Cindy Rice

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.

I use pink for my doll ensembles SO much, but I think this new set for the Little Darlings is the pink-iest to date. I made the crocheted hat and purse to originally go with her last outfit see here, but as sometimes happens, it just didn’t “work”. I often ask my daughter’s opinion and she agreed with me and added that these two pieces looked a bit like 1920s fashions and suggested a drop waist styled dress. Originally, I thought a white dress, but then I got in a new order of fabric and saw that this pink floral rose print would be so much prettier than white, and, although this outfit looks sweet without a sweater, a super soft light as a feather pink mohair is the icing on the cake to finish off this decadent delight.

The tiny lace rose is hand made with the same fine English cotton cluny lace used on the dress’s skirt and the crocheted hat. I added two knotted loops of rayon ribbon for the leaves and sewed a little pearl onto the center of the rose. Fiddly to make, but well worth the effort as it is so tiny and delicate to look at. I’ve started adding little thread belt loops at the side seams to help hold the ribbon ties in place.

For more information on “A Vision in Pink” please visit my “Available for Sale” page on cindyricedesigns.com .

I’ve never dressed Millie in anything purple or lilac and I really like her in it, don’t you? To me, she looks like a southern belle all dressed up for Easter, a Sunday outing, or even a garden wedding.

When I started making this outfit for Millie I thought I would have to keep the color palette to purples, but I noticed that the roses had the lightest of pinks in them. I found that pink went beautifully with the sweater so kept it as my primary embroidery color. I used the pale pink again for the ribbon tie, purse, tights, and hat. It really warms up the lilac color and livens up what could have been a monochromatic ensemble.