Frédérique et son biscuit chinois

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Depuis quelques années nous avons à mon travail la tradition de faire un échange de cadeaux « handmade » pour le temps des fêtes. Je trouve l’idée absolument géniale car ceci nous oblige en quelque sorte à penser à un de nos collègues intensément pour trouver l’idée qui lui fera plaisir et ensuite la réaliser.

Doll making: closeups

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I love taking work-in-progress photos...
Here are some closeups taken during my doll making sessions.

Early doodles of Alice & Colin

Alice: paper to feltCarotte & Lychee tagsColin: waiting to be assembled

Doll making: part 2 or A Tribute to Hoodies

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Do you remember Keira, our first little fabric / felt doll? When I first imagined her, I had in mind to create a series of 3 dolls: one yellow, one red, and one blue - all hooded. And this little trio, I wanted to proudly name The Hoodies.

I've only gotten to present you Keira, but Caro and I have since created Alice and Colin! Funny thing is they haven't actually made their way into our Etsy shop... It had been a while since we'd updated our work collegues on our Carotte & Lychee projects so we decided, one morning, to bring in and showcase our latest items at the office. At the time, only Keira and Alice were completed... And they were swept up the moment they were displayed! :) I was thrilled!! The only problem was that we had only made one of each and now they were gone! Although the response was fantastic, Caro and I did not have in mind to "mass produce" these dolls and also, since they take up quite some time and effort to create, despite their simplicity, it seemed "The Hoodies" would have to wait a little for their Etsy shop premiere.



So it's now months later, and having said all of this, I will say that they are almost ready! But before officially launching this little trio, I do want to come up with a nice way to present it... Perhaps each with their own little pouch to carry them in? I had fun creating this little doll for a friend of mine :)

I can't wait to feature The Hoodies in our shop! It shouldn't be too long now... ;-)







Fun facts
The first time I worked on Keira, I wore a yellow hoody.
The first time I worked on Alice, I wore a red hoody.
The first time I worked on Colin, I wore a blue hoody... Ok, no, this last one was a lie, but I swear I just so happened to wear the same coloured hoodies as the dolls I was making, both times, both purely coincidental I swear! :)

Doll making

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I've never been much of a "doll" girl, but when I saw Emily Martin's (aka the Black Apple) fabric dolls, I simply fell in love. They were not only so adorable, but also so simple to make. Caro and I actually tried out her tutorial and that's how Adele and Anne-Sophie came to be!


Caro loved the project so much she went on to make her own custom dolls that are A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E. Although Adele is mine, I must say it was Caro who put her together, and by that I mean she sewed all the little parts - I only chose the fabric and sewed the top of her head closed! For the longest time, I've told myself that I should stick to the pen - the needle wasn't made for me. But seeing Caro's pretty dolls pop up before me one after the other, just made me go, "Dang, I wanna make one too!"

I am not a spontaneous person, but I do have my moments, and once I told myself I shall make a doll, I went ahead and bought meh a nice little sewing machine the very same day (which I returned a week later because my momma said, "Why don't ya return that thang dear, I have one, just take mine!" And I love it because it's almost vintage ;-) Oh and my mommy doesn't speak like that, I don't know what got into me).

I made a few sketches of characters I could possibly turn dolls. Naturally, they all looked like the little girls I've been drawing lately: big head, wide spaced eyes, small and slightly chubby body with short arms and legs. What can I say, I can't help it :P

Once satisfied with my character, I made its pattern. I had never done anything like that before; I was both nervous and excited! It was a very cool process. Although I didn't have any real fabric, the few coloured felt sheets I had bought randomly now and then served me well. Very well in fact, as I could easily go back on my steps whenever I made a mistake.


So now I present you Keira (as Caro mentioned, naming your doll is almost the funnest part of all!):


Her legs almost gave in when I made her dance on the table, and her hands are kinda stubby, but boy do I love her ;-)

Caro and I are currently working on a little doll serie based on Keira and we'll hopefully be revealing it soon. Much much fun! Stay tuned...

-lychee