Helene's Wardrobe and Fox Box

Helene, and Fox, from the book Jane, The Fox, And Me

Based on the lovely illustrations from the book Jane, the Fox, and Me, I decided to make Helene a wardrobe.  When we first meet Helene, she is in school, and her basic school outfit is a long sleeve pullover and leggings:

Helene's knit pullover and leggings

And she also carries her school supplies in her backpack:

Helene's Backpack

It is winter, and Helene wears a knit jacket,  cap and scarf to keep warm:

Helene's cap and scarf

Helene's knit jacket

Before her friends became her tormentors, they all dreamed of having vintage crinoline dresses, and Helene's mother makes her one.   But, it isn't vintage, and it has become last year's dream.

Helene's crinoline dress

At camp, Helene wears shorts and a tee shirt and sneakers.   These outfits are made from some basic patterns for Yun Shu

Wardrobe basics for Yun Shu

Some items from Wardrobe Basics for Yun Shu

Put it all together in her Fox Box, with a cross stitched fox banner, peg rack of shank buttons and grossgrain ribbon, a flower garden afghan, and a chest made from a tea box and cardstock.  

I used three free crochet squares from Ravelry for the afghan, and some freely available printables from Pinterest to cover the tea box chest.  Shank buttons made great pegs for the peg rack, sewn onto a length of grossgrain ribbon, which was then glued to the back of the box.

All the patterns should fit Yun Shu, with the exception of the shoes.  I altered Yun Shu so that she has very tiny feet, and this is what the shoes fit.  Otherwise, any very slim bodied eight inch doll should be able to wear these outfits.

Enjoy the crochet!

Jane, the Fox, and Me

Jane, the Fox, and Me; a graphic novel by Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault

This is an achingly sad, sweet story that should be in anyone's personal library that has felt the sting of cruel peers, either as a child or an adult.  The book inspired me to create Helene,  her fox, and her own copy of Jane Eyre.

I used the Yun Shu pattern for Helene, and created a fox pattern.  There are some delightful fox patterns out there, but I wanted one that more closely resembled the fox in the story:

Helene's Fox

I plan to make Helene a FoxBox with the various articles of clothing she wears from the book.

Do yourself a favor and buy or rent this outstanding book.

Box Magic

A box can be a magical thing.  Before the lid is lifted, it can contain anything!

In this case, it can be a full bedroom and wardrobe for a small doll :-)

I've been working on this project, slowly, for the last few weeks.  It is something I have wanted to do for quite a long time.  I am in love with boxes!  Especially the memory boxes sold at Michael's.  You can usually pick them up for a couple of dollars, and every time I go there, I always come out with one or two more.  

I've always thought they would make a lovely presentation box for a doll, and maybe even a wardrobe.  But how about a wardrobe/bedroom/presentation box!

  

So, I gathered together some interesting items, plus the doll I wanted my BoxBedroom to fit.  In this case I am using Yun Shu, the doll I've been making for the past several weeks; she is about eight inches tall and slender, which is perfect for this project.  I used a dowel rod and a couple of spools to create a closet rod for hanging clothing, and a couple of papier mache boxes to create a  set of shelves.  I also printed out some colorful printables to cut out and paste to the wall of the bedroom and on the shelves.

I painted the inside and outside of the papier mache boxes, then glued them together to create the shelves.  I glued the printables to the back wall, then placed the closet rod two inches from the top and and inch from the edge of the box.  The shelves were then glued into the box, and the printables glued to the shelves.

While all of this was drying, I crocheted a bed that is 5 inches wide and 10 inches long, using three pieces of high loft batting as the mattress.  The bed, coverlet, and pillow were made with Knit Picks Brava Sport in assorted colors.

As you can see, the doll, her bed, and all her gear fit neatly into the box!  Remove the lid and place the wardrobe portion onto it, pull the bed out and put it in the lid and under the closet rod, and now she has a sweet little bedroom all her own :-)

And of course, I couldn't forget an extensive collection of clothing!  Nightgown, shoes, undies, shorts, dresses, skirt, tops, and even a knit short sleeve sweater.  

And all from a simple box :-)

A picture of the bed mattress, for Linda :-)

Lily and what inspired her

The lovely embroidery on the left was done by my good friend Joyce, and it inspired me to make a doll!  Lily is crocheted from the Yun Shu pattern, which is freely available on Ravelry by CrochetWawa.

The sweet embroidered flower girl is a pattern from Etsy:

Flower Girl

Lily and I hope your day is filled with sunshine and flowers :-)

The child in the park

She was probably seven or eight, and walking with her Dad.  Well, she was skipping, and hopping, and jumping, and twirling...scuffing her feet along the walk and stopping to inspect the dandelions.  Children don't just walk, and I wonder when we lost the habit of their joyous form of locomotion.

She had skin the color of cafe au lait, and was wearing a striped tee shirt and cargo pants, with a newsboy hat pulled on over dark brown hair caught up in long braids.  She made quite an impression on me as I rode by her & Dad on my bicycle.

So here is Daisy, my tribute to this lovely, unknown child in the park.  I used the Yun Shu pattern, available on Ravelry.  I used Patons Astra in Medium Tan for her skin, and Knit Picks Palette in Grizzly along with a laceweight mohair in dark brown, held together, for her hair.   Her outfit is crocheted with size 3 crochet cotton.

And we did go to the park!  One of our State Parks, Summit Lake, on the eastern side of the state.

Enjoy the crochet!

Lavender

Lavender is the second doll I've made from the wonderful (and free!) Yun Shu pattern, available on Ravelry.  She is just eight inches tall, and has lovely lavender hair (Knit Picks Wool of the Andes sport in Sprinkle Heather).  Her body is worked in Red Heart Super Sport; I don't know if they still make this yarn...I've had this in my stash for a couple of decades.

Her dress is a size 3/sport crochet cotton, and her eyes were crocheted from this wonderful tutorial:

Crochet Eyes

Lavender loves all things purple.  Sadly, all of my lavender has died out over the years, but we found lilacs, violets, and bugle weed.  We will replant some lavender this spring, for sure!

Another wonderful doll pattern

Columbine was made from a wonderful crochet doll pattern which is available on Ravelry.  The pattern is Yun Shu.  She is crocheted in sport weight yarn with a size C (2.5mm) crochet hook.  She stands about 7.5 inches tall.

As you can see, she is a very slender-bodied doll, so she is easy to dress by pulling her clothing up over her feet.  

I made Columbine's eyes with size 8 perle cotton and a size 7 steel hook; they turned out about 3/8 inch in diameter.

I made a few tweaks to the pattern, so she would be a bit easier for me to make.  Following are the changes I made to the pattern:

1. I eliminated the foot and added one stitch to the width of the leg up to the second increase, then worked per the pattern.

2. I added one stitch to the width of the arm.

3. I did not use a wire armature; instead, I stuffed the legs as I crocheted, after each six or seven rows up to the hips. If you want the doll to be able to sit, do not stuff clear to the top of the leg...leave a little space with no stuffing so the legs can move freely.

4. For the arms, I stuffed a ball of stuffing in the end for the hand, then did not stuff the rest of the arm.

5. By adding a stitch to the width of each arm, I ended up with two extra stitches at the shoulder. Decrease these out in the first decrease row after attaching the arms, then work the shoulders as written.

6. For a move-able head, I worked the shoulders down to eight stitches, then worked several rows on these eight stitches for a neck stub (to fit up inside the head)

7. For the head, I left a hole at the bottom (neck end) of the head eight stitches around, then worked the head as written. I stuffed the head through this hole; it is small but doable.

8. For the eyes,  I used perle cotton size 8 for the eyes, and the eyes ended up being about 3/8 of an inch across.

Crochet Eyes

9. For the hair, I made a three-round wig cap of 8sc, 16sc, 20sc, then worked the strands as written. I used the extra stitch to make one more bang strand.

Enjoy the crochet!