Fabric Crush - Kite Ties

   My doll making adventures have made me change the way I look at fabric. I still like bold prints, but now I find myself always searching for the tiniest prints available. Most of my dolls are only 23cm (8") tall, so if I want the print to be visible it has to be tiny.

   The fabric I'm featuring today had been sitting in my stash for quite some time before I used it. It wasn't until a customer requested the second Marie Antoinette that I decided to cut into it. She wanted similar colors, but since I pride myself in making one of a kind dolls, I didn't want to use the same fabric.

   For my first version of Marie, I used a pale blue vintage floral fabric. So, I searched through my stack and found a half-forgotten fat quarter of Kite Ties by Sweetheart. This lovely print is part of Lucy's Crab Shack Collection for Moda.

Kite Ties in Ocean. Available here.

   I think this fabric worked wonderfully as an alternative to the one I used first. Both dolls share a very similar color palette, but each turned out unique. What do you think?

Marie Antoinette by Carrousel Dream Dolls

French Royalty 2

   Hi everybody!

    I made this Marie Antoinette short after I released the first one in September. It was for a collector; she wanted the same color scheme of the first, but with a unique flair. I tried my best and this is the result. :)

Her Majesty The Queen of France and Navarre, Marie Antoinette. #2

   All in all, the color scheme in this dolly is warmer than the first one.

I really like this picture. >.<

   I LOVE how the shoes turned out; I think they look pretty dainty and chic. I adorned her main skirt with a very cute ivory eyelet lace that I think match the shoes beautifully.

   Her hair was accessorized with tiny artificial flowers and leaves, a cute little bird and an ostrich feather. After they were secured to her hair, I enhanced the look by adding some details in gold paint and gold glitter.

What do you think?

Almost 6 Months Later... The Pirate!

   Hi everybody! I'm trying to follow my friend Diane's advice to come back to blogging by explaining why the hiatus. The truth is, I've been trying to deal with the worst case of writer's/crafter's block. It has been hard to visit the blog. It feels like by not writing, I'm throwing away all the love and time I put into it in the past and that makes it much harder to write.

   When I scrolled down the blog to see what were the last few posts about, I noticed that 6 months ago I wrote a post telling you all about a pirate doll I was making, except, I didn't show you the finished doll. Here she is, her name is Peggy; in honor of her peg-leg. ;)

   I really like how she turned out, she took more time to make than usual and she has a lot of details. Her hair is mohair and merino and I loved the combination of these yarns, they gave a lot of character to her wild mane. The beads in her hair were a lot of fun to choose and stitch on.

   But my favorite part by far was her peg-leg; I never thought I could pull it off. I wanted it to be realistic, but kind of cute and I think I did it. What do you think?

   As a finishing touch I thought that a real pirate should have a bird on her shoulder and I gave her one. I hope she's taking good care of it. :)

Fabric Crush: The Gnome Story

The Gnome Story | Available here

   I love buying online, but hate waiting for mail. I like the instant gratification of buying fabric from a brick and mortar shop, but since the local selection is limited I have to use online sources. To avoid excessive wait I rarely order from sellers outside the United States. Although sometimes I stumble upon a piece of fabric that I just can't let go no matter how long I have to wait for it. That was the case with this dutch fabric named "The Gnome Story".

  I fell in love with this fabric the instant I saw it, but I didn't know what I would make with it. After waiting a couple of weeks to get it, I promptly decided that it was to be hoarded stashed until the perfect project came up. Long story short, the fabric sat in my stash for almost a year and a half before I decided to cut into it. It wasn't until I was asked to make a Little Red Riding Hood doll that I decided to put it to good use. I used only a tiny piece of my precious fabric on this doll and odds are I'll wait quite some time before using the rest.

Red by Carrousel Dream Dolls

Little Red

Illustration from Childhood's Favorites and Fairy Stories

   A few weeks ago a customer asked me to work on a Little Red Riding Hood doll for her. I was happy to receive the custom order, but dreaded having to work on the hood so much I had nightmares. As I've said many times before, making clothes is not my forte. There are things I just can't figure out how to make and things get worse when they're for a shoulder-less doll. As you can imagine, that's a bit of an obstacle for a doll maker that likes to create a different outfit for each doll. I must say though, I think I've succeeded so far within my limitations.

Little Red Riding Hood by George Frederic Watts

   I searched online for a pattern or any tips that would help me construct the hood. After much fruitless searching I stumbled upon a website with a free Little Red Riding Hood Pattern. Since I create my own patterns, I had no use for the doll portion, but the hood part saved the day. I couldn't use it as it was because the size didn't match my doll pattern and I didn't love the shape, but it was a good starting point.

   After a lot of tweaking I ended up with a hood I love and will be using over and over again in the future. Once the hood was settled, everything else was easy. I pictured my little red blonde, so I hand-dyed some boucle to use for her hair. I knew I didn't want a completely red outfit, so I searched through my stash until I found the perfect fabric. I used white polka dots on a red background for her top and a dutch fabric called "The Gnome Story" for her skirt.

   Red's face is hand painted using acrylics, but this time I didn't feel like painting her shoes. I wanted to try something different, so I went for wool felt shoes. When Red was finally done, it was a hard letting her go. I keep falling in love with my dolls and sometimes I wish I could keep them.

Red by Carrousel Dream Dolls

A pirate's life for me!

  These past few days I've been working on an awesome custom order. I was lucky enough to be contacted by Sarah from  Misfits & Vagabonds to create a doll for her growing pirate themed collection. Sarah has been making dolls since she was a child, but just recently started to collect the creations of other doll makers.

Mini Misfit by Misfits & Vagabonds

   The best part? Total creative freedom! She told me that she wanted a pirate, but made no specifications. And so, my imagination has been running wild. It was hard to narrow down all the possibilities, but eventually I came up with a sketch that I love.

Pirate Girl by Carrousel Dream Dolls

  All my dolls start with a sketch drawn on a 3" x 5" index card. I try to include as many details as possible in each sketch and constantly refer to them as I work on my dolls. If I try to work on a doll before doing at least a rough sketch, I feel a bit lost. In the future I'll be sharing more of these sketches with you, but some will stay hidden in my little plastic box because they're not pretty enough to show the world.

French Royalty

Her Majesty The Queen of France and Navarre, Marie Antoinette.

   I must admit that I'm a huge fan of Marie Antoinette as a fashion icon. Her merits as a monarch are whole other discussion, but no one can ignore the influence she had on fashion. The idea of making a doll inspired on Marie had been floating around my head for some time, but for some reason I kept pushing it aside.

   A few weeks ago the perfect opportunity presented itself. I was invited to include one of my dolls on a showcase that had a "Diamonds and Pearls" theme. The first thing that came to my mind was Marie Antoinette. I went searching for some inspiration online and re-watched two of my favorites movies featuring Marie: Marie Antoinette & The Affair of the Necklace.

   After so much eye candy, I started working. I knew I wanted her to be pale and have her iconic pouf. I also knew that her clothes needed to be breathtaking. I chose Kona Pale Flesh for her skin and found some gorgeous undyed boucle online to use for her hair. The fabrics and trims I used for her dress where a combination of vintage and new from my stash.

  Her hair is decorated with genuine freshwater pearls, a bird, four roses, a pink satin ribbon bow and an ostrich feather. Marie's face and shoes are hand-painted using acrylics and fabric medium.

Oh! and she's a miniature dolly, she measures 9.5" from the tip of her feet to the top of her hair.  
 
  I'm in love with the results and was lucky to have more than one collector fall in love with Marie. I already have some ideas for other versions of Marie, so expect to see more of her.