Thompson Family-Life

doll pattern progress

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw some peeks this weekend of my progress in designing new felt doll patterns. It has been TOO much fun. I can't even put it into words. There's something about diving into a totally new craft that is exciting - dollmaking, like any craft, is in a world of it's own. It's been a learning process as well. Realizing the doll's character changes when you stuff it, and making tweaks and changes to the design to compensate for that. This doll is a prototype, and I'll be tweaking the design slightly to get it "perfect". But I'm definitely smitten with this little redhead. 

She's just shy of 10" tall. One of the funnest parts of designing this first pattern was sourcing all of these cute materials to embellish her with. I have much more than pictured and I can't wait to use it all. It was quite the treasure hunt finding supplies that are perfectly doll-sized. I will be including my sources for all of these supplies in the final pattern PDF, so no fear!

She was inspired by my favorite decade (of course), the 60s, and Japanese pose dolls that I love. I will be designing patterns for more girls, with different hair and dress styles - so you'll be able to make a gaggle of friends! There will also be BOY PATTERNS! Yes! I will not forget the boys. They always get left out. So the girls will have boyfriends, too. Or, you know, friends that are boys. ; )

My plan is to create VERY thorough instructions on putting together these dolls, so that no one will be intimidated by creating one. They are really very simple. You use a lot of the same stitches over and over and she is completely handmade. No sewing machine skills required. I will share lots of tricks that I've learned. I love the idea that she's 100% handmade.

These dolls are also poseable, so they aren't floppy. As you can see here, she sits up on her own. I will share in detail my construction method in the pattern.

And I have to say a quick thank-you to my friend Karli, who gave me those awesome doll-sized magazines. They have come in handy for doll photos for years now! And speaking of that Jane Fonda cover, remember this post I did about Barbarella a couple years ago? I FINALLY watched it. OMG. So good. SO SO GOOD! And so so funny. I really didn't have high expectations. I knew it was supposed to be very campy, but I absolutely LOVED the styling (the opening credits are just too amazing with the text juxtaposed on top of an anti-gravity Jane!), the costumes and was wonderfully surprised by just how funny it was. I can't wait to watch it again.

And can I just say what a babe Jane Fonda was? Wowzers. Total babe. The only Jane I ever remember is the exercise junky from the 80's. I'd never seen 60's Jane. I was impressed.

Stay tuned for more Dolly Pattern updates!

Deer Girl x3

Did'ya see that? My play on words? "Deer girl... Dear girl..." get it? 

Goodness, are you guys feeling the post-holiday exhaustion like me? It's pretty obvious with my sad attempt at humor there. We were so productive and busy leading up to the big day, that afterwards... we've done a whole lot of nothin'. And it's been awesome. I'm sure you are all doing a lot of the same, maybe?

The house is a mess and there are still opened presents lying around the house. Now I'm at Monkey Joes (indoor bouncy house place) letting the boys work off some energy because we've had so much RAIN here in Atlanta! No pretty snow like I know some of you are getting. 

The boys still have a week and a half off and Ethan's taking most of that off as well, so we are soaking it up. A lot of R&R going on around here. How about you?

I was able to stitch up two more of these cuties to give as gifts (you can make your own with this pattern!): one for my niece, Cecilia, and one for sweet little Lenore. Lenore's will probably be going on a shelf for a few years because everything's going in her mouth at this age, and I don't think a mouth full of fuzzy felt would taste too good. ;) That's Lenore's on the left.

Here's Cecilia opening hers. Her doll was the same as the first one I made, but with ginger hair instead. She opened it on Christmas Eve and everyone watched while she opened it. It was quite the event. ; ) She's much more stand-offish-than all of her rowdy big brothers and boy cousins (she's the only girl in the bunch!) so I think she was a little shy about being the center of attention (I can sympathize with that, I was that girl when I was little!)... but a bit later she agreed to let me take her picture with her doll...

She set her up like that on the chair. It was too cute! That's all the boys playing an indoor soccer game in the background (all this rain had these boys climbing the walls this holiday!). She was actually quite taken with the yellow yarn and big pompoms I made for the packages. She walked around with that yarn all night, and the pompoms were a hit on Christmas day (ha). The boys were even walking around with big yarn pompoms attached to their heads.

I got these pics before I wrapped her up...

I have to say, making these dolls over the holidays has been so good for my crafty soul! I'd missed making things with my hands. I think I'm done making Deer Girl for a while, but she is such an adorable pattern. I've actually been scheming up my own doll patterns in my head and sourcing cute materials to make them with. So, look for some doll patterns in January sometime! To say I'm excited is an understatement. (!!)

I hope you all had a lovely holiday and have a Happy New Year!!

Dolly Love

Some more photos of the little pink-haired girl I made this weekend using this pattern. The pattern is fantastic. The instructions are very thorough. I will definitely be making one addition to the construction of the doll though with the next one I make. Her head is pretty floppy, being so top heavy and it's hard to get her to sit up. Her arms and legs are poseable (she has pipe cleaners inside, so they are bendable!), but I'm going to add some thick gage wire inside that connects her head to her body, so that her head will stay up easier. Other than that, I loved this pattern!

I enlarged her by 20%, so she would've been smaller than this. I love her larger! She's around 11-12" tall, I would say (I'm too lazy to go measure her, ha). I used wool felt that I purchased from here, but there are lots of stores on Etsy that offer felt. I love, love working with felt. It's so user friendly and forgiving and as I've mentioned before, no need for lugging a sewing machine around with you to make her. She's 100% handstitched, so you can make her on the go. I actually love the fact that she's 100% handmade this way.

I used the freezer paper method of cutting out the pattern pieces (OMG-SO-EASY! This stuff is a life changer!) and I also used the freezer paper to do the face embroidering. I was nervous about that part because I was wondering how the heck you'd transfer the design. I did some googling, and basically you iron on the freezer paper, embroider straight through the paper, and then pull the paper away once done. There's still some paper underneath the pupils of her eyes, but you can' see it, so it doesn't matter. Freezer paper makes this doll making stuff such a faster process.

I made her over two nights. Fast right? I love that these dolls LOOK like you put weeks of time into them, without actually having to. They are so satisfying to make. I've already cut out the pattern pieces to make another of these.

I had to really practice and get used to making those stitches super tiny and consistently even, but once you get going, it's easy. You only use one thread of the six strands that come on an embroidery thread skein, and it looks really nice. For the embroidery (the eyes and mouth) I used 2 strands and for the french knots, I used 4. I used "sharps" needles because they are really skinny and don't make huge holes in the felt. Although, felt is easy to kind of rub out any holes you put into it. 

Another piece of advice I'd give is to REALLY stuff those parts. I stuffed the head and body within an inch of their lives. You don't want saggy, deflated looking body parts (haha). 

I really admire doll-makers. It's such a wonderful art form. I'm going to put together a post of my favorite doll-stuffie-makers soon. They are my doll-making heros. 

If you missed my post I published earlier this evening, you can see that here.

getting away

We planned our little cabin getaway to Rutledge, Georgia (Hard Labor State Park) many months ago, but it couldn't have come at a better time. We left Friday not long after hearing about the horrific shootings that happened in Connecticut. We were able to read what happened, or what they knew at that time. I can admit with shame, that we were a little relieved that we wouldn't have access to TV or the internet while out there. The TV is easy to stay away from, the internet not so much, with smart phones, etc. But we mentally unplugged while we were gone. It was good for us, and relief for the soul not to be bombarded with the tragic images. I just didn't want to see the faces. I had already shed tears. I wasn't sure I was ready to fully commit to the grief.

But now we are home and I want to see all of those precious faces. I want to educate myself on ways our country can try harder to make these things not happen so easily. To make it a priority (not only with the obvious issues, but others). But I will admit that there are times I want to take Ethan's boss up on his standing offer for us to relocate to Vancouver, Canada. Just to be out of this country, at least for this reason, is a very attractive thing. But that would be irrational. Bad things can happen anywhere, but statistics show, these things obviously happen more here. 

All that aside, like everyone else around the world, my heart breaks for the families that have lost these precious children and adults. I know we will never really know the full extent of their horror and loss. I hope we never have to. 

It made me soak up all of the quality time I spent with my children, my family, that much more this weekend. To kiss my boys, smell their scent, thank God that they are here, and safe. As safe as we can make it for them, as parents, at least. 

On a more positive note, we hiked some beautiful trails, did some geocaching, Cooper and Ethan took an archery lesson offered by the Forest Ranger of the park (how COOL would it be for a kid to tell their friends "My Dad is a Forest Ranger!") and they are officially hooked, and I made good on that promise to myself to start making dolls.

We also made s'mores with the fireplace we had inside our cabin, watched the sky for any leftover shooting meteors (we SAW some!!!) and I got to play with my new lens (I highly recommend this lens if you're looking for a wide angle. It's not TOO wide, at 30mm, but it's incredibly sharp and the background bokeh is gorgeous - see photo above. And the lens is relatively affordable if you can't swing for one of those expensive L lenses like me.)

Geocache treasures... artwork by the geocache owner below : )

Set a boy free in the woods, and they have endless entertainment using the best thing ever: STICKS!

S'more makin' in the cabin...

We watched lots of Christmas movies (some favorites like White Christmas) and some new-to-me ones like A Muppets Christmas Carol (SO GOOD!).

Here are some in-progress photos of my doll I stitched! (using this awesome pattern!) I definitely had one of those "look what I made!" moments after I finished this doll. I feel so, SO excited about all of the doll-making possiblities in the future. She only took me two nights to make and I've already cut out the pattern pieces to make another. I have plans to make at least two more of these girls, and then I'm on to make some out of this Japanese book I found. My nephew is asking his Japanese teacher to do some translating for me (haha), but there are also visual illustrations that I've been able to decipher fairly well. To say I'm excited is an understatement. I haven't felt this passionate about a craft in a very long time.

I have more photos that I'll share shortly! I'm also super excited about the possibilities of creating my own doll patterns. I have all sorts of ideas swimming around in my head - girls from the 60's wearing little mod dresses, and let's not forget the boys! I have plans to make some dolls for my boys as well. They actually love dolls and still sleep with a stuffed doll when they go to bed. 

Are you deep in making handmade gifts for your loved ones? I'm thrilled to have some handmade gifts to gift to some friends and family this year. There's nothing better.

all about Sindy

A couple weekends ago we visited some of our college friends in Birmingham, Alabama, and I got to visit a super cool vintage shop there. It's called What's on 2nd and if you're ever in the area and are a vintage-lover, it's a must visit! It's like stepping into someone's attic - you know, that has really good taste. ; ) I posted several pictures on Instagram while browsing the shop (yes, I'm on there now, with my lowly droid that takes crappy pictures, but feel free to follow! I'm @kitschydigitals).

I found this Sindy doll in her box - never been opened. She was just so beautiful, I couldn't pass her up. She was $20 which I didn't think was bad since she was in mint condition and still wrapped in plastic inside the box. I did some research on Ebay last night and she's going for well over $100 still in her box.

Remember these paintings I posted about in December? Apparently Sindy is the UK (and European?) version of our Tammy. So I'm not sure how my little Sindy here made her way over the pond, but I'm so delighted to have found her! 

Here she was in her box... and yes, I deboxed her. Hard to believe she's been untouched since 1978 and here I go taking her out of her home, but I believe dolls should be admired and displayed... not stuck in a box. She will be well taken care of. What really drew me to this doll was how they had her posed in her box! How CUTE is that? She looks quite breezy in there doesn't she?

You can see the original price tag here...

Love the illustrations on the side... "See how Sindy can move just like you?"

That yellow kitchen above is pretty darn groovy.

And here she is "deboxed"...

And since I tend to overobsess over a new doll every month or two, I thought I'd share my Sindy research with you. Here are some adorable knitting patterns I found for Sindy. Apparently, Barbie clothes fit Sindy and Tammy which is an awesome thing! Vintage Barbie clothes are pretty fabulous (although they can get pricey) and there are tons of vintage sewing patterns for Barbie that are really cute. One day I will bite the bullet and start making clothes for my dolls.

Too bad I don't know how to knit! I mean seriously, that Wonder Woman get-up! Too.much.

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Here are some printed goodies all about Sindy... including a comic book!

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Some Sindy ads...

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The yellow jumper dress with navy/red floral blouse (above, last girl on the bottom right) is pretty amazing!

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And here are some lovely Sindys from Flickr owners (Flickr is still my favorite place to use as a Dolly source). This caravan is to die for.

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The redhead below kind of blows me away. I haven't seen many redheaded Tammys or Sindys. And those lashes! I'm thinking the owner added those? My gosh, she's perfect. The doll on the right is actually on Ebay right now.

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These two just kill me. With their silky blonde 70's hair and sun-kissed skin. They are perfect.

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So chic!

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These three! Oh my. Total dolly envy.

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And last, here's a group of images from the official Sindy doll collecting site. I love seeing the original outfits. The brunettes are seriously beautiful! They seem to be harder to find.

Do you have any Sindy dolls? Maybe Tammy? Do you collect them? I'm kind of jonesing to visit the UK just so I can hit up the thrifts in hopes of finding some Sindy stuff! I think she's quite lovely. She has one of the prettiest face molds I've seen in vintage dolls.

Wanna see more vintage doll themed posts? Click here.