The Beloved Handmade Doll Dress Contest

When I was about six or seven my mother made Barbie wardrobes for my sister and me.  I loved every stitch of that gift, but I absolutely cherished Barbie's ice-skating dress, which was made out of flannel to mimic velvet and had a swirly skirt.

So many of us have "beloved" handmade doll dresses. We love them for different reasons.

Maybe the dress is loved for who made it,

or how we acquired it.

Or maybe it was a first attempt at sewing.

Maybe it reminds us of a child, now too old to play with dolls.

Or is connected with a memory of our own childhood.

Or maybe it is just the very essence of cute.

I am hoping you will share that dress and why you love it with us.  When all the dresses are in, I will put them on the blog and we can all vote on the cutest, sweetest reason, most amazing craftsmanship and best photo.

Everyone who enters gets a 10% discount in my Etsy shop and the three winners will get fabric and trim to use to carry on the tradition of handmade doll dresses.

Here's how to enter:

1. Snap a photo of JUST the dress, in other words not on a doll. Maybe on a piece of fabric, a quilt, a plain background. Whatever you think looks best.

2. Write 1-3 sentences why you love this handmade doll dress.

3. Email the photo and reason to me at phoebeandegg at gmail.com OR

4. Submit on Instagram with the hashtag #beloveddolldress and #phoebeandegg

5. Let me know whether you do or don't want your name to appear with the photo.

6. You can enter more than once. The more beloved-ness the better.

I can't wait to see all of these beloved doll dresses! And please please please share this post.

Contest will run until August 5, 2014.

Three Toddler Dolls now in my Etsy shop

I have been slow in listing these, but all three toddler dolls are finally in my Etsy shop. They are 16 inches tall and each come with a sweet dress and cotton knit PJs, and their underwear and shoes of course.

You can find them here. 

Follow Me on Instagram

I love instagram, probably because I love taking photos. I invite any of you who also like Instagram to follow me. I'll even throw in a discount for my Instagram friends every so often. Just click the large yellow camera below and you will get to my profile page.

Thank you!

The Ups and Downs of Prototyping

Almost every doll and softie maker has been there. It starts with an image, imagined or inspired from something real. An image of something that does not exist yet—maybe a doll, an animal, a doll dress. It has to be designed and a pattern has to be created. A process that involves lots of paper, lots of cloth and sometimes a copier for scaling. The pattern is necessary because this image rarely becomes your vision on the first try and you will need a starting point from which to tweak. 

So you tweak, and you tweak, and you tweak. You produce iteration after iteration. What propels you is that you have now invested serious time and materials and you imagine that you are creeping closer. Sometimes you are. You turn that last iteration right side out and have hit that eureka moment, when your vision has become real. You are holding your vision in your hands.. It was time well-spent. You gather your pattern pieces, because you will be sewing this again and again. Yay! Life is good.

But this is not always the prototyping path. It is not always a happy ending. Sometimes the ending is a dead-end. At some point, reality hits you and you start to realize, maybe this is not a wise investment. You reluctantly cut your losses.

When this happens, as it did to me this week-end, I need to realize this dead-end was also a worthy investment. An experiment that had to be explored. I wouldn't have known what could not be done until until I tried. And inevitably, when this happens, and it has more than once,  I learn something new about sewing, or the materials, or pattern-making, or my psyche.

But first I'm in a bit of a funk, feeling like I wasted a lot of time. I throw away all the pieces, clean my studio, strip it of the evidence, so when i start tomorrow, I can think about what is ahead and not lament.

I tried to make a floppy toddler doll. I thought it would be sweet, but I could not get the felt to cooperate at that scale. I did make at least a half dozen iterations of a floppy toddler doll, each a tweak better than the last, but none were good enough to leave my house.

And I did get something out of it—this blog post. I would love to hear the ups and downs of prototyping from the rest of you makers out there. Misery loves company.

A Series of Toddler Phoebe Dolls

What are the first few words that come to mind when you think of your most beloved children as toddlers? Cute, pudgy, squeezable, adorbs, pint-sized. All words of pure affection  It is hard not to be smitten with a toddler.

Over the last two months I have made a few custom toddlers. The recipients and their parents were all delighted with the new smaller cuddlier version of Phoebe. (Below is a cherished toddler doll having tea with her lovely owner). So I felt inspired to add the toddler Phoebe to the collection.

The toddler dolls are 16 inches tall, smaller than Phoebe and the perfect size for children under 7 to tote around. They are happy to picnic, play, sleep and do just about everything. They will have their own set of playful simpler clothes and a few other surprises.

Introducing the first few toddlers Phoebes. Enjoy! Today the dolls, tomorrow a few of their clothes. This weekend, hopefully I will have all of this in my Etsy shop.

Toddler Dolls: A sneak peek

I've been working on a line of toddler dolls. I have done a few custom toddlers and have wanted to add them to the Phoebe&Egg collection, but just have not had the time.

The whole process is very exciting and I can't wait to share. Today is just a sneak peek. The drum roll will be tomorrow or Thursday. Enjoy! (and I'd love to hear what you think).

The Learn to Sew a Doll Dress Kit: Actually almost eye candy

My first batch of Learn to Sew a Doll Dress kits are shipping today. Two for an American Girl doll and one for a Phoebe Doll.

I put a lot of time into developing  these. I am hoping the kit and the book make it easy and a complete and stress-free experience.

Fabric for practicing sewing, for a practice dress and for a real dress.

Pattern pieces are on cardboard, traceable and reusable for a long time.

Fabric for practicing using the sewing machine

Step by Step instructions,

Pattern pieces can be stored in a glassine envelope at the back of the book.

Waistband,  snaps, snap stickers and  yoyo flower buttons.

Pinds, needles and Wonderclips.

Sewing on a Snap: My Way

Most doll clothes need snaps. But I had a problem. I dreaded sewing on snaps--not because it was hand sewing. I love hand sewing. They just never looked cute.  And I prefer not to use velcro. It can pull apart yarn doll hair. And it isn't cute. And there is something more classic enduring and simple about a snap.  

There were several things I hated about snap sewing. The stitching to secure them never looks good if you use sewing machine thread. It looks scraggly. The beginning and ending knots always show. 

I needed to find a way to make snaps fun. After all I sew on A LOT of snaps.

I tried changing it up a bit. I used pearl cotton No 12 for thread. It looks pretty and two stitches for each hole is plenty. It also helped with the knot problem. Instead of knotting my thread, I secure it at the beginning and end by passing through a loop and pulling the thread tight. It is completely stable and if you snip the extra thread short enough, barely shows.

Snaps became cute and fun, and not dreaded at all. Just a final punctuation mark.

Below, beginning with a diagram of the two parts of a standard snap, I have diagramed my snap sewing method. 

Next post, sewing snaps onto clothes and my weapon for great placement.

My step by snap sewing guide:

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Taking a few steps back

Over the last few months, I've heard from many of you. I've heard from buyers, browsers and friends in the crafting world. Of course I appreciate the compliments, but I especially value questions and input. And this has propelled me to take a few steps back. Both a step back in the process of developing a doll and a step back in looking at my business as a whole.

What I've heard is that many of you would like a less expensive Phoebe.

I get that. Handmade dolls are not inexpensive and the more labor that goes into the doll, often the higher the cost. The prices on my current line of Phoebe's reflect the number of hours it takes to make a doll and the materials I use. I love my materials, and will keep that the same. However, the jointing of her limbs and creating the hairstyles takes a lot of time, a real lot of time. And I'm not sure those are features everyone wants. So why pay for extras that you do not want.

Introducing a slightly more chill Phoebe. She still has the look and feel of the Phoebe&Egg brand. She is made out of the same materials and fits Phoebe's clothes (although I plan some spunky, less detailed clothing too) but she is not jointed, and she has a very cute but less labor intensive hairstyle. 

When I originally developed my Phoebe doll, she did not have joints and had a hairstyle similar to this, but then I refined her. And some of you don't want all of the refinements, so I'm stepping back a bit to an earlier Phoebe body that I had tried.

I'm eager for feedback on where I'm going. Email, comment or let me know on FB. 

A newer kind of Phoebe

The first Learn to Sew Kits are available!

Phoebe models her wrap dress

Four sets available, plus each kit has the practice dress fabric, as modeled on the American Girl doll

What is a kit compared to a pattern?

Most patterns come to you via email as a PDF.  Yes, that is quick and easy but not always what you want when teaching your child to sew.  As dreamy and creative this experience may sound, teaching your child to sew will involve a bit of stress. I've tried to take as much of the stress out of this adventure as possible, so it may be a better introduction to the world of sewing for your child and for you as their teacher.

Why a wrap dress?

• It is a style dress that looks chic on a number of dolls.
• It has a forgiving fit, If the seams are too wide or narrow, it will still look good.
• A first sewing project should not involve sleeves, facings or linings. Later kits will teach the sewing concepts behind each of those features.
• There are many ways it can be embellished I started with the contrasting waistband and yoyo-flower button.
• It can be made with a fat quarter. 

Each kit contains;

1. A detailed instruction booklet. Color photographs of each step of the process, plus written instructions and a side bar of "Things to think about"
2. The pattern pieces. Each piece is on poster board so it can be traced onto the wrong side of the fabric.
3. The "Pins and Needles" Booklet contains several darning needles, enough pins and Wonderclips to make the projects.
4. Practice material. The dress needs a Fat Quarter of Fabric and is embellished with a contrasting waist band and a YoYo Flower and button. You even get a practice waistband and YoYo Flower. You never know that first practice dress may come out just fine and in that case, your doll will need to wear it.
5. The fabric for your real dress, and of course the embellishments.
6. Four large snaps and practice machine sewing strips. (Sorry, I forgot to put them in the photograph)
7. Email support line, if you still are a bit confused or have questions about changing things up.

All the recipient has to supply is thread, scissors, tape (I'll explain that later) and the doll.

Kits available in my Etsy shop.

Teaching A Child to Sew

Tips on teaching a child to sew on a sewing machine