It’s been a busy few weeks at home with the children moving from home school to school holidays at home. The school year ended in a strange way, not least as my daughter left her primary school ready to start a whole new chapter come September. It’s been a busy time for PepperPot too with lots of unique custom order doll requests coming in, including a new variation on my original boy rag doll Henry.

When I first started making dolls I focused mainly on girly versions. Fairies, princesses, ballerinas were all popular. My daughter has a whole back catalogue of originals and test dolls I made over the years. One day my son asked why I didn’t make more dolls for boys. I started with some superheroes and moved from there.

The original Henry

While I make most of my dolls from felt, I occasionally make larger textile and rag dolls from cotton and other fabrics. One of these was Henry, a rag doll boy with removable waistcoat and bow tie.

A crime fighting duo

A few months ago I was asked to make two more dolls for boys: a big brother, little brother duo. Based on Henry’s look, they had a superhero twist. I made one based on Henry’s template and the second on a slightly smaller frame. Each had brown hair and wore red capes and black superhero masks. As they were for younger boys the clothes on these dolls were not removable. I finished them off with their initials embroidered into their capes. They went off as a really thoughtful and unique maternity leave gift.

The boy in a stripy top

More recently I have made another new version of the original Henry doll. This time a blonde boy doll with denim shorts and a stripy top. Just changing the hair colour makes him look so different. His top and shorts were inspired by a photo of the super cute real life recipient of the doll. Just like the superhero pair, I personalised his top with his initials. He has a top rather than a waistcoat but I am always happy to make additional clothes so had a request for a waistcoat for him too. I made a reversible blue and red felt waistcoat to go over his blue stripy top. On this doll all the clothes were removable.

Making custom dolls

I always love making custom versions of all my dolls. I also love the challenge of designing something completely new and not like anything in my store. I’ve made a couple over the years that were are really challenge to design but really enjoyable. Knowing I am making to a customers specifications makes it really rewarding. If you see anything in my store that inspires you to want a doll unique to you then give me a shout and lets plan it together!

One thing that I enjoy is to look back as I have done here at the versions I’ve made. All my dolls are made to my own designs and patterns. In this case I made the original Henry doll and the custom versions I have made since were based on his same pattern. However changing hair colour and outfits have made each of them different and unique.

I wonder what the next version will be…