Author Archives: Cindy Rice

Unknown's avatar

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 Need Some Springtime!

How about you?  The groundhog said 6 more weeks of winter, not 7 and still counting!  Although I’m aware that here in northern Illinois we’ve been lucky, no snow, but boy has it been windy and cold.

To ease winter’s wrath, how about some photos of my girls wearing springtime attire?  You can dream about springtime and flower gardens.

a lovely blossom 523color me sunny 445happiness is pink 341beauty and blossoms 305feelin' fancy 182princess and the pearl 050a springtime garden stroll 846peachy keen for spring 981a whisper of spring 898springtime joy 742spring means hoppiness 640springy-and-delicate-531pastel-and-pretty-354

I hope the photos of my girls helped make you feel a little bit more “springy”.  I know they helped me.  Very soon spring weather will be a reality.  Hang in there!

Please say hello (if you’d like), and let me know how springtime is progressing where you live.  I’d love to know.

Enjoy the weekend, my dear friends. ❤

Goings On

Happy Friday to everyone!  The calendar says spring has arrived even if the weather is not acting accordingly.

My husband and I strolled though the Chicago Botanic Gardens this past week.  There’s not too much growing, but a lot of work was being done on the gardens.  The snowdrops are blooming on many hillsides, and I saw some tiny purple scilla here and there.

All around was peace and promises of what is to come.  These botanic gardens have always fed my soul, and even at this time of year was no exception.

IMG_3985

IMG_3987

Two weekends ago we attended the orchid show at the gardens.  The greenhouses were adorned with orchids!  There was beauty everywhere, however, when I saw these giant parasols hanging from the ceiling my heart skipped a beat.  The colors of these giant beauties against the blue sky… simply amazing.

IMG_3973

IMG_3965

I completed three more dresses for my Operation Christmas Child 2018 shoeboxes this week.  I now have a total of eight!  I made these three dresses in tandem, so the steps were batched.  I think they got more quickly, but it seemed like more “work” as I tended to get tired of doing one thing three times, or six times as in the case of armholes or straps.

new dresses 3:2018 921

The middle dress is made with blue oxford cloth and a yellow gingham pocket.  The dress on the right has teeny tiny salmon colored stars printed on ivory with the bottom fabric in reverse.

8 dresses 913 sq

most delicate for my darling 824

Alice, my beautiful Little Darling painted by Nelly Valentino, keeps me company while I sew in my studio.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, and maybe some springlike weather where you live.  Thanks for visiting with me, my friends.

❤ ❤ ❤

 

 

 

 

Dresses for Special Little Girls

In the last few weeks I’ve completed 5 dresses for the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes I will make this year.  I am getting into a rhythm; my fourth and fifth were completed in only one day!

When I first started thinking of making dresses, I made a Pinterest board with ideas.  You can check that board out here.

 I’m first digging into my fabric stash and using half yard pieces of fabric that I purchased for doll dresses, but are too large in scale for the little dolls.  I can piece two 1/2 yard cuts together and make a dress.  Then, I can use scraps to make the pocket, shoulder strap ties, and bias armhole binding.

1st 5 dresses 910

As I write this I am inspired and thinking of Eva, the 101 year-old  gorgeous lady who sews dresses for these shoeboxes; she makes 3!!! a day.  I saw her video last year and her story has stuck with me all these months later.  Would you believe almost 10 million people have watched her video!  She must have inspired so many.  Now that’s the way to do things!  Way to go, Eva!

eva operation christmas child 894

I’ve included a tutorial for the dresses I’m making under the tutorial tab at the top of this page.

On a different note, I want to show you this beautiful sunrise from a couple of weeks ago!  The colors in the sky took my breath away.

winter sunrise 860

Have a great week, my friends.  If you make any dresses, I’d love to see them.