I absolutely love handmade dolls. The desire to make dolls is what drew me into sewing in the first place and I never get tired of looking at and admiring the way artists create people in miniature form with fabric and thread. The opportunity for creative expression is truly endless. Today, I’ve gathered five handmade…
A New Asleep Awake Doll
When I made the pattern for the Asleep Awake Doll I cut out a several dolls to sew up. This little girl ended up all sewn, but sat on my work table waiting to be stuffed for a few months. This weekend it was time to give her some attention. On the awake side she…
Awesome Handmade Toys: Rag Dolls
Pumpkin was my very special doll when I was six or so. She had red hair that I’d washed and played with so much it was matted. Her face was plastic, but she had a cloth body and a dress you could take on and off. She was my favorite. I still love dolls and…
Podcast Episode #41: Bamboletta with Christina Platt
When Christina Platt set about making a doll for her baby niece over a decade ago she could never have predicted that one day she would have a handmade doll business that employs 48 local women and produces 80 dolls each week. She couldn’t have known that the dolls would sell out so fast that…
A Compilation of Online Classes on Doll and Toy Making
Online video instruction is an ideal way to teach sewing. Watching an expert do the work, and explain how it’s done, is the best way to master a hands-on skill. When you want to learn something as tactile as sewing, nothing is better than being able to actually see someone stitch a seam. Putting that…
Softies at Quilt Market: An Interview with Ellen Lumpkin Brown of The Doll Loft
Should you go to Quilt Market? If you have a creative sewing business my bet is this is one of your burning questions. Quilt Market is the most prominent trade show for fabric-based businesses. The show takes place twice a year, once in Houston and once in another city in the United States. It's open…
Book Review: Storybook Toys by Jill Hamor
I first knew that Jill Hamor was a good toy designer when I saw the Lisa and Corduroy set she made on her blog. This doll and bear so perfectly capture the nostalgic sweet look of Don Freeman’s illustration I was really blown away. It’s simply stunning work and I’ve been reading Jill’s blog, bybido,…
Awesome Handmade Toys: Snuggly Ugly
This post is part of a new periodic series called "Awesome Handmade Toys." These posts will feature toy makers whose work I think is particularly fresh and inventive. I also pin toys to my Inspiring Softies pinboard on a regular basis if you're looking for more inspiration. an original Snuggly Ugly Indira Villalobos-Starr is a…
doll animals
I've been working on animals that are made like dolls. The heads are animal-like, but the bodies are like dolls that you can dress. Roxanne picked out the pink fabric for this bunny's dress. It is reversible with a tiny snap closure and little buttons at the shoulders. Thank you so much for all of…
Matryoshka Dolls
After my series of craft disasters, I’m back in the swing of things. On Friday I picked a new project that I got pretty excited about – making sets of Matryoshka dolls. You know, those Russian nesting dolls, but made from fabric. I put my new embroidery stitches from my embroidery book to work and…