Tag Archives: doll dresses

“Autumn’s Pink Roses”

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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Millie’s “Autumn’s Pink Rose” ensemble will be available tonight (September 16, 2016) at 7:00 pm CST, cindyricedesigns.com.

Millie and I hope you all have (or are having) a great day! Thanks for visiting with us!

“A Plummy Fall”

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I love this fabric so much! I’ve been hoarding my one half yard bit of it . . . saving it for someone special, wondering and wondering . . . who would that be? That special someone turned out to be Gracie.

This fabric is probably the most colorful and detailed rose print I’ve seen in this small of a scale. That being said, I should have saved it for one of my many smaller dolls, but I couldn’t help using it for Gracie. The ground color is a light plum color and looks gorgeous next to Gracie, as does this color of yarn.

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I recently told you about getting on a Craftsy kick again. My latest “aha moment” happened while watching Wee Ones Seamless Knit Toys by Susan B. Anderson. Susan knits her toy animal bodies from the top down just like how I knit my sweaters. She knits the arms to her animal bodies with double pointed needles to knit them in the round. I don’t do that with my sleeves, but how cool would that be! I needed to move around some increases and decreases and get comfortable picking up stitches, but the end result was that this technique did work for my sweaters! Oh happy day!

I love learning new processes or techniques; it keeps me excited to continue designing and making. Do you thrive on learning new things?

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You can see the smooth underarm area without the added bulk of a seam. The longer sleeved sweaters and those knit with heavier yarn will benefit the most from this technique.

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Gracie and I thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed seeing her new fall ensemble.

Gracie’s new ensemble, “A Plummy Fall”, will be available tonight (September 15, 2016) at 7:00 pm CST at cindyricedesigns.com.

“Woodland Whimsy”

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Do you remember the mushroom motif craze in the 1970s? They’re back! Actually mushroom motifs have been popping up in design for a few+ years now, and in more modern colors, which I am happy about. Back in the ’70s they were mostly seen in those 1970s colors—orange, avocado green, brown, and harvest gold. Even though I cannot get used to that color scheme again, when I saw these canisters at the Volo Antique Mall last year I thought they were cute. (My aunt had these in her kitchen.)

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I think the first year I started seeing mushrooms pop up again in design was 2012 when I saw this fabric designed by Natalie Lymer. I immediately fell in love with it. To this day, this is one of my favorites for Bethany.

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I really need to make something for this girl again, she’s so cute! But, I digress, sorry about that.

I’ve been saving this new mushroom print by Lizzie Mackay for one of my first fall-ish ensembles. I know it’s not fall yet, but I couldn’t wait to use it!

Here is Lucy modeling “Woodland Whimsy”. Aren’t the colors in this print lovely? They’re modern, vintage, and cozy, all at the same time.

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Did your see Lucy’s little girl gnome charm? She told me it’s for good luck.

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I’m not sure how I initially got the idea to knit mushrooms for this ensemble. I get side tracked a lot, especially in the mornings. I think I picked up a scrap ball of bare wool, and started knitting in the round on my double pointed needles. I most likely wanted to practice starting with a few stitches to make sure I remembered this technique. (It is almost Santa hat season, and I start from the top down.) I guess a mushroom cap started forming, and all of a sudden I have accessories for “Woodland Whimsy”! Magic!

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Lucy’s little capelet is knit with moair/silk lace weight yarn and her vintage styled headband hat is knit with a fingering weight Peruvian Highland wool in the same color. The colorful little mushrooms were fun to embroider in bullion and straight stitches.

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Lucy’s 3/4 length sleeve dress is finished beautifully inside. It is tedious as there is a lot of hand sewing to do, but I love to dress my dolls in dresses finished like this, it’s so luxurious. (lol) The dress is completely lined except for the sleeves so as to keep the bulk down. The sleeve seam allowances that show on the inside have been double turned and hand sewn in place. All the other seam allowances are hidden in the lining.

Since it took so long to finish the inside of this dress, I’d love to show you what it looks like. I think this bodice takes four times as long as a lined sleeveless bodice. All that just for sleeves!

Here is a sleeve turned inside out. You can see the tiny hand stitches holding the double turned underarm seam and hem in place. The bodice armhole lining is hand stitched to hide the top of sleeve’s seam allowance.

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