Happy New Year!

Oh, I can't believe it's already 2014!!!

I have a lot to catch up on.

I made this 18" Waldorf doll for a sweet little girl who loves purple and ladybugs over the summer.

I designed the smocking pattern for this dress. It took a few samples but I am happy with the way the final turned out. I found this beautiful cotton calico at Patricia's Fabric House.http://www.patriciasfabrichouse.com/ 

which is also where I found this adorable ladybug button.

 The sweater I knit out of Sublime (75%extra fine merino, 20% silk and 5% cashmere). It was wonderful to knit with. I'm sad to say that the shop I bought this yarn from The Yarn Boutique closed it's doors for good this past week. If I could encourage everyone to purchase from locally owned and small owner operated businesses when possible so we don't lose these more these gems.

Julie

Julie is so happy her clothes are finally ready! 

I remember when she had trouble choosing her hair colour but everything else has been an easy choice for her. She is full of life, and just can't wait for Spring weather!

We tried to go outside for her photo shoot but being typical Upstate New York weather it was very grey and dreary. I was going to put it off for another day but Julie was just too excited and I didn't want to disappoint her.  My husband was very sweet and let me take over the kitchen and turn it into a photo studio. With the white walls and three windows it seemed like the best place. I grabbed some extra lights and we were ready to go.

 

Julie is 18" tall and is made from a double thick organic cotton interlock and sewn with 100% cotton thread which I use for both the doll and her clothes. She is stuffed full of eco wool from happy wandering sheep with no yucky chemicals. 

Her waist length hair is made from an Ultra Alpaca yarn that I first crochet into a wig cap and then hand sew each individual strand to the cap.

 Her features are hand embroidered with cotton embroidery floss and her cheeks are blushed with bees wax.

She is wearing a sleeveless dress with a full skirt and a peter pan collar. I found(correction, my daughter found) this beautiful Japanese floral print cotton at a local fabric store.( I like to purchase my fabrics and yarns from local, independently owned shops). It is fastened in back with two buttons and hand smocked at the waistline.

Here is a close up of the smocking.

 

Julie is modeling her sweater which I knit from a Worsted Merino Superwash yarn. I crocheted her Mary Janes and headband to match. 

The headband ties in the back and can also be used to put her hair in a pony tail.

She is also wearing a pair of white cotton bloomers with a little blue bow.

I used a pair of vintage buttons to fasten her shoes, and a matching one in a slightly larger size for her sweater.

Julie is looking forward to finding her forever home. She has been a delight to make and has lots of love to share. 

She will be available for adoption through my etsy shop tomorrow morning 3/26 at 9:00 am eastern standard time♥

Julie has Fabric!

My daughter and I took Julie out to shop for fabric for her dress. It didn't take long. My daughter saw this floral print and Julie just loved it!  Deciding on a pattern is taking a little longer. Before we found the fabric I had an idea. But I wasn't sure it would work with the floral print. So I drew up a new pattern and made up a mock out of muslin, but it just wasn't her style. So I'm going ahead with the first plan. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Julie has chosen!

Julie has chosen to go with the dark blonde hair and I think she is rather lovely in it.

I'm hoping to get her hair finished by this weekend so that we can go fabric shopping:)

Julie

Here is Julie. She was all made up and it was time to start work on her hair. She was very excited to be able to go out and choose her own hair colour. The whole way there she was asking should I be a blonde or a brunette. I guess I should have realized then that she was going to have a hard time making decisions. 

After about 45 minutes at the store she narrowed down her choices.  She chose to be a blonde but then couldn't decide on the shade.

It was getting late so I told her we could bring both of them home and decide which was her favourite later.

She was quite happy. But when we got home she just couldn't sit still. She looked at the yarn in different rooms to see if the lighting made a difference. Then she preceded to put the yarn on her head and ask everyone in the house what they thought.

First the light one.

Then the darker shade.

Then she remembered something.

 She had seen pictures of Angelina's hair and thought maybe combining the two shades would work.

While she was in the dolly workshop she stumbled across a third shade of yarn and tried all three together.

What a dilemma!

Julie would like to know what you think.

You can leave your comments here or on the facebook page.

Thank You for your help!

Angelina

Angelina is the other 18" doll I made as a custom order at Christmas. It was requested that she have blue eyes, sunset coloured hair and freckles.  She is made from organic cotton interlock and stuffed with warm and cozy wool. Her face is hand embroidered with cotton embroidery floss and her cheeks have been blushed with a bit of bees wax.

Origianally I had planned on using Malbrigo's Rios in Sunset for her hair. The same yarn I used for Ella (who is at the top of my blog). But when I went to buy it they were all out. I went around to the other yarn stores in my area and they were all out to. One shop said that they have had it on back order for 3 months.  So I figured I would have to come up with a different idea.

I'm actually glad they were out because it made me try something I haven't done before. I blended 3 different yarns to make her hair.

The medium colour and the highlights are Cascade's Super Wash and the low lights are what I had left of the Malbrigo's Rios. I really love how it turned out and I will do more blending in the future.

Angelina is modeling the dress I designed for her. It is 100% cotton with a full skirt and a Peter Pan collar. The back is closed with a hook and eye and has a satin tie at the waist to make a bow in the back. I wish I would have taken a picture of her from the back.

 

I have always wanted to try smocking and she really seemed like she needed a smocked dress.  I hand gathered the fabric before I started the smocking. It was a nice process, kind of soothing like knitting. I liked it so much I did more smocking on the dress for my next doll Anna.  And I have a feeling there will be more smocking coming up!

Angelina's sweater is knit from Cascade's 220 Superwash. I had the yarn for the sweater before I bought the material for the dress and when I saw the little dots of the same aqua blue I knew it would be perfect.

Marie

I recieved a request for an 18" doll with brown hair, brown eyes and scattered freckles. And so Marie was born. I used and organic cotton interlock in peach(which is fair but warm)for her skin and Aslan Trends Royal Alpaca in Chocolate for her hair.

Her sweater is made from a felted tweed by Rowan. I really like how it turned out but the yarn had lots of little hairs that seemed to trigger my allergies:(

I made a cable down the front of each side of the sweater.

  

I had put a bow in her hair but she didn't like it very much. She said she wanted something to match her sweater. So I crocheted a headband with a flower and a little button in the middle. She likes it very much.

Marie's dress is made of purple cotton with white rickrack around the collar, sleeves and hem. There are four pleats down the front and the collar is finished with an antique mother of pearl button that I have had in my collection. She also has on little white bloomers trimmed with a purple bow(not pictured) and a pair of black crocethed Mary Janes made from Berroco's Ultra Alpaca.

 

Marie is adopted and very happy at her new home.

Amelia

I think it's time for me to introduce Amelia. I created her by modifying the pattern I made for Ella in order to make an 18" doll.  I used Aslan Trends Royal Alpaca in chocolate for her hair. It is so soft and silky I hope I can get it in other colours as well.

 Amelia is my very own doll (you can never be too old or young to have a doll) ,but she is also my business partner :) I do so love making the dolls and have had requests for some, so with the encouragement and support of friends and family especially my husband I decided to start my own hobby business.

I have named my business Tooken's Tale after some stories my children and I have made up.  Basically, Tookens come from the Land of Brung. They are sometimes seen in our land but are very shy so they often turn themselves into small creatures like butterflies and ladybugs when they are spotted.

 My goal is to be able to release a small collection of dolls and coordinating outfits seasonally on Etsy and offer custom dolls 2-3 times a year.  But for now I think I will make one doll at a time. I will try to post images as I create each one and announce when she will be ready for adoption on Etsy.

Each doll is an individual and though I may have a basic idea of what I will make she really takes shape through the process. I think there is something very special about handmade items. I take a lot of time and care choosing high quality materials for each part of the doll and her wardrobe. It is a joy to create them and think about their future homes and families.

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We got to spend a lot of time with our family and had a great time.
My children were so surprised to see the presents I made them. You can see the little Trio I made for my son and  the Friends I made for my daughter.  As they get older it keeps getting harder to make gifts on the sly!

My daughter had also requested another 18" doll that could play with Ella (I named her Patience while I was working on her but my daughter named her Ella after recieving her). So I made Anna, pictured above.

I used the same methods as with my other Waldorf style dolls. For her hair I used Eco Alpaca by Cascade Yarn. It is a wonderfully soft undyed Baby Alpaca.   I love the fact that it hasn't been dyed. It gives it a very nice natural looking hair colour.

 For her dress I found a beautiful white cotton at a local fabric shop. I like the weight and body and thought it would work well with the full skirt. The bodice is lined with the same material as the dress and the hem is hand stitched.

This is the second dress I have used smocking on. It's really a lot of fun and I can't wait to do more. I like the way this dress pattern turned out. I'm thinking of using it for some Easter dresses.

After making the dress I thought a little cape would look cute. I had never made one before and my first attempt was way to small. I'm glad I had time to redo it before Christmas. It is a basic stockinette stitch with a garter stitch border. I crocheted ties and added the little candy button. I attached it with a safety pin so it can be removed.
She also is wearing a pair of cotton bloomers and little crocheted Mary Janes.

My New Years Goal is to post more than once a month!

Oh My!

Oh My! I can't believe it has been a month since my last post!

Here is Isabelle all finished. I added a blanket stitch to the jacket, gave her a little stockinette scarf and crocheted her a pair of Mary Janes.

The birthday girl was very excited and loves her new doll.

Isabelle is a 12" doll. Here you can see her next to Amelia who is an 18" doll.

It has been a few weeks since my daughter received Isabelle and as much as she loves her she seems to prefer playing with her larger dolls and has requested a friend for Ella for Christmas.

Here are Amelia and Isabelle sitting together. Oh, I haven't introduced you to Amelia yet. My next post will have to be about her. She has some very exciting news!

Almost Finished

She is Almost done! As I mentioned in my previous blog I'm making a new doll for my daughters birthday.
This time I wanted to make a smaller doll that could fit in her hand.

Here she is next to Ella. Ella is about 16" so Isabelle is about 12". I gave her little ears and bendy knees.

For her hair I started with a crocheted wig cap. Then I hand stitch layers of yarn to the cap.

I like to make the hair in layers so my daughter can give her any hairstyle. She likes to change her dolls hair a lot!

This is what the back looks like when the hair is pulled up.

Around the face I like to hook the yarn.

Last year I saw a beautiful doll with wavy hair and I new I wanted to try it. You can see the doll here http://www.flickr.com/photos/juli_velo_poupee/5995274340/in/faves-fromthelandofbrung/
at Juli's photostream. She was so nice to share how she made it so wavy. After the yarn is attatched each piece of yarn is unwound.

It takes a lot of time, but it's so pretty it's definitely worth it.

Now she's almost finished. I designed her a little cotton calico dress with hook and eye closer in the back.

I knitted her  little yellow beret out of Cascades 220 Superwash Wool. It was originally for another project but I thought the colour went well with the brown dress.

 I still need to finish the coat. I want to put a blanket stitch around it and I'm trying to knit a matching scarf. That part isn't going so well. She may end up scarfless :(

 Then the  last thing I will  need to do is make her little felt shoes. I will post more pictures when she is totally finished.