Monday 6 April 2015

Art Doll and Bed


After perusing a number of my favourite Pinterest blogs, I was left with a hankering to make something. Anything. So I sat down with my sewing box, and sketched a simple doll on a piece of white fabric. 
I sewed it together, firstly by hand and then (remembering how terrible my hand sewing skills are) by machine over the top after stuffing her with cotton wool from my medicine cupboard because I had run out of stuffing.
I drew her face with black Pitt marker, and dabbed a little water colour pink for the cheeks. I then realised I hadn't turned her inside out before sewing her together completely. I told myself I was going for the "rough edged shabby chic" look.


I made her a veritable hoard of clothes whilst watching crime documentaries on telly. This is my favourite, the silky dress with a lace fringe, made using two triangles of silk sewn together, then a gathering stitch of elastic for the waist, neckline and arms. I should have sewn the lace on before I did this, but hey ho.



My mum, the artist, is working with wire a lot at the moment, so there are shards and reels of metal all over the house. I wove it together (at the expense of my fingers) to create a square mesh-like contraption. I then bound four chopsticks to each of the four corners of the "bed" with thick thread. I could have bound it with metal, but I was scratched up enough as it was.



I threaded some lace through the wire mesh, to create a border, before making a few mattresses (small quilts with thick batting) and a pillow and quilt-top. Here is her petticoat, another simple cut tunic of two pieces of white fabric, stitched together then a cunningly positioned bow over the accidentally unfinished neckline.


The bed was very fun to make; after attaching the four chopsticks, I wound some more metal around the top in a square, planning on a boudoir-style drapery. Instead, I wound some white embroidery thread between the wires because I had run out of nice fabric to use for the drapery (and the wire wasn't strong enough to hold it all up anyway). I suppose you could attach four more chopsticks at the top for a sturdier canopy.


I went a bit mad with some green thread (wound round each post) and fake flowers and leaves (from Hobbycraft, used for making cards for weddings and such). I decided there wasn't quite enough twee yet so I sewed two bows to the top front posts.


The pillow, you may notice, has unfinished sides and is lumpy as all hell. This is because the aforementioned running out of stuffing, so I stuffed it with teeny fabric remnants I had destined for the bin. Again, some more tactful use of bows to hide the worst of it.


This part I really enjoyed, and it was really, really simple. A straight stitch (or running stitch) in a lovely hand-dyed embroidery thread I had bought from an artist many years before. I love the colour change effect! I finished it off with some sequins because I hadn't sewn right to the end of the quilt top, so it looked a bit scraggly. Well, finish as I started I suppose!

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