Tag Archives: BJD

“Holiday Botanicals”

Holiday decorating has begun in my sewing room and when Gracie dons her striped elf hat she really gets into the Christmas spirit. Right now she is looking for the perfect spot for her grapevine poinsettia wreath. Any ideas?

I love the colors in this botanical Christmas print: orange-y red, aqua blue, yellow green, a medium bright green, deep red, and pure white. Not that I don’t like basic red and green, but this palette is so fresh looking. (It is actually a little more colorful; reds are so hard to photograph.)

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The photo below is a bit brighter. The problem was that to get the dress bright, I’d have to settle for the color of the sweater to get over saturated. The photos of only the dress are a little more colorful.

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The sweater is knit with hand dyed Peruvian Highland wool that I hand dyed to a warm red. It has some subtle light and dark areas which give it a tonal feel. The yarn matches the warm orange-y red blossoms on the dress.

For the sweater’s embroidery, I chose to highlight the bright white poinsettias, but to keep them on the smaller size in an asymmetrical scattered composition. Three shades of greenery which match the dress are also used for the embroidery. Dark burgundy berries and garnet bead buttons tie into the deep red background of the dress. Again, sorry for the photo quality. The white blossoms are very white compared to how they look in the photo above. The closeup photo below is better, but the greens are appearing muddy, and they’re not.

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Gracie’s “Holiday Botanicals” ensemble will be available tonight (October 20, 2016) at 7:00 pm CST, cindyricedesigns.com.

I hope you all have, or are having a great day! Bye for now, and thanks for stopping by.

A Tiny Twofer

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My newest ensembles may be tiny, but I have two for you! Tiny plus tiny equals one regular, right? Hmm, probably not . . . Amelia Thimble’s sets are so teeny tiny; I probably need another one or two of her sets to equal a regular sized ensemble.

I haven’t made anything new for Amelia Thimble and Izzy since Christmastime (wow!), so it took me awhile to get into the groove of this tiny work again. I kept making mistakes while trying to understand my crazy pattern writing, but I figured it out, and am now loving this work again.

Here’s the first one I made. It’s called “A Tiny Bit for Fall”. I took inspiration from the sweater dress ensemble, “Winter Garden”, I made for the Little Darlings earlier this year. I picked out some of the same floss colors and worked my embroidery symmetrically, which I don’t usually do for these tiny dresses.

During the photo shoot I found the yarn color hard to photograph. It’s a bit more purply than this, really lovely. I used a lace weight merino/silk blend. Since I am getting comfortable (and loving) using dpn needles, this hat was knit in the round without seams.

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I’ve been watching knitting podcasts on YouTube lately and have been inspired by all of the hand dyed sock yarn out there (there’s tons of it, and it’s all so beautiful). So another Craftsy class I enrolled in was Professional Yarn Dyeing at Home. (They have a sale going on right now.) Even though I’ve been dyeing my own yarn, I still learned some new things. Additionally, I’d love to see a more advanced class and a class for dyeing plant fibers.

I hand dyed my yarn for this next dress/hat set. I wanted to get a self striping effect, so while knitting the first dress I figured out usage amounts along the way. It didn’t work perfectly as a yard knits up more rows in the bodice than in the skirt, but I still like the look. It was fun, and will try more color variations in the future.

Here is my second set for Amelia Thimble titled, “Sunshiny Autumn Days”.

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I adapted the headband hat pattern that I’ve been making for the Little Darlings to fit Amelia Thimble. It’s so tiny, there’s not even room for a bow, so a little knot has to make do! The headband is a solid color that matches the main embroidered rose on the dress.

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Both of these sets will be available Saturday (September 24, 2016) at 7:00 pm CST, cindyricedesigns.com.

Thanks for visiting; Amelia is thrilled (I am too!) you did! Bye for now!

“Autumn’s Pink Roses”

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Meteorological fall has been in full swing for a couple of weeks in the northern hemisphere, but it still feels quite summery here in northern Illinois. It has cooled off just a teensy tiny bit, however, it’s still tank top and shorts weather.

I have two teeny tiny, and I mean teeny tiny, pink rosebushes that happily grow underneath a birch tree in our front yard which are the same shade of pink as this fabric print. Not that this matters, but probably contributed to the title I thought of for this ensemble.

This fabric print is the same as “A Plummy Fall” that Gracie was modeling for you yesterday. (I bought a whole yard of this one, so I have lots left over!) For this ensemble using the ivory ground color I picked a smaller doll to best utilize this print’s petiteness. Millie is 11″ and quite slender, and this print still looks small on Millie. I can’t get over how the manufacturer can print such a complex and colorful design so small.

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Millie’s sweater and hat are knit out of lace weight merino/silk yarn. The pieces are very delicate and light weight. I chose to keep the embroidery softly colored and centered around the pink roses with the littlest touches of golden and aqua.

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Millie’s accessories include a mesh drawstring crocheted purse that holds a tiny hanky made out of the dress fabric, a bracelet, panties, and anklets.

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