Thursday, January 13, 2011

Here's Chloe--New Pin Doll


The Indy Cloth Doll Club is working on a doll pattern book which we hope to have completed for the AFIC convention in April. I decided to make a pin doll which I named after my grand daughter, Chloe. Of course, the real Chloe is much cuter but this will have to do. There are doll makers who are intimidated when it comes to painting faces so I am including the fabric face with my pattern. So if you can sew and string beads you can make this doll. I think there are lots of ways that this doll would be customized. For example, you could use yarn or wool roving for hair instead of beads. The skirt could also be a piece of light weight fabric instead of ribbon or maybe even a collection of large beads or buttons. I've even thought that I might use a locket for the upper torso, instead of a button, cabochon or bead. This one is my prototype so there are improvements that I want to incorporate in the final version. I plan to make her hair a little bigger and probably not "fringe" the bottom of her skirt. I used a button for this version, but will try a bead on the final version.

Fabric Weaving Sampler



Now that the holiday season is over, I've had some time to try a some new things. I wanted to learn something new so I tried fabric weaving. It seemed like a creative way to use up scraps of fabric and create something new that could be used. I found a piece that I wasn't too fond of and some coordinating colors and plunged right in. Of course, I didn't want to do a simple checkerboard pattern so I used curved pieces. Somewhat of a challenge but the result was quite interesting. I also made a fabric/foam flower, fabric beads, and other embellishments for my sampler. The first picture is the base fabric and the second picture is my "sampler".

I think I may try using smaller strips next time so that I can use the created fabric for one of my doll creations....hmmm.