New DIP

This is a new DIP I am working on, actually there is another one behind her but she will have to wait. She is my Christmas angel. Sorry for the quality of the picture as it is rather late and I am tired have to sleep now as I have a long day ahead tomorrow. Thought I'd show her to you. I find it hard working with silk but silk is what I love working with.

Tiny finger turning tutorial.

Today when I was turning the fingers for my doll I thought that perhaps it would be nice to share the way I turn my tiny fingers with everyone. I know many doll makers have given this tutorial time and time again. Mine may not be a great one but I do hope it will help someone out there who has not seen a tutorial for turning tiny fingers. With this method I have turned tiniest of fingers and I thank my peers for teaching me so well. So here is how I do it.

First cut out the pattern for your hand and fingers

and then trace it onto the freezer paper. You will notice that I have chopped off the thumb. I attache the tumb seperately.

After ironing the freezer paper on to doubled fabric I sew all around the fingers carefully. I use number 1 setting in my machine to sew. I always take 2 to 3 stitches inbetween the fingers. It makes the cutting and turning of fingers easier. Then I cut all around the fingers carefully. I cut as close as possible making sure I don't snip the seams.

Then I take the smallest finger turning tube that will fit inside the finger.

I use a tube that will fit very snugly into the finger. Not too loose but that which fits snugly like so.  After putting the tube into the finger I trim all around the finger again going even closer to the seam. I do this because it is much easier to see where the seam is when the tube is in the finger and you can go very very close to the seam. The seam will not come undone as I used number 1 setting for the stitches.

Now I take another tube or a thin rod in this case and insert it from the other end. I usually insert a couple of sizes smaller tube or rod to one inside the finger from the other end because it is easier to slide the fabric onto it. Now I hold the rod/tube steady with one hand without putting pressure on it  and with the other hand I then slide the fabric onto this rod/tube. It should slide quiet easily. If you find the fabric is bunching up just go back and start again. If you look at the picture below where the rod is inserted in you will see how close to the seam I have cut the fabric. If you do not go as close, the bulk of the fabric will not allow you to turn the finger. Golden rule, never push the fabric with the  rod/tube into the finger , always feed the fabric onto the rod/tube

Once all fingers are turned the hand should look like this.

With the heamostates then I turn the hand.

and walla! the fingers are turned!.

I then make a slit in the palm where the thumb should be after stuffing the hand and insert the stuffed thumb and sew it on or glue it on. I prefer to sew.

As you can see the fingers I turned are just between 3-4mm wide. You can turn even slimmer fingers the same way.

I hope this mini tutorial will be of some use to someone out there. Enjoy!

Want to win a beautiful bag?

Just a quick post to let you know that there is a draw for you all to win a cool bag in this site. I only just found it through another friend's website. So click on and enter http://tybidules.free.fr/wordpress/?p=158. The rules are all written in English too if you scroll down after the French version. Good luck.

Clutter

I have nothing much to show this Monday I am afraid only this clutter and chaos. Hopefully a doll will emerge from this!.

Don't laugh!!

OK don't laugh she looks as tough she has fluid rention problem with her swollen wrists and foot lol! I had to finish her quickly because I want to get on with something else. This was just an experiment and I went through a learning curve. Next time if I do a project like this I will use Merino wool. This wool I used was not Merino and was a bit rough to felt. But I learnt a few things doing this exercise. Another thing I will not make it so big as I found it a bit tedious to keep poking at such a big girl.

First frost!!

Today we had the first frost of winter at last. Normally we would have had frost from October onwards but this year the weather has been so mild. Even today it is fairly mild for November. The Clemetis in this part of the garden are still blooming and there are quite a few buds on the plant. But ofcourse after last nights frost it might wither away soon.

Shaping up!

I know she is nowhere near even looking like a proper doll. But I am having so much fun with her. I also know that I really need to felt everything more. But I am impatient and want to get the project finished, so the felting is not enough on her. However since she is my first ever felted project I just wanted to try my hand out to see if I could do it. I am using all the bits of wool that I have collected over the years. A pity that I couldn't go to the knitting and stitching show this year to collect more treasures.Sorry Choc it was not a bone for you that I was making ha..ha..

Yesterday went for some shopping in London. In the past John Lewis would have lots and lots of beautiful remenants during this time of the year. But in recent years they have reduced their fabric section drastically which is so very sad. They also don't have that many remenants out for grabs. But yesterday amongst the very few fabrics I found this beautiful silk dupion. I just had to have it. The lovely colour does not show very well in this photo but the fabric is divine. I am really pleased that I found it first.