Paula the Polar Bear

The other day I fouund these patterns for knitted toys on Ravelry.com. I just love them. There's something so sweet and soft and cuddly about these animals--and what's cuter than than a bear or a lamb or a puppy in a sweater? Not much. I would love to make all of them, but my practical side reminds me of this:


Do we really need more stuffed animals?

Before I went crazy and ordered a bunch of the patterns, I remembered I had a pattern for a teddy bear in an old knitting book. I decided to make one and see if knitting a stuffed animal really is that fun.

It is.

Here is "Paula the Polar Bear":

I messed up on her shoulders (one is backwards I think), but before sending her off to the Island of Misfit Toys, I made a scarf to hide her slight scoliosis.

I've figured out that knitting little things--especially cute little things--is so much more fun and rewarding than knitting things that are big and overwhelming (like sweaters!) So I got the Fuzzy Mittens Lamb pattern (it's free) and I think I'll create a whole knitted menagerie complete with little sweaters, capes, and lederhosen (yep, there's a pattern for those too.)

Whether these little animals can compete with the eighty-seven Beanie Babies in the basement will remain to be seen . . .

Jeans

Awhile ago, I discovered Liberty Jane Patterns For American Girls. The patterns are inexpensive and pretty cute, so I bought the jeans pattern. The cut and design are good, but I didn't love the pattern. Some of the seams didn't match up perfectly (and I hate that) and there's too much bulk in the back waistband. When I made the bell bottoms, I put in a velcro opening because it's a little hard to pull these pants up over the dolls' bottoms. And not to be a serger snob, but serging the hems and waistband made things a lot easier. If you're wasting your time making doll clothes like me, you really do want a serger.

I made one pair to look like a pair of skinny jeans and one pair with more of a bootcut to fit over shoes. My top-stitching isn't perfect, but dolls don't care. And I'll probably get some more Liberty Jane patterns. I really like this one.

But up next is a Chinese New Year dress for Julie. I ordered Ivy's dress from American Girl and paid way too much for it. Cody took one look at it, and asked, "Can't you make that stuff now?"

We'll see. Here's a picture of Ivy and her dress:

And now I've become one of those people who poses dolls for photographs. Or was I one already? I promise I don't play with them by myself.

That 70's Style

I've been wanting to sew some 70's style clothes for Abby's dolls, but 70's style doll patterns are a little hard to come by. I've asked my mom about styles she remembers and I've looked through an old how-to sewing book I have that was published in 1973 for ideas. But then I remembered that I have a few vintage girls' patterns in Abby's size. Yesterday, I pulled this one out:

I love that shirt with the bell bottoms. So by looking at the pattern pieces and how the shirt fit together, I made up a pattern for the dolls:

The sleeves on Ivy's dress didn't turn out quite right and are too full, but I'm totally happy with Julie's outfit. Abby loved it too. The bell bottoms are actually tweaked from a doll jeans pattern I tried this week, but more on that later.

I think Ivy and Julie look groovy. And now I just might be addicted to making doll patterns . . .

Playing around with the camera

I thought it would be fun to start a photo journal. I'm definitely not a real-life photographer, but it has been fun playing around with the camera.

So here are some photos from the first week of January . . .





I think my favorite is the picture of the dogs and the swan. I'd like to say that one of my kids arranged that little scene, but no, it was me :)

Meet Ivy

This is Abby's new American Girl doll. Her name is Ivy Ling and she is Julie's best friend. (Somebody was spoiled by her grandparents on Christmas morning . . . ) Okay, we love American Girl, it's true. Abby loves to play with her dolls and I love to make clothes for them. And we both love to read the books together. We just finished Julie Tells Her Story--yay!

But the really big news is that Ivy is wearing my first ever serged item. Yep, I got a serger. (Somebody was spoiled by Santa on Christmas morning.) It's a Babylock Lauren. It's supposed to be pretty basic, and I'm sure it is, but it really intimidates me.

I spent all day with this dress. I had trouble figuring out the thread tension and remembering the names and color codes of the needles and loopers. It was exhausting. But I finally managed to get it right, I think . . .

The dress is a pattern I sort of made up. My sister bought Abby a similar dress at a local doll shop. It was so simple, I thought I could copy it and so "drafted" a pattern. It only requires one cotton fat-quarter. I thought it looked like a go-go dress, but it kind of looks like a housecoat too, especially this print. Well, I was going for something with a seventies' flair. I'll be making another one or two with the serger for practice. I'll call them: "The Serged Fat-Quarter Go-Go Housecoat Dress" for dolls. More to come . . .

Owl in a winter tree

I started a new cross-stitch. It will be this when it's finished. But oh, cross-stitch takes such a long time . . .

New Year

This poinsettia is pretty much all that is left of Christmas around here.

And this box of oranges:

We left these oranges outside and then forgot about them. Last night Cody brought them in and they were as hard as baseballs. Oh well.

Even though I miss the Christmas decorations, I'm excited for a new year. I've got a fun project or two in the works, and with January stretching out long and cold before me, I've got the time too.

Here's to a Happy New Year.