Sewing Doll Clothes

A couple of months ago, I was working on a project that I couldn't wait to tell you about. As some of you might already know, my second love and past time besides collecting fabrics and quilting.. (and is actually more of a business).. is designing and making doll clothes. I have really slowed down on the business end a lot, because it just seems like my time is getting divided up into so many different ways.. I have a hard time keeping at it. and I don't want to disappoint people who are waiting and waiting for me to finish something. But every so often I still get a request that I can't turn down. This fully jointed wooden doll was carved by Janet Cordell, a very talented doll artist, for a friend of hers, TC, who is also a very talented doll artist. You can see a lot of her amazing work here. TC asked me if I would be interested in dressing her, and I thought it sounded like a great opportunity. Especially since she would send the doll to me nakie (except for a little handkerchief wrapped around her), and I would get to have her here for a little while. And I would make everything for her, from her striped knit stockings,to her underpinnings, dress and her dutch girl hat.
This little doll has a very strong connection to Bleuette.. which is another doll I like to sew for.. so I had a lot of patterns and information to help me with her costume. I did some research and dug into my vintage stash for some fine linen and cottons. While she was here, she slept in the little green box with lavender sachet that Melanie sent me for Christmas last year.

I did mess up a couple times on the bonnet.. that was a tricky thing to make for such a small doll with a slippery round head and a bun carved in the back.
After three tries I got it to fit..and it doesn't even fall off.
Hitty is standing on the right below, and just a reminder, she is only 6 inches tall.
The first bonnet went into the trash. The second one was too small. Hitty was a very happy recipient of that mistake. ☺

I was really pleased with the way the costume turned out. And so was TC.. because as a little surprise she sent me this MOST amazing tiny piece of work... The big doll is my own Hitty.. I just put her in the picture for size. But look at the teensy tiny perfect little doll in her lap! She is so small.. I don't know if I'll be able to make a dress for her! Her limbs are carved from toothpicks, and her head is a cherry pit! Can you imagine?? I am smitten with her and named her Cherri.

Well.. I was planning on showing you more that I've been up to.. but it will have to wait until later in the week. This post got a little too long.

Scraps & Hitty

Yesterday I hit a milestone of sorts. After filling both arms of the new Raggedy Ann I'm making for a little girl's birthday party next week, I realized the bag was about empty. So I went downstairs where I store all my stash and such, reached into the huge box of polyfil only to discovered I had one bag left. The last bag of polyfil. Which is kind of monumental for me because I had purchased this huge amount about 9 years ago when I was really making a lot of dolls. Then when I switched gears to just making doll clothes and quilts a while back, I thought I'd have stuffing to last me the rest of my life. This is the last bag, so I guess I'll have to start watching for a sale.

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Monday this past week was Hitty Club. Hitty is my little wooden doll that I like to sew clothes for. She has a history and everything, and there are collectors who go bananas over her. I don't really collect her per se, but I do enjoy getting together once a month with some friends to play with her, and divide up our fabric stashes. Also to snack. It is my duty to bring the tea cookies each time. I always stick to this same recipe 'cause everyone loves them...

Lots of times we have a project planned where someone shows how to make something. But this month we just dumped fabrics on the table and spent the day cutting out little dresses. The theme was Strawberry Festival, so there were a lot of strawberry prints. Of course my Betsy McCall always attends to show off watch, and she brought her new cousin Barbara..

You can see some of the Hitty dolls standing around watching too. After all.. it is Hitty Club. Those bags hold teeny tiny snaps for the backs of the dresses. I really loved some of these prints. Especially that yellow one with the little irons.. and the one above with the tiny birds.

One of the girls brought a treasure for show and tell. She found these handmade dolls at a flea market.. for a very good bargain. I forget now exactly who the figures are... but they are Liberty of London dolls made between 1930-1960. I found just a little bit of info here.

Anyways.. we were to be drinking coffee and talking/laughing and seeing what everyone brought to show cutting out Hitty dresses. The girls took care of me and cut some for me.. so I brought five of them home to sew up.

It was specified that we must all complete at least one of the dresses before our next meeting.. which is a shopping spree to Charm and Berlin Ohio at the end of June. We will each take one of our dolls dressed in a new outfit..(I know you can't see me right now.. but I am totally jumping up and down with joy just thinking about this trip!!) I chose to finish this green and black one with the little strawberry print. Think I'll appliqué some circles of fussy cut strawberries to the skirt to make polka dots. I've got the freezer paper cut and ironed onto the fabric to make the appliqués, and one dot cut.

The girls are so good to me. I know they hate seeing me dig through the trash.. so they piled up their scraps in the middle of the table in baggies for me to take home.

Lovely scraps!!! I can use them for all sorts of things.

And no one ever heard of saving selvages.. so I educated them a little bit on that. I have never done anything with them.. but I know some people who do. ☺

Tomorrow I want to show you a new park we found to take our dog for a walk. So come back if you want to see a lot of green. ☺

P.S. I couldn't leave without showing you my rose bush this morning.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend!

Hitty Club Day

First of all, I did not mean to play a trick on everyone yesterday with my pictures of Betsy McCall. It never occurred to me that you'd think she was a real girl! But one of these days.. I think it would be fun to show our own "Sunday Best" spring dresses that we wore as girls. Nanette from Freda's Hive and I have talked about how much fun that would be to see pictures..

Anyway..

This past Saturday Hitty Club was so much fun. There are always surprises.. and I never know what to expect for sure.
We meet in a lovely home. Here is one of the tables we "unload" our stuff on. Betsy had a delightful surprise! One of the members is moving and clearing out some of her things before she goes.. and thought that her Barbara McCall would like to come and live at Betsy's house for a while! Barbara is Betsy's cousin. So I'm sure there will be more about her later on.

Under the table is some of my stuff. The Cath Kidson bag was one of my Christmas gifts from Melanie. Don't you love those flowers?

Inside the bag is my box of paper dolls. I thought I'd bring them along to show 'n' tell along with the new Snippets fabric that I got the other day.. and to share some of the fabric. I knew we were making pin cushions for our project so I thought maybe we could use some of it for those. But a few had other things in mind.. The fabric with the doll clothing print is a very tiny scale.. small enough for Hitty dresses. So some cut dresses from that.

The pin cushions had already been cut out for us from other fabric. So we didn't use mine. We made some really cute chickens.. you have probably seen these before. Here is the one I made.

And I have to say.. the girls are so good. They save all their little scraps for me from home and bring them. There are always snips of things that I don't have.

We also had a lot of fun with the tiny 1" charms that came with my Snippets fabrics. We thought one could even sew them together just like this and make a tiny quilt..

Here is a group of ladies that someone brought to show. They are "Cat Lady Dolls" made by Emily Rock.

They sure are unique.

Hitty received some lovely gifts! A new dress with tiny clusters of grapes, a beautifully knitted cape and cap.. I thought it matched this dress perfectly. I am always in awe of knitting, because I find it not so easy to do. And...

...this tiny Tea Set! Since it is still March.. ☺

oooo! Tony just called.. I'm off to pick up my 301..

Good Little Girls

It is a nice sunny morning.. I won't even need a coat. I'll just stand here for a while and see if this flower will open up.

The sun is getting even brighter. Surely it won't be much longer. I can wait.

Well maybe not. I'll just take a little walk around the house to see what else there is..

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Nothing much. That chicken doesn't even play. But look at this.. is it the flower?

Why yes! It is so pretty. I think I will pick it for Mother.

Oh but wait. Is this the kind I am allowed to pick? Now I can't remember. I better go ask her..

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Mean while.. I am in the house packing things up for Hitty club and making cookies. First a layer of tulips.. (wish mine really looked like this!)

Then another layer.. and some umbrellas just in case we need them.

Now I better go find that Betsy.. she is not allowed to pick the crocus. Later on I will plant some pansies here. I remember when I was a little girl my mom always let me pick those, because that encouraged them to grow even more.

The dolls are all ready to go.

Is this not the cutest bag for them to ride in?? I won it from Loft Creations! Last fall on Stephanie's birthday she had a give-away.. and my name was drawn. I was so lucky! It is cleverly crafted from a vintage tablecoth and finished with the cutest little bunny rabbit button. I have been so looking forward to using it this spring. Stephanie makes beautiful bags, quilts, pillowcases and all sorts of amazing things.. and sells them in her Etsy shop.

Hitty club was much fun yesterday! I don't have the pictures out of my camera yet.. so will have to show them tomorrow. Can't wait!

Tea Swap on it's Way...

The gifts for Stephanie's Tea Swap are finally finished.. wrapped.. and on their way..

I have seriously been engulfed in this project mostly non-stop for the past couple of weeks. I had so much fun working on it.. and I hope my partner gets it safe and sound.

The last time I posted here, I was getting ready for Hitty club. Cookies mixed up and decorated like little teapots and ready to go...

I had made some little dresses using the wonderful vintage organdy fabric that Ulla sent me as a Christmas gift..
The girls at club loved the tiny details of the little dancing mice, flying birds, and playing children. A reminder..these dolls are just over six inches high.

And Betsy McCall wore her skating outfit that I crocheted for her last year.

I felt bad that I didn't get anything new made for her this time, but she seemed happy to stand on our work table anyways.

Then the day after Hitty Club we worked at church on some projects for charity.. I took the double four patch quilt top to knot and it was well received. They asked if I could make up a couple more tops so we could have them for our church auction in the fall. I told them the fabrics were not high quality, and I hesitated to put it up for sale.. but they all said "who cares?.. it is lovely and people will buy it anyways!". So I said ok. I have tons. And tons.. of fabric scraps and stuff I can use up for this. Besides.. it is SO much fun. So I started cutting out some more strips..

..and I'm piecing a Roman Stripe.. always wanted to do one of these. ☺

I'm also cutting out some charms for a private swap.. always fun to have a chance to visit my vintage fabrics.

..and I am finally getting to this..

So that's where I am right now. The sun is shining and there is a hint of spring. I heard a Robin singing the other day. And the sun will come up again tomorrow. ☺

This Week's Project..

Just a quick post today because I have been playing that dumb Settlers game so busy working on something for next week.. and I can't really tell about it until later on. But I can give a peek.

Don't look too close if you are one of the ones I'm meeting next Saturday and you happen to be reading my blog.. unless you don't care about being surprised. But I really wanted to give everyone else a glimpse of these pretty colors and the teensy tiny novelty prints if you can see them..

..and remind you if you have not signed up yet for my New Year's Charms Giveaway.. you have until midnight tonight to still do so. It has been so much fun reading all your comments about your favorite fabrics! Eventually I will visit each and every one of you.. there are a lot of new blogs.. so exciting. But this week really is kind of busy, so it will probably be next week. Anyways.. I will be putting the eligible names in a container and letting my daughter draw a winner tomorrow, will be informing the winner by email, and will also announce it here. I hope it's you!

Thank you all so much for the wonderful birthday wishes. I know my family is taking me out for dinner.. Yay!.. and I have one present to open that came in the mail.. but other than that no plans. Really sweet today though.. three people at church thought I was going to be 45, and one thought 48. So that made me feel pretty good. ☺ Every year now counts.

See you all tomorrow!

Not So Flashy

This came from my friend Helen the other day, but this morning was the first chance I've had to open it. I like to do things a lot more ceremoniously ever since I started blogging. But she told me I needed to open it right now because there were things in there for the tree. It is the cutest little bag all stuffed with tiny treasures in every pocket.. and garnished with generous handfuls of ribbons and sparkle. I love that little magnet there that says "clean your room". Helen knows me pretty good. She also sent me this link about taking pictures of Christmas trees...

So that picture above was taken this morning.. and I am just thrilled to figure out how to take pictures of the tree so that the lights are twinkly and everything looks glowy. I set my my old Olympus camera on "automatic" but then turned off the flash. There is a lamp on in the room and the light on the ceiling fan.. that's it. But I think the trick is using a tripod.

Anyways, last week (before I knew about the no-flash thing).. I opened something from Ulla who lives in Finland. I adore Ulla.. and we had such a wonderful time this past summer putting the Summer Stash Quilt Challenge together. Her box was so pretty.. it came in the mail just like this:
There was a present for Hitty! so they all gathered round to see what it could be..

Some fabric for dresses! And believe me.. this is not just any old ordinary fabric. I about flipped when I saw that vintage novelty organdy.. that itself would have been way more than enough to send me for Christmas. Ulla told me it was from a piece that her mother made pinafores for her as a little girl. I can't think of ANYthing more precious. And I have never seen anything like it before.

But then of course there were goodies for me. This little sewing kit and angel all handmade by Ulla...

Pin cushion, zipper case to keep things, and a needle book.. complete with a needle that looks exactly like my favorite needle I have here and use all the time. Now I have two!

And these adorable die cuts from Germany.. aren't these terrific?
An Ulla-made card.. AND one of those amazing Finnish straw wreaths..

Last year I only put vintage glass balls on my Christmas tree.. but getting this new wreath made me dig out some of my other straw ornaments that I had purchased a few years ago from Ten Thousand Villages (but I don't see these angels on their site anymore)..
Each one is playing a different musical instrument.

Look how pretty that wreath is..

So now I'm going to go dig into that bag of stuff Helen sent and find places to hang more ornaments on my tree.

Lots of things to share with you yet.. I'll try and get back here tomorrow. But now I'm off to see what all of you are doing....