How to make a Waldorf Cuddle Doll - Part 1

In this post I am going to explain how to make a Rainbow cuddle doll. I love rainbows and I love cuddle dolls, so putting the two together has been something I have wanted to do for ages.

I will do this post in two parts, as I think it will be rather long. I have tried to take photos as I worked through each process.

The first step in making this rainbow cuddle doll is to dye the fabric. I took a good quality double raised flannel and cut it into strips the correct length to make the hat, arms and legs. 

This shows the fabric during the dying process being dipped into the second colour - blue and yellow into green.

This is the fabric after dyeing, drying on the washing line. It is in the same order as the doll (and a rainbow). Red/orange will be for the hat, yellow green for the arms, dark green, blue purple for the legs.

The next step is to make the head and 'heart' of the doll. The heart is the part the child will hold onto when they cuddle the doll. This needs to be firm but not as firm as the head.

I start by making a tube which is gathered and secured at the top. This tube is then filled with sheep wool. The top is stuffed very firmly to make the head and the bottom, less so to make the heart.

The tube is then secured at the bottom and linen thread is tied around to form the neck.

The face is then shaped with more linen thread.

Now it is time to sew the body. This is made in two parts - the arms and the legs. They are made from a simple rectangle shape. Above I am marking out the feet and getting ready to sew.

I also sew the arms leaving a gap to put the doll's head through (sorry no pictures of this). I also cut the other side of the arms so that the head can fit through.

 Next, I am going to embroider the face. I usually do the eyes first and then the mouth, making sure they form an equilateral triangle.

 Here the face embroidery has been done and I have tried a hat on for size.

Ok  - in the next 'How to make a Waldorf Cuddle Doll" post you can see how it all comes together.

best wishes

Sam

Mid -Winter Crafting

Winter lantern Festival

I have been doing quite a bit of mid-winter inspired crafting lately.

I would like to show you is this lantern that I made with Theo. He was home from kindi for 2 weeks whilst unwell and as he recovered we found the chance to craft together.

He missed out on making a lantern at school, which is a yearly tradition ending with an evening lantern walk - so we made our own. A quick look through Pinterest and we were all set.

 This is what we made.

We used vegetable oil to make our water colour paintings translucent, then I did lots of folding whilst Theo claimed he was hungry! A bit challenging for a small boy - fun for me.  A very good and detailed tutorial is here

Then we had to be very patient and wait for the glue to dry until the next stage! time for a snack.

We then stuck the base and spent time shaping the lantern - sorry too busy folding to take photos!

We were quite pleased with the result and they are nice and sturdy. The addition of a 'twisty' for a handle and we were ready to go.

Lantern in use at the festival.

Birthday

My boy turned 5 today.

We celebrated at home with some simple special family time since he is still recovering from the Chickenpox.

This included experimental baking, building a Lego castle, a favourite dinner in front of the fire, a lantern walk around the garden and a volcano cake to finish.

This blog will turn 1 this month. We will be celebrating with a special giveaway I will bring you next week.

Have a lovely weekend.

Sam

Elf Castle + Spots

It is Theo's turn for the chicken pox this week - looks like Ello has them too....

So, I thought I would bring you a little blast from the past.

Last Christmas Fil aka the Woodbotherer did several commissions and this Elf Castle was one of them.

 

Complete with a throne, balcony and even a dragon's cave at the bottom.

Steps lead up to the beautifully shaped front door - I love the details.

and of course complete with proper defenses!

Have a great week.

Sam

Doll love

I love making dolls.

Here are a few of my favourites that I have made.

I discovered this type of doll through attending my local Steiner Playgroup. The dolls at playgroup were different, made from natural fabrics with simple features. I bought a book on dollmaking and made my first doll for my daughter's 3rd birthday.

What I discovered when I made my first doll was that there is much more to a doll than merely fabric and sewing.

As the doll is formed it starts to take on a personality, a character. I was genuinely surprised by this and totally fell in love with making dolls.

However, it is when you give the doll to a child, the real magic begins.

Evie and Lily

When I make dolls, I make sure I have time and am not rushed and therefore have only started regularly making dolls for others fairly recently now my children are a little older.

I usually have an idea as a starting point but stay open to the character of the doll coming through. 

Sometimes the finished doll will be quite different from the idea that first started.

I currently have some dolls looking for good homes, either at our Felt shop or you can visit some in person if you are local at a very special little shop called Forest Folk.

Doll Making Classes

I am very happy to have the opportunity to share my doll making skills with you in 'Doll Making Classes' held together with the Titirangi Rudolf Steiner School craft group. 

"It is a beautiful thing to craft a doll with your own hands, sew it together with love, then make a gift of it to your child with these words 'I made this for you!'"(Sara McDonald, Magic Cabin Dolls).

If you are interested learning doll making then please get in touch - all the details are below. There is a limit of 6 places this time. All proceeds go to the school.

 

For more details and to book go here.

Best wishes

Sam

Work in Progress

Every now and again in this busy home of ours I like to stop and take stock of all the 'work in progress'.

In a rare quiet moment I took my camera around to find out what was being made....

 sketching in the workshop...

a new shaped fairy house will be ready soon....

in the sewing room a little family grows...

Autumn = knitting and this time something for me! The pattern is here

a little workspace made on an upturned crib

these look sweet

working out on paper + table...

and look what I found in the playhouse!

Have a great weekend and next week you will see the new fairy house and it's inhabitants in full!

Sam

Hello Ello

My daughter Evie loves the doll I made her for her 5th birthday. She is called Lily and really is part of the family.

This is Evie and Lily in London recently when we went for a visit - yep, Lily goes everywhere.

Naturally, my son Theo has been anticipating having a doll like Lily of his own. He already has a few but not one that you can dress and undress.

When recently I started making dolls again, Theo brought me some doll skin fabric from my stash. "Let's make a doll Mummy."

Well, how could I resist?

So, over the next few weeks we worked on Theo's doll together in that funny hour or so after lunch and before we go and collect Evie from school. I made the head myself first as this is not something that is recommended to do with young children, and we did the rest together. I sewed and Theo helped in the way 4 year olds do. ahem.

This is the story of how Ello was born.

First we covered his head in skin fabric. Theo started to play with him straight away, before he even had a body! He chose the beautiful colours for his eyes and red wool for his hair.

Then we carefully cut out and sewed the fabric for the arms and the body and weighed out the wool to stuff the arms.

We stuffed the hands first. Nice and firm.

Then we put the arms on the top of the body - my helper carefully took out the pins.

Next we stuffed the body with wool.

The head and are were then put into the body of the doll ready to be sewn up.

Theo asked me frequently if the doll was ready yet? No, not yet - soon.

Then one morning (soon after) Theo awoke to find his new friend wrapped in a blanket at the end of his bed.

"I cradled him in my arms Mum, and he is called Ello"

Sword and Shield

Sometimes it's the kids who come up with the best ideas.

Fil made some wooden swords and shields for Theo's recent 'Knights and Dragon' birthday party. Nice and small and light weight for the kids and not too pointed...

After the party the kids had the idea to paint them. They love painting wood and often come in from the workshop with bits of wood to paint.

We painted them with some poster paints and used sponges and rollers to get some good effects.

Theo gets very absorbed in his painting and often paints himself too! Great fun.

We have some lovely new swords and shields freshly out of the workshop for you folks too at our shop. 

Have a great week.

Felt flowers

A Camellia Head Band

I have had a bit of a thing for felt flowers lately after seeing this beautiful flower crown. I just had to have a go making one myself.

We are right in the middle of winter here in New Zealand so there are not many flowers in the garden apart from one - the brightest, pinkest of flowers , the Camellia.

So, inspired by these flowers bringing colour to the darkest of days and armed with a stack of felt and my glue gun, I had a little play...

This gives you an idea of the flower template I used (cringing about the spelling)

Before the final assembly

Work In Progress

It has been a bit of a whirlwind around here lately with Mid Winter festivals (called Matariki here in NZ) and 2 family birthdays all in one week. 
As I pondered what to make today I realized that the best thing I could do was to have a good old tidy up. 
As I put things away from the flurry of crafting and making that has happened here recently I made some discoveries. Some works in progress that had literally been on the bottom of the pile.

the makings of a game?

The promise of a jumper? If you want details, my Ravelry notes are here

some little dolls getting a make over....

and some sweet felt flowers starting to bloom, written as I now know as 'Camellia'.

Ok, so I have my works in progress back on track. I am looking forward to showing you around the little doll's fairy house when they move back in (hopefully next week) and watch out for some of these projects making their way back to the top of the pile.