Things I Love: Lillestoff Organic Cotton

I have a weakness for Lillestoff Organic knit fabric. There is really no logical way to justify my Lillestoff purchases.

Yes, it is a soft beautiful cotton knit fabric. Yes, it is the perfect weight and has the perfect amount of stretch. Yes, the colors are gorgeous. Yes, it is a dream to sew with. Yes, it is made for children. And of course, it is organic.

But it is made in germany and it is not even a reasonable price in Germany and I am paying to ship it here.

I use it to sew doll leggings, capris, t-shirts and pajamas. But I can't pass the cost along.

I told you there was no way to justification. Just enjoy it like I do!

Lillestoff leggings peaking out

Lillestoff T-Shirt

Liberty of London will be Phoebe's Spring "Thing"

My mother introduced me to Liberty of London when I was little. After a trip to London, she made my sister and I matching Liberty of London smocked dresses and my father got a matching tie. 

When I first started Phoebe and Egg I wondered, was Liberty too fancy for doll dresses? 

You can guess how I answered that from my sweet stack of Liberty fabric below.

Last month while visiting family in London, we just happened to find ourselves near their shop. I was surprised by how many things they sold besides their fabric—housewares, clothing, Rowan Yarn, sewing notions.

I recently cut into my Liberty fabric and started sewing. I am smitten. It is divine and it's weight makes it wonderful for doll clothes.

So be on the look out for a Liberty collection for Phoebe this spring.

Things I love: Rowan 4 Ply Cotton Yarn

I got fixated on Rowan yarns about ten years ago, before the knitting renaissance, before Ravelry, before Quince and all of the other cool new yarn companies sprung up. Back in 2004 Rowan kind of dominated the quality yarn market. Most stores carried it and it was available online. Not only was it online, but when it arrived it looked and felt as good as you hoped. Not true of all yarns back then.

I bought more than my fair share, when my youngest, AKA, Egg, was a toddler and would still wear hand knit sweaters, if they were cotton. That's when I stumbled upon the Rowan cotton line: their 4ply Cotton, Cotton Glace and Hand Knit Cotton. My youngest daughter still prefers cotton for her sweaters, but rather they are bought at Hollister or American Eagle. Luckily I now have a doll line, because I love knitting with it.

Four of the amazing colors Rowan 4ply cotton came in

It's a fingering yarn, meaning best knit on US size two needles. I like knitting small. I guess that's why I'm in this business. Sadly, it is discontinued, but still can be found on Ravelry and Ebay. I have a good enough stash that I don't feel panicky about the end of a thing yet. Rowan Siena is a very similar yarn, also recently discontinued but easier to find on the resale market.

Why do I love this yarn? It's soft, but crisp and holds its shape and feels firms to knit with--All qualities that are hard to find in a fine cotton yarn. But mostly it comes in the most amazing colors, fun children's colors, but not too bright. The whites are pretty too. And it has the most subtle but perfect sheen, even after blocking.

Love the color white!

My love affair with this discontinued yarn continues

Yes, that is my new label peaking through!

Things I love: flower buttons

There's not too much I can say about flower buttons, except I love them, and they are hard to come by. At least nice ones are. Here is my entire collection, all from various sources in China (found through eBay over the years). The last shot is how I like to use flower buttons. What else can I say? They are the perfect final touch.

Things I love: Perle Cotton

This is the first post in a series, which I will call: "Things I Love".

Each week, I am going to post about something I love and why. Most often it will be about something I use in the doll-making process. I'll explain its virtues,, how I use it and where you can find it. There's no shortage of things I love and I hope some of these things will eventually become things you love as well.

I thought I'd start with perle cotton. Also called, pearl cotton.

Aquarelle from Paraguay and available on eBay.

What is perle cotton?

Perle cotton is a high sheen twisted cotton embroidery thread. It is very similar to a very fine crochet thread. It comes in sizes 3, 5, 8, 12, 16 and 20. And to make it confusing 3 is the largest size. There are a handful of brands--Finca, Valdini, DMC and Aquarelle.

Sizes three and five are thicker and nice for decorative embroidery.  I own and use mostly size twelve balls, but a few eights. I prefer the balls to the skeins, since they don't tangle and are easy to store and reuse.

I am obsessed with details and like to use a fun element in a detail that others might treat as mundane.  I tend to use this thread when my stitches will show since it looks neater brighter and shinier than plain thread. I always use it for sewing on buttons, snaps and labels. 

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Click on image to see a close-up of button thread.

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It's strong, you only need a few passes through to secure a button, snap or label and the color pops. I especially like it for sewing in snaps (another post on this) because they look so much neater and are more pleasant to sew on. Prior to switching to this method snaps were my least favorite task.

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Perle Cotton can be bought in many colors from the following sources:

Woolfelt Central sells a nice selection of size 8

Herrschners sells Size 8 and 12

Valdani sells balls and sets, a bit more expensive

Ebay has many sellers. I've bought pearl cotton from the UK and Paraguay on Ebay and been happy

I stay away from the variegated, not sure how this type can be used.

Perle cotton is not an essential ingredient in sewing doll clothing, but it does make details pop and the more mundane tasks fun.

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