Tilda, a little tubby lady.

This little lady is Tilda, she stands twelve inches tall and is made from tea dyed calico.  Her dress is made from fragments of fabric I discovered whilst having a tidy up after a big order.  The new style of Rhoda and Connie dolls are selling well but I had the urge to make an older pattern and Tilda is what came about.  I have made a girl very similar in the past and I love the whimsical and nostalgic fabrics in soft duck egg blue and berries.  Her knickers and underskirt are my Aunty Irene's kitchen blind fabric, (which I had fun making). Her stripy legs and little heart are what is left from a shirt of my husband's and the fabric makes great legs.  He has a red stripe one that I am trying to persuade him is going at the collar and then I can lay claim!

I think her hair is a little dark but it sits well with the fabric and her stripy heart, I couldn't find the perfect match. I will keep looking out for a different shade of wool tops and maybe have a change. 
I have discovered a new range of wool tops, 'Trimits Natural Wool Roving' it sells at Hobbycraft of all places and comes in small amounts just right for doll hair and is really quite cheap.  The range is very good and it is lovely to use.  I think they do the best yellow blond I have seen and I find blond hard to find, it's always too yellow like a sunflower or too cream.  Having found the pattern I have the urge to make a few more like her and put them in my craft fair stock, all different fabrics but all with lovely stripy legs.  Hope you like her.

 

 

Orla, Florrie, Maeve, Livia and Polly Dolly Brooches

I have made so many of these little ladies just lately, all for a wedding of a lovley couple from Dumfries - a little bride and groom, five pink silk skirted bridesmaids and thirty six little girls in pink as favours for the ladies, Janine the blushing bride, gave them to her guests before the wedding to wear as corsages, she collects dolls and had a doll themed wedding. Great fun, so I thought I would make a few more for my Folksy shop. They are lovely and fiddly to make and I settled on using net as a underskirt to reduce the weight, they stand at just slightly over 11cm or 4.5inches with a little brooch back. They look great on denim and an aunt of mine wears hers on her summer fleece and it looks good.

I am thinking of trying out some more summery versions with summer dresses and short bolero jackets without the winter hat and with maybe a head scarf - I am still working on the idea and will post one as soon as I work it out.  I am refining the bride and groom and will definately post the happy couple when I've worked them out more to my liking.
I hope you like them and would love to hear more of your comments. All the best, Pook.