Meet My Hittys: Hitty Dixie

Hitty Dixie was the third Hitty I carved. She, along with Bitty Hitty Vada, was entered into competition at the Dixie Classic Fair in 2009 and won a 2nd-place ribbon.

With Dixie, I began to get the hang of carving extremities and could make them look less like Popeye's arms. And Dixie's feet are more petite.

Her face isn't flat -- she has nice cheeks -- but, as you can see, I need more practice painting features. Her eyes in the photo make her look like she is staring. That effect is less startling in person, but I still think there's too much white showing. I thought about repainting her, but since she did win a ribbon I've decided to leave her as is.

The outfit she's wearing bears a mention, since it was an experiment I thought turned out pretty well.

The top is a piece of trim in a blue-gray and white stripe with embroidered purple flowers. I used a simple pattern created by a member of the Hittygirls Yahoo! group (she used fleece, so she didn't have to hem it) and hemmed the rough edges. The skirt is a rectangle of purple & white gingham that I gathered to the circumference of the jacket. A snap near the neckline holds it together.

After I took this picture, I replaced the checked skirt (thought it was too pale) with a darker purple floral skirt that I think provides more contrast.

I hope you've enjoyed meeting Dixie. Right now, she is sitting in front of the fireplace at Saggy Bottom, enjoying a quiet Sunday.

Meet My Hittys: Bitty Hitty Vada

Bitty Hitty Vada is the second doll I carved. She is about 4.5 inches tall and made of mahogany. It was an easy wood to carve, though this particular piece was old and kind of dry. I found that misting it with a 50/50 mix of rubbing alcohol and water helped reduce splintering pretty well. (That was tip from Bonnie, my carving mentor.) I liked the wood grain, so I kept her mostly unpainted.

Vada was one of two dolls that I entered in woodworking contests at the Dixie Classic Fair. There weren't many entries, but I was still surprised when Vada won a blue ribbon. The second doll, Dixie (who you'll meet next), won 2nd place in another category.

The dress Vada is wearing is made from Susie Graber's free muu-muu pattern, sized down to fit. I sew all of my Hitty clothes by hand. Her patterns can be found at http://home.earthlink.net/~dollhausart

I think I began to get a better idea of how to carve working on Vada, though I still have a long way to go!