Daisy Kingdom Doll & Sandra's Sewing Room

Repairs are finished & the
sewing room is back to normal! 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I recently came across a Daisy Kingdom
doll dress panel, that I am ashamed to 
say, has been in my stash of projects
 since the early 90's. 

Daisy Kingdom dolls and dress panels
were sold at fabric & craft stores.
I had a panel but, no doll.  I found this
sweet little red head on e-bay.    

The panels have printed fabric
 pieces & easy to follow directions.
 Just cut and sew.

As you know, machine sewing isn't my 
favorite thing to do, but I managed to 
keep my heavy foot in check!
(Picking out those hot pink
 sneakers was my favorite part!) 
 

I packaged Daisy up and sent her to
Miss Ava to go with the antique bed
I took on my last visit.  The first thing
Ava did was remove all her clothing 
and put her to bed.........naked!
Who knew?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sandra at "Sandra's Sewing Room"
has a collection of the Daisy Kingdom 
dolls and their beautiful clothing.
Please stop by her blog & learn more 
about these collectible adorable dollies!
Sandra's Sewing Room
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Happy (machine) Sewing!

Hazel Erma Jane Butternut

 As I finished up this dolly, I decided to call her Hazel
 after a long time friend of my mother.  This doll
 reminds me of this good-natured, soft spoken lady. 

When I was a young girl Hazel's elderly 

parents were our neighbors.  Her daddy was
 a kind, easy goin' old fella.  He spent lots of time
 puttering around in his shed or working in the
 garden.  He always had a peppermint in his pocket
to pass through the fence.  Hazel is the spittin'
image of her daddy.

 On the other hand, her mother's personality
leaned a little toward the ill-tempered side.  I
recall being on my very best behavior when I
crossed her path.  Even as a child, it was
easy to see Hazel was partial to her daddy.

 I didn't know Hazel's middle name.
It was time for one of our little chats, so I
decided to call and ask.

 
  She could barely contain her giggling as she told me

the story of how she got 2 middle names.  When Hazel
was born, her mother wanted to name her Erma Jane, but

her daddy was dead set on the name Hazel.

 Apparently, this debate over her naming went on
for some time, with neither her mother nor her daddy
willing to budge.  Poor little newborn needed a name
for her birth certificate, so in the end, they agreed to call
her Hazel Erma Jane.

Hazel's parents have both "passed on"
as the old timers say.  When Hazel was going
through some of her daddy's papers she'd found
in their attic, she came upon an old class photo
she'd never seen before.

On the back written in her daddy's hand was this,
 "I am on the fourth row, second from the left,
sitting by my girlfriend, Hazel."

Hazel is a petite 15 1/2 inches tall.
She and her clothing are hand sewn.

Flannel cape, bonnet & vintage maple basket.

I lined the bonnet with sheer cotton.

Her cape is very plain & simple. I
used a black glass button.

This reproduction flannel is the same

front and back.  I just cut out a simple shape.

Basted the edge all the way around.

I used my peel and stick tape as a guide

to make even button hole stitches with  3

strands of embroidery thread.

Button hole loop closure.

Hazel Erma Jane Butternut,
named after her daddy's ole' girlfriend!

 Thank you Hazel for your delightful little story.
Happy Sewing!

2015 Really?

In December I finished the chemise for the
doll I'm working on.  It's cotton with flat felled
seams and tiny lace edging.  It seems like I worked
on it for ages!

It has side gores. 

The last thing I did was make the button loop.

Yikes............... the fabric split.  Nothing to
 do but mend it.  You can see the large stitches 
& uneven button loop. 

Frankly, the chemise is ill fitting.  It looks

like an old mended hand me down, originally

worn by a much fatter dolly, but it will stay

with her.  (She doesn't seem to notice
it's failings!)

I've chosen the fabrics for her dress and cape.

I decided against wool fabric for her cape, it was just too thick

 for a doll this size.  This reproduction brushed flannel is one of 
those horrid period greens I am not fond of, but somehow they look 
so right in the end & I'm always pleased.  Plaids were very popular
 & I will use one of the early 1900 black glass buttons for the closure.

I've wanted to use this early reproduction print for a

long time, even though it's really too large & not suitable for
a small doll dress.  I think the colors are beautiful & these tiny 
antique green hobnail buttons will look lovely down the front.  I
 think the vintage 1/4 inch rick rack will compliment the dress too. 

What do ya' think......way too big?

I also worked on another wool elephant from the

1905 Ladies Home Journal pattern.  This one
 has teeny antique German black glass eyes. 

If I hadn't fallen UP the stairs & jammed the fingers

of my right arthritic hand, I'd be much further along

with these projects!!!  For now, they have to wait.

I couldn't grasp the little needles, so I went for the big ones.
I was in need of a plain warm walkin' scarf, besides, I
thought it would be a good way to get my joints moving.

I only know the very basics of knitting, just enough to 

make simple scarves with no pattern.  With all the

beautiful specialty yarns you can purchase today, the 
stitching doesn't show anyway. 

These are big knitting needles & this scarf has 18 stitches.

Painfully awkward & the image of Struwwelpeter 
 kept floating around in my mind.

This is the plain ole' knit stitch.

I cut some lengths of yarn for fringe.  I had some 

extra variegated green yarn I thought would blend

in nicely.

Attaching the fringe.

 Then pull.

Dampen and lay out flat to block.  I used the
 rotary cutter, lip edged ruler & cutting mat to 
trim the fringe evenly.

Not fabulous, but my joints were beginning
 to loosen up a little, despite the swelling.

Even though my walkin' coat has a hood,

my ears still get cold, so I decided to make a

warm head band.  I made 3 skinny scarves

(knit a row, pearl a row), braided them together

then stitched the ends together.  I made a small

square to cover my ugly stitches.  Not my best
work, but they are WARM.

I added a carved coconut button,
because I LOVE BUTTONS!
I checked You Tube & there are numerous
learn to knit videos that look so easy.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas.  Steve & I had a Christmas
 Eve dinner at the Panda House in honor of the movie "A Christmas
 Story".  Our son Alex came on Christmas and spent several days 
with us.  We enjoyed our time together, great fun.  Leann had shows 
till after New Year's, (something we are used to) but will soon
 be here for an extended stay & we are planning a couple trips.
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 I still can't grip a needle so I've decided to take a blogger
 break.  I have several different projects I hope to do this year,
 along with dolls & a stuffed animal or two.  I also look forward
 to seeing all the posts from my blogger buddies.  Thank you for 
sticking with me and leaving such kind comments, they mean a lot!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click below to learn about Struwwelpeter if you've 

never heard of him or the other cruel bizarre children's

stories by German author Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann.

Feeling My Age

Struwwelpeter Wikipedia

&

1905 Ladies Home Journal Elephant

My New Year's resolution.........use the hand rail!
Back in February