More Doll Making - Rosebud

I finished my lavender-haired cutie doll for my one year old niece.  I call her Rosebud for obvious reasons, but my sweet niece may call her whatever she likes.

She is toddler friendly - some of this is inherent in the pattern design from the Storybook Toys book:

• embroidered face - no buttons to choke on, no paint to fade.  If the stitching comes out it can easily be re-done.
• no buttons or clasps on her clothing that could be choking hazards
• stuffing is non-allergenic
• clothes are made with velcro closures or pull-on elastic to make it easy to dress and undress her.
• If her hair comes undone, it can also easily be re-done.
• she is about the size of an American Girl doll, so it will be easy to buy (or make) her more clothes.

 

Here's a little detail picture of the kitty embroidered on her shirt:

• I sketched a cat (because little girls need to have cute kitty cats on their shirts)
• Then I traced it with water soluble marker onto the shirt front
• I used a back stitch with 2 strands of embroidery floss to out line the design and to do the nose, mouth, and whiskers (this type of hand embroidery is EASY - there are many books on this subject)
• I made french knots for the eyes
• The purple coloring is done with a crayon and a blender pen and then heat set with my iron (with a piece of paper over the design to protect the iron and fabric).

I am ready to switch gears in my sewing (I've got several summer dresses planned), but I cannot recommend this Storybook Toys book highly enough.  If you are at all interested in doll or toy making this is a valuable resource and worth its price many times over.

Make something beautiful!
Jen

PS - here's a sneak peak at the dress I'm working on:

Easy, Quick, and Adorable Kitty Pillow

Here's a lovely, nearly instant gratification project that would make an excellent gift for a young child.  It's a kitty pillow - done in super cute Japanese Hello Kitty style.  It's incredibly simple to make.  The longest amount of time is spent with hand embroidering the mouth and whiskers - which you could easily do with your sewing machine if you did not have patience for hand work.

I got this adorable pattern from my current favorite sewing book, Storybook Toys by Jill Hamor.  She includes a pattern for a 10" pillow and a 14" pillow.  I did the 10" pillow because it is for my niece who is one - little pillow for a little girl.  Just in case you were wondering...10" pillow forms are a little bit difficult to locate, which is something I didn't realize until after I had sewn this cute pillow case.  I ended up finding them on Etsy here, but you might be lucky and find them at your local craft store.  The 14" seems to be more common.

• The eyes and nose are cut from felt.  I machine stitched them in place
• The whiskers and mouth are hand embroidered with an outline stitch, but you could do it with a machine stitch too
• The back is two overlapping pieces that create an opening for a pillow insert

This makes such a sweet child's pillow.  It would be great fun to try other animal faces.


Make something beautiful!
Jen

More Doll Making Adventures

I am so inspired by the projects in the book, Storybook Toys by Jill Hamor.  I'm planning all sorts of dolls and other toys from this amazing book.
I am working on a few things to send to my niece, Anastasia, who just turned one.  She's my only niece on my side, so that makes her extremely special.

Here is the doll I am working on for her.  I went for a more Japanese cuteness style - which I love.  The pinky-lavender hair is soooo pretty and sweet.  I did a low bun hair style - reminiscent of Princess Leia (a special sci-fi detail my brother will appreciate).  The eyes are solid black instead of colored irises for a more stylized, cartoonish look. 

Once the head/body is sewn and stuffed, face embroidered, and hair completed the doll is really about 80 percent complete.  Of all these steps the hair takes me the longest (4-6 hours) and hurts my fingers the most.  I have some excellent callouses building up on the tips of my pointer and middle finger in my right hand (I prefer the callous to thimbles - I hate thimbles:  fumbling awkward horrible things).

 I love working with yarn for hair.  I can't knit or crochet so this fulfills my desire to play with beautiful yarns and squish those pretty soft yarn balls.  This yarn is Rowan Creative Focus Worsted, 75% wool, 25% alpaca.  The color is called "soft pink."

Make something beautiful!
Jen