more boy dolls

My son just loved the first doll I made him and since I wasn't able to wait until Christmas to give it to him, I thought I would try something different.

I had so much fun making Beth's crochet dolls for my daughter I thought I would make on for my son.
Why couldn't I turn a tea cup spirit into a gnome?

Beth is such an extraordinary doll maker, if you haven't made one of her patterns, today is the day to try.
You can fin the Tea Cup Spirit pattern here http://byhookbyhand.blogspot.com/search/label/Teacup%20Spirit at Beth's Blog By Hook By Hand.

I crocheted the wig cap out of an acrylic boucle. After I attached it to the head I crocheted a beard from one side of the cap to the other. Then I added a few long strands under the nose for a mustache.

The mustache is covering up the beard in this picture, if anyone is interested I can take a picture with the mustache lifted up to reveal the beard.

I drew out patterns for his clothes, boots and hat and made them out of wool felt.

I didn't want Mr. Gnome would be lonely without a friend, so I made Mr. Dwarf. He will be my next Post.

Boy Dolls

My son was sad that I was making dolls for his sister and none for him. So I figured I needed to do something.

My daughter had received a Waldorf style tooth fairy pillow from her cousin when she was younger and it is still one of her favorite friends that sits on her bed.
Since my son had his first loose tooth I thought this would be a great doll to make  him for Christmas.

The tooth didn't know my plans and came out sooner than I expected, so I rushed a little making him.

I made the head in a traditional Waldorf fashion sans nose.
He has little french knots for eyes and I used a cotton flannel to make his body and hood. The line of blanket stitching across the middle is where the pocket for the tooth is.

 A great head tutorial can be found here http://thesilverpenny.homestead.com/freeprojectdollheaddirections.html .

My son loved the doll and it encouraged me to make some more.

Baby Sister

After getting a waldorf doll for Christmas my daughter requested a baby sister for her.
What else could I do but get started.

 
As a baby I wanted to proportion her a little differently than Patience.

I made her arms and legs a little shorter and chubbier.  I also did some extra stitching at the elbows and knees to make them dimpled. I'm not sure if you can see well because of the hair, but I did add tiny ears to this doll.

 I wanted to give her fine thin hair  instead of a full thick head of hair. I believe what I used is a fingerling weight mohair blend. I misplaced the wrapper :(














Since this was my daughters big Christmas present I made a full layette set to go with her.
I don't know how many times I had to re draw the patterns to get them right but They're done.

I made 2 baby blankets, 2 kimono style pj's, 1 long sleeved onsie, 1 short sleeved onsie, 1 pair of pants, 3 diapers, 2 bibs, 2 burp cloths, 1 hat, 1 headband (top picture), 1zip up sleeper (below), 1 pair of booties, 1 bottle made out of wool felt, and 1 pouch to hold wipies with 3 wipies in it.

The onsies and the pair of pants( in solid pink) are made of cotton interlock. Everything else was made from cotton flannel.

She was very happily received and named Emily.

One day while I was working on a doll my son asked why I never make dolls for him.
I thought," Very good question indeed".
In my next post I will show how I fixed the situation.

Waldorf

Last year my children and I started learning a bit about the Waldorf methods.
I really liked the feel of the natural fibers and materials.
Some  of the things my daughter really liked  were as the birthday crown, the play silks and of course the dolls. So I thought I would try and make a few items.

Here is the birthday crown I made out of wool felt and a purple play silk.
They greeted my daughter when she woke up on her birthday.
She also loved the doll Patience that I made for her (I blogged about her last year) and immediately requested a little sister for Christmas.
My next post will be about her.

Christmas Peacock Finised

Here he is in full colour! I finished him last Dec. for my Mom.

On August 23, 2011  I blogged about the prototype I created. And on September 4, 2011 I wrote about the thread.

On the final product I added glass seed beads for his eyes and purple swarovski crystals (which my mom had picked up for me one day while she was out, she is always doing nice things like that) on his tail feathers. I stuffed him with polyfil because my mom is allergic to wool.











He was a lot of fun to make. I love the challenge of trying to create something I have imagined. 

I'm Back

I can't believe it has almost been a year.  I wish I could say I have been on holiday. But unfortunately I have been sick. It turns out I have lupus. A  site that explains it is here http://mollysfund.org/what-is-lupus/.
The good news is I have a wonderful doctors, we are starting a new med which should help in about 3 months and I found a great book Despite Lupus http://despitelupus.blogspot.com/.

So my blogging may bit hit or miss for a while. I was going to just shut it down but I figured I'll just post when I feel up to and when I don't I'll nap:)

I want this blog to be about crafting NOT lupus. If I feel I need to write more about it I will start a separate blog. I just wanted to explain the haphazardness a bit.

I've just started new crafts for this coming Christmas, but I'm going to try and post my projects from last year first. At least I did get some pictures taken.