to portray this with Treya, the focus of her being the leaves, and everything green. In autumn, once the leaves have finished their spectacular colour displays and begin to fall, I see the same tree in a different way. No longer hidden by leaves, I see the branches, intertwined, reaching, stretching from the trunk. With no leaves to dazzle me, I now take time to notice that trunk, and how assorted its patterns and colours and textures are. My Autumn needed to get these idea across-so she is broader and bolder than Treya. And for Heaven sakes, neither doll has breasts. They're trees, they don't needs breasts...men.
With Autumn's armature finally wrapped with her base fabric, the fun begins. I had a length of variegated brown wool that said "trunk" to me, so I wrapped her legs with it and couched it down. From her waist up, which I've determined is where the trunk ends and the branches start, I've embroidered her branches. I have plans for her shoes and her wings. Her hair and her head are ready to go. My only hold up on her now is her clothing. Treya doesn't have any clothing to speak of so I didn't have this problem with her. I was going make Autumn a dress out of some died cheesecloth, but now that I've done all the embroidery of the branches on her upper half, I'm questioning if I should do that. The branch embroidery is lovely, and important in her overall design, so I'd hate to cover it up. But I don't feel I can leave her without something on her top half-I envision her as representing the beginning to middle of fall, when there are still spectacular colours to behold, but lots of leaves have fallen too and reveal the structure of the tree beneath. Maybe one layer of cheesecloth will be transparent enough to reveal the branches beneath. Maybe I should do more of the branch embroidery on top of the cheesecloth. Another possibility I've been considering is making her a jacket rather than a dress so it can be open in the front and the branches can be seen underneath it. Any ideas or opinions would be happily received!
