Adventures in Doll-making

I've begun a little adventure in doll-making. I'm not sure what exactly set me off, perhaps the beautiful cloth dolls I'm seeing around the blogosphere, perhaps the Waldorf dolls that keep catching my eye, and certainly the final straw of finding this book on doll-making in my studio a few weeks ago. So, armed with this lovely book...

...and some natural muslin, beige flannel and chocolate flannel, I'm making a beginning. Now my ponderings are filled with musings about embroidery versus painted features, simple or detailed, hair styles, outfits...lots of fun!



The first few bodies are now sewn up and awaiting permanent features. Here they are with pins marking potential placement.


More dolls coming your way soon.

Adult t-shirt to Baby Gown Remake

In honor of taking the 6 months pledge at Wardrobe refashion, and since the challenge doesn't start until September 1st, I thought I'd post a project I did a little while back.

This used to be a favorite t-shirt of my husband's that went the way of most of his t-shirts...getting too worn at the neck to be acceptable peaking out of his scrubs. This one also has some sentimental value as it is from a friend's (mentor and producer of my CD) tour company. So, I thought I'd take the plunge and try a remake.

I used McCall's 8574 baby layette pattern. I only have a straight and zig-zag stitch on my old Singer workhorse of a machine. So, I used zig-zag stitch for all the the seaming. The neckline is a little wonky, but I figure it'll be covered in spit-up and drool, so there's room for a little imperfection. Now I just need to sew in the casing at the bottom for a piece of cord or elastic and it's all set.

While I was in the re-purposing mode, I took another t-shirt to make some baby wipes. We have some gifted to us, that I used as a rough guide. The purchased ones are terry on one side and flannel on the other. So, I backed these with some ultra-soft flannel scraps I had lying around. I figure it's a great thing to use up my flannel and cotton-knit scraps. And someday they'll do extra duty as dust and clean up rags. A win, win, win!



Now, I wonder what I can do with the rest of these old t-shirts?

The Pledge

I took the pledge. See below and check out the awesome blog itself at Wardrobe Refashion




The Pledge

I Marie, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 6 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovated, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! Signed me.

Monkey Mind

So, to keep the monkey somewhat under control, I'm going to create a "Monkey Mind" post once a week... a little recap or list of sorts. Just a way to sum up the bigger thoughts and activities occupying my mind each week. Maybe you'll be thinking of some of the same things, maybe you'll have ideas of your own or ideas for me. We'll see how this goes. Since the Independence Days Challenge keeps me pretty regular about posting at the beginning of the week, I'll try for Fridays for Monkey Mind to use as a bit of a recap but also a spring-board for the weekend. Let me know if you decide to do your own Monkey Mind list, please leave me a comment or lead us over to your post.

So, here we go...

Monkey Mind
Next to my reading chair:

• I'm really enjoying everything written by Laurie R. King. I've had my nose pretty much constantly in one of her books for the last several weeks. I have become a complete fool for the Mary Russell series and enjoy the Kate Martinelli series almost as much. I've been alternating between the two series and am coming to the end of the King pile. Boo. This week I read "The Game," "With Child," "Locked Rooms," and I'm in the midst of "Night Work." Sooooo good!

• Michael gave me "the Encyclopedia of Country Living" for my birthday and I'm itching to dive in. I plan on reading the first chapter tomorrow morning over coffee.

• I cracked open "Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health" last night. I'm wanting to read up on ways to harvest and use the plants and herbs we grow most efficiently. We have so many things growing in our garden that can be brewed into soothing and medicinal teas, tinctures and supplements. I'm not wanting to waste a bit of that goodness!

• And on a connected note, this morning's reading was the beginning of "Gaia's Garden" an interesting and inspiring book on permaculture, to help us utilize and vitilize our little quarter acre for growing food, conserving energy, welcoming wild-life and restoring a little positive environment. I'm really excited about what this books holds in store!

In the Garden:

• I'm feeling the need to get a better handle on what's going on and growing in the garden. We've had some crop failures with the wet and cold Spring, but some things have fared well, and others are perking up. I need to spend some time on weeding! Cutting back the raspberry canes, and drying the raspberry leaves for tea and medicinals, pinching off suckers and spotted leaves on the tomatoes, weeding, planting some fall crops, weeding, stacking the grass cutting compost ...did I say weeding?

• Wouldn't it be cool to build an outdoor Cob Oven or fireplace...for solstice gatherings, outdoor cooking and cozy music making. I would love that!

Keeping my Eye Out:

• for canning jars and bottles for preserving food.

• for interesting garden statuary that we BOTH like!

• for picnic/garden furniture...benches, tables, etc.

• good sources of local meat, eggs and milk. Trying to cut down my weekly wandering for sustainable food.

On the Baby Front:

• I need to get a handle on the vaccination issue. It is so daunting and huge I have been trying to think of it from a place of education and empowerment...not a place of fear. But, GOSH! There is so much scary stuff out there! So, since we may not have all of the choices of biological parents and since this is too big for a single approach. I'm going to chip away at the puzzle, one shot and one disease at a time. Beginning with the Hep B shot they will likely try to give the Goob on the very first day!!! I've got my hands on "The Vaccine Book" by Robert Sears, "Natural Baby and Childcare" by Lauren Feder has a great section on vaccinations, and the National Vaccine Information Center and the CDC also have lots of information. Whooh! Alot to absorb. But, we need to make the best decisions possible for this new little life, when he/she comes.

• Need to finish up the little green scrap baby jacket I'm making. I keep running into obstacles, like wounded finger, not enough yarn, etc. But, one way or another I've got the get that done!

• Need to get leg extensions for the co-sleeper

• Need to line up cat-care options now that we're losing our amazing cat sitter.

Other Monkey Miscellany:

• I really need to find the perfect pattern and whip up a few summer-weight nightgowns. My preferred summer sleeping attire. I've got lots of great bits of fabric lined up. Maybe this?

• Gotta finish sorting through and getting rid of too many clothes that I don't wear! Cut down on the chaos in the bedroom.

• Thoughts on curtains for the Dining Room and bedroom. Finish the kitchen/laundryoom curtains!

• Organize the recipe, baby-care, house and knitting binders.

Okay, now! That seems to be the big stuff. What is on your monkey mind?

Some lunch box crafting

I finally found some nice sets of cutlery at the thrift store (knife, fork, teaspoon and soupspoon) for $1. The stainless steel is nice and sturdy and has a good weight. I've been wanting to make some designated cutlery roles for our lunch bags so that we wouldn't risk losing our everyday to the office when and if one of us forgot to bring them home. We try to avoid using disposable plastic to save on landfill. So now that I had the cutlery it was time for something to contain them. I took a little piece of a landscape print from my stash (a reject sample for the kitchen curtains) and matched it with some heavy upholstery linen remnant that I picked up for .25¢ a while back. stitched a little forest green twill tape into one of the rows of stitching and we now have neat and tidy silver-ware rolls that live in our lunch bags. Next on the agenda may be some little scrap muslin bags to toss the dirty silver-ware in when bringing it back home. I'll have to check the stash.

All in all this was a very easy project to whip up with no pattern, and we've both gotten lots of good use and nice comments from using these. And it makes for a little bit greener world to boot!

A little crafting for the little goober or babywearing diy

In my on-going quest to remain (some what) sane amidst the angst of waiting for a call from the agency. And with an incredible urge to research and prepare for all manner of parenting...I found some great baby sling/baby carrier patterns and whipped up a few to start us out.

Please forgive the overly warm photos... a little digital camera challenge.

Above Michael and our pal Teddy are modeling the lined pocket sling I made to Michael's dimension from Handmade-Adelaide-Baby. I made one for each of us. Michael's is a brown stripe (with orange and teal) on one side and a teal and indigo ikat fabric on the other. Mine is a poppy, persimmon and turquoise stripe on one side and a blue and poppy print on the other. And since all the fabric either came from my stash or from the sale table at the local fabric store we've really saved some money over the designer slings found at most baby boutiques. They are truly comfy and feel very secure. We'll see how we do with a real little one inside. We suspect a learning curve will be involved.

And below we are modeling our "minou-wraps" my interpretation of a very simple set of online instructions for a moby-type wrap.


I can no longer find the link but there are many sites with the basics for a baby-wrap style carrier. I bought 3 yards of an all cotton light weight t-shirt knit. Which is about 54" wide. I folded it in half down the length making a 3 yd by 27" panel. And cut the length of the fabric along the fold. Then I sewed the two pieces back together down one short side with a flat-felled seam using a short zig-zag stitch on my grandmother's old Singer. This leaves a lovely structured center seam which gives a little extra support and helps you to know where the center is when wrapping yourself in yards of stretchy fabric. On both wraps I tapered the tails for easier tying. Since these are t-shirt knits, they don't need to be finished along the cut edges. They roll themselves up a little and won't unravel. We've printed out some directions for different wrap style for various carries and have been trying them out. Check out the babywearer site for lots of great information on buying, making, trouble-shooting and the benefits of babywearing.

Our social worker and most of the books and sites we've perused for parenting tips and adoption tips, encourage baby wearing as an important step in forming healthy early attachment. We're looking forward to giving our baby carriers a try for real.

Now I'm off to finish up another pair of booties.