Author Archives: Cindy Rice

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About Cindy Rice

My wonderful husband, my beautiful daughter, and I live in northeastern Illinois with our two sweet chihuahua boys. For as long as I can remember I have loved dolls and making things. I got my first Barbie when I was only three years old! My mom sewed for my Barbie dolls and taught me how to use her sewing machine when I was only seven. I cannot believe she let me near that needle, but she did. Not having enough money for my clothes habit in high school and college led me to start sewing all of my own clothes. There were so many fabric stores around back then and fabric was so inexpensive. I would wait for the 99 cent pattern sale and go crazy. Sewing for myself continued well into my 30’s. (I even made my wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses.) Shortly after I got married I left my full time graphic design position and started designing cross stitch patterns. I called my company “The Lilac Studio” and sold my botanical patterns at trade shows, through distributors which sold to retail shops, and mail order. My most popular pattern, “A Bouquet of Pansies” sold 5000 copies and won a J&P Coats Golden Needle Award! I was also featured in various cross stitch magazines and designed special projects for the magazines. When my daughter was born I didn’t have the time needed to cross stitch and design patterns all day long so I let my pattern design business slip away. And then I started discovering dolls again and I now had an excuse to start buying them. The only problem was that they were for my daughter and not for me. I soon discovered all of the adult collectors out there and decided I would be one of them. I started small at first, collecting Mattel Kelly dolls. Soon I collected over 100 Kelly dolls! After Kelly, I discovered Helen Kish’s Riley and Tonner’s Ann Estelle. I have since learned to knit doll sweaters and love an excuse to knit so most of my doll outfits include a sweater and/or hat. I love creating miniature outfits for dolls and enjoy sharing them with others. Currently I create doll ensembles for Ruby Red Fashion Friends, Kish Bethany, Dianna Effner's Little Darlings, Wilde Imagination's teeny tiny Amelia, Kaye Wiggs BJD, Boneka 10", Linda Macario's Penny.

Some Photos from my Studio

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Hi all!  We just got back last night from our “vacation”.  I’ll write more about that later.  The rest of this post was written 10 days ago; I got too involved in life stuff to even post it.  So sorry to neglect you all.  Here it is.

Here are a few photos around my studio for you.

I redressed my Kish Tulah and Riley in my “old” crocheted dresses.  Look at Riley’s embroidery work.  I think I’ve improved since I made this one.  My bullion roses are quite crude compared to my roses now.  I guess practice makes “more” perfect (can’t say mine are perfect); it is nice to see where I started though.  However, to be fair, it is quite difficult to embroider on crocheted cotton.

Tulah was never my favorite of the little Kish crew, but I now find her face more captivating than Riley’s.  Isn’t she sweet!

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Lilah, Ann Estelle’s little sister, is wearing another “old” piece of mine, a crocheted romper.  I remember that I had found (years ago) a little girls romper in a catalog that was made in fabric, and copied it in crochet.  Her little crocheted shoes are embellished with crocheted flowers too.  Lilah’s wooden rocking horse is from a stuffed bunny; it fits her perfectly.

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I don’t know if I’ve ever shown you this doll I made from a free Black Apple pattern .  (I found a link for you from a Martha Stewart page in case you’d like to make one too.)  She’s been sittin’ around in my studio for years.

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Not all hand dying projects work out.  I knit this dress for Sugar and then hand dyed it.  You can see how the dye is lighter on the front lower half.  I have no idea why this happened, but Sugar doesn’t seem to care; she knows it will be hers to keep, although the likelihood of it getting buttons and embroidery is nil.  Her bangle bracelet is from one of my daughter’s old camisoles.

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My daughter made this banner with cute scrapbook paper and embellishments.  She didn’t know what to do with it, so I got it!  On top of the cabinet are empty jars from candles where I store small balls of yarn, scraps of yarn, and old spools/thimbles.  I keep props and cute things in the display case.  I’ll have to open it up and let you peek inside sometime.  🙂

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Hope you all have a very nice day.  Bye for now!

Many Outfits are in Progress

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Hello everyone!  The summer season has officially started here in the United States.  Yay!

I’m sorry that I wasn’t around to chat last week.  My daughter graduated from high school and it was super duper busy around here.  So many good byes and things ending . . . it’s hard.  I know there will be lots of new beginnings, but the endings are sad, they really are.

Last week, I sewed . . . and sewed; I ONLY sewed!  I didn’t knit, crochet, embroider, or complete any ensembles.  When I would get some time, I would run down to my studio to sew another dress.  Now I have 5 dresses waiting for their sweaters to be knit and/or embroidered.

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You can see who the dresses are all for.  I do at least have all the sweaters planned—Patsy’s is knit already.  I’m going to knit all of the sweaters and then go back to embroider and complete the ensembles.  Gotta sometimes change things up.

Gina’s sweater will be knit with white lace weight mohair and then dyed a very light rosy pink.  Lucy’s  will be a light pink bamboo.  Gracie’s cardigan will be white pima cotton/bamboo.  Patsy’s is white mohair lace.  And, Millie’s will be knit with pink baby alpaca/silk lace yarn.  I also have a small ball of merino lace yarn that I hand dyed (a couple weeks ago) a light sky blue to knit a dress for Sugar.  I guess I’d better get knitting!

Wishing you all a great Tuesday!  Bye for now!

“Sunshine Darling”

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My Little Darling, Gina, is here to show you what I completed for her this past week.  This color palette was totally outside my comfort zone—no pink, blue, or anything in the purple family.  If you look back at my past photos most of what I make contains one or more of these colors.

This ensemble started out with the yarn.  I pulled a skein of melon colored heathered wool out of my stash (probably on a cloudy day) and HAD to knit a sweater with it ASAP.  It is not orange, but a wonderful shade of melon with flecks of very subtle pale lemon-y yellow throughout.  I happened to have this lovely fabric by Sandy Gervais (Moda Fabrics) in my “recently acquired favorites” stash.  PERFECT!

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(Please pardon my horribly wrinkled backdrop.  It’s on my “to do” list for ironing.)

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Aren’t the colors in this fabric fresh, bright, and summery?  I love this fabric (even though it contains no pink, blue, or anything purple)!

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I wanted to mimic the open feeling of these roses as depicted by the fabric’s designer.  I used tiny seed and Delica beads sewn onto the sweater first, and then made bullion stitches around the bead clusters.

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Gina requested a flower cutting basket (just like Lucy’s) out of natural hemp.   You can see the ensemble with my first flower cutting basket here.  These crocheted baskets are perfect for  a bouquet of long stemmed flowers.

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The bouquet isn’t attached to the basket, so the Little Darlings can also hold the bouquet separately.

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Gina’s wide brimmed hat is crocheted with three different fibers and edged with a matching melon colored cotton.  A hand made wool felt bow decorates the under side of the brim.  She is sunny day, spring/summer ready!

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Gina enjoyed our sunny day outside during her photo shoot.  We found a shady spot underneath the apple tree for some great shots.

“Sunshine Darling” will be available Sunday, May 22 (2016), at 7:00 pm, CST.  Go to the “Shop What’s New” page at cindyricedesigns.com at 7:00 for more information on this one-of-a-kind ensemble made for Dianna Effner’s Little Darling dolls.

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