Jane Eyre – the Finished Art Doll (Finally!)

After working for almost two months on my Jane Eyre art doll, I’ve finally finished!

Jane was hand-sewn and stuffed, and painted with oil paints. She has dyed wool hair and jointed arms and legs. She’s sewn into a slightly seated position, so she can sit holding her suitcase and parasol, ready to be picked up at the railway station and taken to Thornfield Hall and her new life.

Jane wears handmade brown leather button boots, grey knit stockings, and a lavender silk petticoat underneath her dress. Her dress is made from a velvet and cotton vintage doll dress, brown satin, and blue lace. She also wears her dress’s matching velvet bonnet. Over her dress, she wears a plaid cape lined in lavender silk that ties with a ribbon and is decorated with paper flowers, to protect her dress from soot on the train. A wine colored handmade wool hat, decorated with blue lace and a pheasant feather, tops off her outfit.

Jane’s accessories include a miniature Belgian lace parasol, and a wooden suitcase. The outside of her suitcase is decoupaged, and has added leather straps. Inside, the suitcase is lined in plaid fabric which matches her cape. Victorian tags which read “Jane Eyre” and “Thornfield Hall, England”, as well as a tiny skeleton key, dangle from her suitcase handle.

Inside Jane’s suitcase is a little hand-bound leather book, in which she can write the story of her life. Her final accessory is a tiny handmade pocket watch, complete with real watch hands and gears, which she is continually checking as she waits for her carriage to arrive and take her across the moor.