Hi Ellie

Do let me explain and alleviate the confusion! Perhaps we should change some terminology and get rid of the word dart!

There are two dolly neck strips on the plan - which could indeed look like one. It has a line down the middle with a little arrow, so cut along this line so that you have two identical pieces.

First on the doll head/body piece fold the head down at the line marked 'fold' so that the printed side of the head is touching the printed side of the body. Pin into position and then sew along (or just outside) the dotted line so that when you unfold her the dotted lines are not visible on the outside of the doll. You can then trim a bit of the excess fabric off here.

Then get one of the neck strips and lay it centrally under the line of sewing that you have just made (so going from one side of the neck to the other and with about 5mm of fabric on either side of the stitch line). Then just sew along in exactly the same place that you did before - but this time you will be sewing together three layers of fabric - two of the doll, and one neck strip.

(as a PS I would say that the neck strip is kind of optional- it just makes it a bit more sturdy at this point.)

Do call me if you would like me to clarify this in any way - we are always here to help. Alot of these things have 'aaah, I see' moments - easy when you know how. For the Clothkitty original, we chose to reissue the instructions just as they were in the 70's as they are a tried and tested formula, but maybe it would be good to review them. Does anyone else have any comments or experiences to share?

Kay

By the way, Kay, I forgot to say that I actually quite like the old instructions as it's all part of the whole nostalgia trip for me. All that's missing is the smell of my Mum's old hand-powered Singer sewing machine…

I suppose if you were to make changes they could always be on errata slips or posted on the web so as not to lose the impact of the original?