I am delighted to share these pictures with you of the doll made from my pattern Miss Kate!

The doll is beautifuly made by Judi Lennon

 Judi has used lovely fabrics to show off this Victorian Miss and has used another technique to make her head movable, which adds to the pose!

 Here is a close up of her face.  I see she even has a beauty spot!  Isn't she delightful?

Well done Judi! I think you have made a great job of her!  Thank you for sharing it with me and allowing me to show it here!

Steampunk Octopus!

I've been having fun making this Steampunk Octopus, designed by Susan Barmore, of Frowning Frances Patterns!  I love Susan's work and have made several crows - and magpies!

   So after I had stuffed it and added the suckers, here it is Gesso'd and hanging to dry!

 Dry and waiting for painting

 Painted black and grey.

 Don't know what happened with the colouring here, but it is grey, not blue on the underside!

Had fun finding bits and pieces to make the eye.  Used a large ring of some sort, a curtain ring and a done after I had marked the sides of the clay.  I inset a plastic dolls eye under the rings.

Here is the finished Steam Punk Octopus!  

With Elena's doll Pippi, who is not in the least scared of this wild creature!

The gifts

Look who arrived at my place during the week!  Pippi Longstockings!

She made herself right at home!

 Sprawled all over the floor!  The dog was well behaved!

 Gave some cheek to Marie Antoinette!

And when she unpacked her bag - all this wonderful stuff came out!  She's telling me that my friend Elena Makarova sent it all to me from Russia! Fabrics I haven;t seen here and souvenirs, a delightful little Martryoshka doll with five tiny dolls inside - love those, and a beautifuly warm neck scarf!  Such unexpected pleasures!  Did I mention chocolate too!  I'm so spoilt!

I love the way this wee doll bends and moves about in great poses!  Elena tells me she is a Jill Maas pattern who she turned into Pippi Longstockings!  Elena also sent me the fabric she made her from too - a nice one-way stretch, knit fabric that I have not seen here, but will look out for!  She sent me other fabrics too, that I will have fun with!

Thank you so much Elena!  Marie Antoinette will be making her way to you in exchange shortly!

Gypsy Rose is all finished, bar the stringing!  

She thinks shes a photographer's model!  LOL!  Like her shoes?  Hard to se in this light, but they are green!

Well, she looks the part, but she's just showing off her dress!

I love the flexibility and pose ability of these jointed  dolls!

This is the controller, all ready to string her up tomorrow!  Can;t wait!  Might have to get up early!  Hope it works!

What do you think?

A Marionette in the making.

Finally got around to making a head for this body that has been waiting for so long to be made into something.  Rather a mischievous face, so gave her this acrylic hair that can be adjusted when she decides what she is going to wear!  She is weighted in various parts of her body, which helps with more natural movement.  I am waiting for more inspirations re her character and costume!

Meantime, she decided to have a photo shoot  in the early hours and show how poseable she is without strings attached - she aspires to be a Marionette!  She thinks an iron is for resting on!  Silly girl!

 Ah, the laying down pose! Oh, I see, she's settling down for the night!

Yes, yes, I'll turn the light off on the way out!

Where did you get that from?  Have you been into my toy box?  

Actually, a doll like this would be great for story telling!

This is a dressmakers dummy that I made a head for, to advertise the place that sells my dolls and the textiles at The Oamaru Textile Emporium, here in Oamaru, for 2012

I gave her a change of clothing for 2013, but was not delighted with it.  Too much else on, so I just left her as she was.

This year we wer given some great fabrics - off cuts of quality curtaining, which was just right to make a new street clothing for the Patroness of TOTE!

 I made use of the wonderful fabric to make roses and ruffles, etc.  Someone also gave me plenty of wide lace, so I made a sumptuous neck ruffle and set it off with a simple hat, as anything that catches the wind is not good!

Here is the Patroness of TOTE, posing with my daughter Tracey!  You'd be surprised at how many people have their photo's taken with her - some men kissing her cheek!  She just smiles!

My Studio Makeovers!

When I first started out making cloth dolls this is where I did it all and wrote my first pattern.  This pic taken in 2010.  Prior to that, it was where I did my study and first learned to use a second hand computer, sent to me by my brother.  I was in the middle of doing Social and community Work Papers and had to learn how to use a computer a them same time!  The marks weren't too bad considering the frustration level!  LOL!  I had to be very organised in this room.

  The room became very pokey, like they do, and children had left home.  We decided to have our own bedrooms so we could both sleep better, as I was still working then, so I moved my Studio into our larger bedroom in 2012.

 I was writing a lot of patterns then and making lots of cloth dolls.  The bigger room began to look more and more cluttered, which is stifling to creativity!

 Even poor wee Molly looks bemused at the cluttered mess!  Never mind Molly, we took it all out to Paul's Garage! LOL!

 Cleared out the insufficiently shelved wardrobe, cleared the bench top and moved it under the windows to benefit from more light!  Where it was, became a depository for unfinished things!

 We took the curtains down and put in blinds, to get full benefit of the light. I have a dress stand for marionettes to hang - when I make them and two directional lamps to aid the lacking eyesight! Ample storage and room to move around! I have two small tables on wheels, so I can move them to where I need a new space, i.e. taking video's, photo's or ironing!

 Paul lowered the bench at one end for a sewing table and the overlocker is on the tall table, where I like to stand and use it!  Three different table levels and a writing workspace!  Decent deep shelving for most of my stash.  (Still sifting through stuff in the garage, but thrown plenty out!)  It is good to clear our spaces occasionally and throw out - or pass on,  what is no longer necessary.

The blinds look fabulous and make the room look airy and light at lessens the cluttered look even more!  I've made it a rule now, not to buy anything unless I have immediate use for it! At the end of the day this is a work space that I spend many hours creating in and you can't bake a cake without breaking an egg! I am very pleased and grateful to have this space to make even bigger and better messes in!  LOL!

Marie Antoinette Busts

These are all the dolls I made to complete my latest Online Class, starting on 16th October, on Fabric Addictions Website!  This one took a while to complete, because she needed a contrast colour and I couldn't think what to do!

This one I am giving to the person who gave me the fabric and buttons - a blouse, belonging to her late mother!  Swiss origin and beautiful fabric - silk I think!

 

These two are on the cover of my Class Pattern.  The originals!

This one has had two heads and the sailing ship to finish it off!

This one - to match the little vase I used to set her in!  The video for the ribbon roses goes with the Class!

A group photo!   The same head - different eyelashes, hair and  As you can see, these busts can be as colourful and outrageous as you wish!

  Use up the old candlesticks and bits of lavish lace in your stash!  So many different ways to interpret this bust!

Making these made me think of all the drama queens in my life and helped me rise about it all!  LOL!  Hope you like them.

Poppits Workshop in Timaru!

We had a lovely group of enthusiastic learners doing this workshop at the weekend in Timaru!  Shona and Zelda made very classy pop-ups dolls and were very pleased with their accomplishments.

 Suzy is an old hand at doll makeing and has been to a few classes, so was at home here!

 Sharon was trying something different out after rearing miniature horses and quilting, so she tackled this new hobby with great enthusiasm!  chris managed to escape the pictures, but she cleverly needlesculpted the hair on her doll!

Aren't they all cool!  This is a great accomplishment for women who have never made such things before!