Charming “Mirror”

Been having fun playing with dolls! I made a funky little dress to go with the shoes I made last week. Modeling the outfit is Goodreau’s BJD Mirror.” She is borrowing one of Ellowyne’s wigs.

Simple Felt Flowers

I made these little felt flowers today to decorate the shoes. I found the instructions in a vintage Barbie pattern (as a handbag decoration). They are so easy to make. You just cut a small square scrap of felt any size you want (I used a ¾” square), run a gathering thread on the guidelines, pull tight and knot off. I added a little French knot to the center.

First Attempt at Doll Shoes

I got two 16” Goodreau BJDs (ball-jointed dolls) for Christmas and a couple of patterns to make clothes for them. One of the patterns was for shoes and I was really curious if they would fit. They fit perfectly! They aren’t quite finished, yet. I still need to glue on the fun foam soles and little heels. Now, here is my dilemma. The pattern says to use a glue gun for this operation. And the glue gun is definitely not my friend. I never fail to burn myself! I’m thinking maybe I’ll use tacky glue – the same stuff I use for Santa beards. Anyway, I wanted to show you a quick picture of the shoes so far. I’m also thinking about adding some sort of little ornamentation to the fronts. The pattern contains several variations of this shoe; with strap, double strap and scalloped upper – but I thought I’d just try out the basic pump, first. The shoes are made of a deep brown felt with a reddish cast but my workroom lights can’t pick up the color. I lined them with a tiny brown gingham check. I'm downright tickled with these!

Another Fabric Paper Sample

Last night, I decided to try making a more subdued sample. I glued everything on top of a really ugly old piece of cotton. This is a great way to use fabric that would otherwise go unused...

2010 Monthly Experiment (January): Fabric Paper

Well, give me a little paper, paint, fabric and glue and I’m happy. This is my first experiment making fabric paper – what fun! (This is meant to be cut up and used for postcard and ATC backgrounds with added stitch and/or collage elements.) I put all of the cats in the bedroom and worked at the kitchen table last night for a little while – and what a fine mess I made! There are a few sources of instructions for this (and a couple of variations) on the web. The Quilting Arts web site has Beryl Taylor’s instructions, here. And Arlee Barr has a wonderful tutorial, here. Got to play with this some more...

Stitch Explorer Challenge

Here is a little sampler I embroidered for the final Stitch Explorer Challenge project. I combined some laid stitch samples (couched filling, laid trellis) with chicken scratch. Of all the new stitches I learned this year, chicken scratch is my favorite. I know I will be playing with that more in the future. Thanks to dear Sharon B for a fun year of stitching!

Ellowyne Goes Christmas Shopping...

In the holiday rush, I forgot to take a photograph of Ellowyne in the new fur jacket and hat I made for her two weeks ago. The jacket is from a pattern that is in the current issue of Doll Reader magazine. The hat is from a Kitty Collier doll pattern.

Ellowyne’s Christmas tree pin is actually a cheap earring! Her miniature shopping bag was one of several in a package from the dollar store. Who doesn’t love the dollar store?