Knitting: "Little Jenny Wren Pinafore"

I really like this sweet knit pinafore designed by Jennifer Marshall. The pattern “Little Jenny Wren Pinafore” is available on Ravelry. She designed this pinafore for the Waldorf type Little Jenny Wren Dolls which she makes.

The turquoise pinafore has a simple stockinette bodice and border. The yellow pinafore has a seed stitch bodice and border. While the seed stitch may look complicated, it is simply created by knitting one stitch and purling the next across each row (K1 P1). You just need to pay attention to keep the the pattern consistent.

This pinafore is a great “next project” for someone who has already learned to knit and purl and wants to make something besides a scarf. The pinafore is small and knits up quickly so it’s perfect for a child. And it’s fun to make a new outfit for a doll It’s a perfect activity for these days when children are out of school due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I don’t have a Little Jenny Wren Doll, so the dolls modeling the pinafores are from Bamboletta.com. I used the pattern for a 12 inch doll for both these pinafores. The pattern fit the chubby baby but was a bit too big for the leaner Cuddle down. So I went down a needle size for the Cuddle doll. I think I was also probably using a slightly heavier weight yarn than the pattern specified. As always, it’s good to make a test swatch to check your stitch count. (Something I confess I really don’t enjoy doing).

Felted Sheep from a Kit

One of the great things about the current Stay-at-Home order to try to contain the COVID-19 virus is having some time to try some new crafts. I decided to try needle felting.

I’ve made felted balls in the past but never have made any any felted animals. I decided that it might be good idea to use a kit initially. I chose the Woolpets Standing Sheep kit which I purchased from A Child’s Dream. It’s listed as intermediate in difficulty, but I figured that it would be fine given my experience handling wool roving to make Waldorf type dolls.

I do agree that this is an intermediate kit, not a beginner kit, because you do need to be able to finesse the loose roving a bit. But it’s definitely not difficult!

You’ll need a foam felting pad * which isn’t included in the kit. Other than a bit of black thread, the kit has everything to make one sheep, including the felting needles. There is enough wool roving to make at least two sheep, but just there is just one (silent) bell in the box. I was able to make this cute sheep in a couple of hours one afternoon.

The website recommends this kit for children age 10 and older. The felting needle is very sharp. Despite trying to be very careful, I did accidentally poked myself a couple times. OUCH!!

(* The loose wool roving is felted using a special needle that you move back and forth in the wool. The foam felting pad goes under your work. It’s there to help hold your work and also there to take the needle coming through so your good table doesn’t end up looking a termite came for a visit!)

Here are some more photos. Like many of my Waldorf type dolls, her head is turned slightly to her right side (I have no idea why that happens). I think it makes her look like a quizzical sheep! I love that!

Woolpets has a website where you can find a variety of different kits and other supplies.

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

"Snowflake" Quilt Completed

Spring has arrived and my version of Nicole Daksiewwicz’s quilt “Snowflake” is finally done!

Look back to my post of February 20, 2020, to see more about this quilt and how I pieced the background.

I used a walking foot to quilt it. Because of the varied block sizes in my background, there was a lot of stopping and restarting. I quilted along the seams of the blocks in the background but ran long lines of stitching through the white snowflakes. I followed the angles of the white blocks which created lots of intersecting lines. So the snowflake has lots of interest and texture.

It took me almost a week to quilt this lap quilt. I had lots of “are we done yet?” moments. But the end result was worth the tedium.

Quilting detail of snowflake. And yes, the diagonal lines are intentionally asymmetric.

So, it was a lovely warm March day when I took the photos shown. But I couldn’t resist adding a couple photos taken a few days later, the day I wrote this post! Gotta love Spring in New England!

“Snowflake” quilt on a snowy day!

And this one…just to be show it really is snowing!

This was a great project. But if I ever make it again, the background blocks will all be the same size to make the quilting easier.

This pattern and other patterns designed by Nicole Dakseiwicz, and be found at her website, Modern Handcraft.

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

Farm Girls Waldorf Type Dolls

Having been gifted, now I finally get to show these two cuties who I made earlier this year. Both these Waldorf Type dolls were made using a pattern in Making Waldorf Dolls by Maricristin Sealey.

These dolls are the classic Waldorf type dolls. The torso and legs of these dolls are constructed using a single pattern piece. The legs are not sewn on separately. Classic Waldorf type dolls don’t usually sit very well, but I don’t stuff them tightly and try to leave a bit of ease in the hand stitched leg “joint” so they will sit with some encouragement!

Both these dolls have dresses made from 1930s reproduction feed sack fabrics, and have aprons to coordinate. It took me a couple tries to get it right but I finally found straw hats that fit their heads.

They were so much fun to make. The doll at the top of the post was donated to yearly charity event called HAIRraising, which raises funds for Children’s Hospital, Boston. The event is scheduled for April 26, 2020. If you are interested in purchasing raffle tickets* for this doll or a tiny 5” baby doll (see photos below) you can contact the salon Stilisti Boston. Due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic the salon itself is currently closed until March 28, 2020 but you can reach them via email at info@stilistiBoston.com.

Here’s her cousin! The doll below, wearing the brown dress, was a gift for a friend.

13 inch Waldorf Type Doll

Here’s the 5 inch tiny Waldorf Type Baby doll which is also being raffled HAIRraising to benefit Children’s Hospital, Boston. She comes with her carry cot, a sleep sack, a dress and a sun suit.

*NOTE: I donated these two dolls, but I am not involved with the actual raffling of items.

Altering the "Springtime Top" to make it a Dress

I friend sent me this fabric showing a London scene, hoping I could make this border print fabric “Britannia” into a dress for her daughter. I had exactly 1 yard—less actually a little less because once it was washed and sized, I lost about a inch getting the grain of the fabric straight.

I really like the “Springtime Top” pattern in the book Little One-Yard Wonders by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins. But this child likes dresses NOT tops and pants. So I needed to make this a dress.

For size 4T I cut across the two skirt pattern pieces at about the mid-point and added 4 inches to the length using a piece of paper. The pattern pieces won’t all line up with the added section, so line up the sloping side of the 2 cut pattern pieces. Using a ruler, draw a line to connect the sloped side of the pattern. You’ll need to add another piece of paper to pattern to redraw the straight “Cut of fold” line for the now wider bottom half of the pattern.

I then added 2 inches of width to both the front and back skirt patterns to make the dress a bit fuller. I did that by pinning my pattern piece 1 inch away from the fold before I cut it. You could also add a 1 inch strip of paper to the pattern on the “cut on fold’ side before you pin the pattern on the fabric.

I didn’t need to make any changes to the bodice of the pattern.

It just took two simple alterations to make this top into a super cute summer dress.

Knit Wig for a Tiny Waldorf Type Doll

A lot of Waldorf type dolls have hair that is a cap crocheted with mohair yarn for doll making. But there are some makers who knit wigs. I probably could crochet a wig but I’m much more comfortable knitting. So I decided to try knit a wig for this tiny 5 inch tall Waldorf type baby doll. There’s a pattern for a knit wig on the sleeve of De Witte Engel mohair boucle doll yarn but it creates little pseudo pig tails and I just wanted a smooth wig. So I decided to try and make my own pattern.

I used smooth mohair doll hair yarn. ThIs doll has a 4 inch head circumference (measured around the head at eye level).

Here’s what I did:

Using size 3 US knitting needles, cast on 8 stitches. Using a garter stitch knit until the piece is long enough to reach from chin level on one side of the face to chin level on the other side of the face. (I didn’t count rows, I just checked the knitting on the doll until it was the right length). Bind off.

Fold the rectangular knit wig in half the long way. Sew the two halves together on just one side, leaving the other side open. Fit the wig on the doll’s head. The sewn seam should be at the center back of the head. Pin the wig around the face and around the back of the lower head. Adjust as needed. Once you are happy, sew the knit wig to the doll’s head with a tiny running stitch with cotton thread.

The bangs are several scraps of yarn that I sewed to the doll’s head before I put the knit wig on the doll’s head.

This worked beautifully for this tiny doll. I’m wondering if there might be a bit of a point a the upper back edge of the wig with a bigger doll, but I haven’t tried it, so I don’t know.

Life size and Tiny Waldorf Baby Dolls

Here are two dolls that I made in the past week. They are the largest and smallest Waldorf-type dolls that I’ve ever made. They are both baby dolls.

The tiny baby is 5 inches tall. You can read more about tiny babies in my February 6 post. The doll pictured above is the second tiny baby I’ve made. I got some mohair doll hair yarn and knit a wig for her. (More about that in my next post).

I remember saying a year ago that I’d never make a life size Waldorf doll. But when I found a great pattern in a book that was already on my shelf, I figured it would be fun to try. The pattern “Olga and Ollie” can be found in Sewing Dolls by Karin Neuschutz.

My doll is the size of an average newborn,. She is 20 1/2 inches long with a head circumference of 14 1/2 inches. I used glass doll beads to weight her and she weighs in about 3 lbs.

I did alter the pattern in the book so that purchased baby clothes will fit her. Here’s what I changed.

• I lengthened the torso of of the doll pattern one inch so that a purchased one piece snap play-suit will fit perfectly.

• I lengthened her foot by an inch so that she can fit into newborn size socks and shoes

• I lengthened her arms 3/4 inch

• I trimmed a bit off the width of both the thigh and the upper arm. The pattern made a doll that was just a bit too chubby for a newborn.

As you can guess, half the fun of having life size baby is being able to dress her! She is just about a perfect NB size. Though maybe her legs could be 1/2 inch shorter!

Despite saying I’d never make a doll this large, I had so much fun doing it! Here’s another photo of this doll and a picture of the first newborn size doll I made a couple weeks ago.

Checking out the snowdrops

The first life size Waldorf baby doll I made

"Snowflake" Quilt

The sky was dark with an impending storm as I sewed the last two rows of the “Snowflake” quilt together. I hurried and ran outside and hung it up on the not-quite-tall-enough-fence to get a photo before the weather hit. It seemed appropriate to be photographing this quilt on a February day when the sun wasn’t shining!

This quilt pattern called “Snowflake” was designed by Nicole Dakwiewicz and is available for purchase on her website, MODERNHANDCRAFT.com. You really do need the pattern to make this quilt. More than once I got lost in the design, even with the pattern right in front of me! But don’t worry, that was just me—the pattern is well written.

Nicole has instructions for 3 variations: One-color (plus white) , Three-color (plus white), and Scrappy.

I picked the One-color version but planned to use a stack of blue and green fabrics. But I didn’t want to have a background of squares like the scrappy version. I struggled with how to use my collection of fabrics, but eventually choose to improv-piece the background, using pieces cutto similar sizes as pieces found in and around the white snowflake. It took me a lot more time, but I really like it. This is a very popular quilt pattern, but the background makes this quilt uniquely mine,

As you might image, there are a lot of quirky seams in this quilt. In each large block I pressed some seams to one side, spun some of them like a four-patch block, and opened some of the seams flat (as in garment sewing), trying to get a the flatest block possible. But in the final quilt assembly, I ended up with a number seams that just couldn’t be nested. If I made this quilt again, I would press all the seams open. I almost never do that with quilts, but I think that will give the best results in this pattern.

I found a great blue fabric with a large linear design for the quilt back. Still thinking about how to quilt it!

Snow in the Quilting Forecast

There hasn’t been much snow here this winter …. yet!! But there is definitely something snowy coming along on the sewing machine!

I found a great pattern that is perfect for some beautiful stashed fabric which was a gift: the spiraling dots on a varigated background in the central half square triangle above.

I should have more to show you next week!

Tiny Waldorf Baby Doll and Carrier

A friend wanted a tiny Waldorf type doll for her daughter so I decided to draft a pattern for one. This tiny baby doll is just 5 inches tall. That’s about as little as I can imagine making a doll! It’s definitely a great way to use up odd bits left from making bigger Waldorf type dolls!

The carrier is based on a pattern in the book, Making Waldorf Dolls, by Maricristin Sealey. I downsized the smallest size carrier to fit this little doll. I used leftover quilt binding to finish the raw edges on the carrier. I sewed the binding on before I cut out notches to create the sides of the carrier. The book has all the details about how to make the carrier.

Here are some more photos. I made her two dresses and one sleep sack. And a very tiny pink peg doll so this doll will have a tiny baby of her very own!

Because the hand stitching is a bit lumpy around her shoulders think I’d try to sew her arms in by machine the next time. I also a little length to the legs in my pattern.

Overall, I’m pleased with my experiment.

Gnome and Rainbow Strip Quilt

This is a fun quilt I made for a child who loves forest animals, happy gnomes and rainbows.

It’s an fast and easy quilt to make. It could easily be a weekend project.

I cut 2 1/2 inch strips WOF (width of fabric) from my stash Kona ® Cotton fabric. I added prints where I needed additional colors. I actually think that makes the quilt much for interesting.

The gnome fabric is a Spoonflower print “Gnome Sweet Gnome” by Lisa Kubenez. I fussy cut the strips to get as many as I could from the yard of fabric (5 strips) which meant trimming off bits of the design. But I cut the center strip slightly wider to include the full motif. I wanted to see the entire design at least once in the quilt.

The quilting is primarily straight walking foot quilting across the strips. I added decorative quilting in the top and bottom strips of the quilt and in the red patches I used to lengthen the gnome fabric to match the length of the other strips.

The quilt has gone to it’s new home and is already a much beloved item!

Birds and Prairie Style Blocks Quilt Completed

Here’s the finished Charlie Harper © “Bird Architects” with the Prairie Style Blocks quilt. I’m really pleased with how it all came together.

I was initially baffled about how I was going to quilt the symmetrical prairie style blocks and the large fussy cut bird blocks. I ended stitching in the ditch between the large blocks and around the bars and central diamond in the prairie blocks. Then I switched to a pale yellow thread and stitched long lines like sunbeams across the quilt catching all the bird blocks and bits of the prairie blocks.

I did those long stretches of walking foot stitches along stripes of painters tape stuck to the quilt. I’ve used in in previous quilts for diagonal stitching and it works beautifully. Just be careful to stitch alongside the tape, not through it!

Two tips if you want to give stitching along painters tape a try.

1. Don’t try to apply more than 2 strips at a time. The strips tend to lift off the quilt and stick to each other when you are quilting.

2. Apply the tape, stitch the quilt, and promptly remove the tape. It’s a stitch-and-go technique. Even when used for painting, the tape isn’t supposed to stay on the wall for long periods.

Painters tape on the quilt, providing guideline for stitching on the diagonal.

I was amused when my birdy field-line English Springer Spaniel took a liking to this quilt!

My Springer napping on the quilt while I was basting it

The back of the quilt…with my field Springer photo-bombing the shot!

(The Charlie Harper © “Bird Architects” fabric I used is apparently no longer available by the yard on The Charlie Harper Art Studio website but some may be found “in the wild” with an internet search).

The Pairie Style Blocks are “Cross 7” from the Electric Quilt 8 Block Library.

Tips on Sewing a Prairie Style Quilt Block

In my last post, I discussed using a Prairie Style Block as an alternate block in a quilt. Here are some tips and suggestions based on piecing the block I chose for this quilt.

I’m using the “Cross 7” Block from the Electric Quilt 8 block library. It’s one of the simpler blocks in their collection of Prairie Style blocks. I like how airy this block is, and that it has an economy block (a square in a square) at the center of the block.

My block will be 10 inches square when finished. Here are some tips for sewing prairie style blocks.

• Pick a larger size block for your project. There are tiny pieces in prairie style blocks and anything less than 9 inches square will be very difficult to sew. If you really want to sew a smaller block, paper piecing will probably work best.

• Cut very carefully. Double check all your measurements on your quilting ruler. Put the upper line for the desired measurement just a hair inside the raw edge of the fabric, not just off the edge of the fabric. Make sure you have a secure grip so that the ruler doesn’t slide as you cut the fabric.

• I suggest setting up a “fence” on the base of your sewing machine. This really helps keep the seams in the block 1/4 inch. You can see a “fence” in use in this prior post.
  

• Press all your seams as you go. I often finger press quilt blocks when I am assembling them. These blocks require all the precision you can muster. Press, (not iron), your blocks at each step!

• Sew the square-in-a-square block to the cross arms with the square-in-a-square block on top. This way you can see the point of the square and can see to sew exactly through the stitching at the point, creating a perfect point in your block. (See the back of the block in the photo at top).

• Have fun! It’s not the end of the world if your blocks aren’t all perfect!
  

Using a Prairie Block as an Alternate Block in a Quilt

I was recently given some Charlie Harper “Bird Architects” fabric. The drawings of the birds are beautiful but it took some creative fussy cutting to get blocks for a quilt. My cuts ended up being 8 !/2 x 10 1/2 inches. That’s not a typical quilt block size or shape. What to do?

I finally decided to add a 2 1/2 inch strip of fabric to the fussy cut blocks. That gave me a block that was 10 1/2 inches which will finish at 10 inches square. My decision was what to use as an alternate block in the quilt.

I considered nine patch blocks, both squares and more modern using some rectangles in place of all square pieces. The rectangles might have been interesting, but not the traditional nine patch block. I thought about a rail fence block but decided that would be too dense for these airy drawings.

Finally I pulled up Electric Quilt 8 and started looking through the programs Block Library. Not only do they have a treasure trove of blocks, but cutting instructions can be printed out in any size you need.

In the category Contemporary Pieced blocks there is a sub-category, Prairie Style Blocks. The Prairie Style blocks had both the architectural interest and the airiness that echoed the bird fabric. I chose the block “Cross 7.”

My Prairie blocks are in 4 colorways that coordinate with the fussy cut bird blocks. I still working on the quilt, but I’m really pleased with my choice of the prairie style block as my alternate block for this project.

Rainbow Peg Family

I have a young friend who has chronic medical condition. She says that each day she isn’t in the hospital is a Rainbow Day. I made this set of 3 peg dolls for her.

The dolls definitely aren’t perfect. I used opaque paint but because my arcs aren’t smooth, I rather wish I had used watercolors for the rainbow. Some color blending would have obscured some of my wobbly lines. I haven’t figured out how to paint perfect margins. Painter’s tape is the logical solution, but these dolls are so small I’m not sure how that would work. I should it a try and see what happens!

The peg dolls all wearing knit gnome hats. The free pattern for them is on my Knit Gnome Hats for Peg Dolls post from May 2, 2019. The Rainbow baby is only 1 inch tall. I cast on 9 stitches, divided on 3 double pointed needles to knit that hat.

They are standing in a Grimm’s Blue Grotto Cave Arch! This wooden puzzle toy makes a great play place for all sorts of peg dolls.

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

Button Down Peg Dolls!

Well, I never. Peg dolls apparently have a mind of their own. This was going to be a family of 4 Christmas gnomes. I was going to give them wool felt hats and a zig-zaggy wool felt collar.

I started off painting them with muted colors, rather than the traditional red and green. I got their clothes painted, including a row of buttons on each, and painted their hair. After sealing them with beeswax polish I added their faces using watercolor felt pens.

I was getting ready to cut out the wool felt for their hats and collars but they all said “Stop! We’re the Button Down Family and we quite like the way we are now! Please don’t add anything more”.

I stepped back and took a look at them. I had to agree, they definitely weren’t Christmas Gnomes. They may be simple, but they are just perfect as they are!

The row of beautiful painted houses in the background were made by Melanie Shanks.

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

Waldorf Birthday Ring/Seasonal Decoration

I recently purchased Waldorf Birthday Ring from TheWoodenWagon.com. I’ve been admiring birthday rings for while. I’m using mine as a seasonal decoration. I purchased a fox, a dog, a squirrel, a rabbit, 2 mushrooms, a pine tree and a Matryoshka doll for my Christmas ring.

The four tiered pine tree in the center is a spinning top resting in a log which also came from The Wooden Wagon online shop. I set the ring on a quilted log cabin table runner made for me by a friend.

If you purchase a ring and wish to use candles, make sure to also buy the brass (or other metal) inserts. The holes for the peg figures are too large to hold the beeswax candles. (The candles aren’t lit in my pictures because I have 3 intermittently bouncy dogs).

As I understand it, when this is used as a birthday ring, the number of candles in the ring match the age of the child. The candles are lit one by one, with the family telling the birthday child about the events of each year of their life I love that.

My family would have lit the first candle and told me again how my mother, who was in labor with me, had to make jello for my older brother’s after-school snack before she could go the hospital! My brother was just here with me for a visit. I asked him if he remembered what flavor the jello had been. Alas, that detail has dissolved into the fabric of time!

I’m so enjoying my ring. I’m looking forward to adding to my collection of birthday ring ornaments! So far, 2 sheep and a couple tulips are awaiting Spring!

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

Bird’s Eye View of my Waldorf Birthday Ring. A couple of acorn peg dolls are standing on the ring in this photo!

Christmas Peg Doll Gnomes and a Pine Cone Wreath

The Peg Gnomes have on their Christmas togs and have decorated their Gnome Home with a pine cone wreath which they made.

I had a scrap of sherpa fleece that I was about to toss in the trash. But taking one last look I realized it would make fabulous fur trim for peg doll Christmas outfits. So now I have a even smaller scrap but am definitely keeping it!

The pegs are painted with a opaque non-toxic paint. They have a ruff of sherpa fleece around their necks made out of a 1/4 inch strip of sherpa fleece that is stitched closed in the back. The hat from the gnome hat pattern in Margaret Bloom’s book Making Peg Dolls with an added trim of sherpa fleece stitched onto the edge of the hat before the back was sewn together.

I saw these tiny pine cones on the sidewalk when I was walking my dogs this fall. Every day I picked up a few more until I had a little jelly jar full. The gnomes saw what I had and asked if they could use it to make a wreath. (Just what I’d planned to do)!

The gnomes cut out a base of cardboard in the shape of a ring, but as it turns out, just cutting out a circle would have been better. The pine cones are glued on using craft glue. The wreath looked a bit bare until they added the center pine cone. They trimmed the cardboard away around the pine cones around the outer edge and used a brown maker on the bits that could be seen to make the base “disappear”. Then the gnomes added the 1/4 inch red ribbon and a piece of green thread so the wreath could be hung up.

The gnomes are pretty proud of their handiwork. I think it looks great on their pottery home!

Christmas Gnomes

Showcase: Postage Stamp Christmas Quilt

This is such a fun quilt. It’s a postage stamp quilt, comprised of lots of little squares of Christmas fabrics. It was pieced by a member of The Proper Bostonian Quilters Guild . The top was donated to be used as a charity quilt. I picked it up at the last meeting and brought it home to finish it

I added the narrow inner red border and the wider blue border with the jingle bell. It is quilted in the ditch every other row. I thought about quilting every row, but this is going to be wheelchair quilt and I wanted it to stay light and drape well.

The border has two rows of quilting using the Bernina #4 lingerie stitch with an increased stitch length of 2.5 which creates a gentle wave. It adds great texture. The person who gets this quilt will be able to recognize the quilt by just touching the border.

The photo above was taken before the quilt was washed. I like it even better now after it has been washed and dried. It’s such a cheerful quilt!

After being washed. Note the texture from the stitching in the outer border.

Showcase: Local Crafters, ceramics

I wandered into one venue at the recent Roslindale Open Studios and met Michele Clark, a local potter. She had a beautiful group of ceramic bird houses. I took one look a her amazing birdhouses and instantly thought “gnome home for a peg dolls!” I had hard time choosing just one birdhouse from her wonderful collection, but the thatch like roof on this house cinched the deal. It turned I had picked her favorite birdhouse!

MIchele was a good sport when I told her I was re-purposing her birdhouse as a gnome home!

MIchele can be reached on Instagram at @mclarkpottery. You can see more of her wonderful ceramic birdhouses on her IG site.