Pumpkin

Our little poppet is 6 months!

Pumpkin is one of her favourite foods.  She loves to grab the spoon and you really have to wrestle it off her to try and get anything in.

She has her two bottom teeth, and is sitting up all by herself.

Rolling is her mode of transport.  One minute you look and she is right in front of you and the next she is on the other side of the room.  Although for some reason she can never quite reach a toy that is just an inch in front of her?

Giggling is standard when you tickle her tummy and by late afternoon she just seems to giggle at anything.

Splashing in the bath bubbles with her daddy is one of her favourite things.

♥    

Pixie Toadstools

I am having a bit of a "thing" at the moment for classic red and white toadstools. Over the weekend I busied myself recycling sweaters into some sweet little pixie hats for my market stall and Etsy shop.

Of course I also had to make one for the poppet - who decided she would like to try it on.  It is a smidgen big for her at the moment, but she had fun putting it on and pulling it off and I managed to snap a pic at just the right time.

So cute!

It was fun deciding which of the lovely woolen sweaters to use.  (You may remember this post from a few weeks ago).

I went for the gorgeous natural brown pure wool, hand knitted one to make the toadstool pixie hats, which I lined with cheery red and white stripes.

The toadstools I made from felt and hand-stitched on with lots of tiny little stitches and patience - especially all those little spots!  I nestled the toadstools into a little grassy knoll so they look right at home...

I hope to make some sweet little newborn "knot hats" from a soft angora and cashmere sweater soon.  They will likely sport some toadstools too.  Can't wait! 

:)

Hungry Caterpillar

I think this must be a favourite early book for a lot of children in New Zealand and around the world.  My honey bought the "finger puppet" version of this for our little poppet recently and she just loves it.

Today she had her first meal of pear (which she devoured - well she devoured the bits that didn't end up in her hair, hands and clothes) so we chose this book for her pre-nap read.

Caterpillars are so iconic.  I just love them, especially when they are not munching on our much loved  vegetables.  They are friendly, don't move too fast, and leave really interesting holes in leaves.

I particularly like those caterpillars which have a gap in the middle and they move their back legs up to their front legs with a loop in the middle.  So fun to watch.

Perhaps I have been inspired to make something featuring caterpillars...  

Mini Baby Cape

This afternoon was spent putting the finishing touches on this lovely custom made reversible baby cape for a lucky little girl who lives in the opposite hemisphere.
Her mum wanted a really warm cape to go camping with her little girl in the fall.

As I make my garments from mostly vintage, reclaimed or thrifted fabrics,  it really depends on what I have on hand at the time as to what I can use.  

She liked the look of this beautiful fine wool houndstooth and the gorgeous purple paisley cotton for a splash of winter colour.  

The purple fabric was one L found for me at Fabric-a-brac in Wellington a few months ago. The combination of fabrics needed to be a bit warmer, but these were the preferred colours and textures.

Sandwiching a layer of padding in between was the perfect solution for extra warmth and snugliness. 

I appliqued a wee flower on the front using the lovely grey woolen yarn I found a few weeks ago which I wrote about here.

I could just make these lovely little capes every day.  Creating these teeny tiny baby ones is even more fun.

Father's Day & Giveaway Winner

My honey's first Father's Day was a simple and lovely day for us.

The poppet helped me decorate Daddy's crown (her addition was a pink squiggle on the back.  She held the crayon and I moved the crown!)  

Then the two of us went for a walk together to pick up some yummy goodies from the bakery while Daddy had a much deserved sleep in.

We filled in this sweet card for Daddy, (which we purchased at Crafternoon Tea Market, made by the talented Emma from The Little Card Factory...)

and picked some violets and nasturtiums from the garden to make our Father's Day table look pretty. Luckily they are edible as some of them didn't make it to the vase...

When Daddy's sleep-in drew to a close,  we all went out and enjoyed the sunshine and the man of the day had a lovely time with his little girl - after all, she is the reason why he is celebrating Father's Day!

Thanks to everyone who entered my one year anniversary giveaway.   I was blown away by all the entries and wish to thank you so much for your compliments.  Your childhood memories have inspired some entries into my sketchbook too!

I am delighted to announce the winner of one of my handmade capes or jackets is  Melissa Owens-Patterson. Melissa, please if you can get in contact by emailing me at thebiglittleshop@gmail.com.

If I haven't heard from the winner by Friday night, I will post an alternate winner, so stay tuned on my facebook page just in case!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. xx

Doll Making - Clothes

Welcome to my doll making journey.  

If you are just joining, my goal is to create a classic vintage style cloth doll, giving her a slightly more modern look while keeping those lovely vintage elements.  You can ready previous posts on her eyes here and colouring them here, lips here, limbs here and hair here!

I have never made any doll's clothes before - so I thought I would familiarize myself with the proportions by making the dress from the original doll pattern I am basing my doll on.

It was a relatively simple pattern, with a bodice and little sleeves joined onto a ruffled skirt.

  

The original pattern actually had three tiers of layered ruffles on the skirt, but I changed it to a simple single layer of gathering.  The back joins together with ribbons and I added some antique lace around the neckline which I salvaged from an old doily which was in disrepair.

I forgot to take a pic of her petticoat, but you can see the bottom of it, to which I also added the lace, poking out from under her dress.

Her little shoes are very cute, although I have lots of ideas for new shoes...

So here she is in her entirety so far!

I love the red and gold fabric of which a lovely length was gifted to me from P.  I hope she likes what I have made from it ;)

As I mentioned earlier - these clothes are just a trial to get me familiar with the sizing etc, and over the next few weeks I hope to make her more clothes with a more relaxed and adventure-y feel to them from recycled fabrics and maybe a spot of embroidery too.

xx

You can now read about my entire doll making journey here:

1. Doll Making  
2. Lips
3. Eyes 
4. Colouring the Eyes
5. Hair
6. Clothes (This post)