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.

Erm... *cough-cough* I'm Back!

   It's been over two months since my last blog post and it's about time I come back. I'm so excited!

   These past couple of months I've been focused on my doll making adventures and I'm still in love. I started a Facebook page, joined an awesome fb group and have been selling my dolls to doll lovers on the other side of the world. I'm gonna keep this post short because it's just a re-introduction, HI! So, please stay around and enjoy the ride. There are very pretty things to come. ;-)

Dolls: Say Hi To Sandy!

   I can't believe how much I enjoy creating these little people. I love the way they acquire a personality of their own as I make them. As I complete each part of the process they tell me what I should do next, and when I finish, they tell me their names and their styles. That's when I decide what their clothes and shoes should look like, and I do my best to recreate the image in my head. In my last post I told you that my next doll would have purple, green and blue hair. Here she is! Say hi to Sandy.

   I'm in love with Sandy! She is the first doll I make that is exactly what I had in mind when I started making dolls. First: Her hair is 100% merino wool, the yarn is hand-dyed and the felt is SUPER soft. Second: Her clothes can be changed and played with. Third: She is super colorful; I love colors. I've seen many doll makers that focus on using pastel colors, I always find those dolls gorgeous and I love them, but that is just not my style. When I create I need colors, the brighter the better; colors make me happy.

    I'm super happy with the yarn I told you about in my last post. The 40 yards were enough for Sandy's hair, yet I had to use every single strand that I had of it and if I had more I could have probably used it too. I used Kona Taupe for her skin and acrylic paints for her face and shoes.

   When I finished Sandy, she told me that she was a summer loving girl with a high sense of fashion. So I made her a short strapless sweetheart neckline dress with a flowy skirt. I love the way the skirt creates the illusion of having a petticoat underneath.

   The only thing that left me thinking about the dress is that since I don't own a serger I just pinked the raw seams. The thing is, I make purses and I'm used to having to line every single part of a piece so the raw edges won't show. This tiny garment making thing is new to me and I don't know if there's a secret for fully encasing the raw edges that I don't know about yet, otherwise I'm happy about it and its construction. The back fastens with a plastic snap.

   I definitely like the look of painted shoes, I can create many styles and I can embellish them as much as I need. I also think they look cute.

   So far I've made 3 dolls with pretty yarn hair, and I love the fabrics I found for their skin tones. So many possibilities, so little time.

Dolls: Wool Yarn = Hair!

   Hi! Look what arrived in my Po Box last week. These are bulky, 100% merino wool, 40yds skeins. I'm super happy with this yarn, I can't wait to make another doll so I can try it. The only downside is that I already cut one of the skeins and I think the 40 yards won't be enough. The good thing is that their colors are SO yummy I could even try to eat them. They're squishy, smell like the real thing and the texture is GREAT!

   My next doll is going to have purple, green and blue hair. Yay!