Baby Egg is off to her new home in NYC this afternoon. She is excited!
Baby Egg is off!
She loves her new PJs out of soft bamboo knit.
Phoebe&Egg was recently featured on the Etsy Blog. Read the story and see inside the studio.
Your Custom Text Here
Baby Egg is off to her new home in NYC this afternoon. She is excited!
Baby Egg is off!
She loves her new PJs out of soft bamboo knit.
The new Egg, Cuddly Egg, is quite popular. I have several going out his week. Two custom Baby Eggs, fraternal twins, left for their new home in DC today. I love custom orders, they get me to try new things and so far they have all been cool ideas that I have repeated. These Eggs both have new custom hair.
It was hard to take good photos given how dark the day was, but I tried my best.
Hand dyed curly hair
Baby Egg is her new PJs
PJs for Curly haired Egg
Retro Cherry Romper
A little bit retro
My new Learn-to-Sew Kits are now on Etsy. The star of the kit is a little Phoebe doll, called Scrappy Phoebe. There are five different Scrappy Phoebes. She comes dressed in her "underwear", but hopefully once she arrives, she will soon have many dresses.
The Scrappy Phoebe Learn to Sew Kits come with everything a girl needs to make at least 8 dresses. The kit includes
The kit is perfect for kids 7-10 with little or no sewing machine experience. The dress is easy to make and the focus is on the fun of designing and embellishing. After all that is the fun of learning to sew, adding your own ideas. This kit allows for lots of ideas.
And Scrappy Phoebe herself is pretty cute. She is small, but not so small that it makes sewing tricky.
Later this week I will have a guest post about hand sewing with kids. The dresses can also be made with hand sewing.
Later I will introduce two intermediate kits: Princess Scrappy Phoebe and Winter Clothes for Scrappy Phoebe. Not sure if I will have those ready before the holidays though.
Scrappy Phoebe models a handmade dress
The back of Scrappy Phoebe and the back of the dress. yes the kit includes velcro.
Five Scrappy Phoebes wondering what to wear.
Scrappy Phoebe Learn To sew Kit
The pattern, for tracing
What is in a Scrappy Phoebe Kit
Your bling
Think about customizing a doll for a gift
At least half of my orders have been for custom dolls. I do not charge more for custom dolls, but do require payment before I begin.
There are many ways to customize a doll. I have creative customers, who have thought of ideas that I would not have imagined. These ideas became amazing dolls.
There are many styles of Phoebe dolls. In addition, Phoebe can be a character in a book or a movie. I have made many Fancy Nancys and am in the process of making an Elsa from Frozen doll. A doll can resemble your child, be a boy, a girl, a toddler or a baby. Jointed and posable or floppy.
One of the beautiful things about a handmade doll is that you can design it to make it your own, or your daughter's or granddaughter's unique doll.
Below are a few of the possibilities. Think ahead for holiday orders, so I have time to make the perfect doll.
Phoebe's body can be customized. Or you can design a boy doll.
Phoebe dolls come in three sizes, young girl, toddler and baby sized (Egg). In addition, Phoebe has a brother, Ging. He can have straight or curly hair and very cute boy clothing, preppy or skateboard style.
Below are a few of the possibilities for hair. The yarn texture and color are both possibilities for customization. In addition, Phoebe can have a bob, or long hair or braids or a messy ballerina bun.
There are many ways to customize a Phoebe Doll
Phoebe can be any ethnicity. The dolls are made from 100% wool felt and I have five colors, peach, two shades of olive/tan complexion, and two shades of dark skin.
There are many ways to customize a Phoebe Doll
As you may have noticed, there are a lot of possibilities for Phoebe's clothes.
There are many ways to customize a Phoebe Doll
Two summers ago, due to a scary set of medical circumstances, my youngest (aka Egg), then 11, lost use of the left side of her body. After a stint at the Mass General Pediatric ICU, we were released to a children's rehab in Boston where she began the difficult task of relearning how to walk, dress, shower, eat, and knit.
We both lived there for a few weeks. The rooms that were not occupied with children, there for round-the-clock PT and OT, were used to house children in the foster care system waiting for a relative or foster family to volunteer their home. Both Egg and I were saddened by these children. They would often spend the days sitting at the nurses' station.
A three year old girl was in the room next to ours. She spent a lot of time alone in the sparse room in the crib. I would have considered bringing her home, but it had been a harrowing summer so far, and my energy was solely for Egg.
Egg made an amazing recovery and we went home, but we could not stop thinking about these children, who did not have a home.
Flash forward two years, our lives are good and stable. But we have not forgotten the plight of this group of children, whose lives are not so stable. I wanted to offer them something comforting for the unsettling journey, a doll friend.
When I launched Phoebe and Egg, I had a vision of offering a one for one, a doll donated for every doll purchased, like Toms does with shoes.
It took a bit of time and organization, but it is now a reality.
Introducing The Doll Friend Project.
For every doll purchased from Phoebe and Egg, a doll will be given to a child in the foster care system.
Eventually I hope to work with Councils on Aging and Girl Scout troops to help them make small wardrobes to go with each doll.
I am working with The Plummer House, a non-profit in Salem and Lowell, who offer housing for teen foster children and services for a wide range of ages, to make this happen. For these children transitional objects are very important and the dolls will be just that.
This past week I delivered the first batch of six dolls. Each designed for a specific child. However, the dolls are also designed to be durable. portable and machine washable.
I am looking forward to many more deliveries.
So from here on in, Phoebe&Egg will be delivering joy, two dolls at a time.
Scrappy Phoebe waiting for her new clothes
I learned to sew because my mother sewed. Although she taught me the basics, what really got me going was a certain amount of freedom that she was wise enough to give me. From early on I had unsupervised access to her sewing machine (she was brave or just too busy).
But what inspired me most was that she also kept all of her leftovers, her scraps of fabric and trim, in boxes under her sewing table for me. I loved picking through this box and designing doll clothes from the scraps.
Not all of my dolls received dresses from the scraps. The scraps were not big enough to make clothes for large dolls. And I soon discovered that very small dolls were tricky to sew for. There was a middle size that was just perfect.
I have been thinking about how to recreate that type of inspiring learn-to-sew experience for other children. My new sewing kit will have come with a cute Scrappy Phoebe doll (there are several to choose from), a simple dress pattern, an instruction booklet that covers how to start out on a sewing machine, how to make the dress (three steps really), how to embellish the dress and most of all, lots of scraps of fabric and trim.
Scrappy Phoebe on her own, at just shy of 12 inches tall, is pretty cute, but she will be so much cuter with all of her "designer" clothing.
Bye Baby Egg!
This week and next I am crazy busy, preparing for a few upcoming craft fairs (the first is in a little over a week).
And I'm busy making babies. One Baby Egg today flies down to DC to her new home. A few custom ones are in the works.
And then I'm making a bunch of babies for the craft show. Because everyone likes babies. And even more, people like cute little baby clothes.
Making babies and baby clothes
A cherry romper for Baby Egg
A few of my trimmings
I love trim. As you can see I have a bit. Before I get into choosing and sewing on various trims, I thought I'd share some of my favorite places to buy trim. The photo below are the trims I tend to use most often for doll clothing.
Next in this series, a series about sewing on various dolls trims.
Where to find cute trim for doll clothing
When shopping for ribbon, remember often one yard will cover trimming three doll dresses.
Velvet Ribbon comes in all sorts of widths.
Rick Rack, posted about this awhile back but here are the sources again.
Wright's Rick Rack (polyester) sold in the little cellophane cover packets is available many places online. It comes in over 20 colors. You can order Wright's here:
Cotton Rick Rack can be found at:
Rolls of Rick Rack (polyester)
Crochet edging, sometimes called Cluny
Jacquard Ribbon:
This is fairly easy to find, but what is hard to find is the narrower widths of doll clothing. You can play with scale, which can be cute, and use larger sizes. Here are a few places you can find some:
Mini Pompoms!
Bias Trim:
I make my own. simple to do, and you will always have an endless variety and sizes. I'll post about this later.
Ruffle Trim:
I bought this particular one in bulk wholesale from Mokuba, Japanese trim dealer in NYC. I had to buy 30 yards, but I love it and use it all the time. If you ever find yourself in the garment district, stop in. You need a business card to get in, but they are not that fussy about what business. Lots of ruffled trims in lots of sizes and colors. Maybe it's a thing in Japan.
Farmhouse Fabrics has some, but they are not small.
Grosgrain Ribbon:
I love the simplicity of grosgrain ribbon. It is easy to find.
In the next few posts in this series, I'll show you how I sew trims on doll clothes.
Molly Phoebe takes a moment to ponder her good fortune.
A little over a month ago, after I sold a Phoebe doll and thanked Sarah, the woman who purchased her, I received the following message back.
"We are all so excited to make clothes for her!"
I was thrilled that Phoebe appeared to have a team of people sewing for her, but was baffled about how Phoebe had landed herself in such a lucky situation. So I asked about the "we".
Molly Phoebe before she was Molly Phoebe
And for that simple question, I got to peak into the process of the making of an incredible gift by an amazing family.
Phoebe had a team of seven sewing for her. Phoebe's new home was in a family of eight children. Sarah, the amazing mother of eight, had bought the doll as a surprise birthday present for her six year old daughter Gemma, whose birthday was in a little over a month. Sarah and her six older children were going to going to use the month to enhance the gift by making clothes for Phoebe.
"Phoebe caught my eye because of her appealing modern look, her adorable long skinny limbs just like Gemma's and her beautiful face. I then showed her to my five oldest girls and they went crazy. Hence the inspiration to use her to get everyone sewing and knitting and quilting on a tiny manageable scale. It was the PERFECT summer's end project."
Not only is Sarah an amazing quilter and knitter, but she has passed these talents and values on to her children. " I REALLY want to pass the idea and love of handmade objects for loved ones and the home to the children. Modern life is very fast paced if we don't slow down we miss the beauty."
The girls started sewing dresses from the Doll Dressmaking Series on this blog and started making Phoebe a wardrobe of dresses. Sarah made sweaters, fair-isle knitted boots and quilts. And her older son made Phoebe four pillows. The youngest, who is four, just watched all of the activity. And there was a lot of activity to watch.
Together they made Phoebe: 9 dresses (and several matching ones for Gemma), 5 sweaters, 3 pairs of knitted boots, 2 quilts, one scarf and one hat!
When everything was done, it was all packed into three doll trunks just in time for Gemma's birthday, which was now going to be celebrated a bit sooner due to her father's deployment.
Phoebe and her wardrobe are very cherished and go everywhere.
And Phoebe is now Molly Phoebe Rose-Petal, which seems like the perfect name for a well loved doll with a huge wardrobe.
Making reversible dresses and knitting. Click to enlarge.
Sewing and quilting and more sewing. Click to enlarge.
Phoebe models handmade boots, quilt and a unicorn dress.
The wardrobe all packed up.
Gemma starting to open the first part of her gift.
Gemma liking her gift.
Phoebe thinking about what to have for breakfast
Phoebe and Gemma are off to school with matching dresses.
If your Phoebe doll has a special story, please send it along!
Recently I have been trying other doll patterns. For several reasons. But mostly because I am on a mission. Some of you know a bit about the mission, because I have been asking for advice.
I am sewing dolls to give to children in the foster care system. I have been working with a non-profit who assists the children with all sorts of support and services.
I have a list of children who will be recipients. From the list, I know just enough to help me design the right doll for each child. For each child there is a different set of attributes I feel the doll must have.
Two of the recipients are teen mothers. I have been thinking about them a lot.
The task of making their dolls has been a different sort of challenge. Like the other children, I want the doll to be a companion, but I also wanted it to be less about playing with dolls and durability, and more about something pretty, stylish and could be both a friend and a soothing decoration that also spoke to them. A doll for a more grown up girl, who still is a child and doesn't have a lot of pretty things.
And I wanted it to be a doll for a girl who probably wants to reclaim a bit of her childhood.
The challenge of making dolls for these children has led me to trying all sorts of doll patterns. I LOVE an excuse to sew different kinds of dolls. It gives you insight into your own processes and it pushes you in new directions.
For a few years now I have been obsessed with Jess Brown and her dolls as in Jess Brown Rag Dolls. First, what doll-maker is not a bit jealous of Jess Brown? The success she has had with her handmade dolls is staggering. She has been in Martha Stewart magazine, Sweet Paul, Courtney Kardashian just Instagrammed her daughter's latest Jess Brown doll.
A few weeks ago, Jess Brown came out with a book, The Making of a Rag Doll. I love doll books (and also have that Jess Brown obsession) so of course I bought it.
Making my own Jess Brown Rag Doll
The book comes with a pattern. Not the same pattern that is used for the dolls that Jess Brown sells, but a smaller version with different arms and head. The more I thought about what the doll for the two teen mothers should be the more I thought this doll pattern might be the one.
Sewing with this pattern was so completely different from sewing a Phoebe or an Egg doll. I found that oddly refreshing.
I made the dolls out of a soft brushed twill. There are only three simply shaped pattern pieces to the doll. She was simple to make. My biggest challenge was turning her tiny thin arms inside out. But it was so worth it, because those thin arms are key to the doll's elegance.
Making my own Jess Brown Rag Doll
Making my own Jess Brown Rag Doll
The doll body does not take that long to make. And her directions, which include clear line drawing diagrams, are great. I deviated a bit here and there. She uses felted sweaters for the hair, I used black polar fleece for hair, added bangs and I tweaked my faces a bit.
The real fun came with making the doll clothing. The clothing pattens are simple. The dress pattern is two pieces, the pants are one. But what I loved most was Jess Brown's approach. No time is spent on fussing with the traditional finishing details. Things are not hemmed, just some stay stitching here and there. No sleeves to fit into armholes, no linings, no gathering. Nothing to fuss with, nothing to mess up, and nothing to possibly redo. No fitting adjustments. No hand hemming.
This was so liberating. This allows you to focus on decorating the clothes. You can decorate them Jess Brown style or create your own style, which I did.
I also gave each doll a handbag, which will have a second dress in it. Because I have a feeling these girls may want to play with their dolls, just a little bit.
Making my own Jess Brown Rag Doll
Making my own Jess Brown Rag Doll
Making my own Jess Brown Rag Doll