Dolly Parton (ish) Crochet Doll

My friend and I were out shopping and came across this crochet kit at World Market.

We laughed about it because we have been talking about planning a Dollywood trip with our personal trainer KK. KK loves Dolly Parton so my friend said I should buy this kit and make it for her. I told her that kit was not very good and I could make a better Dolly Parton doll.

I searched for patterns and found two that I liked:

This one is called Western Girl from Crown Country Crochet  I really liked the outfit, hat, and hair. I thought the face was too round for what I wanted. 

Then, I found Country Singer With Guitar by Crafty is Cool. I liked the face shape, figure, boots, hair, and guitar.

I used a mish-mash of both of these patterns to create my own Dolly Parton (ish) doll. This was the first time I have worked with cotton yarn. It took about 65 hours to complete the doll with a bling covered outfit, a hat, guitar, boots, and two wigs. Here are some pics of her creation:

Green eyes with lots of eyeliner

It took 6 hours just to make the straight hair wig. I cut 120 pieces of 10 inch yarn. Then I had to comb out each strand individually with a dog brush to separate the fibers and make it look like hair.  I made a wig cap and individually attached each strand. Then, I used my flat iron hair straightener on its lowest temperature setting to smooth out the "hair" once it was on the wig cap.

I used 14 gauge spool wire and pipe cleaners to create a body frame. The Western Girl pattern said to use pipe cleaners, but it was not sturdy enough. 

This is the torso from the Western Girl Pattern.

I added the breasts from the Country Singer pattern to make it look more like Dolly Parton. 

For me, the arms were the hardest parts to make. They were sooooo tiny. I kept losing my stitch so I ended up using stitch markers for each round for the entire arm. I put a little neck brace on it because I was twisting it around so much while making the arms. I was worried about messing up the neck strength.

I took a break between the arms and added the pants. I love how they bell out at the bottom. 

I made a guitar with a detachable guitar strap. Of course, I had to put bling on the strap.

I made a second wig cap and attached 24 curl strands to create the curly hair wig. This curly wig has a bit of weight to it at the back and would slip off of the doll's head.

I stitched in a pipe cleaner loop onto the inner wig cap to attach it to the doll's head.

The straight hair wig fit perfectly on the doll's head without slipping.

I think it really does look like Dolly Parton's hair.

I love the little boots. They turned out so cute. Of course I had to add a little bling.

I did not take pictures while making the vest shirt. I know that Dolly Parton does not like to have her arms showing. I went to Michael's and found this cute piece of lace to use for sleeves and a bustier. I am not good at sewing, but I gave it my best shot. I added a lot of stick-on bling to the top, scarf, and pants. There was a gap between the bottom of the shirt and the pants, so I bought some rhinestone ribbon and added it like a belt. 

You can see the little shank button I attached to the doll's head for the curly wig to stay on more securely. The button does not affect how the straight hair wig fits on the head.

When I was making the back of the vest, I felt like adding stitches to fill in the hole would make it look bulky and lumpy. So, I left a hole and added a band at the bottom then used the lace to fill in the cutout. I think it turned out really cute.

I cut up a pair of fake eyelashes and attached them to her eyes. I am still not happy with the mouth. I made and attached 6 different mouths before I settled on this one. I later used some brown chalk to darken the eyebrows a little bit.

This is the completed doll. She looks ready to sing Jolene. I love how the curls turned out.

This shows the bling down the side of her pants and on the guitar strap.

I like the straight hair wig, too.

Dolly looks ready to hit the stage and wow an audience.

I did remember to put a mole, like Dolly Parton has, on the doll before I gave it away. I just did not get any pictures of it. 

KK said she is going to give the doll to her daughter, who is a singer who lives in Nashville. KK thought of using it like Elf on A Shelf but calling it: Dolly on the Trolly, Dolly on the Dolly, Holly Dolly Christmas, and a few others I can't remember. KK said she wants to include little notes with the doll that say things like: 

Get up and sparkle, honey! 

What would Dolly do? 

Pour yourself a cup of ambition! 

In a world full of Kardashians, be a Dolly.

Dolly for President.

I had a lot of fun making this doll. What do you think about it?