Tiny doll "Flora"

I've been up to quite a lot in the past months, only I didn't manage to take pictures... shame on me...

It only 11 months to finally make this little doll - she's called Flora, she's about 13cms tall and made on a metal wire frame, so she's quite bendy and great to play with. The girls are already mothing her, so I'm curious how long she will last.

Because of the flowery dress we've called her "Flora".

I made her following the wonderful instructions by Cristina Cevales-Labonde in her book "Biegepüppchen selbstgemacht" (German).

I can really recommend the book, she gives really good instructions and tons of inspiration for making little dolls. What I thought was really touching was the loving way she wrote about the little dolls in the pictures that she describes, they all have names!

A Dirndl for a little lady

Our oldest daughter is starting school this autumn, so I wanted to make something special for her for the occasion. I've been planning to make this Dirndl for her for months and managed to make one for Little Miss No 2 already, so making this one was easier.

The sizing is very precise, I cut a size 98 in width and a size 116 in length for her (according to the size chart) and it fits just right, but not one centimeter too much. The blouse runs a bit tight, especially when you make it to pull it over the head, I had to let out all of the seam allowance. And it only just fits...

If I made it for her again, I would probably go up one size (both Dirndl and blouse) - luckily she didn't have a growth spurt just before school started.

All in all the pattern is really good, if you keep in mind, that it runs rather tight, it's super. The instructions are really good, lots of photographs. It's not a supertraditional way of making a Dirndl, but it's as close as you get if you want to finish the dress in a reasonable amount of time.

The pattern is from https://mondbresal.blogspot.com/
The fabrics (pink and blue) are from here https://www.stoffe-hemmers.de/
The fabric for the blouse used to be a bedsheet and the litte trim is from the local arts and crafts shop.

I had a little bit of fabric leftover, so I made a Mini Dirndl for the Nora Doll, too. :) I used a dress from the Mariengold oh girl! book and winged the apron. It was a really nice quick and easy project. I will try and post a picture of the dress for the doll soon.


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Cost
ePattern: 8,50 Euros
Fabric and notions: 30,00 Euros

Mia doll for the KiTa

The KiTa-time (kindergarden for younger than 3 year olds) has been wonderful. The way the staff of the Waldorf-KiTa welcomed her, made her comfortable, gave her confidence and helped her grow as a person, while respecting her very own personality is amazing and I am very grateful she found a place there. She loved going there every single day and I can see her little face light up when she talks about the staff there.

So I wanted to express my gratitude in making a doll that resembles my little Miss No 2 (at least a little bit). In March my big little girl will be continuing to the "big" Kindergarten with her sister. I am a little bit sad about it, but I think the girls will also like to be together in the Kindergarten.

I am very grateful also to the KiTa, because it encouraged me to have a look at Waldorf/Steiner related books. I started reading a bit antroposophic literature (especially concerning children). I found it very encouraging and supportive in some aspects, other aspects are and stay very foreign to me. But that's ok. I am grateful for the positive input it has provided for the family.

This is the third doll I made following the immensely wonderful patterns "baby twink" of Mariengold. (Mariengold.net). Again, I really enjoyed making the doll, the instructions are so clear and nice. I also made clothes following her ebook "oh girl" - a little dress (made from a fabric remnant from one of Mias summer dresses), jersey trousers, a little woolly jacket (that I wished Mia had...) and a woolly hat similar to one my girls have. Also shoes, of course. And fabric nappies, which you can't see on the picture, but they are there. :)

The doll is approx. 30cms in height and is filled with organic sheep fleece. All the fabrics and dyes used on the material are also natural and organic, so it's totally safe for the children to play with the little doll.

She comes in a little grey cardboard suitcase-bed, including a small blanket and pillow.

Aliena for Isabel

One of my best friends from waaaaaay back in schooltimes has an adorable little daughter called Isabel. So of course I wanted to make a doll for her, too. And the name for this one was clear from the very beginning. Aliena. Like one of the main characters from "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follet. Of course there is a story behind this. When I was about 15 or so, I was given this novel from my friend and I was dragged into the story of love, hate, passion, drama, history - I was hooked and in a way it was a novel that a huge impact on me. But enough on the name.

I wanted the doll to have a sort of "earthy" feel so I chose dark brown hair (which the character in the book has, too, and dark eyes). The clothes are a dress made from layers cotton batist in curry yellow and a grey/mud brown. Her hat and her shoes are a crocheted from a dark burgundy cotton and the coat (with hood) is knitted from grey wool that is just the sligthest but irregular in the shade of grey.

To make the doll, I followed Mariengold.net instructions. As well as for the clothes. I love those instructions (she sells them in English and in German and if you have questions, she's answering them really quickly via Email and she's really friendly, too!). The material for the doll is from www.wollknoll.de, they have wonderful jersey knit for the skin in I think 5 shades. This one is called "haut hell" (light skin). The hair is made from Dolly Mo Woolly Mohair in dark brown. And the filling is wool fleece (from sheep from Southern Germany... and I LOVE the smell of wool!). All the dyes and fabrics  are ecofriendly/organic and non-poisonous so it's entirely child-safe.

I made the doll as a Christmas/Birthday present.

Leevke - another baby doll

And yet another doll for christmas - for little Miss No 2. Who didn't get a self-made doll so far, so this is her first one. Again, I made the dolly following Mariengold patterns, also for the clothes (shoes, coat and dress). The dress is a variation on a tunic shirt in her clothes book "oh girl". It is a little longer and has a ruffle and velvet ribbon attached at the bottom, so it is more a dress than a tunic.
The hair is made from off-white mohair wool (from wollknoll.eu) and I then attached two pleats on the back which i tied around the head, so it is like one big pleat around the head. (because of the big ribbon around the head, you can't really see this...) Maybe I manage to take another picture when it is warmer.

Making these little dolls is so addictive!

Wencke - a baby doll.

This little cutie is called Wencke. She was this year's christmas present for my not-so-little-any more Miss No 1. And she adopted her with delight saying "finally I have a little baby, too!".

Anyhow, I made this little dolly following the instructions for "Mariengold" dolls (www.mariengold.net) which i really like. The hair is made in a special crocheting technique with Dolly Mo Wolly Mohair in dark brown.

All material is organic and non toxic (including the dyes). The filling is wool fleece from local sheep. :)

The clothes are made following Mariengold "Oh girl" patterns (shirt, hat, suit, shoes), only I combined a dress and a trousers pattern to make this overall. They were farbric remnants from shirts and trousers I also used to make clothes for the kids.

This was my second attempt at dollmaking. And again, I really enjoyed it.

Aurélie for Mia

Of course my Little Miss No 2 shouldn't be without a self-made doll, either. She will get this little cutie (called Aurélie) for her 3rd Birthday. She's been asking for a while already, so I hope she will be happy when she finally gets her own doll.

I used the Mariengold.net patterns again, and I still love them so much.

For the hair I used Dolly Mo Wooly Mohair in Dark Brown. The pullover/knitdress is also made following a pattern by Mariengold and I used some leftover sock yarn (the one I used for Bina by Lalylala...). I made two strings to close the back, with two pompoms (i LOVE making Pompoms!) also from leftover yarn. The shoes are also made following the Mariengold (oh girl!) instructions (cotton in a rusty red).

The dress Aurélie is wearing underneth the pullover dress is made from a lovely fabric by Tilda and then from a scrap piece of fabric (cotton batist) I applied a ruche at the bottom.

And why is she called Aurélie? - Because I like the Song by "Wir sind Helden". :)

Tilda Wildgarden fabric

Nora - My first attempt at dollmaking

Because I always need something to do and create, I ventured into dollmaking. I can't exactly remember how that happened, but I thought I'd try out to make a Waldorf-style doll for Little Miss No 1 myself.

Anyway, I found this lovely homepage (in English and German)
http://www.mariengold.net/
http://www.mariengold.net/english-2/

And as it happens this lady not only makes dolls, but she is generously sharing her knowledge. She's teaching dollmaking and you can purchase pdf patterns and material kits online (on etsy and dawanda).

I got the instructions for "Baby Twink" and a set with material and then set of and enjoyed every second of making Nora. And Little Miss No 1 absolutely loves her, too. Which is great, because she usually doesn't go for toys...

The instructions are clear, very precise, with a lot of helpful pictures and graphics. It was no problem to follow them step by step. And there are a lot of useful tipps and techniques in it, too. The pattern includes 5 different dolls: 2 babies (30cm and 45cms) and 3 children (30,40,50cms).

The material kit was great, enough of everything available, more on the generous side (much appreciated here).

I also got the "Oh girl" dolls clothes ebook, so we could dress Nora immediately. Plenty of knitting, crocheting and sewing projects. What I particularly enjoyed was the fact, that Little Miss No 1 actually helped making the dolls clothes. She cut AND machinesewed the entire shirt.

Oh and the colours are a choice of Little Miss No 1, too.

If you ever toy with the idea of making a doll like this - these are brilliant instructions.

I think she looks a lot cuter in real.