Sewing the Dress: With the right sides together, sew the shoulder seams of the dress front and dress back together. Pin a sleeve into the dress, with the right sides together and matching the center mark in the top of the sleeve to the shoulder seam. Sew the sleeve. Repeat for the other side. With the back and front of the dress right sides together, pin the sleeve and dress side seams together. Sew the seams. Turn the dress right side out.
Fray the raw edges of the neck, sleeves and dress bottom. If desired, make a few uneven, irregular tears in the bottom of the dress.
Dyeing the Dress: Make a dark heavy die bath from coffee. Wet the dress in water and wring it out. Dip the damp dress into the dark coffee bath and allow to soak for a few minutes. Remove the dress and hang it to drip dry. Inspect the dress once it is dry, and if you wish it to be darker, repeat the coffee bath as many times as necessary, drip drying in between, until you achieve the desired results. The dress should be a brown color with dark streaks. Using a paint brush, you can brush more coffee onto specific areas to darken and accent.
Dressing the Doll: When the dress is dry, place it over the doll's head. Run a gathering stitch around the neck of the dress and pull the neck edge to the desired height on the doll's neck. Arrange the gathers and tie off. Tack the shoulder seams of the dress to the shoulder seams of the doll's neck and the center front and back of the dress to the doll's front and back seams.
Repeat the procedure for each arm, pushing the sleeve up to the desired place on the arm and tacking the underarm sleeve seam at the doll's underarm seam.
Optional Needle Sculpting and Bead Eyes: Use thread the color of the hands and feet to hand sew the finger and toe indentations, starting at the dot, going back and forth thru the fingers/toes, pulling tight, and then over and around the end to pull it in. Tack the front of the arm (and back of knee, if sitting) from side to side at the inner elbow (and back of knee) joint to define the bend in the elbow (and knee).
Needle sculpt the nose by going back and forth under the stuffing at the nose dots and pulling slightly to indent to give the indication of the nose bridge. To finish the nostrils, go under the nose at the nostrils and out at the side of the bridge until the under nose is sculpted. Start and end in the base of the back of the head.
Instead of markers or embroidery, sew beads for the eyes. Start with a threaded doll needle at the base of the back of the head, go thru the head to the eye position, place a bead on the thread and go back thru the head to the original starting position at the base of the back head. Go back thru the same path a second time. Pull the threads to slightly indent the eyes and tie off the threads at the back of the head. Repeat for the other eye.
