New Pattern: Liam the Doll

My older daughters play school together. Actually, they play special
needs school. Every doll and stuffed animal in their school has some
kind of disability.

Some of their special school supplies.

We have a furry pig with severe food allergies, a brown bear with leg braces made from pencils strapped to him with masking tape, and a tiger with dyslexia.

Bone charts in action.

The teachers are often required to wear surgical masks, make bone charts (it’s not entirely clear to me what these are for), and use specialized reading books.

See the casket? Very solemn indeed.

Periodically a student succumbs to an illness and then there’s a grand funeral on the front lawn.

Those who are in the process of grieving may create an online obituary and memorial website to celebrate the life of a dear friend, loved one or pet; check out Online Memorials to learn more.

Each kid has one particular doll or toy that personifies them when they play. For Roxanne it’s her American Girl doll, Rebecca Rubin. She even saved her allowance money to buy Rebecca a wheelchair and a leg cast. But this represents an ongoing problem for Stella.

Stella doesn’t want a girl doll.

Stella like “boy” things. And so she’s been stuck with the bear as her personified self, but he isn’t a person so he’s not on equal footing with Rebecca Rubin.

Okay, I try pretty hard to stay out of this, but I will say that it’s about time Stella had a boy doll. And not just any boy doll. A big, friendly, awesome boy doll named Liam.

And that’s the inspiration for my new pattern.

Say hello to Liam. He’s Emma’s best friend and soon he’ll be Stella’s, too.

He went for a trip in the washing machine so I know if he attends a particularly muddy funeral, he’ll still look handsome after a good wash.

A few fun features of this pattern:

• Liam’s got some pretty nifty shoes, with shoelaces, and his feet are at a right angle to his legs. Such a good technique to learn.
• His arms and legs are jointed so that he can sit up and be posed. Or ride in the wheelchair as needed.
• His eyes are 12mm safety eyes and you can find those in all the big box fabric stores or online here.
• It’s pretty fun choosing plaid, argyle, and striped fleece for Liam’s shirt and pairing them with fleece solids. That might be my favorite part.

My new boy doll pattern will be released early next week. Boy dolls are awesome and we should make them for our kids, boys and girls alike.