Musical Dolls

These days, the majority of my sewing projects are custom orders on and off Etsy. I enjoy creating dolls I've dreamed up, and then offering them in the shop, but it's come to the point where I need to be able to justify financially the time spent sewing. I use reading glasses when I sew, and need bright, direct light so that I neither pierce myself nor give a doll purple hair instead of brown.

Sometimes the purple hair is intentional, though.

 A month ago, I was tickled to get a custom order for a musician doll. The customer bought a rainbow queen, and sent some photos of her electric guitar playing fiance so that I could make a doll representing him on a wedding cake for a September wedding. This is the first time (that I know of) that my dolls have graced a cake top. Here are the bride and groom:
The groom is wearing a cabby hat and is playing a green Gretsch guitar. As a surprise for the bride, I stitched a little pocket on the inside of the groom's cape and tucked in a red felt heart. My next musical custom order is for a choir singer. Once I figure out how to convey the choir book in felt so that it looks like more than a black and white rectangle, I'll add that photo as a shop option. I'm planning on giving my shamrock fellow (stitched last March) a tenor banjo, too. Who doesn't need a tenor banjo?!