Sunday, March 18, 2012

Pinned It, Did It #2: Sewn Dolly & New Sewing Machine

Why hello there!  I can't believe it's been over a week since I've posted.  I came down with a nasty cold early last week, which then caused a sinus and ear infection -- and then I unfortunately passed it on to little Nathan.  So we've been doing our best to take it easy while we recover -- and we're still working on the recovery part.

But that doesn't mean all crafting has come to a grinding halt.  If you follow my Facebook page, you know that I bought a sewing machine last Sunday (was it really only a week ago?)... and less than a week later I finished my first real sewing project!  Here it is, my Pinned It, Did It #2: Jingle Baby from the Winter issues of Living Crafts.


It was an easy pattern to sew (even for my first sewing project, and my first non-knitted doll) and I loved seeing this dolly come to life as it became three-dimensional with wool stuffing and then a sweet embroidered face.

If you're looking to make this doll, note that I upsized the pattern a lot.  The instructions say to use a photocopier to enlarge the pattern printed in the magazine by 133 percent.  I already knew that I'd made the doll's head too big at this point, so I enlarged it by 175 percent and it still wasn't big enough.  So I freehanded my own pattern enlargement by another 115 percent -- so the doll is about 13 inches long not including its giant pope-like hat.  (My husband was like, aren't you going to do something about the hat?  :)  Nope.)

If I hadn't enlarged the pattern, this doll would havebeen tiny -- maybe less than 10 inches without the hat and with a miniscule six-inch head circumference.  My masculine doll (LOL) has a hefty eight-inch head circumference.  Also, I didn't attach a jingle bell to the doll's head, either -- I'm in the mood for quiet toys these days.


I'm happy enough with Nathan's semi-luke-warm reaction to the doll -- it was way better than the way he immediately tossed aside my hand-knitted Poppa Owl and his farmer doll the year before that. 



At least he smiled and checked out the details first, and tried holding him like a baby when I asked him if he remembered how to hold a baby.  And then he tossed him to the floor.  The best part is that when I try to hold the baby, he takes him off my chest and moves him to the other end of the couch!  LOL!  I can only wonder what that's about.

2 comments:

  1. Just stumbled upon your blog and so glad I found you. I love hearing about others cooking, knitting, sewing adventures! That doll has such a sweet face!

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  2. My mom still has her dolls as a child. She sometimes takes them out and plays with them. I dunno if that is healthy or not but that is what she does. Looks like your boy has lots of toys in your house. I think that's great. I always feel leaving toys out for the kids to play with is best. If you put them away they never play with them.

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