Easter is coming!

 

It's about 7 weeks till Easter and time to start thinking about bunnies!

This years Mr. and Mrs. Bunny are looking quite springish in daffodil yellow and lime green.

  

These darling bunnies are hand stitched and embroidered by me. I use a merino blend wool  and stuff them with Bio Wool  (which means it hasn't been treated with yucky chemicals). The bunnies are about 7.5 inches to the tops of there ears and Mrs. Bunny has her cheeks lightly blushed with bees wax.

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny are now available for adoption at my Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/TookensTale

 They were made using another adorable pattern by Gingermelon. It's the Pocket Bunny pattern and you can find it at her etsy shop here http://www.etsy.com/listing/123577972/pocket-bunny-pdf-pattern?

Two Little Kitties

These two adorable kitties are off to their new home! They were custom made for two dear sisters and the kitties are very happy they will get to play together.

They are made from merino wool blend felt and stuffed full of Bio Wool (which means happy sheep). Their dresses are made out of 100% cotton with lace trim and satin ribbon tied at the shoulders.  The pattern I used is Flora the Explorer by Gingermelon https://www.etsy.com/listing/171511318/flora-the-explorer-pdf-pattern-instant?ref=sr_gallery_6&ga_search_query=gingermelon+flora&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=all

I love making dolls from Gingermelon's patterns and I'm happy to do custom orders! It typically takes me 1 week to make a doll if I have the felt available 2 if I have to order it. I seem to get a lot of requests around Christmas and Easter so please contact me at least 4 weeks in advance if possible for the Holidays.

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.

Flora is going to explore Australia!

Flora is all set to travel to her new home.

I can't believe she gets to go all the way to Australia!

What a lucky kitty, I told her to eat a bowl of Sultana Bran for me :)

Flora and Laura the Explorers

Laura and Flora are ready to go adventuring!

I really love this pattern! Designed by Gingermelon you can find it in her shop http://www.etsy.com/listing/150210041/flora-the-explorer-pdf-pattern?ref=shop_home_active 

 I have been waiting to use it because I wanted to try it in both a woven and a non woven felt.

Up until now I have only been using the non-woven felt for my plush dolls and I wanted to see the difference, besides price. ( The woven is a bit more).

Laura on the left is made with a hand dyed woven felted wool and Flora on the right is made using the non-woven merino wool blend felt.

 

The non- woven felt is a little stiffer and has more of the look of what I think of when I think "felt doll".

The woven felt conforms nicely to curves and is a little fuzzier. It makes me think "plush" first, "felt" second.

Non-Woven on top------Woven on bottom

I was kind of hoping by making the same pattern with both felts I would really prefer one over the other.

But they really are different enough that I like them both!

Does this mean I will have to make all the patterns out of both felts?

Which do you prefer?

Both Laura and Flora will be available for adoption at my Etsy shop later today.

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

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.