Welcome

Welcome, to the Rose Cottage Dolls blog!

I make cloth dolls and their clothing. On this blog I hope to preview my creations and include information on other dolls and crafts that I like. Hope you enjoy this as much as I do! Don’t forget to visit my online shop when it opens on Etsy!

Rose Cottage Dolls

Meghan – Collector of Seashells

meghan2

Originally uploaded by Rose Cottage Dolls

Here she is completed, she collects seashells on the beach. The shells in her basket are handpicked by me, from Foul Bay in St. Philip.

Meghan – Collector of Seashells

meghan1

Originally uploaded by Rose Cottage Dolls

Here’s Meghan, in the final stages of completion. These dolls are selling in a shop now, how cool is that? Along with some other varieties that I will post here. Also, don’t forget to check my other blog: www.rosecottagecrafts.wordpress.com

Yasmin – ready for the beach

Yasmin – ready for the beach

Originally uploaded by Rose Cottage Dolls

Designed and made this new doll today, I’m quite pleased with how she has turn out.

Etsy Shop Opened this weekend, yay!

Well, I finally did it, I uploaded the pictures and specs and prices for all my craft item onto my Etsy shop, please go visit when you can. Here’s the address: www.rosecottagedolls.etsy.com … now apparently, I have to start thinking about christmas stocks!

Here’s a sample, some needlebooks and pincushion on sale now in my Etsy shop

Molly (Mollykins)

I’ve been so busy these past weeks, designing and making crafty items to go in my etsy shop, almost there now. Here’s a new doll design I made today, her name’s Molly.

Daisy Sunshine

More Daisy Dolls

So busy these days, just creating things, I have so many ideas and inspiration coming from all kinds of places. I’m trying to get organized so that I can finally open the doors of my shop at etsy. I should be making some more of these dolls this week.

Six... and counting!

Daisy Dolls

Well I have been busy making a new design of dolls, these are quite sunny and friendly dolls, they are always happy. They measure 12″ in height and are quite slender. They hav button joints for the arm at shoulder and the leg at hip, so they are quite flexable. I made some cute accessories for them: foam shoes, matching bags and tiny beaded earrings. Their hair is made of knitting yarn and braided. More colors are in the making… purple and pink! So much fun!

I wanted to make a Barbados doll, and now I’m thinking to make a Daisy doll with Barbados colors, I’ve seen so many not-pretty Barbados dolls on the market selling at a ridiculous price, so I hope this idea will be a refreshing change, who knows?!

I have some other things in the making too, I am going to try my hand at some waldorf dolls, yes, I did say waldorf! A cute tiny version.

And if you want to know what else I will be up to you can go visit my craft blog and read up on bags and embroidery.

BTW, Ihope you all had a great Mother’s Day!

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do

Here’s Daisy, she measures just under 12″ tall and is as cute as a button, or will be when she is finished. Actually she is finished, I finished her today. I will post the picture tomorrow.

Felt Doll by Mimi Kirchner

Here’s a felt doll I made, I didn’t design this pattern, all credit goes to Mimi Kirchner, click on her name to visit her blog. You can get your pattern and instructions from here: http://www.purlbee.com/hand-sewn-felt-dolls/

She is completely hand stitched and has button joints in her hips to make her legs move! I used five different color felt to complete this project, and embroidery thread.

I didn’t actually print out the pattern, with it being a PDF file, I simply reduced the size to 50% and drew around the pattern pieces on the screen. Now she is just 9ins tall from head to foot.

Lucy-Ann in her pink frock

Pretty in pink!

Here’s the newest edition to Rose Cottage, her name is Lucy-Ann. If you want to know how to make her frock check out my tutorial with pictures to help you assemble this simple dress.

Annie Rose – Ethnic primitive doll

Annie Rose - Ethnic primitive

It’s amazing what a skin tone can do! Here’s my ethnic annie made from the same pattern.

Annie Rose – completed

I finished her, she was so fun to make, I will be making a few more, hope you like her!

Annie Rose - all finished in her favorite frock

Don’t forget to view the tutorial if you want to know how I made her!

Annie Rose – a primitive

Annie Rose

Well, here’s Annie Rose, she’s a sweet heart. I designed the pattern myself. If you want to know how I am making her just click the  ‘Primitives’ tab above and you’ll see how I do it. She’s almost done, and is very simple to create.

Tilly – almost finished

Tilly - almost finished, need to attach arms, finish hair and draw her eyes

A Touch of Whimsy!

Designing new styles and testing out the patterns has got to be the MOST fun I’ve had in a long while. I would love to be able to do this for a very long time.
The funny thing is that I’ve dropped some weight, actually quite a lot, recently, which is good because I have to adjust the sizes of my skirts, and guess what I’m doing with the fabric that’s left over? I took out two panels of a long swirly lime green skirt that I absolutely love, and in the doll-making world, that is a lot of fabric, which will go toward making something (or should I say ‘some things’) for my dolls to wear.

Anyway here’s another design I’m working on, this is the first attempt, her name is Tilly, she is unfinished. I designed the pattern myself and I am testing it out and making adjustments in the making process. The only change I have made in the pattern so far is the length of the arms, from elbow to hand was too long, so I’m working on the arms now. The head will come last. Her she is:

Tilly in the making - armless and headless!

Tilly

I never thought I would but I’ve created a primitive annie ragdoll pattern, you can see the head/body pattern peice below, should be interesting to see how she turns out. As you can see I have drawn her face onto the pattern, it just makes it easier to transfer the details onto the fabric if they’re on the pattern. I have just the fabric to make her a frock, the same red that I used for Tilly’s boots, that and some floral fabric and a few embellishments… can’t wait!

Should be cute when she's made up!

I will be scouting around this morning in the shops looking for some brown fabric suitable for a caribbean/african looking doll. So far I have been unsuccessful.
I tried dyeing some fabric but that didn’t turn out too well.

Meet Mykah

I’ve been working on a new design/line of dolls, Mykah is the first, I LOVE her! I really enjoyed making her. I used a new technique for applying her hair. Yes, it was extremely time consuming but the results were worth it. Here she is:

Mykah - part of the 'Free Spirit' Collection

Mykah sitting pretty

Well I’ve been busy burning the midnight oil. I’m really enjoying making these dolls, I have been changing up the pattern here and there to make some of them smaller, the same height, but smaller bones so to speak. I’ve also been experimenting with their clothes, I have a lot of ideas for dresses and I’ve been designing and simplifying making various outfits.

Pascher, Katia and Evangeline

In the making, has no name yet

Here’s Miss No Name, actually her name is Sophie now, she’s all dressed up in her favorite frock.

Sophie, Zola & Mabel (heads!)

Sophie

Sophie & Zola & Mabel (heads!)

Sophie’s making friends with everybody, Zola and Mabel will be getting bodies this weekend. As for clothes… Zola has requested a long black flowing cloak with a hood, of which I will be happy to make… I think, oh, and some thigh high boots to match! (I think when I’ve finished she will be shipped to the ‘Fantasy & Fae’ collection) Mabel will be quite happy with anything…. as long as it has ‘flowers on it and it’s made of silk’. I’ll see what I can do ladies.

Focusing on creating more dolls

Katia (pronounced kah-tee-ah) in the making

So here’s my latest doll in the making, her name is Katia, she has a very optimistic and pleasant disposition, unlike her sister Pascher, who seems so sad.

I actually tried hand-sewing her head this time around instead of using the sewing machine, didn’t take very long and was quite satisfying… and a lot easier to be precise.

Spent more time than I wanted painting her face though, to start with her eyes were way too blue to be credible, so I played around with some other color additions to make them more natural looking. I’ve found, with the eyes, you have to push through and keep going until it is just right.

I always do the complete head first, add the hair, then I prop them up in a glass jar or bottle, and then work on the body and the clothes.

Anyway, I’m hoping to keep the ball rolling this month and find the time to make and, hopefully, sell these new creations. I’ve pre-cut ten so that I can work more quickly, rather than making them one doll at a time.

There are so many other styles of cloth dolls online, I get so distracted admiring them all and wanting to make them too. I really love the waldorf doll design, very simple and clean, I love the use of velvet for the clothing.

Now if only I could learn how to take a simple photo with my digital camera that is sharp, clear and not at all blurry!