Doll

Finally!

My testers finished it quickly- Thank you! The feedback was mulled over, tweaks were made and here it is!

For your info- here is the description-

Make your own Tiny World Make-do Pincushion! This PDF pattern is 21 page and includes pattern templates, written instructions and over 40 step-by-step photographs.

Supplies needed for this project include- a tea cup, wool fabric and felt, basic sewing supplies like needles and thread, stuffing and glue.

This project is suitable for anyone with basic hand sewing skills.

Upon purchase, instructions for downloading the pattern will be emailed within 24 hours. I will send it to your etsy email address unless I am instructed otherwise in the note to seller.

This pattern is for home use only. This pattern is copyrighted and cannot be re-sold, reproduced or shared without permission.

This pattern is in Adobe pdf format. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print this pattern–available free at adobe.com.

Here is a link to my etsy shop.

This quilt is made out of old wool shirts. I had 8 plaids in different color schemes. Red and green predominated. I love color and when I am doing non-figurative art, I tend to do color studies. The idea here is green to red to green again. I first used this way of designing a quilt 30 years ago when I made this one. (blues, dark to light and back again) When I posted about it last year, I couldn’t remember how I did it, but somehow it all trickled back since then.

I am not an expert quilter. I have never progressed beyond squares or rectangles. This is a very easy and, I think, non-scary way to approach patchwork. Careful measuring, cutting and/or piecing is not required. This is one of those “wing it” projects.

The photos are mostly underexposed so you can see the different fabrics, even though they are dark.

1. Make a template. Mine is 12 inches by 24 inches and made by taping 2 pieces of 12 x 18 inches of paper together. It can be any size but take into consideration what size fabric scraps you have and what size quilt you want to make.

2. I cut up my shirts, trying to get any piece of undamaged fabric that was at least 13 inches in one direction.

3. I piled them up by plaid and arranged them in order from most red to most green.

4. Then I laid them out in order on my template,

5. sewed them together, and

6. ironed them flat.

7. I trimmed each block so the sides were straight across

and 8. when eight were done, laid them out on the floor and played with the arrangement.

9. I sewed the blocks together- first matching the red centers and then sewed the four strips together lengthwise. Iron everything.

Now your top is done! Here is the rest of what I did to finish it-

10. Here is the top laid out on an old blanket that I used instead of batting.

11. Here is the back- I used the biggest pieces that I had and put them together with the least amount of sewing and thinking that I could manage.

12. And now, here are the three layers quilted together and ready for a binding. I hand-quilted the layers together because I never could have managed it on my sewing machine. The edge is basted together at this point.

13. I folded over that part over on the right side of the above photo to make the binding on one side… since it was so conveniently just the right size!

14. I cut bias strips from the last of the shirt backs that I had and used them to bind up the 3 other sides. And here is another photo of it finished!

Let me know if I left out any important information or steps and I will edit this tutorial.

I want to grow tomatoes this year. I want to have a LOT of tomatoes instead of a few very precious and expensive ones from the farmers market. Unfortunately I live in an old house with toxic soil around it- not unusual in New England urban and suburban areas. The soil has years of lead paint scrapings, car fumes (more lead) and who knows what. It is not soil anyone would want to grow edibles in. The solution is raised beds or containers. I am going to try to write a tutorial about how I planted my tomatoes based on the excellent suggestions of Bella Dia.

I think I’ve mentioned before that I have a house full of stuff. That makes me reluctant to go out and buy more stuff- like containers to grow tomatoes in. Here is how I made my own, hopefully biodegradable, containers and got my tomatoes started.

material list-

an old cotton T-shirt, size X-Large

some garden fencing that was stuck up in the rafters of the garage, already starting on the biodegrading part- ie rusty.

compost from my compost pile

commercial potting soil

tomato plant

Step 1: Cut the label out of the shirt since it is probably not cotton and wouldn’t decompose.

Step 2: Make a circle shape out of the wire fencing. Mine is about 16 inches across.

Step 3: Place in the garden and push the wire prongs into the soil.

Step 4: Put the t-shirt into the circle, collar edge down. Stretch the bottom edge of the shirt around the top of the fencing. I didn’t worry about weeds underneath- whatever was there will be dead soon.

Now there is a “pot”!

Step 5: Fill it half way with compost or other clean filler dirt, like all last years window boxes that you are replanting. I used compost from my compost pile. Push and stretch out the sides of the t-shirt as you add dirt.

Step 6: Center the tomato plant on top of the compost. Loosen up the root ball.

Step 7: Use the commercial potting soil to fill in around the plant and up to an inch or so from the top. Yes, you are burying 6 inches of stem and leaves. Trust me, that is a good thing. Water thoroughly.

Step 8: Wait 2 months. Hopefully, tomatoes!

I’ve got 4 done. One more to go.

1. Here is the basic pattern. Circle, Fold in half, point A goes to point D, point B goes to point C. Stitch in place.

2. Start out by making a knot at the end of your thread. Pull the needle and thread through the center point of the fabric towards the back.

3. Fold the circle in half, covering up your knot.

4. Imagine your half-circle in thirds and fold as shown-

5. Your half circle is folded into thirds-

6. Now to stitch it into place. Slip your needle and thread up the inside of the outer petal-

7. Stitch back into the fabric at the tip of the outer point. Slide your needle and thread back down to the bottom- you’ve done one stitch.

8. Now slide your needle up into the center of your rose.

9. Bring your thread around and stitch back down into the center. This will catch the inner fold and pull it down into the center.

10. Ta- da!

11. Take a stitch or two in the bottom to anchor everything.

12. You can add a leaf or two and then sew it where ever it needs to be!

I needed to make an ornament for a holiday swap. This was quick and easy and you could use the same basic idea to make tags, valentines, bookmarks… I don’t know- tons of other stuff!

Supplies needed-

-fabric with decorative image

-iron-on adhesive like Wonder-Under

-Felt- I used wool blend

-nylon net, tulle and/or any sheer or glittery fabric.
-I used gold thread, but you could use anything

-hanging cord or ribbon- 2 inches or more per ornament

1. Collect fabrics that have images you’d like to use- faces, birds, flowers, whatever. I used some commercially printed fabric with an asian design and also some of the fabric I made last summer with carved stamps. You could use commercially available rubber stamps to stamp fabric.

2. Iron iron-on adhesive onto to the back of your images.

3. Trim your images to shape.

4. Iron onto felt.

5. Cut out the felt, making a frame around the image. Use all those decorative scissors you own but never get around to using. I used pinking shears and scallop shears.

6. Do a bunch!

7.Fold up the net so that there are 6 - 8 layers of the net. Make a pile with your little image on top, the layers of net in the middle, and then some other decorative fabric on the bottom (optional). Pin everything together.

7 continued- this photo shows the layers-

8. Move your “sandwich” over to your sewing machine. (I sewed mine with free motion embroidery, but you could use zigzag, hand embroidery, or whatever else you are comfortable with.)

Fold your hanging cord/ribbon in half and place at the top of the ornament. Make sure you put it far enough down so that your stitches will catch it. Start sewing by going back and forth a few times over the hanger.

… this photo does not show that though, because I forgot to put the hanger in EVERY TIME I made one!!! Mostly I remember to stick it in before it was too late, bit if you don’t, no problem. You can see that some of mine have a cord strung in the top of the ornament afterward. Easy!

9. Now sew around the edge of the image. Since I did mine with free motion embroidery, I went around the edge enough times so that the gold thread showed up and everything was well stitched down.

10. Here is a view of the back- I used red thread in the bobbin-

11. When you are finished with the stitching, clip the threads. Trim the net into a nice circle around the edge of your ornament. You can cut the net separately from the bottom fabric.

12. If you want to be even fancier, you can cut the net in decorative ways-

-clip it all the way around for a fringe effect

-cut out wedges and it looks more like a star

Here are some more photos for information and inspiration-

I’d love any feedback on this. Are the written directions and the photos clear enough? Have I left anything out? I can never quite figure out the fine line between too little information and too much. Have fun!

I have needle issues.  I am picky about what I use- some I like to use for wool embroidery, different ones when I am using cotton floss.  I always seems to be dropping or misplacing them and then can’t find them again.  I get so distracted if I have to go looking for more needles or threading and unthreading them constantly.  In the middle of working on one of the babies this morning, I’d had it.  I needed a better system.

My idea was to have a strip pincushion.  I could stick all the right type of needles into it at the beginning of a project.  I could pre-thread several so I wouldn’t be starting and stopping the flow.  I’d have a place to store my needles that were threaded with a color I was finished with, until next time I needed it.

A while ago, I bought a piece of 100% wool felt at Joanns fabric, but it is really too soft and I hadn’t figured out how to use it for anything.  I cut a strip, 18″ long and 2 inches wide.  I cut that into pieces 6 inches x 1 inch and piled them up.

I stitched them together with a fairly heavy pearl cotton- very tightly.  I wanted it to be dense.  And here we go-

phew!  Success!   It is about 3/4 of an inch thick.  You could make this out of any scrap wool and I think scrap pieces of felted sweaters would be perfect.  This way of storing the needles has an added benefit-  the needles won’t get lost into it like they often do in standard pin cushions.  Now back to work!

This baby is finished now, but it is wet and rainy outside today, so I will take more photos tomorrow.

I mentioned at the end of the last post that I was starting to work on my pieces for the printed fabric swap over at Bitter Betty Blogs. I signed up because I have been wanting to try it forever and this is the push I need.

I decided to go with stamping as opposed to silk screen or something. I wanted to try it with the least possible capital outlay and the fewest new skills to learn. I was already feeling totally over my head and have had a very hard time finding any information. The first confusion was over the Speedball Speedy-Cut block- pink or white? What is the difference? The people in my local art store couldn’t enlighten me. Later I found this on Alma Stoller site, so now I know. I ended up buying the white because it cost less and I had no idea what else to base the choice on! Carving was easy and fun! I was having so much fun with the carving part, I was very reluctant to transition to the next step…

printing. I REALLY didn’t want to go out and buy printing inks- I know, I’m cheap. But I have so many types of color mediums already- I just couldn’t imagine bringing something new into the house. I was thinking about oil paints, oil bars, acrylic paints, to start the list. I found this article and it helped me settle on acrylic paints. This is another page of useful links and information. I wanted something that would be washable and have a good feel, not stiff- I want to be able to actually use this fabric!

The first step was to try out my stamps on paper. I used inexpensive craft type acrylic paint- the kind that comes in the little bottles. I sponged the paint onto my stamps using pieces of make-up sponges- those things are a great art tool! Here’s what I got-

The brown stamp on white was my first attempt on fabric.

Based on the various bits of information I could find, this is what I have figured out so far.

-Acrylic paints work very well, but don’t try using a brayer or a brush of any kind- I couldn’t manage anything that wasn’t very streaky. Daubing the paint onto the stamp works very well- I used the make-up sponges and also some wads of felt.

-adding drying retardant was helpful both in slowing the drying and also making the paint a bit gummier.

-one article suggested dampening the fabric first. I had no better results when I tried that. Actually I had some color bleeding so I’d say forget that idea.

-after I finished printing/stamping, I let the fabric dry for a bit (1/2 hour?). Then I ironed the fabric on both sides with steam on a cotton setting. I have no idea if this was necessary. I then threw them all into the washer at a regular warm wash. I noticed no change in the color at all, after the wash. Yeah!

Here are my test pieces after washing-

detail-

Now I have to think about doing my bigger pieces- yikes! This is actually a lot harder then I ever thought. I am nervous about the 1/2 yard pieces with no major screw-ups. Also, choosing the colors turns out to be a lot harder then I thought it would be. I will be coming out of this project with a new respect for fabric designers!

another little thing I was working on this week-

Here’s the problem. I am going to participate in an open studio event in Boston with a group of other Etsy sellers- details on that in a week or so, but in case you want know, it is May 4. I needed to figure out some kind of give-away to add to a promo pack… stuff from all of the exhibitors. Some of the others in the group were already doing this and had buttons made up. Hmm. I knew I didn’t want to spend much money, I wanted a clear image of my work and I didn’t want it to involve a lot of labor. Here is what I came up with-

ta da! Refrigerator magnets!

They are made from photos of Mosaics on Flickr. First, I made up a variety of mosaics. I picked out photos that worked well in the square format and in a 2″ x 2″ photo. I made the mosaics 2 photos by 3 photos since that translates perfectly to a 4 x 6 photo. The most important thing is to upload your images in the large size- spoken from experience. My first batch of photos was too grainy to use. I printed out my info- name and etsy site address- nothing fancy. Then it was just putting them together onto the self adhesive magnetic sheet. The paper doll project brought this stuff into my life and I’m loving it! This project involved no special tools- the photos were printed at Target, I got the magnetic sheets at AC Moore, you can cut the magnetic sheeting with regular scissors, I printed out my info on regular paper with my very low end printer. Yes- meets all criteria!

I thought I’d show you how I do the hip joints since people commented on them. First of all though, I have to give credit. I learned this technique from a Judi Ward pattern. Judi Ward’s patterns are about the best way to learn dollmaking that I’ve come across. Her directions are clear, the pieces fit together, she invents techniques that are so useful, they become part of your design thinking. I would highly recommend her patterns as a learning tool, although she also teaches online classes, another excellent way to learn new skills. I think her babies are especially endearing. Here is a doll I made from her Emma Rose pattern. **Disclaimer- this is my way of doing this technique- it might not be exactly the way Judi described it originally, but how it works for me.

I’ve got the legs lined up, ready to finish. They are sewn and mostly stuffed with an opening at the top. The buttons used are the metal shank buttons - the kind you can cover with cloth, but not for this project. I buy them online from Joanns, because I can never find them locally when I need them. And, I like to have them on hand. You can use either the flat or domed style. I usually use 7/8 inch or 1 1/8 inch size.

-Snap the 2 parts of the button together- the top and the back. Slip the button into the opening at the top of the leg and safety pin into place. I don’t worry about the direction of the shank when I pin it- it can shift around a bit. The green legs on the right show the finished leg with the button sewed inside.

-finish stuffing around the button/hip area and sew shut. I use a ladder stitch to close the leg.

-I use nylon upholstery thread to make this hip joint- it is super strong and is available at my local sewing stores. I’ve switched doll legs here, because the thread shows up better on the green. Measure off a long piece of thread- at least 36″. Double it up (I cut it into 2 pieces at this point) and stitch through the shank of the button. Center the thread and then stitch around the shank one more time. Even up the 4 ends of the thread. I am using a doll needle here- it is about 3 inches long.

-Take the four ends and thread them through the eye of the needle-

-Pull the 4 threads through the hip.

-Remove 2 of the 4 threads from the needle. Stitch through the shank. Unthread the needle and rethread with the other 2 ends. Sew through the shank going in the opposite direction. Hopefully the picture makes it clear.

Now this is the really hard part because I couldn’t take a photo! Pull the threads tight. This is one of the reasons you wanted a long piece to start with- you might want to wrap the thread around your hand for leverage. When you think it is tight enough, wrap one side of thread around the joint once or twice and then tie a solid knot. Clip off the excess thread, leaving about an inch. I usually just leave it like that, although I suppose you could sew it back into the body where the thread came out at the hip.

If you get it right, and it is usually a matter of getting the thread tied tight enough, your doll should be able to sit up, very nicely, all by itself. It takes me 2 tries about half the time.

In case you can’t figure out what the heck I’m trying to say, I found another description of this technique here.

I wrote up this article for my doll club’s newsletter, so I thought I might as well put it up here too.

materials-

-cups, glasses, anything with an opening to put a pin cushion in or a shaft to put a pin cushion around.
-wool fabric
-embroidery threads
-wool for stuffing

I have had fun making pin cushions by recycling chipped and broken decorative glasses. I have used crystal and pressed glass, wine glasses, ice cream glasses and parfait glasses. I have been using ones that I found at my parents’ house when we were clearing out, and now I keep an eye out for anything special at Yard Sales.

The first one I made was inspired by my daughter. When we picked her up at the end of her first year at college, she handed me a broken wine glass - just a stem with some jagged glass of the bowl. She said to me “I kept it for you mom. I knew you’d want to do something with it!” She knows me so well!

My pin cushions have all been essentially the same- a fabric ball sitting in or on top of and enclosing part of the recycled object. I looked at other peoples’ work on the internet and this is the most common design. I have used wool fabrics for mine. I like wool for several reasons- firstly, I have a ton of it, secondly it has a nice “country” look, and thirdly it seems to hold up well to sticking pins in it all the time. I have not had such good luck when I have used tightly woven cottons, velvets or velveteen’s. The fabric seems to disintegrate sooner then I’d like.

CAUTION- MATH AHEAD! Two easy shapes for making the pin cushions are triangles (or diamonds which are just 2 triangles put together) and a half circle which make a strawberry shape. You need to know the measurement for the circumference of the ball you will make. If you are making an “over a stem” pincushion, that measuement can be approximate. If you are making an “in a glass” make-do, you will need to measure the top edge of your glass.

To figure out what size to cut your shapes- For Triangles- the pin cushion will be 4 triangles around. Divide your circumference measurement by 4. That measurement is the size of each of the 3 sides of your triangle. For strawberry- The circumference measurement is the length of the curved edge of the half circle. Don’t forget to add seam allowance to your pattern pieces.

Putting the pin cushion together-
for all pincushions- Sew up the seams. Stuff firmly. Decorate with embroidery or appliques if you’d like. I put some cut-out leaves around some of mine to make them look like flowers. I also stitch a small second pincushion on the top as a place to hold my needles. It looks like a cherry on top!

When I used the broken glass, I wrapped the broken top of the glass with some quilt batting so I would not cut myself and the sharp edges would not cut the fabric. When doing an “over a stem” make-do, you will have to leave the bottom open enough to fit in your base. The ball or strawbery is gather up around the base with strong (nylon) thread and tied as firmly as possible. You can put a ribbon or something to hide your stitches.

To attach the “in a glass” make-dos, I used Goop glue and pushed the pin cushion into the opening as firmly as possible. I then clamped it by using many rubber bands and string to hold everything in place until the glue
dried.