After a year full of changes it seems that life is finally beginning to return to normal. I am comfortably ensconced in a place I can call Home. We have enclosed the carport as a prelude to turning it into a sewing studio so The Doll's Dressmaker can have a permanent place to ply his trade. Now all that we need is for a bag of gold to drop from the sky to facilitate the remainder of the transition. Since we have only had one ten minute rainstorm in the last six weeks I'm not holding my breath waiting for this to happen. If we can't get rain I'm sure that bags of gold are even harder to come by. But, fear not! Hope springs eternal!
Whilst we wait, here's my latest project. Her name is Kiki and she comes from an UK company called Clothkits. Mine is an earlier version than the one currently selling on their website. She was very easy to construct. I complicated the matter by embroidering her facial features, headband, and assorted floral accents beforehand. I also added button embellishments to her headband and bracelet and gave her elbow and knee joints so she could better express herself. Doesn't everyone need to express themselves from time to time? I took a trip to my local independent needlework shop, Silk Road Needle Arts, today to pick up the wool threads I am going to use to embroider her hat and kimono which you see her sitting upon in the photo. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to have something creative to share. It has been far too long.
I hope your day was as fulfilling as mine! *^_^*
Buttonhole stitching is my thing. Long and short, whipped, slanted, beaded, I can do them all, but I have never attempted the feather stitch before because it looked too complicated. I have always wanted to learn how to do it though. Inspired by Alicia's embroidery industriousness and can-do attitude, I finally took the plunge. This will be a sheet for Sophie Alice's bed. So far I have completed nine of the twenty seven inches across the top of the sheet. When this is finished I will make a pillowcase with the same lace and feather stitch combo. The bottom sheet is completed. No feather stitching on that. I did do really neat mitred corners on the hems though. I wanted a real ticking stripe to make the pillow and mattress from and had settled on a red and white stripe because all I could find was red or blue. I was hoping for a softer colour because I didn't want the stripes to show through the pillowcase fabric. I had gotten a nice salmon pink and white stripe a couple of years ago from a now out of business quilt shop here in town but have since used it all up. Then, when I was browsing at WalMart (I know I shouldn't, but forgive me, aesthetic concerns propel me to the Dark Side) and lo and behold they had a 100% cotton ticking in a soft and beautiful tan and white stripe. All's well that ends well, I say.
In case you're wondering, the Japanese import fabric came from the afore mentioned ReproDepot.com.
*^_^*
This is the prototype for the skirts that are in my Etsy shop. It is going to be for me to keep so I only finished it as far as I needed to to work out the fit and design. That was more than a year ago. I think it's high time I finally finish it so my doll can change out of her only other outfit. I think I'm going to finish it differently than the others but I'm not quite sure how. I'll probably make it up as I go along. That's how I usually do it. Let's see what happens. *^_^*
