Crochet Lace for Dresses

I love crochet lace, and have many, many pattern books devoted to the subject. Crochet lace can make the loveliest little fairy dress, and so I decided to put together a tutorial to show you how to go from a simple length of crochet lace to a fairy dress :-)
Choose a pattern that would make a sweet dress, like the one above. Seven inches is about one-and-a-half times the waist measurement of the little Pocket Spirits.
Figure out how many stitches it takes to go around the waist, or where you want the dress to fit. These little dresses are short waisted, but you could make a dress with the skirt at the natural waist, or a dropped waist dress. Anyway, crochet a chain that will fit around the waist, not too tight or loose. For these dresses, made of size 8 perle cotton and a size 8 steel hook, 40 stitches was about right. Note: The chain is only used to give you an idea of how many sc stitches you need to work across the top of the lace to fit it to the doll.

Work 40 sc evenly along the top of the lace. If you end up with a few more stitches, or it seems too loose, work another row of sc and decrease a few stitches to get a nice fit.
The next row will be the armhole dividing row, and once you've got the armholes made, try the fit on your doll and see how you both like it :-)
At this point, you can embellish the dress as you like, long or short sleeves, picot edgings around the neckline, whatever!

A picture tutorial with more pictures and directions is available here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29184580@N04/sets/72157624472023381/

Enjoy the crochet!

Fairy Wings!

A new pattern to celebrate one year (and counting) for this blog! It has been a lot of fun to share these patterns with you, and chat with so many of you about dollmaking and crochet.

The Pocket Spirits needed some wings, and I don't really like to stiffen crochet cotton, so I thought I would crochet them from wire. I used this technique a couple years ago to make some wings, but never wrote down the pattern...I just sort of winged it :-)

These wings are made from 30 gauge Artistic Wire, available at http://www.artisticwire.com/
Crocheting with wire takes a little getting used to, since it is rather stiff, and your crochet piece does not have much stretch. But it will also keep it shape and makes such a neat, lacy fabric. Perfect for fairy wings.

I incorporated beads into the crochet. Beads are easy to string on wire, but also may require a little practice to get used to crocheting. This is a simple pattern of single crochet and chain stitches. The pattern for the wings is here:

Pocket  Spirit Fairy Wings

You can also find it along the left hand sidebar under Pocket Spirits

The wings are simply pinned on the girls here. When they finally get their outfits, I will permanently attach the wings to the Spirit.

Still, they look pretty cute in their birthday suits :-)

Pocket Spirits!

Hard to believe, but this blog will be one year old in ten days! I started with crochet, and am delighted to be returning to it, with a new 'twist' on the little Mini Free Spirit. This is a new pattern, and she has a movable head! Either a 12mm animal eye, or two two-hole buttons are used to make her little head fully movable. With pipe cleaners in her arms and legs, she is very posable :-)

These little dolls are crocheted with light worsted weight (or heavy sportweight) yarn, designated '3.' I used Patons Astra, which was delightful to crochet with and comes in a luscious variety of skin tones. The hair is Nashua Kid Mohair, and makes beautiful hair.

The pattern for the doll is here: 

Pocket Spirit Doll pattern

And a photo tutorial for making the doll is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29184580@N04/sets/72157624341290075/

Clothing for this little doll can be made from the Mini Free Spirit patterns, using size 20 crochet cotton and a size 8 hook.

I was greatly inspired by the tiny BJD's to make this doll. I love the posability of the BJD's, but I also truly love making dolls.

Enjoy the crochet!

All the girls

This is Jenny and me; she is the last of five Prairie Flower dolls that I started working on back at the end of May. They are all complete, and everyone has something to wear; not all of my dolls are so lucky :-) I also have three more patterns to share, and altogether these patterns should provide a nice trousseau for your Prairie Flower.
First is Jenny's puffed sleeve A-line dress. I modified the simple A-line dress from thebleudoor with a technique from the book "Dressing Dolls," by Rosemarie Ionker. This is a terrific book for anyone who loves to make doll clothing, or enjoys drooling over well made doll clothing. The pattern for the dress is here:

Puff Sleeve Dress

This is really cute in a '30's style print. Here is a tip to get the collar to lay nice and flat along the dolls neckline; after you've completed the outfit, place it on the doll and dampen the collar lightly. Pin the front and back points of the collar to the dress, with a straight pin right into the doll, just like you would like the collar to lay. Let this dry, and the collar stays nicely in place after the pins are removed.
Next is a dress with gathered sleeves and the skirt gathered to the bodice. The bodice is done the same way as the puffed sleeve dress above. This is a really clever way of making a gathered sleeve without the tediousness of setting the sleeve in the armhole.

Gathered Sleeve Dress

The bodice can be lengthened for a drop waist dress, or for a blouse, and you can play around with the fullness of the sleeve cap to alter the look.
Last is my favorite, a super simple vest that can be left plain or embellished to your hearts content.

Simple Vest

Only two seams, the side seams, and you're done. You can make this vest out of felt or fleece.
Here are all the girls, wishing you a lovely day filled with creativity :-)

Kate's Sweet Soozi-Q !

The wonderfully talented doll designer and doll maker, Kate Erbach, created this charming little Prairie Flower named Soozi-Q :-) I love her sweet smile and curly hair; what great yarn.

Such a sweet wardrobe too! Lovely eyelet camisole and undies, crochet flowers on a swingy dress, lovely felt boots, and a cute skirt, shirt, and felt jacket. What a lucky doll!

A year ago today...

A year ago today, my paternal Grandmother passed away. She was 104.

She was born the year after the Wright Brothers first flew at Kitty Hawk.

When she was 9, in 1913, her hometown of Fairmount, IN experienced the equivalent of four months of rain in three days, a Midwest flooding that destroyed a large part of Dayton, Ohio. In the picture above she is standing with her nephew, the floodwaters lapping at the steps of her home.

She was 14 when The War to End All Wars ended, in November, 1918.



She was a young mother of two girls and two boys during the depression years; she and my Grandfather traveled to Knoxville, TN looking for work during these years. Grandmother was 37 years old when America entered the Second World War.


She was a careful and frugal housewife, as the times required, and with her husband raised four children that embodied integrity and honesty, just like their parents.

She was an accomplished seamstress and needlewoman; she was also an artist, quilter, a great cook, Mother, Wife, Sister. One woman, many roles.

My Mother with Grandmother in the mid 60's. Such elegant women.

Her sewing machine, circa 1960; at the time a state-of-the-art Singer 401. I think you needed a college degree to figure out how to use all the cams that create the decorative stitches. The needlepoint stool was her work. Her needlepoint is breathtakingly beautiful.


In later years her creative passion turned to French beading, and she made the most exquisite beaded flower arrangements. These are two of my favorites.


In 1996, when she was 92. A picture from my parents 40th wedding anniversary celebration. Growing old takes a lot of courage, to know that you are the last living member of your generation. A lonely place to be; my Grandmother had courage in spades.

In 2005, at Grandmother's 101st birthday celebration. In the last few years I enjoyed giving Grandmother a doll for her birthday. Her short term memory was being hijacked, but she never lost her sense of humor, and she always knew each of us.

From the Wright Brother's first flight, to Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon. Terrible wars and a devastating economic depression, but also Women's Suffrage, the end of Polio as a childhood killer, and the Civil Rights Act. Cars, planes, computers, cell phones. A shrinking globe and a population that grew from 80 million to over 305 million in the US alone. What a century my Grandmother witnessed.

We miss you, Grandmother.

First of Five

Rosey Anne, the first of five new Prairie Flower girls is finished. With their bodies all nicely stuffed, they are a blank canvas; they have the potential to be anything, just like a young child.

The first doll was inspired by Raggedy Anne, with her cute triangle nose, embroidered heart, and sweet smile. I'm hoping to find a light pink gingham to make her a pretty apron. It is almost as much fun thinking about the next doll as making it :-)

More Prairie Flower Finery

The Bleu Door pattern site ( www.thebleudoor.com ) continues to be a gold mine of patterns to adapt for the Prairie Flowers. Here are a few new patterns, all of which (with the exception of the crochet sweater above) have been adapted from these patterns.

First, there is a simple nightgown from 1920. This is made of a pale pink batiste, with a sprinkling of crochet flowers around the neck, and featherstitching around the bottom. The pattern is here:

Nightgown

The bedjacket is just a simple sweater crocheted from laceweight mohair yarn. I developed the pattern originally for Waldorf dolls, and have adapted it for mini-free spirits, and now the Prairie Flowers:

Bed Jacket

Next is a simple shirt and jumper combination. The shirt has 3/4 length sleeves that are not set in; the neck and sleeve edges finished with either purchased or self bias trim. The pattern is here:

Shirt

The jumper is also super easy, and from the same 1920 pattern as the shirt:

Jumper


These cute and simple overalls are from a 1917 pattern. I made them from an old pair of my husbands blue jeans...the straps here were a little narrow to easily make up, so on the pattern I've widened them a bit. And added a touch of embroidery to the legs. Same simple shirt with these overalls as above. The pattern is here:

Overalls

Close up of the overall embroidery. A Prairie girl should have Prairie flowers blooming across her overalls :-)

Pansies, pinks, and peonies

I strolled around the house yesterday with my camera, and took some pictures of what is blooming. 13 peony bushes, a shrub rose on steroids, and several volunteer pinks from last year, to name a few.

Peonies are wonderful; plant them (not too deep) and they take care of themselves and bloom for years and years.

Pansies always have such cheerful faces, and the yellow ones I got this year are particularly sunny :-)

Flowers always amaze me. Why a device to lure pollinators should be so wondrously beautiful to us seems to me a signature of God.

"...if eyes were made for seeing, then Beauty is its own excuse for being..." Ralph Waldo Emerson.