Finished Cassie this morning

I finally added the last bit of lace to Cassie's panties and have listed her in my etsy shop. The pattern is nearly finished as well. I need to do another wig and show the process better. I wish I had taken more photos the first time. Oh well... soon!

Finally finished my first Ballerina

I've had a crazy couple of months. My mom is not feeling well, at 82 she's done something to aggravate her back. She's got severe arthritis and can hardly stand to move. Lots of trips to urgent care while her doc was on holidays. In the middle of that she had pain in her mouth and had to have a trip to the Dentist. So needless to say there hasn't been a lot of time to play.
She's on some pain meds now and we're hoping they can help her recover a bit.
My sister came in from Regina on Good Friday so I have some more hourly help too. And it's so wonderful to see her. We have been playing with puppets. She's a school teacher, special needs highschool. Although we usually make a project she can teach her kids, this time the puppet is for her friends. They're HUGE Sask. Riders fans. CFL Football for those who don't know. Anyway her puppet is the 13th man....

Sorry no pics...
I gave her the pattern for my puppet and she went crazy! The puppet was done in a few hours.

While she did that, I needle felted some hair on my blue ballerina. And with a beaded organza flower for her hair she is now complete.

I listed her in my etsy shop this morning. I hope to play some more this week, as I took some vacation to help mom and spend some time with my sister. Tomorrow we're off to see the Hunger Games again!! Love the movie and the books!

Update on Cassie

Ok, so I haven't quite finished the pattern yet but Cassie is done and I couldn't wait! I have my friend Jolene proofing the pattern for me and she's had a few suggestions so I've a bit of work left to do on it before I list either of them in my store. But here she is.

Cassie giving me a little attitude about the pictures taking so long. It's too bad the swarovski crystals don't show as much bling in the photos but they really make her tutu sparkle!

I've also been working on my ballerina from an earlier post. She still needs ears and hair... more tomorrow if all goes well. Why or why do I always forget to do the ears!!??

Today's WIP On Cassie Ballerina Pattern

oooo, the excitement has built and I've almost completed Cassie. I've drafted her ballet shoes and almost completed her tutu. This is all I will show until the big reveal when I post the doll and pattern for sale on my etsy shop. So excited, she looks so sweet! It may be a while yet until I finish embellishing her and get her pattern completed. So many details and photos to add from where I last left off. Then I probably will need to edit. I'm at 17 pages already with all the photos! Yikes. Glad this is a pdf! You can print the pattern pieces separately if you want to and keep the rest of it on the computer! YAY, Love patterns by email. Instant start! anyway, here are her slippers and the start of her tutu! Stay tuned for the great reveal!

More WIP pics on my little Ballerina Cassie

As I work on this one I'm taking careful notes and photos so that I can sell this one as a pattern. The pattern will be loaded with all the little details that go into making a jointed cloth doll. Realistic face painting and shadowing, blushing, fingers toes, turning head, wig, costume and more! I'm a little afraid to say that she's coming along really well. She's got her hair and face on in this pic. She's a real sweetie!

New WIP cloth doll

I'm hoping to develop this one into a pattern to sell but at this stage a lot of trial and error.... so I'll show you what I've got so far.

I've done four different heads...

two different bodies...

and have developed my joints...

and sewn it together.

I'm not happy with things yet, and have not soft sculpted the face or anything. I've blown some fingers and know how I need to change the pattern. But I thought you might like to see....

Four more layers of tulle

and the tutu has taken on more of the thickness that I wanted. Unfortunately I only had this patterned black and some light blue left in  my stash. So I went with the patterned black. A solid would have been better, but I like it. I've trimmed it all to make a shorter skirt,

 the pattern isn't so distracting when not as much shows beneath the top skirt panel. I still have lots of embellishing that I want to do yet. And don't forget the new head and some point shoes. Hopefully I'll get some more done today.

Happy Family Day to my Canadian friends!
Cheers!

Finally...

I finally got back in the studio this weekend. It's been a kind of blue winter for me, not inspired enough to get in and do something.

When I got Adele's newsletter a while back I was flabbergated at Vickie Arentz' Swan Lake, well in fact with all her ballerinas and her tutu's were so gorgeous!!

Vickie shows us how to make her tutu's in Adele's newsletter and I've been so intrigued. I have never made a ballerina before and I wanted to try this! Since I haven't been inspired at all this year and my sculpts haven't worked for me either. I decided to try it on a cloth doll.
I found a pattern in Patti Medaris Culea's book, Creative Cloth Doll Couture that I had been wanting to try. More for the knee joints than anything. So I thought why not try it for this Ballerina I wanted to try out.

SO I started the doll. I'm not too fond of the head. For the ballerina I had in mind I wanted a more narrow face. I loved the fingers though, and once wired, found them to be very expressive. Just what you want in a ballerina. Her body is a little thicker than I'd want and her feet will need to be really squeezed into some point shoes but I'm going to go with it for now.

The next day I took on the costume. An body suit in black satin, and then onto lots and lots of pleating for the tutu. I only had enough for four layers of tutu in the teal blue... back to the stash box for more ideas.

Although I have started the rest of the costume, I'm going to go back to the sewing table for a new head and more pleating before I show you more.

Hope you're enjoying? Please visit the links above to download Adele's newsletter and see Vickie's wonderful Swan Lake art doll on etsy!!! Stunning! Really! It will take your breath!!