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! :)

How to : Delicate Fabric Flower brooch

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I just love those fabrics flowers. So delicate with a touch of vintage!

To make this project you will need:

- Fabric (I decided to go with cream colored linen)
- A needle and some nylon string
- A pair of scissors
- A pinback
- Some feathers (if you like them :))

1- Download the template on Carotte & Lychee Flickr here for the small and large petal.


2- Cut 9 large petals and 11 small ones.


3- Take one petal and put a little piece of string as shown on the picture.


4- Pull the string to squeeze the fabric. Hold the tip and solidify it by making an other point with your needle and string.


5- You petal should now look like something like this!


6- Repeat steps 3-4-5 on all large the petals.


7- Take four of them and sew them together.


8- It should now look like this.


9- Now, sew 3 petals together.


10- Sew together the group of four and the group of three petals.


11- Finally sew the two remaining large petals together.


12- Sew them on top of the other large petals.


13- Repeat steps 3-4-5 on all small petals.

14- Sew them together adding each petal below the other so the middle of the flower will be nice and clean.


15- You now have two parts of the flower.

16- Sew them together.


17- Voilà!

18- You can now sew some feathers on the back if you like.

19- Sew a pin on the back

20- Your flower is now ready to be worn :)

Happy Valentine’s Day?

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I don’t particularly love Valentine’s Day. I think this is a very commercial holiday and if I must receive chocolate and/or flowers once a year, please, may not be on this day!

Tonight, I was not planning something special or romantic; I was just making borsch soup. I reach our in my cupboard to get 2 nice potatoes and guess what? Destiny sent me a perfectly hearted shaped potato!

Well, what can I say... Love is in the soup?

My new lunch bag!

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I was looking for a place to put some of buttons and pins so I’ve decided to sew a new lunch bag. It’s a really basic one that I created a real simple pattern with it. But I like it! It really does the job.


See "Carotte & Lychee" Flickr page for the details about the artist or the story behind those pins and buttons.