Over the weekend, Darcy and I were invited to a birthday party for my good friend Susan's little girl, Ava. It was Ava's 3rd birthday, so I wanted to give her something extra special. The first plan was to go to Target and pick out a toy that I thought might appeal to her, but decided to make her something instead.
After brainstorming, I settled on making The Black Apple doll,
pattern found here. I have been wanting to do this pattern since I saw Emily's appearance on the Martha Stewart show last year. I'm still pretty new to making dolls and softies, and this is a great pattern for beginners like me.
Knowing me, I just had to incorporate some sort of fancy pants stitching on the doll, and what better place to showcase stitches than the hair! I love stitching hair.
*Dearest Readers: Please don't unsubscribe to my blog after seeing the not so pretty pictures of my project. My camera is officially dead to me, so I had to use my phone to take pictures of this awesome project. Don't judge me.*
So on with the hair! This added a little bit of extra work time to the doll, but I really like how it turned out.
Time to sew and stuff!
When I looked at the pictures above online, I kept getting ideas of more details that I wanted to add. (The details are the best part, you know.) I did add a little skirt to my doll's body, giving it little pleats and topped it with the black lace. I've had those sparkly buttons in my collection for a few years, and I think this was the perfect project for them. See honey? It
does make sense for me to horde a bunch of craft stuff for years at a time!!
After adding more details, like a black peter pan collar, fancy mary janes, and pigtails, and finally embroidering her face, she was finished!
I was so nervous about doing her little face, because I loved everything else so much. I guess that's why I put it off as the very last thing. I decided the safest and best option was to use the
Cute Little Heads pattern. (So glad I did.) I just picked one of the faces in the pattern pack, and cut out each facial feature separately and placed them accordingly on the doll's face. I wondered if I needed to enlarge the features a bit, but honestly, I think it worked with the size they are.
The birthday girl and her Mama loved the doll, so I was very happy.
Darcy loved the doll too, and kept asking if she could snuggle her. I felt bad limiting her snuggle time with "Dolly", (that's what Darcy kept calling her) so I promised I would make one for her too. Her birthday is in October, so that gives me a little bit of time. But since Darcy is more of an animal lover, I'm thinking I will make her the
Molly Monkey doll! Isn't she adorable?
I also have plans for a Little Red Riding Hood doll brewing in my head. Oh the cuteness!
xoxo
Amy
Isn't she sweet? I have 3 more all stitched up and I'm hoping to get them sewn and stuffed tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to put these in one of the local shops, along with some more new plush I've been working on. (This project was made with the Cute Little Heads pattern by Sublime Stitching.)
For this doll, I used the Black Apple designs for Sublime Stitching. The artist series are not part of the licensing program, so I guess I'll just have to keep this cutie for myself, or give it away to someone special. ;-)
Guess what? Mr. Fox was purchased this morning, so he'll be headed to his new home tomorrow! The hedgehog is still available, though. ;-)
Step 1: With your fabric hooped & ready to go, insert your needle, coming up from the underside of your fabric & pull your needle until the knot catches. (It's a matter of personal preference when it comes to knotting your thread. I prefer it.)
Step 2: Reinsert your needle about 1/4" ahead of where your needle came up previously.
Step 3: Again, coming up from the underside of your fabric, insert your needle about 1/4" ahead of the previous stitch.
Step 4: Reinsert your needle in the hole that meets the previous stitch.
Be sure plenty of fabric still surrounds your image, so you can allow for hooping.
An embroidery hoop has 2 pieces. The adjustable ring will be the top piece.
Pictured above: various transfer tools.
Materials:
If your design has lots of fine lines and details or if it's a large pattern, I would use the carbon transfer paper method.
When you first get your Sulky transfer pen, the tip will be white. Each time you use the pen, you'll need to press the tip down about 3 times to get the ink to flow in to the tip. Don't over do it though, because sometimes the ink tends to pool up.
That's why I recommend testing your transfer pen on a different piece of paper before you start tracing your design.
Remember to pre-heat your fabric first, and hold on to your design, to prevent smudging. This method is also permanent.
You can see the Sulky transfer pen leaves chunkier lines, so you'll need to learn not to use a heavy hand when tracing your design. I use the transfer pen method A LOT. I really love this product, and highly recommend adding it to your embroidery toolbox.
Materials:
I have to be honest, this is my least favorite transfer method. The lines are just too faint for me, and sometimes they don't transfer at all after ironing. But I will use it if I'm in a pinch.
Above photo: Floral fantasy tote bag.
