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 two Ruby Red Fashion Friends, Bella and Holly (originally Stella), would like to say, “Happy Holidays to all of you!”
As they were busy decorating I got them to stop for a moment to take a quick picture of the both of them. As you can see by their happy faces and sparkling eyes they are the best of friends, and have a lot of fun together.
It has just started snowing here in northern Illinois–not bad yet. We are awaiting more snow and VERY cold blizzard-y conditions through tomorrow. It’s time to get cozy and hunker down!
Everyone stay safe and warm, and enjoy these next festive days if you celebrate. If not, enjoy the end of the week and weekend. ❤️
My Ruby Red Fashion Friend Holiday Stella (renamed Holly) has a new holiday ensemble to show you. If you missed the post about my Christmas doll you can read about her here.
Stella has a lilac-y skin tone that looks nice with a lot of the colors I sew with. I appreciate how the Ruby Red Fashion Friends have many different skin tones–just like us humans. BTW, does anyone know how many different skin tones Ruby Red makes for these dolls?
Last year I made Bella a holiday ensemble in a different color way with the same print. They will look adorable together. You can see that post here. I will take their photo together and show you how they look next to each other.
Holly’s hand knit cardigan was made holding two strands of lace weight yarn together. The end result picks up the greens in the dress very nicely. I embroidered two different floral motifs at the neckline. The red crystal bead buttons add the perfect sparkly touch.
Here is a full length view of precious Holly in her new ensemble.
I hope your December is going nicely. It’s flying by for me–I still have lots to do. How about you? Are you finished with holiday gift buying, etc.?
Holly and I would like to wish you Happy Holidays. 🎄🤶🏻
Once again, I sewed dresses for the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. My husband, daughter, and I dropped the finished shoeboxes off yesterday afternoon. Phew, that’s done until January, when I’ll start again for the 2023 season. Now to focus on gifts closer to home. Btw, through the years I think practically all of my boxes have gone to a country on the African continent.
My goal was to make two dresses every month, January through October, which was easy enough to do. Towards the end of the year I also made some little stuffies to put in the dress pockets. I think I will do that for each dress next year. And, maybe make scrunchies, too. I have sooo much fabric and hand made items are special. At least, I think so. If you have any other ideas I’d love to hear them.
I didn’t change the dress pattern at all. I used different fabrics from those used in 2021so that made it fun. I am a fabric junkie–I love it! Also, each dress uses four different fabrics: main dress fabric, pocket, ties, and bias binding. Back when (not sure how many years ago that was) I started sewing these dresses I wrote a tutorial in case anyone was interested. It’s on my website here. Ha ha! I even used my own tutorial in January of this year after taking a couple of months off of sewing.
Here are the little bunny treasures to be found in the pockets. Except for the lemon bear; she was a bit too tall for the pocket.
I love lemon bear, but she was so fiddly to make. I don’t think I could get enough of them made without going batty. She looks innocent enough, but nope, she’s a bit fussy. I had to rip out the stitching where her legs attach to her body three times before they looked nice. At the last minute I found a pair of Kish Chrysalis shorts that fit her and sent those along. She has a polymer clay cupcake in her purse.😋 She is sweet though, isn’t she?
As we put the shoeboxes together we made a mess of the dining room. The fuzzy plush bears were added to the boxes that didn’t have one of the hand made bunnies.
I hope you enjoyed seeing my shoeboxes for 2022. I pray that they find their way into the little arms of a little girl that they would be perfect for.
Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate. If not, wishing you a beautiful week!
Thank you for visiting with me today. I appreciate you so much! Sending hugs🤗op
Cindy Rice Designs 