crochet ariel and rapunzel dolls

as i mentioned before, these dolls were made upon request for our four year-old twin nieces, valentina and maria. maria adored her ariel and pushed her around so nicely in a baby doll stroller. valentina on the other hand swung rapunzel around and around by her braid, as hours and hours of work unraveled before my eyes. nooo!!!

of course i'm not mad, but leonardo was also returned with broken swords, so now i'm faced with the challenge of making these dolls sturdy enough to withstand standard american children lol.

at christmas time i always think of laura ingalls wilder and her little doll, her lone christmas present, that she loved and cherished like a real baby. it seems children today just get so much that they don't have the energy to care for it all.

anyway, i guess i can see the fun in swinging her by her braid. valentina is very active and probably just wanted to test out rapunzel's swinging capabilities.=) i'm glad i sewed the hair tight enough so that her body didn't fly off, but the braid is undone and the flowers are a mess. i'm thinking i'll make her a new doll with hair like ariel's, and maybe even take a stab at writing a pattern while i'm at it.

the bodies were made with this wonderful doll pattern. the hair was inspired by this ariel, and this pattern (among some others i can't find) helped me figure out a way to do rapunzel's hair.

thank you for the encouraging comments and suggestions on these dolls' progress - i couldn't have done it without you!=)