Who is Junker Jane?

Junker Jane is a cool artist and crafter who makes one-of-a-kind dolls that are always a little more creepy than cute.  The picture below is an example of her work, and you can see more on her blog, Junker Jane.

Her dolls are shabby and stained and patched, but they are overflowing with personality, and they are always unique.

My friend Susan introduced me to Junker Jane's work, and I have grown to appreciate and love her style--so much so that Susan and I will soon be organizing a craft swap of Junker Jane-style dolls on Craftster. To prepare myself for the swap, I thought it might be a good idea to try making something Junker-Jane-style! Here's how I did it.

I started by googling "Junker Jane" and selecting "images".  That gave me about a million different pictures of her work.  I scrolled through them with a paper and pencil nearby, and sketched the details that I wanted to incorporate into my doll.  Then, using a standard 8.5 x 11" sheet of  paper, I drew an outline to use as a template for my doll.

I cut out the paper template and starting looking around my sewing room for fabrics in muted colors, when I noticed the cutter quilt to the side of my work table. Perfect!  The fabrics are already aged, AND  the patchwork section boarders a plain muslin section, which is exactly what I need for the head and body.

Here's the piece that will be the front of the doll:

I chose a few more fabrics to use for the details, and the arms and legs, and laid them out around the quilt section to see it they would work.  They will!

 For the arms and legs, I simply folded the edge of the fabric and sewed a tube with one rounded end.  One of the charming features of Junker Jane dolls is that their arms and legs are all random lengths; usually there are one or two very long limbs, and one or two very short limbs on the same doll.  Keeping that in mind, I just sewed each limb a different length!  Then I turned each tube right-side-out, and pushed a small ball of polyfill into the end.

I hand-sewed the face and body details before sewing the front to the back. The fabric on the left (below) will be the back of the doll.  I sewed front to back with the legs in place, stuffed it, and sewed the arms on by hand.  I added a bit of hair and a bow, and...

 ...Ta-da!!  Isabella is complete!

Here's the back:

I made a tiny friend for her...

...they make a happy pair.

 And I would be happy if you would join us in this craft swap!  Please consider it, if you are a member of Craftster.  If you aren't, sign up today so you will be ready when it's time for Round Two!