Zamora Moon Update

Last week Zamora Moon traveled with her family to Bristol, England to undergo CED treatment for her brain tumor. My earlier post about her journey and her doll is here.

Today I received an update from her mother, Marisa. Zamora has braved the eleven hour surgery that inserted the catheter directly into her tumor, so that her chemotherapy can bypass the blood brain barrier. You can read more about the treatment here. She will have her first infusion in a couple of days.

For more information on DIPG brain tumors or to donate to continued and increased research, you can visit the Defeat DIPG website.

Also Zamora's fund raising site is here.

And in addition, please keep Zamora and her family in your thoughts.

Looking for Five People to Sew

As most of you know, for every doll sold I make and donate a doll to a child in need. So far it has been either a child in foster care or in the Family Promise program. Above are the dolls I make for girls ages 3-10. 

Last week I received an amazing donation from Purl Soho. They sent me six packets of fabrics and trims to be used in sewing for the foster children. Of course, the packets are amazing!

Packets from Purl Soho

I actually don't need any fabric (a bit of an understatement), but I'd love to give the packets to Phoebe&Egg friends who would love to sew for these dolls and children.

I was sent six packets, but one is spoken for. For five interested people who sew, I'll send a packet, my pattern and an envelope to send the dresses back. You can keep the pattern and the remaining fabric and trim, but must send the dresses you make to me to be donated with a doll.

I will take photos of the dolls with the dresses.

Packets from Purl Soho

If you are interested I'd love to hear from you.

The Zamora Moon bag

Marisa Martinez is both a Phoebe&Egg customer and the mother to eight year old  Zamora Martinez Lusinchi (Zamora Moon). Zamora is battling a rare form of childhood brain cancer called Diffuse intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). The tumor grows near the brain stem--the area of the brain that controls are most basic and necessary functions. About 200-400 children are diagnosed with this form of cancer each year. 

You can read more about DIPG here. And you can read more about Zamora right here.

Zamora named her much loved Phoebe doll "Forget" because she wants to forget she has cancer. And  her family and team are doing everything possible to try and make that a reality. She has travelled to Germany twice for immunotherapy and will be leaving this week for England for a chemo treatment that injects the treatment directly into her tumor.

Zamora's doll and her younger sister and her sister's Phoebe doll will all be accompanying Zamora to England, so I designed travel bags for them to make the trip easier and maybe a bit more fun.

The bag is made from a soft but sturdy brushed twill and lined in a bright cotton print. 

Inside there is a button up elasticized seatbelt for securely fastening your Phoebe doll in for trips. She won't fall out, but she can peek out over the top.

Phoebe is fastened in with an elasticized seatbelt.

Inside there is a pocket that closes with a button. It can hold her clothes and shoes for the trip.

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Each girl has their own color scheme.

I am hoping Zamora, her family and the dolls have a safe trip and that this is the treatment that cures her.

To support Zamora’s treatment, which will not be covered by insurance, please visit her Go Fund Me page.

To read more about Zamora, visit her FB page.

Doll Dressmaking Series: Long Sleeves for the Peasant Blouse

First apologies for the scant amount of blogging these last two months. I've been focusing on the ExtraSmalls and a number of custom orders and kind of neglected the blog and doll dressmaking. But I'm back. And I'm getting back to sleeves, which is where I left off.

My last tutorial was for long sleeves for the dresses. This tutorial is for long sleeves for the raglan peasant blouse (or dress). The short sleeve tutorial for the blouse is here. And the dress is here.

I am not going to repeat all of the instructions. Just skim over the making of the peasant blouse as discussed in the original tutorial, but with long sleeves. 

And of course the long sleeve pattern will be in the upcoming newsletter.

Cut out your pattern pieces, front and back (both the same) and the two sleeves.

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Sew three of the four "shoulder" seams. Make sure you are attaching a sleeve to a body and a body edge to a sleeve.

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On the bottom of each sleeve, fold under (to the wrong side of the fabric) 5/8 of an inch, press and stitch. This is the sleeve casing, meaning you will guide elastic through here.

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Do the same along the neck edge for the neck casing and elastic.

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Run elastic through the neck casing and then each of the sleeve casings. Directions for elastic and casings are here in the original tutorial. Finished wrist lengths (with the elastic) should measure as follows:

Phoebe: 3.5 inches, Sasha Dolls, 3 inches, American Girl and Waldorf: 4 inches. Neck length for Phoebe: 8.5 inches, Sasha 8 inches and AG and Waldorf 9-9.5 inches. Neck length is a bit of personal preference depending on how you like the neckline.

Stitch up the remaining "shoulder seam. 

Stitch up only one of the two side seams. Leaving one open makes it easier to add a trim on the bottom if one side is still open.

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Stitch trim onto bottom edge right sides together. Fold under and stitch down.

Stitch the other side seam and you are down.  Make the body a few inches longer and you have a dress.

Phoebe is a bit camera shy in this photo, but you can see the sleeve at least : )

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My love of custom dolls

This past week, I took the custom listings down from my site. Not because I don't love customs, but because I would like to refine the process, so that customers and I can more clearly mix and match all of the options and to make the process easier for both myself and most of all my customers.

But while I'm working on the customization worksheet I was also working on a few custom dolls. And well, as often happens, my customers come up with ideas that I love and would not have thought of.

Such as this girl. An artist Phoebe in her smock.

How lucky was I to have such an amazing request. 

And soon I will have the customization work sheet.

More of the ExtraSmall Phoebe

It's been a little over a week since the first extraSmall Phoebe was listed in my shop. A number of ExtraSmalls are now in their new homes. Some even have their own Instagram accounts. I love peeking into their lives.

I will continue to list ExtraSmall Phoebes and a few clothing sets over the next few weeks. 

I have been asked by several people if there are custom ExtraSmalls. There are. I'm not a magician, but please send me your ideas and I am happy to let you know if it is possible.

ExtraSmall Phoebe

ExtraSmall and Extra Cold

ExtraSmall Clothes

ExtraSmall Phoebe before she flew off to her new home

ExtraSmall Smocked Dress Set

Three winners of the Spoonflower Dollmaking Fabric

Thank you everyone for commenting and entering

As promised, but definitely a week late, I have entered the names of everyone who commented (with an email address) into a random name generator and I have three winners. The winners are (winners were changed because the first two did not leave email addresses):

Linda Badurek

Julie Wiesler

and Bekki.

I will get in touch with each of you for an address. 

A Preview of the New ExtraSmall Phoebes

If you follow me on Instagram this may be old news.  But after many requests, I have finally developed a small doll. A smaller line of Phoebes.

And that there will be an ExtraSmall Phoebe giveaway on Instagram.

New ExtraSmall Phoebe is a tiny bit over half of the size of regular sized Phoebe. She is just over a foot and weighs only a few ounces and one hand can fit easily around her tiny waist. Even a child sized hand.

Each doll will come with two outfits, and a playful trench coat and the tiniest little pair of shoes just like the regular sized Phoebe's shoes--100% wool felt Mary Janes with little buttons.

ExtraSmall phoebe Sets will be in my Etsy shop at the end of the week.

And...

The Giveaway will be one ExtraSmall Phoebe set. How to enter will appear on Instagram on Thursday. Contest will close Sunday morning. Exact times to be announced later.

Click here to find me on Instagram.

One of the new ExtraSmall Phoebes

ExtraSmall Phoebe and Regular Sized Phoebe

ExtraSmall Phoebe

The "line" of ExtraSmall Phoebes

A New Spring Doll

This Phoebe doll is in celebration of spring. She was very refreshing to make. She felt like spring. Soft warm coloring in her hair and clothes.

She's shipping off tomorrow, but I'm making a listing in my shop for someone who would also like her, i would make a second one.

Baby dolls for a very special group of babies

Phoebe&Egg makes and donates a doll to a child in need for every doll purchased.

Doll have been donated to foster care organizations and Family Promise organizations in Massachusetts, which is where I live.

But last fall through two friends who are social workers in Connecticut, I was connected with a foster care organization in the Greater New Haven area. 

I have always tried to match the doll to the child, according to gender and age. This organization services a lot of children under two, many under one. My youngest was adopted at one, and had three transitions prior to joining our family, so I have some understanding of how hard it is for these children to bond with an adult only to be ripped away.

I am hoping the doll can serve as a bit of a security object, a transitional object.

The dolls for these children are designed for that age group. No small parts, very simple squeezable babies that are a not so small they will be lost, but a good size and weight for that age group.

Today I shipped my second box off to Connecticut and with the help of two amazing assistants, I have a crop of other baby dolls in production to be sent out soon.