Autumn Fairies

 Happy Fall Ya'll!!

The Maid in the Moon

 I've been making so many little dolls recently and I'm getting ready to start on another batch of tiny spookiness for Fall but I decided to try something a bit different between times.  Here is my little Maid in the Moon...

 Figuring out how to attach her to the moon was an adventure but that's the kind of thing that keeps the job fun...right? (LOL...there may have been a few bad words involved during the process but we'll keep that to ourselves for now)

3 Little Skellies

 When your favorite 3 ( almost 4) year old asks you to make him "3 skeletons in long white dresses" for his birthday, you make that happen!!

Lavender Babies Part 4...At Last!

Hi there, remember me? A few things happened since I posted the first parts of this tutorial (Lordy it's been interesting times!) and somehow the last few steps never got finished...sorry about that! But here, at last, is the final part. I hope it's easy to understand and, as always, please ask any questions in the comments and I'll try to answer them as quickly as possible. So here goes!

The first thing to do is check the pattern against your doll's head to make sure it will fit. Since we made the heads by hand without a pattern there can be some variance. 

I decided to make my hats a bit bigger since these were large heads and its easy to place the pattern to accommodate that. Now cut your hat and collar out of felt. I use 100% wool felt because it comes in such gorgeous colors, but you can use any felt that's not too thick. You'll also need matching embroidery floss.

Sew the collar on following these steps. 

Anchor the knot in the underside and then take a stitch in the back of the collar.

Bring the needle through the doll to the front of the collar and then back.

Take a stitch in the back to close the collar and make a tiny knot, then bury the end of your thread and cut off. Your collar is done! Let's get to that cap...but wait first we need some hair! I used boucle mohair for this but once again use whatever yarn you like. I usually wind the yarn around my thumb 5 times and that's the perfect amount.

Then run a needle with a knitted thread inside the loops and through, go between the two threads, and draw tight so that you secure all the yarn loops. Now sew that to the doll's head. 

Don't worry if it looks a bit wild, the hat will sort that out.

LOL! They definitely look like they've been having fun!

NOW, let's make that hat! First you'll need to sew up the back with a neat buttonhole stitch. Make sure to hide the knot inside the hat and finish by hiding the thread end in the seam. 

Place the hat on the doll Hide your knot inside the hat and sew through the hat and the doll's head to the other side and then back again. Pull tight. Now you want to take a running stitch around the bottom of the hat and pull that tight as well.

Insert your needle through the head from next to your last stitch and out the top near the front. Then insert needle from the top to the seam in the back.

We're almost done! Anchor your thread and hide the end inside the doll's head. Now stretch the front of the hat with your fingers, GENTLY, to make more of a bonnet shape and it should look like this...

And that's it! You've made a sweet little baby that would be super cute in an Easter basket or for a Mother's Day present. They are lovely in a drawer or on a Nature table with their lavender scent. I hope you give the pattern a try! 

Lavender Babies Pattern Part 3 - The Body

 Hi again! I hope you've made it through the first two parts without too much trouble, now on to the body!

We're going to start by cutting out the pattern circle in a pretty print woven fabric.  Then you fold the fabric not quite in half (this is because you want the feet to the front of the doll so she has a nice bottom to sit on) and then in half. See the photo below.

Now cut two very small slits about 3/4 inch or a thumb's length from the center fold. this will give you two perfectly spaced holes for your feet to go through.

Apply fray check all around the outside of the circle and around your two feet holes and let that dry. I do this on top of an old towel. If you're impatient, like yours truly, you can hit it with an iron to speed things up, but be sure to clean any goo off of your iron afterwards.

It's time to get the feet on! Sew a running stitch around the outside of one of the holes. Insert the foot (make sure it's all the way in!) and pull those stitches tight and then go back and forth several times around the foot sewing it securely in place. Repeat with your baby's other foot. 

Now let's get that head attached. You will need TWO needles with matching thread ready for this part. First make a running stitch around the outside of your circle ending with your thread on the right side of your fabric. Pull this up slightly to form a cup. Now you want to attach the head to the bottom, this helps the baby keep a nice rounded shape, if you skip this part she'll be fine but will get a bit wonky shaped over time. Go through the lower part under the head with your second needle and then take a very small stitch in the center bottom of the fabric cup. go back up to the head and through again so you have about a 1.5 inch double thread from the head to the cup. Tie off your thread. I know this sounds confusing so I made several photos..   

Time for the filler. I use a mix of dried lavender flowers and flax seeds but you can use plastic pellets, rice, whatever. I like to use all natural materials when I can and flax seeds are a nice weight. It takes about a 1/8 cup of the filler. You don't want too much or your baby will look too round so just fill and test as you go until you have a shape you like. 

Pull the stitches tight and then go back and forth through the head sewing it very securely on. I like to go right into putting on the arms so I usually have a long enough thread to ensure that but it's fine if you don't. 

Position your arms on either side between some of the fabric folds and pin into place. Play around with this and see where they look best to you. 

You will sew the arms in place from top to bottom going back and forth through all the layers and catching the folds on both sides. 

Whew...that was a long post! If any of that doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll see if I can make a video to help explain things. But hopefully it does and now you have a little lavender baby that only needs some hair, a collar, and a hat! And of course the last post will be all about that. See you soon!