This past Sunday I got an urge - an irresistable urge to make me a tool belt. But not just any toolbelt, something that could hold almost everything that I need to make a doll or any sewing project that took my fancy.
It has one level of pockets for pencils and pens with enough space for every pencil I regularly use. The second tier of pockets holds larger tools liker scissors, haemostats, pliers etc.
Plus there is a patch pocket with a snap closure for tiny items like
fabric erasers, thimbles, and pencil sharpeners and a felt needle
catcher heart for pins and needles.
As I travel a lot to teach I also wanted this apron to double up as a
tool wrap. Fold it up and wrap one of the ties around it and voila!
Easy to store and transport.
If you love the pencil topper doll that you can see safely tucked up in one of the apron pockets, you can have that pattern for free too, click here to get it.
I've set up a Flickr group so that you can share photos of your Crafter's Apron made from this pattern, or indeed photos of your projects made from any of my patterns, free or otherwise. Click here to add your photos. You only need a free Yahoo ID to join in (TIP: if you are in any Yahoo Groups, you'll already have a Yahoo ID).
Some days you just don't feel like doing anything complicated - you just want to sit back and enjoy. So here is a selection of simple softies and rag dolls to satisfy the need for speed and simplicity.
This little smiley face plushie from Chez Beeper Bebe is easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Keep your socks on or take them off and make this cute sock owl softie from Whimsy Loft.
Make this patchwork Scottie dog pattern and use up some scraps.
Hip to be squared - this little robot softie from Sew Green is sew cute (excuse the pun, couldn't help myself).
Make this simple cloth doll clown pouch (you need to click on the link further down on the page to get the instructions).
This little pink girlie and her Scottie dog (not sure why the sudden Scottie dog influx) are printed out onto printer ready fabric and sewn up. Couldn't be easier.
Also from the Fantastic Toys blog is this little fabric cupcake tutorial. Awwww....adorable cupcakes with eyes.
This next video is a discovery of mine on You Tube of a little girl named Olivia (or Oli) who frankly is a better TV presenter than most adults. Check out her doll making video part 1 where she makes a simple but fantastic rag doll:
There is something so fantastic and appealing about the Victorian look. I used Victorian fashion as the inspiration for my doll Finders Keepers. You have to love the bonnet look.
So here are some great free patterns ranging from dolls to sachets to inspire you.
This Victorian Ornament designed by cloth doll designer Kat Lees is gorgeous.
Use the flat doll style and ribbon to create this Victorian beauty from Maureen's Vintage Acquisitions blog.
Use ribbon again to create a gorgeous Victorian angel doll, click here to see how. The instructions advise using a porcelain head and hands, but you could just as easily use a cloth head and hands.
Noel Wolfman offers up this free tutorial on using Paverpol to create a Victorian tassel doll.
Tassels are ever so Victorian, create a half doll hanging tassel with the Queen of Ribbon Roses Helen Gibb, click here.
You can even make your own tassels - get the instructions here.
Or create a half doll pin cushion with Helen Gibb here.
This Vintage Victorian pin cushion will keeps those pins in place while you stitch.
Stitch this cute little Victorian corset sachet to keep things smelling pretty.
if you like sachets but love dolls more, then make this half doll lavender sachet with Helen Gibb.
Stitch a gorgeous Victorian motif on fabric using this free pattern for Victorian towels from Better Homes & Gardens.
Reuse a burned out lightbulb to create this Victorian lightbulb ornament.
From some reason dress-forms always make me think Victorian, here is a pattern and instructions for making a ribbon rose adorned dress-form pin cushion.
Remember more is more in the Victorian style - a good moto for doll making, I think. More doll making and more and more.......
Picture it - five women, lots of tea, wire, stuffing and a whole lot of giggles. That was my two day course making Finders Keeper with four fantastic ladies at Blue Haze in Chesham.
Jenny is an experienced doll maker who brought some beautiful beading that she did on a Patti Culea doll to show us. Jenny bought a fabulous dragon stamp from Blue Haze and embroidered it with beads on the doll's leg - stunning. Jenny also makes doll houses and scale dolls.
Margaret survived her train journey to join us and wowed us with her skills. Even though Margaret had never made art dolls before, she did wonderfully well and her doll's face was just so sweet. (And I'm not just saying that because I was her teacher and it makes me look good).
Pat (on the right) was also a complete beginner at art dolls and also managed to create a stunning face for her doll even though she was delayed at an appointment and missed the first bit of class! Now that is talent.
Linda (on the left) is an experienced doll maker and brought along a gorgeous face that she completed at a Barbara Willis class held at Blue Haze last fall (Blue Haze is becoming the place for cloth doll makers hereabouts). After the first day of class, Linda decided to do a bit of work on her wire armature at home so she could concentrate more on costuming on the second day of class. She placed two bits of duct tape on the table and bent down for some more supplies when her cat landed on the table, square on top of the duct tape and proceeded to scamper with the duct tape attached to her paws! Linda managed to rescue one piece of duct tape, but the other piece is no where to be found. Goodness only knows where that duct tape has gone!
We survived one of my demo dolls getting dunked in coffee (there was much dabbing and she came out pretty much unscathed you'll be glad to know). We ate, we drank, we were merry and we still made dolls and learned things. What more could you ask for?
For a number of years now I have been playing around with various ways of heating fabrics to create some very funky effects. I've used candles, soldering irons and heat guns on various fabrics to achieve some very cool effects. Below are some tutorials to give you an idea of what kind of techniques you can use to alter everything from felt to organza to embellish your dolls. This list is by no means exhaustive - there are so many ways to use these ideas - my brain is burning up with inspiration.
Felt and a Heat Gun
One fabric that really does fantastic things when heated with a heat gun is felt. You must use a synthetic felt as wool will not work. Kunin felt, which is a polyester felt works the best, but I've also had good results with acrylic and nylon felt. Click here to read about Judi Wellnitz's experimentation with felt.
When I took a course with Allison Marano we used a very similar technique to create the bodice on this doll with free motion machine embroidery acting as the resist, so that when heated the stitching stayed intact and the felt around it developed lovely lacey holes. Allison's technique was especially exciting as she heated the felt while it was on the doll so that it moulded to the doll's shape. Warning: you need to put a wet cloth over the doll's body before you put on the felt or your doll could be burned. If you get a chance to take a course with Allison - do. She has great techniques and is also very funny.
Before taking the course with Allison I used a similar technique with felt to create the wings for my doll, Bea in her Bonnet. However, instead of using stitching as the resist to the heat I used stencilled paint. click here to see a Stewart Gill tutorial on how to use stencils to create a great effect with paint that would be perfect for using with felt.
After applying the paint you can blast it with a heat gun and the areas around the paint will begin to form holes. Keep in mind that without some form of structure, the felt will warp. If warping is what you are after then go ahead and heat it up, but if you want it to maintain its shape you have to wire the felt (as I did with Bea in her Bonnets wings) or form it on the doll as Allison did or find some other creative an ingenious way of forming the felt.
I love what this mixed media artist did with felt in this tutorial - she used paint and a heat gun to make felt look like leather. I wonder if you could sew this felt after treating it? I'd love to see that felt/leather made up into little doll shoes like this free boot pattern by Barbara Willis.
Burning Organza or Other Sheer Fabrics
Over at the DuhBe blog learn how to burn the edges of organza to create fabric roses by clicking here. This technique uses a candle to seal the raw edges of the fabric and to make it curl pleasingly like flower petals; however, you can also use a soldering iron to seal the edges of synthetic sheers if you prefer.
A Load of Old Blogocks uses a slightly different method of creating flowers from burned organza. Click here for another idea for making flowers.
While you could certainly use gorgeous fabric roses like these to embellish dolls, you can also use the technique to create other things. I used an almost identical technique to create the seaweed effect at the waist, shoulder and on the headdress of my Treasures of the Deep doll.
Patti Culea uses this technique a fair bit. Watch this video to see how she decorates a flat doll with burned organza:
You can even use candles to burn silk, check out the Craftside blog for tips on making burnt edges on silk leaves here.
Tyvek
Another material that is completely hot to trot is Tyvek. Tyvek does fantastic things when heated. Click here to get idea of what Tyvek does when heated.
So what do you do with this amazing, bubbling material. You can make embellishments like these Tyvek leaves, click here for the tutorial.
Or you can melt Tyvek over a wire base. In this case, you get a more lacey effect as the Tyvek melts and pulls away from the wire. See the Purple Missus blog for some great ideas here. And here Purple Missus uses Tyvk over wire mesh.
I used a wire form to create this Tyvek hat for Bea in her Bonnet.
Ironing Stamps onto Velvet
You can use a household iron to stamp onto velvet and emboss the design within the nap of the fabric. See how here.
Angelina Fibre
Hot Fix Angelina Fibre can be used to great effect. I did a whole Freebie Friday just on this particular wonder fibre, click here for all those links.
There are so many other hot techniques out there, but I hope these gets your fibre experiments heating up.
Please feel free to link to my blog and tutorials and to make any of the projects that I share for your personal use. However, please do not reproduce my content or tutorials, in any language, without my explicit permission even if your intention is not to profit from it. Thank you
