Free Form Sewing

That's what I'm calling it because I didn't use a pattern. I just laid the fabric out, drew on it, cut it out and sewed it together. I'm happy with how he turned out.


He is for a friend of Wren's who is throwing a super hero party.


Of course, you can see the influences from here, here and here. It was great fun letting the creative juices flow, using what I've learned and seen, but trying to make something of my own.


Violet really wanted to be a part of the photo shoot.

Work in Progress

This doll is from Toys to Sew by Claire Garland. She's quite the long and lanky girl, but I managed to get all of her into a picture!

The pattern seemed easy enough, just a body, arms and legs. But the instructions stopped short of explaining exactly how to attach the appendages to the body and there isn't a picture of the bare doll anywhere in the book. I managed well enough with the arms, but attaching the legs was a different story. I uttered repeatedly "I have no idea what I'm doing!" while trying to wrangle the long legs and attach them to the torso. I think they turned out looking alright. I just hope they hold up to a bit of tugging and flinging around.

Now that I've got her sewn up, I get to give her some personality! Her hair will be the biggest challenge. There are also a lot of fun patterns for doll clothes in this book, some of them using parts from your children's old clothes. Great idea!

I was all ready to make one for each of the kids, but Wren informed me that he only likes dolls with short arms and soft bodies and ones that wear little pants. Now I know!

Where I make dolls

I saw these dolls at Wee Wonderfuls and had to make them. They are part of a Make-a-long Story and are named Olive and Archie. Those are cute names, especially Olive, but my kids name everything after themselves. I was going to make Wren's with brown hair, but he insisted on 'yellow'. I think he identifies himself as being a blonde. Wren picked the 'fire shirt' and Violet chose the sun pattern from Kaffe Fassett.



They were placed here by the kids. Open cupboard? Nice place to put these dolls. Maybe they are picking out something they want to bake?



These were so much fun to make. It was my first try, I love it. Now I want to sew everything! Toys, clothes, pillows, the list goes on. Where am I going to find the time?