Tag Archives: doll

Bit of News and “A Peek at Christmas”

I’m wondering if you all have forgotten about my patterns that I promised to start writing! Definitely not! My first one is almost ready to be published. The pattern is written, but this morning I realized my cover photo may be too small pixel-wise, so I want to redo that. Also, there have been technical things that I needed “husband help” with. He needed to figure those things out when he wasn’t at work. New things always take time; it’s getting real close though. Thanks for being so patient with me!

I’ve been looking at my stack of Christmas fabrics for months now. I actually felt like starting to make something Christmas-y in August, but I held back. I didn’t want to skip making fall ensembles. But now, it is time to dive right into Christmas sewing!

My smiling Little Darling, Lucy, got the first ensemble for Christmas 2016! Lucky girl! I call this ensemble “A Peek at Christmas” because it is “just a bit” Christmas-y.

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This fabric is a lively red and green floral on a darker ivory ground. It is a cozy print, but not drab. My newest lace from England matched perfectly. I added it to the hemline for the green tights to peek through. A couple of red hand made bows at the hemline tie into the red waistline sash.

I felt this ensemble needed green tights, nothing else came close. For a whole day I worked on mixing and dyeing what I thought was the perfect shade of green. My fabric stayed in the dye bath for 1 1/2 hours; I stirred it every 15 minutes. Then, it stayed in the fix bath for another hour; I stirred that every 15 minutes too. The fabric came out uneven and, really too light. The next day, I kept my fingers crossed as I headed to the fabric store. Usually when I am looking for something in particular I don’t find it. Not only did I find the perfect green, I also found it in a different fabric; it’s a lighter weight Lycra® rayon blend; it has a bit of a sheen to it, so is a little bit dressy. And a bonus, it sewed up very nicely. Needless to say, this all made me very happy . . . and feeling lucky.

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For the sweater’s embroidery I used the same style of blossoms as on the fabric; I had tiny pearlized Delica beads that matched, so used those for the center of each blossom. Two shades of green and some burgundy bud flowers complete the mirrored embroidery. Mother-of-pearl beads in natural added the perfect touch for the buttons.

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A tinier version as what’s used for the sweater decorates the back of the dress as faux buttons.

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The last item I made to complete this ensemble was the crocheted drawstring bag. It is crocheted with the finest cotton thread in a color that matches the background of the fabric and the lace. For fun, I added a colorful and jingly dangle. Inside Lucy’s bag is her contribution the the Christmas tree, a bright red ornament!

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Lucy’s “A Peek at Christmas” ensemble will be available tonight (October 19, 2016) at 7:00 pm CST, cindyricedesigns.com.

Thank you for visiting with me today! I hope your day is a beautiful one!

Bye for now!

“Lovin’ Autumn”

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Finally… some sunshine to take photos. Until this morning, Monday, we haven’t seen the sun since last Wednesday! It’s been very dark and rainy, and very hard to get some good photos.

I’ve been working on a knitting pattern for ? (it’s a surprise), and taking photos of the steps along the way. I thought they’d be okay, so kept knitting along. You know what? They are all terrible, in the virtual trash those photos will have to go. Now I have to start knitting another sweater to get (hopefully) better photos. Since the pattern is written, I can follow it to see if it all makes sense and my counts are accurate. So, I guess it’s a good thing. It’s turned into at least an 11 page pattern. My notes I use when knitting this sweater fill up 1/2 of a page in my 5 x 7 knitting notebook! See I really do work from gibberish that only I can understand. lol

So, here is little Sugar, my Fairyland Pukipuki. I decided I liked the sleeved dress on her after all. If she’s posed a certain way her arms look fine, I think so anyway. Isn’t she the cutest little thing! I never seem to get tired of her sweet face.

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Sugar’s a-line elbow length sleeved dress (hand knit in lace weight merino heather) is perfect for fall, no goose bumps on this little girl. The embroidery on the bodice is a tiny mirrored floral motif and done in colors to coordinate with her leggings.

This cute knit fabric goes so perfectly with her dress. I still wanted her shoes to fit, so instead of tights made some longish leggings that give the effect of tights.

Of course she found some matching fall blossoms in the woods. We haven’t had a frost yet, thank goodness, so the flowers are still in bloom. The silk streamers on her bouquet keep her smiling as they flutter in the breeze.

Now like the bigger girls, Sugar has her very own bangle bracelet with a dangly heart; only Sugar can wear bangle bracelets.

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Sugar’s “Lovin’ Autumn” ensemble will be available Tuesday night at 7:00 pm CST, cindyricedesigns.com.

Thanks for stopping by today! Bye for now. ❤

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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