Ta-da!

As promised, here is the doll with clothes. I cut up some old shirts to make them. I think I rushed them a bit because the sleeves are too long. Oh well. I don't think Peanut noticed. I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. I'll be posting some pics of our celebrations over at Mama K NJ.

Once again, doll kit (pattern+materials) came from http://www.dancingraindolls.com/

Oh and look what I got for Christmas....

Don't mind the bad pic of me... look on my lap. It's Bend The Rules Sewing! yay!

I Did It!

Well here he is! He's just missing something... oh yeah ... clothes! te-hee
I don't particularly enjoy making people clothes so I'm hoping doll clothes aren't too bad.

He was surprisingly easy to make, but a bit time consuming to get everything just right. He is far from perfect, but I'm pleased with the result.
A few notes for next time:
*Make the nose a little bigger than you want the finished result to be. When you pull the "skin" over it, the nose will flatten a bit.
*When doing the inner head form, be sure to tie the string as tight as possible. Again, once I pulled the fabric over I lost some of the definition.
*Ditto on the thumb. Make it more exaggerated than you think or it won't show up at all.
*Make sure you stuff stuff stuff as much as you can with the wool. It compresses and you want a full doll. (I am used to polyfil which is a completely different animal.)

WIP

I have another baby gifty in the works. I'll tell you this, it's a plushy and it's for my friend's new lil man. I'm going up to hang out with them on Thursday so I hope to have it done by then.
For the first time I am using cotton yarn to make a plush. I hope that the fibers don't relax too much and make the toy too floppy. I usually use acrylic, like RH Soft, for plush. But I figured cotton would be soft on lil gums if he wanted to chew on it and it would get softer with washing and wear. Besides, cotton just seems more... babyish?

UFO to FO Lamb Toy

Fresh from my Aminko victory, I thought I'd pull out that lamb toy I started like a year ago. His body was done but needed legs, ears and tail. It's interesting how much I've improved since I first started him. The stitches are a little too loose and the rows are a bit off center, but since he is almost white you can't tell the stuffing is showing. I had an awful time on the face. I think I sewed and ripped out the eyes about 6 times before I settled on the plain slits you see. It was hard to get a good picture with the flash. The details: I used a pattern from a 2004 issue of a Better Homes & Garden crochet magazine and Lion Brand Jiffy in "Kitty Hawk".

Edited to add the link to the pattern for Stuffed Lamb Toy. I didn't know the pattern was still in the archives!

Amigurumi Adventure

Inspired by the new issue of Crochet Me, I figured I'd jump on the amigurumi band wagon. For those that don't know, amigurumi is a crocheted doll or animal in Japanese. Some people are really into getting Japanese patterns and trying to translate them. First I read all the tutorials on Crochet Me about making Amigurumi. Then I started my kitty. I had stumbled upon this Amineko Cat pattern that Sarah from Ramblings in a Little Black Dress was nice enough to post and decided this was a good first project.
So here he is! I made him with Red Heart Soft Yarn in "Guacamole" and "Turquoise." I am thinking I'll keep him for baby or give as a gift. For more inspiration (and a few free patterns) check out Amigurumi-Along.

(Check me out! I learned to use hyper links.. hehe)