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.

My American Girl Doll Sweater is Complete

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P1100836Here are some pictures of the American Girl sweater that I’ve been working on.  This Knit Picks Blossom Heather color of wool reminds me of strawberry ice cream.  I used pale pink freshwater pearls for the buttons.  I always sew the beads onto the sweater with thread shanks so the placket lays smooth underneath the beads.P1100832

This first draft turned out ok, but I don’t think I like the neckline and it is a bit snug at the bottom.  I am tweaking the pattern and knitting another sweater in the same wool, but in an oyster color.  The new one will have a ribbed neckline, long sleeves, and be a bit looser.

American Girl Doll Sweater

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P1100799 My Project-of-the-Day is to rework my cardigan pattern for the smaller dolls to make it work for the American Girl dolls.  It is such a simple versatile sweater that goes with so many outfits.  This is my first attempt and it is coming along nicely although it may need tweaking since I went up in size a lot.  Surprisingly, I am finding it to not take much longer to knit than a smaller doll sweater.  I used Knit Pick’s Wool of the Andes Sportweight in Blossom Heather.

2012 Snapshots

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Photos from my “Days” album (a place where I keep a visual documentary of my day-to-day work and things that happened that day).  From top left going clockwise:  my embroidery from an Amelia Thimble hand knit dress, spools of cotton crochet thread that I used for knitting doll sweaters, my new silk ribbon in a dye bath, one of my pincushions holding open “Knit Edgings & Trims” while I try out some new knit patterns, vials of beads used on my sweaters, some new yarn from Knit Picks, right after my first foray into dying wool yarn while drying in the warm spring air, embroidery from a dress bodice for Dianna Effner’s Little Darling dolls, and (center) three new fabrics that arrived from the Fat Quarter Shop that I absolutely loved.