A Very Special Sewing Doll

Greetings dear friends & readers .... & Welcome to a bright shiny new week.

It must be about 10 years ago now that a customer came to my Craft Cottage & gifted me this pattern.

Her words were "this looks like something you might like to make"

Oh how very true indeed 💕

The Pattern is called Emily by Debbie Magee of Always Stitchin' 2003 .... though I can find no website for Debbie now 

I have long ago lost count of how many times the Emily pattern came out of the drawer & sat on my craft table - waiting to be made up - only to be tucked away again.

Finally -  the time had come to bring her to life.

I made the body up, stuffed it tightly & then decided to give my Emily some painted boots.

She posed none-too-elegantly by the fire while her boots dried !!

(No dolls were harmed in this process - no feet were scorched either !!!!)

I had just enough length of a lovely piece of plain cotton/linen blend to make her dress.

I really enjoyed making the prairie points on the hemline & used lots of my Tilda scraps.

All the laces & vintage doilies, trims etc were all found in my stash.

Tilda scraps for the pockets & hexie too 

Then it was time to embellish the dress with the pockets & doilies.

I changed the pattern a little & omitted some pockets, while adding in extra crochet doilies

I tipped out a brown paper bag filled with vintage sewing notions & decided these might be ideal to adorn my dollies pockets

I am pretty sure these vintage threads above came from Kiwikid Sue - thanks Sue!

The "tape measure" is a length of woven tape measure ribbon that I had 

The little Singer Sewing Machine was included in the pattern but I felt the first one I made was too small so I enlarged the pattern a little & much prefer the larger size.

(The Word Singer is just written on with gold gel pen.)

I found a vintage wooden needle holder in my junk bits & also some old rusty bobbins which I strung on some linen cord that I plaited

Some sewing embellishments were added & the piece of cross stitch was the corner of a serviette that I fussy cut.

It fit in the wooden hoop perfectly 

She has a felt hat which I also changed the pattern of as my first version turned out huge & flopped around on her head & made her look like a clown  -  her hair is hand dyed mohair 

I love my Emily Sewing doll  -  I was tempted to give her some wings but have decided she is quite perfect 

just the way she is. 💖

I need to find just the right spot to hang her in my sewing room.

At nearly 90 cms in length she is one tall girl.

It was another busy weekend with the birthday of my eldest Grandson Alec who turned the big 5 !!

Alec's Mum made him a treasure chest cake which turned out wonderful & tasted delicious.

We had a lovely birthday party but kept our numbers to just 10 in accordance with our Level 2 rules & restrictions.

I quite enjoyed the smaller number & found it a wonderful gathering.

On Saturday morning I made these two pot holders for my gift box - this is a free pattern download from the very kind & generous Jenny of Elefantz Designs

Late last week I spent a cosy morning in my kitchen making up a batch of soy candles into vintage glass containers.

I had some new wooden wicks that I was keen to try out as I have heard these crackle when they burn - I hope so.

Also a gorgeous new fragrance - Pumpkin Spice.  I did not go into raptures when I smelt it in the bottle but once made up in the soy wax - Oh My !!!  💗 It is divine !!!

The 2 candles above right are the pumpkin spice fragrance & they make the whole house smell so wonderful - even without being lit.

I hope you are still keeping safe & well dear friends & readers

Here in New Zealand our restrictions have been lifted in many areas but we still must be vigilant & careful.

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead - take care of yourselves & each other,

With much love & friendship,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0