The Making of Ms.Red Riding Hood

For week four of the year long challenge I decided I would make a doll that had been in my head for a while. Well as you can guess from the title of this post I was making Red Riding Hood, she took about three - four days to make in total. I also had to draft my own pattern for a part of her clothing, which took a bit of head scratching.
As always I showed the progress on my Facebook page with some Work In Progress Photos, which for the first time I'm also sharing here.

As always I start with the head which after sewing needed to be stuffed, needle sculpted and then my favorite part drawing and colouring the features.  

The next step is to stuff and attach the body parts as you can see on the photo below I've button jointed the hips and shoulders. I also took a photo of the doll on the fabrics I was thinking for using for her clothing.

I decided to use the white cotton for an underskirt with a shell pink chiffon over the top. I then gave her a faux leather corset and finished the bodice with gold lace. 

I also added ribbon to her wrists and tops of her boots, and I also added laces to her boots using some embroidery thread. 

Next was the cloak the piece of clothing I had been scratching my head over, well I just went for it and I made a fully lined hooded cloak. I did make one mistake on it, while sewing the lining to the hood I sewed it on the wrong way out so I had to unpick it all and start again this time with success. 

I was really please how she turned out especially the cloak, and she's now available in my Etsy shop and below are the photos of the completed Ms. Red Riding Hood. 

Until next time

Vic xx

Week 2 & 3 of 52 Things Challenge

So I finished the make for Week Two which was a sewing needle case. I felt I cheated a bit as I used a free kit off the front of this months Mollie Makes Magazine. It was easy to make and it was nice to do some patchwork which I haven't done since I left school. The only thing was some of the instructions I disagreed with, for instance the hexies they suggested whip stitching together this left stitches showing and looked messy to me.  I sewed them together and attached them to the felt with a Ladder Stitch which I use all the time with my dolls as it gives a near invisible join and looks a lot neater.

I also stab stitched the pink felt onto the rest of the case rather than the suggested running stitch, I did want to blanket stitch it on but I couldn't remember how. I've given this to girlie for her sewing stash as its just a bit too bright for me, I will make a needle case for myself at some point during this challenge. 

So for Week Three I painted some bigger Steampunk Elves to go with the tiny ones I made before christmas. I separated them into two sets and they are available in my Etsy Shop I wish I still had some cogs as I could have sewn them to the hats. 

I also painted two other Pixie elves especially for valentines, but they could be for all year round. 

I wonder what I will be making for week 4.

Until next time

Vic xx

52 Things Challenge and Gnomes

Here we are a shiny brand New Year and as usual I'm taking my time to get back into the swing of things. Luckily I have some motivation in the form of my fellow crafty pals on the Craft Pimp Forum. We are having a year long inspiration challenge which means making / creating once a week so by the end of the year you have 52 things you have sketched, made, baked etc. I've joined in and I'm not sure if I can manage it all year but I will have a good try. Luckily I had an idea already in my head for week one.

I've wanted to add some more fairytale characters to my work and shop and also a bit more affordable.  So I thought why not Gnomes made from felt and made into brooches. I sketched a few ideas and decided to make the most complicated ones first which were the Viking Gnomes Ragnar and Siguard.

Siguard I made first and I glued and then hand sewed the felt together and I was really pleased in how he turned out. Next was Ragnar and he turned out very well. In fact the girlie test worked again as I nearly lost both to her. 

I listed both of them on Etsy, and I had a little giggle while writing the descriptions. I think there will be a few more Gnome brooches visiting my shop over the year including some pirates and maybe some more of the viking clan.
I wonder what I will be making next week.

See you soon.

Vic xx