Alison: Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes...

I am learning how to make dolls. Continuing to learn, that is. I began almost five years ago with sculpey and small pieces of fabric and made lots of crazy faces with bits of cloth added to wire armatures.

After a couple of years, I thought I’d try fabric dolls.

Now I go between the two depending upon my mood.

Anyway, I will show you the fabric I purchased recently:

These cotton collections are from Nido in Burlington, Vt, I love the bottom piece of fabric,

a heavier cotton covered in a pattern of clothes on a clothesline.

This exotic bunch is from Banksville Designer Fabrics in Norwalk, Ct.

Aren't they delicious?

And here is where I get my inspiration...

Little animals by Pauline Temmes of Lemmikkiapina in Finland.

Dutch doll artist Ankie Daanen has an incredible eye for detail -

just look at those luscious fabrics!

US artist Leslie Molen made cloth dolls with wonderful costumes.

Also from the Netherlands, Marlaine Verhelst,

and Tine Kamerbeek, are inspired by fairy tales - they send my imagination soaring.

Hennie Koffrie is from Belgium. Her pieces like to take flight. I also love her unusual textiles.

And pieces by Jessica Robin of Whalefish Studios in Arkansas have a moodiness

and sense of alienation I can relate to.

These are the types of work I look at when I want to create a new doll.

In my work I strive to create pieces like those from Whalefish Studios; the work isn't polished, but contains raw emotion. The sculpey and bits of found material from the woods give her work a heavy silence, solitude and aloneness that speaks to me. Lemmikkiapina animals, in linen, wool and old lace have that quiet I love.

But then there are the rich fabrics I am drawn to. It is a hidden side of me (if I could only wear flannel, overalls and wool socks I would be happy) I can indulge on in my art.

It is a fun process - playing with fabric, modeling in clay, working with wire, batting, lace, paint, and whatever it takes to make a piece work...lichen, milkweed pods, sticks...

Well, time to head to the studio.