Author Archives: 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.

“A Flower for Penny”

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Penny looks so serious about taking care of her flower blossom, doesn’t she. She is such a gentle and caring soul; I know her blossom will last forever. 🙂

In case you’re wondering Penny is a small bjd (22 cm or 8-5/8″), and sculpted by Linda Macario. A plus is that she shares wigs with my Little Darlings, and eyes with the MSD sized dolls. If you’d like to see the ensembles I’ve made for her, you can find everything in this Flickr album. Penny also has a sister named Polly.

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Penny’s summer ensemble features a blossom-filled dress made out of a cotton floral print from Japan. The tiny blossoms are in warm, yet bright, shades of red, violet, and pink. The skirt is prettied up with cotton Cluny lace from England and a silk bow.

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Her summer hat is made with a coordinating tan/off white dot cotton. A pair of embroidered blossoms embellishes the brim.

Penny’s little cardigan sweater is hand knit with lace weight merino wool. Blossoms in coordinating colors are embroidered on the front.

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Penny’s “A Flower for Penny” ensemble will be available tonight (June 25, 2017) at 7:00 pm CST, cindyricedesigns.com.

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“Pink Love”

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❤ Pink, pink, pink! ❤

Oh yes, I do love pink!

The magenta cotton thread in my stash looked so pretty with this print. What a great excuse to immerse myself in pink when creating this ensemble. Even though the other gorgeous colors were calling to me, I ignored them this time. And I must say I love the result. This ensemble is all girliness in its pinkiness.

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Gina’s dress has an empire styled bodice, a little shorter than my other cropped bodices. The cropped cardigan’s length is perfect for this dress because it doesn’t overpower the print with too much bright color. The crocheted cap adds a romantic touch as do the crocheted ballet styled slipper shoes.

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Other accessories include a ribbon wrapped bouquet, bracelet, and embroidered cotton panties.

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“Pink Love” for the Little Darlings will be available tonight (June 22, 2017) at 7:00 pm, CST, cindyricedesigns.com.

“Strawberry Roses”

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Strawberry colored roses that is… on a lemonade background.

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Patience’s dress is mad with a teensy tiny rose/rosebud print, so very dainty and sweet. The background is a soft yellow, not lemony, but not sunshiny either. It’s simply a soft yellow, just perfect, and I love it. There are white pin dots scattered on the yellow background too. Isn’t it a sweet print?

I dyed rayon ribbon and cotton lace to a warm pink color. It works with the yellow very nicely. The lace is a tassel styled cotton Cluny lace from England. The ribbons are rayon.

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Patience’s cardigan sweater is hand knit with a warm pink heathered merino lace weight wool. Two coordinating rose bouquet motifs are embroidered on the cardigan’s front panels. The sweater can be worn open or closed with the glass pearl bead buttons.

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