A change of pace

I had the good fortune to be able to take a dollmaking class from Gail Wilson a couple of weeks ago. The doll we made was a cloth bodied doll with papier mache head, arms, and legs, inspired by Jane Austen. The papier mache pieces were poured and cast by Gail. We students got to paint the papier mache pieces, including the face detailing, and assemble and dress the doll.

Oh yes, there was also a wonderful wide brimmed bonnet that Gail showed us how to make from needlepoint canvas. Truly creative and the perfect touch for Jane.


It was a wonderful class. We worked from 10:oo am until 5:3opm, with a break for a delicious lunch served at the class. By the end of the day I think all of us had painted a lovely doll. Assembly was left as an excersize for the student at home :-) The bodies had been pre-sewn, so all that needed to be done was stuff the body and attach the head plate, arms and legs.





Instead of sewing for my doll, I decided to crochet her a sweet set of underwear and camisole, and a Regency gown, and trim her bonnet with crochet lace.

Here is Jane in her crochet underwear. I almost hate to put a dress over it all :-)







Closeup of Jane's crochet trimmed bonnet and crochet camisole. You may recognize the style of the camisole, I love the way the side-to-side crochet fits the body, especially when worked in the back loops only.




And finally, Jane in her Regency gown. It took a little while to crochet this, using size 20 crochet cotton and a size 8 steel hook. It amazes me that with Gail's guidance a person who is paint-brush challenged (like me) can produce a very credible painted doll. Gail has a way of inspiring confidence in the most timid :-) She is a natural teacher and a wonderfully gifted dollmaker. It was a great class.

To find out all of the neat things that Gail is up to, visit her web site at:

https://www.gailwilsondesigns.com/index.html

A quick post

Someone asked how much yarn it takes to make one of the Free Spirit dolls, both the original 12 inch doll and the seven inch Mini.

I can get at least two of the larger dolls out of a 3 oz skein of worsted weight yarn, and three mini's out of the same.

Hope this information is helpful, and enjoy the crochet :-)

My BJD Doppleganger

I don't know how many of you have been bitten by the ABJD (Asian Ball Jointed doll) bug, but I have. These dolls are made of resin, and have joints in the ankles, knees, hips, wrists, elbow, shoulder, and neck. They are amazingly pose-able, and the joints also make them surprisingly easy to dress.

The lovely BJD above is 16 cm (6.3 inches) tall, which is shorter than the Mini Free Spirit. Since what I really love doing is making dolls, I wanted to make a doll about the same size; at least, the same body dimensions as the BJD (her name is Sidney, by the way). The crochet doll next to Sidney is a Little Mini (her name is Violet); she was crocheted with sportweight yarn (Patons Astra) and a size C crochet hook. She's a little taller than Sidney, but her torso, legs, and arms are closely the same size.



This is Sidney in her lacy Camisole and Pantaloons. They were made from the Mini Free Spirit pattern, but I used a finer thread, (size 20 crochet cotton, instead of size 10), and a smaller hook (size 8 steel hook)








This is Sidney's crochet doppleganger, Violet, wearing the same Camisole and Pantaloons. So, Little Mini can wear clothing made from the Mini Free Spirit pattern using the finer thread and smaller hook. I also love her elf ears :-)





A trousseau of clothing made for Sidney, and shared with Violet.

Mini Nature Spirits

I was playing around on Wikipedia the other day, and came across this entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_legendary_creatures

It is a list of names of legendary creatures, from all different cultures; Asian, American Indian, European, you get the idea. It also gave me the idea to use the Mini Free Spirit pattern as a base for a collection of Nature Spirits, or in this case, Mini Nature Spirits :-)




Some of the modifications are very simple, like changing the ears to Elf ears or using a different shape and color for the eye surround, like these two. In warm colors is the Fire Spirit, Phoenix, from the Phoenician firebird, and in green is the Tree Spirit Canotila, from the Lakota (American Indian). I also love the effect of beads, so these two have beaded faces and beading on their clothing.








Other modifications take a little longer. These are not hard, but they are a bit more involved. Meet Melusine the Mermaid (from Medieval England) and Adhene the Centaur (from the Island of Man). In both of these cases, the Mini Free Spirit body was crocheted without the legs, and the Mermaid tail or Centaur body crocheted separately and then sewn or crocheted to the body.

I have created a pattern that has these modifications to the mini Free Spirit pattern as a series of separate changes, so you might want to use the Centaur ears and make a Cat person, or use Elf ears for a Mermaid and so on. The pattern is here, and also on the left sidebar of the blog page under the Mini Free Spirit patterns:

Mini Nature Spirits Pattern: 

This PDF has more pictures in it, so it is a bit larger than most.

Enjoy the crochet!

From my Archives

This is a pattern I designed back in 2008, and made many dolls from. In fact, my flickr Avatar is a doll from this pattern. Anyway, one of my flickr friends wanted to make this doll, with cat ears, for her grandkids and their friends, so I'm putting the pattern up here for her and anyone else who is interested. It has been a while since I've made a doll from this pattern, so the pattern may not be perfect. It does include instructions for Human, Cat, and Bear ears, and there are some pictures on my flickr site of dolls made up with these.

Like most Amigurumi, this doll is very simple to make, consisting of single crochet in worsted weight yarn. The pattern calls for 'soft' yarns, but any worsted acrylic will work. My problem with most 'soft' yarns is that they split and can be a pain to crochet. These dolls are about 10 inches tall, I think. Unfortunately I don't have any of them anymore; they have all found homes :-)

One of the nice things is that the clothing patterns are also made from worsted yarn, so they make up fast, and they are simple.

Here are the links to the patterns, which can also be found on the left sidebar under Basic Amigurumi Doll:

Basic Doll: 

Basic Aran Sweater: 

Basic Jeans: 

Basic Skirt: 

Basic Cardigan Sweater: 

Basic Tank Top: 


Becky, I hope you enjoy making the dolls :-)

The Little Gardener

If the flowers aren't blooming outside, you can always crochet yourself a garden that will never wilt :-)




My sister is a terrific gardener, so for her birthday this year I've made her a gardening mascot. The flowers crocheted here are many of our favorite spring blooming flowers: columbine, narcissus, pansies, and roses. The grassy carpet is a circle crocheted of worsted yarn and eyelash yarn together. I used the eyelash yarn in every other round.


The lovely flowers are from the book 'Crochet Bouquet' which was published in 2008. I was able to borrow it from our local library, but I think I'm going to have to purchase this one! It has some of the best flower patterns I've ever seen. This is the first crochet columbine that actually looks like the real thing :-) Some of the flowers are funky, some are fun, and some (like these) downright realistic. A great book.

Adapting patterns for Free Spirit

I am having a great time adapting patterns for Free Spirit. She is 11 to 12 inches tall, and turns out to be a good size for many of the patterns designed for the Fibre Craft 13 inch and 15 inch dolls. The great thing about crochet is that you can fit as you go, so if you need to remove a row or two in the bodice, or nip the waist in a couple stitches, it is very easy to do this as you are crocheting.

For the outfit above, in addition to using a size E hook and Red Heart Soft worsted yarn, I took in four stitches at the waistline, and removed two rows from the skirt. Sleeves and neck did not need to be altered. It fits Minerva very nicely :-) This was a pattern designed for the 13 inch Fibre Craft doll.


For this American Indian costume, I removed two rows from the bodice, and two rows from the skirt. I used a size E hook and Caron Simply Soft. This costume was designed for the 15 inch Fibre Craft doll. So what I notice is, the 13 inch doll bodice needs to be reduced in the waist, and the 15 inch doll bodice needs to be shortened slightly.

I crocheted these outfits very tightly; the gauge was six sc to one inch. I think they could be made in sport weight and a slighly looser grip on the hook with the same alterations.

Free patterns are available, and there are also out-of-print patterns available from Amazon, and from this site:

http://www.treasuredheirloomscrochet.com/index.html

Enjoy the crochet!

Winter Dawn

Winter Dawn is finished; an American Indian Free Spirit. She is shown here with her faithful familiar, Wings-that-Whisper, from the Roman Sock blog owlet pattern.



Winter's dress is a slight adaptation of the pattern shown here, which is a free pattern available at this link:

http://web.archive.org/web/20080216045153/www.fibrecraft.com/dofun/dollsbears/crochet/chief_princess.asp

I used sport weight yarn and a size E hook, and eliminated one row on the yoke front and back. Plus, I flared the skirt more than the pattern called for by increasing 5sc every other row.

For her boots, I used a different free pattern, located at the same site, and except for using sportweight yarn and a size E hook I did not need to make any changes. This was the Indian Princess IV pattern.

WIP: American Indian Free Spirit and others

Just a quick look at my latest WIP"s (work-in-progress). I've been wanting to do an American Indian Free Spirit, and when Joyce was able to adapt the Fibre Craft pattern to make such a great outfit for her Scarlet, I wanted to do the same with Fibre Craft's lovely American Indian Princess outfits.

I had a lovely, lovely, Wool/Tencel yarn in jet black that is perfect for her hair. It is a Berroco yarn called Lustra, and it is just that.

Winters Dawn is complete and awaiting her costume. I'm going to choose one that is availabe free from this site:

http://barbscraftbooks.tripod.com/barbscrochet/id254.html

So if you choose, you can make a doll just like the one I am making. Of course, there are several other American Indian patterns available, and Amazon has several for sale that are used copies.


I created two other dolls while I was at it, and plan to get them wigged before making the American Indian costume. This way they can tell me their personalities while I am crocheting clothing.


I used Vanna's Choice yarn for all three. The Caucasian dolls are made with Beige, and the American Indian doll is made with Honey. This yarn makes up a lovely doll, and is not quite as rough as the Red Heart Super Saver yarn.




This Mini is destined to be a little gardener for my Sister's birthday. I hope to create a little garden that she will be the center of. My Grandmother was a great garderner, and my sister has inherited her talent and love for growing things :-)