Lavender Babies Pattern Part Two -Arms and Feet

 Hi again! Let's get cracking on part 2! Here is a link to a PDF file of the pattern that you can download and print...she said hopefully, never having done this before. If you have any issues, just let me know. (Also I apologize in advance for the state of my hands, end of winter and they're a bit of a dry raggedy mess.)

I know you are SO ready to start but please read through all the instructions before cutting, it saves time and frustration! I'll wait.....Okay, you did that, right? Now on to making the arms! Take one of the arm pieces that you've cut out and fold down a bit of the top ( about a third), fold in the sides to the middle, and then fold in half like this...

Pin the top part together just to hold it and sew up the side and across the top.

once the arm is sewn, you want to define the wrist and hand. Insert the needle and come out right below the top fold line. Wrap thread around the wrist a couple of times, knot, and bury the thread end. You have an arm! Now make another.

Time for the feet which are just tiny balls so they're pretty easy. Cut out your two feet from the cotton knit and trace the sew circle on the inside. I know my example isn't perfectly even but I was using a scrap and it doesn't matter as long as the circle has plenty of room around it. 

Sew a running stitch around the circle. Remember to keep your knot on the side with the marked circle, as this is the inside of the foot, and end with your needle on the outside. 

Pull the stitches slightly to make a cup shape and stuff with a tiny ball of wool. Pull tight and wrap the thread around a couple of times, knot and then bury the end again.  You want this to be firm but not too large. Make another being careful to match your first one in size. 

So we have a head, 2 arms, and 2 feet. We just need a body! The next post will focus on making and filling the body and attaching the ams and legs. See you soon!

Part three can be found HERE

Lavender Babies Pattern - Part 1 Making a Small Waldorf Doll Head

Hello Friends! It's been awhile hasn't it? And this past year has been something else for all of us. My husband and I were pretty much cut off for most of it with only the occasional outside visit with family or friends though we were so lucky to be able to spend time with our grandkids who, after the first couple of months, were part of our bubble for the duration. But it has definitely been an "interesting" time in so many ways. Plague, isolation, natural disasters, insurrection: I can see why "may you live in interesting times" is a curse! Knowing that so many people have lost loved ones in this pandemic absolutely breaks me. I hold those lives in my heart and will always do so and I will never forget that it didn't have to be this way.

But life does goes on, the pendulum swings back, and hopes for better times do seem to be finding some fruition. My husband and I have had both of our vaccinations and so has my 87 year old, still seeing patients, dad - which is a HUGE relief to me as you might imagine. 

So as I try to get back to a somewhat more "normal" life I thought I would try to restart my blog with a little gift. I'm sharing a pattern for my little lavender babies. I don't make these any more to sell and I thought it might be a fun project for those of you who enjoy handwork. These are made entirely by hand, no sewing machine necessary, and are pretty easy (if somewhat time consuming) to make once you have the head done. I'll include lots of pictures and directions so it might take a few posts to get all the info but I promise to make them all in short order. So let's get started! 

First you will need to make a small ( about 3.5inches in diameter) Waldorf style head. There are tons of posts online for making these heads, this just happens to be the way I do it for this type of doll. You will need:

Wool

Cotton string one piece 3" long and one 6"

A 3" piece of 5/8" tubular gauze 

Cotton knit "skin" fabric (old tee shirts can work here!)

needle and thread 

scissors 

Pigma markers, colored pencil, white gel pen (optional) OR

Embroidery floss for the face

The first step is to tightly tie the smaller piece of string around one end of the tube and cut off the excess string. Then turn the tube inside out. 

Next stuff the tube with wool. This is probably the hardest step because you will need to put a lot more wool in there than you think. Keep pushing the wool in and pulling on the open end to pack it into a small ball, about 3.5 inches in diameter, the ball should be very firm. Then you will take the longer string, wrap it around the base of the ball a couple of times, pull it very tight, and tie it off. Sometimes it helps to make the head firmer if you tie a second string above the first. It just depends on how loose the head feels. 

Now it's time to shape the head. Thread your needle and anchor your thread at the bottom of the head. Now wrap the thread a couple of times around the head from top to bottom and pull it tight. Insert the needle from the bottom of the head to the side next to the first wrap. wrap the thread from front to back a couple of times and pull tight again. This time you're going to sew over the two wraps at their crosspoint in an X to lock them down. Take the needle through the head and do the same thing on the other side and end with the needle at the back bottom of the head near the neck.

At this point you need to shimmy the back portion of the thread down to the neck to form the back of the skull. I frequently use the needle to help pull it up and down, just go carefully and take your time. You can choose now to catch that lowered thread and tie off your work OR you can make a nose.  To add a nose, bring the needle and thread to the front of the face, below the eyeline thread and slightly to the left or right of the middle. sew a tiny circle or back and forth, poking up some wool as you go. You want to make a tiny bump. Then take your needle to the back of the head and tie it off. 

Already you have a sweet looking little head, so let's put some skin on it! Cut a rectangular piece of the cotton knit that will fit around your head. The size will depend on your finished head size but roughly 3" x 2" . Fold one side in and pin together and also put a pin in the front to keep it from slipping down the head. 

Thread a needle with matching thread, anchor it at the back of the neck and wrap it around the base of the head. Make sure to pull the fabric tightly in the back and keep it smooth around the top of the wrap. 

Stitch up the back of the head and then around the top of the head, pull the thread tight, and knot. Cut off any excess fabric and, if necessary, take a couple of stitches back and forth across there top to neaten things up.

Almost done!!! We just need to make some eye indentations. So mark on the front where you want your eyes with pins or pencil. Then take your needle from the back of the head to the front and then back again taking a very small stitch in the front and pull it tight so that an indentation is formed. Tie that off and do the other eye.

You did it! Look at that cutie! The only thing left is to give them a face. I use Micron Pigma pens, a white gel pen, and Prisma colored pencils for my faces these days but I used to embroider them and it really does make a very sweet and simple face. It's entirely up to you. 

Part 2 of this series will have the pattern you can download and will focus on making the arms and feet. You can find that HERE .

Sweetheart Week

  

Happy (almost) Valentine's Day!! It's the week when the stores are full off flowers, pink and red balloons, and of course Valentines! I posted a few sweetheart dolls in my shop this month as well and I thought I'd share them with you!

Of course being me, I started with a couple of Ghastly Valentines. (If the undead aren't you cup of tea, scroll down for the sweet fae.) First a little zombie girl in a pink heart dress with her much loved teddy...

Then a ghastly bride named Lily, here is her story..
   When Lily married Jonathan he vowed that his heart was hers forever. So imagine her surprise later that day when she discovered him locked in a passionate embrace with another woman. Now Jonathan will be making no more vows because, as Lily told him, "a promise is a promise," so she'll be keeping his heart...forever.

Then it was time to move to the sweet!  A couple of pixies...

And then some sweet pins...

...and I made a couple of other pins that would be lovely for any occasion...

The last two pins and the first sweetheart pixie are still available here if anyone is interested.

Winter Beauty

   I've begun the year by taking a woodland hike at a local trail to fulfill my intention to get out into nature more often. Greensboro has an astonishing number of hiking trails around the lakes that are our water supply, but there are other hidden gems about the city as well. This trail was near a library and school at the edge of town and was one we had never tried before. It was a lovely walk and we saw so many examples of nature's subtle winter beauty along the way.

Wild Rose Hips

Ethereal Milkweed Seeds

All kinds of dry grasses and seeds

The corked branches of young Sweetgum Trees

And of course all the various Lichens

This first walk was so much fun and, as you can see, full of winter delights! 

We followed it up this past weekend with a walk at the beautiful, old, BIG cemetery that is near our house. It's a fascinating place with an incredible amount of trees and plants that are not usually found in this part of the world, many of them (thankfully!) marked with tags for those wandering amateur botanists like ourselves. Next time we go I'll have to bring my camera so I can get some photos.

In the meantime I've also finally gotten back into the studio. (YAY!) The first order of business was to make some wings. That's almost always where I start with dolls, especially the little ones because I need a finished set of wings early in the process for them. These wings will be for a couple of Valentine pixies and I have pin dolls and a couple of ghastliness on the table as well. "Ghastlies for Valentines?" you might gasp. I would answer in my best Count Dracula voice, "But ov course, bwahaha!"

Welcome 2020

  How is it 2020? Good grief, a new year and a new decade! I'm not sure I'm ready at all! 

I thought I'd share with you some lines from the wonderful book Wild Comfort by Kathleen Dean Moore and let her words serve as my New Years blessing for us all...

"May we find comfort in the 'repeated refrains of nature', the softly sheltering snow, the changing seasons, the return of the blackbirds to the marsh...

May we find strength in light that pours in under snow and laughter that breaks through tears...

May we go out into the light filled snow and among the meadows in bloom, with gratitude for life that is deep and alive! May Earth's fire burn in our hearts, and may we know ourselves part of this flame - one thing, never alone, never weary of life."

  

 I have set myself a few intentions for this year; 1- to get out into nature on a more regular basis and not let my health hold me back, 2- to try and blog more again and finally get some tutorials up, 3- to be more proactive with getting work done for holidays and shows and not wait til the last minute, 4-to actually make some of the ideas that I've had in the back of my head for ages, and lastly 5-to try and find ways to be happy even when the world seems dark. We shall see how it goes...

I am getting a good start by having a post up for the new year on time so maybe...?
 What about you? Any intentions that you'd like to manifest this year?