Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Wawa (Folk Doll) is done!




Pattern: from Dolls & Dolls by 米山京子 (Japanese) with a few alternations (to make my life easier) Her dolls are so lovely! I am still trying hard to achieve that "lovely" feel that emerge naturally from her dolls. Indeed, it's very hard for me.

Materials: from everywhere! Ribbons from Mokuba; thread, trims and linings from Fabricland;Felts (for boots) from Dollar Store; cotton from Shoppers Drug Mart; foundation material (some plant fibre) from Michael's; blue fabrics from a fabric store in Queen Street West (now closed);the yarn for Wawa's hair is from Village Yarns; and last but not least, the crinoline (for eyes) is from Helen Gibb's Ribbons (it was white, but I dyed it with a black permanent marker)

All I left is some makeup for her...

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Sewing Machine + Folk Doll Making

After more than half a year of saying getting a sewing machine, last Friday, I went to a local Pfaff sewing machine dealer “Sew Here Sew Now” with my dad and finally brought my dream toy home. Look! She is a Classic Style Quilt 2027, a store model, with incredible “sewing quality”. Originally, I was planning to buy a Classic Style Fashion 2023, but the store didn’t carry that model in stock and thus I would have to buy with a MSRP (much high price). The “Quilt” model have more stitches but only one buttonhole choice. To me, stitch pattern is not that important but buttonholes seemed to be important because I was planning to learn how to make garments. However, the storeowner offered me a really attractive price for the “Quilt” model, I then decided to get it right away.

So, my dad (he “supported” me $200 for my toy ^_^ ) and me took the sewing machine home, and showed it to my mom. She was shock because my toy is expensive. “Too luxurious”, she said. So I told her that I just want to get a good one that will last for a long time and make quality sews, and I told her that instead of being fond of Macbook and iphone, your daughter is a crafty craze. My grandma’s reaction is funny. She asked: is your sewing machine a hand-crank one, or a treadle-foot one? I laughed out loud: those ones can only be found in a museum. Obviously, her vision of a sewing machine is still remaining in the vintage age.

I am now still exploring and playing with my toy. She is great! I love her!

Today, I spent my whole day making a “Folk Doll”. This time, with the right selection of materials for making the body, the doll looks much better than the old one. I have almost completed except the hair and face.




It’s time to go to bed. Tomorrow will be another sweatshop work day for me (bridge condition survey). I hope there will be rain tomorrow…