Ceveena -- the wood fairy princess!

I'm loving creating art figures -- I can't call them dolls because those are things to be played with. Ceveena is definitely not for play; she is to be enjoyed.

Ceveena is a rebel wood fairy princess who never bought into the idea that fairies and humans cannot meet. She has brought a ‘welcome’ box of fairy jewels to her latest adventure in the human kingdom. Which world does she prefer? She’s still thinking about that. She says the food is better here.

 

Ceveena was adapted from the pattern “Uilleanne” (www.faewyckstudios.com) and a head molded from Sherry Goshon’s”Sara” mold (dollmakersjourney.com/goshon.html). She definitely was created as I went along -- each new step suggested the ones to follow.

 

Her head is cloth over paper clay with colored pencil features, Tibetan lamb hair and mohair for her hair. Crown is stiffened and painted lace (this was fun!), embellished with Czech crystals.

 

Her body is dyed cotton with batik legs. Clothing is my own design in embellished Dupioni silk (my favorite fabric!)

 

 

 

Her box is of polymer clay, and her fairy jewels are Swarovski crystals (only the best in fairy land!)

 

 

 

 

Email me with questions on technique – I’m happy to share!

Stump dolls

Stump dolls are figures without legs or feet -- normally the 'costume' creates the bottom of the doll. Here, I used two layers of fabric as the figure's bottom half -- the brown/tan underskirt with a green lace overlay. Upper arms are of the same fabrication, and the lower arms and hands are the same pink knit as her neck and upper chest. I used the scalloped edge of the green lace to create the neckline and sleeve ruffles -- it also serves to cover some not-so-pretty construction details. A lady needs her dignity!
I placed her hands together so she can hold small objects. Below it's a heart necklace, but it will ultimately be small white 'meadow flowers' in keeping with my current forest/nature theme.

Most figures need to be weighted to keep them steady -- this one has a ziplock baggie with a few handfulls of beans inside.



Art Figures (NOT dolls)

I've found a new type of textile 'fun' -- creating art figures. My first 'cloth doll' used a pattern by Cindee Moyer from joggles.com that I modified as I went along. I find that there are multiple ways to make cloth doll faces. This used a technique called 'skinning' where you make a 3-part head (creating a line down the center of the face) and then cover it with another layer of fabric ('skin' the face) to eliminate the line. In this case I used a stretch fabric for layer #1, coated it with fabric stiffener, and then with white glue. I used cotton gauze as the final layer, which I did not like particularly much. Too rough for my lady.

Next came the details -- creating faces can be FUN! It's all about proportion. This face was colored with Prismacolor pencils. The hair is some very soft felting wool, with green mohair added just for fun.

Another Quilt square

I'm on to another quilt square, after a diversion to needle felting (more soon...) and a lack of focus on which embellishment techniques to attempt. My third square includes fabric foiling (easy and fun!) as well as free-motion stippling (a machine-stitched fill pattern with the feed dogs lowered).

Fabric foiling uses a special 'foiling glue' and foil sheets (available from Joggles.com ) and is an easy way to add a bit of glitz to your world. several techniques are possible; my technique was to paint the glue on some heart stamps and 'stamp' the fabric with the glue. After the glue dries, put the foil sheet over the glue SHINY SIDE UP and rub the sheet (with a finger, bone folder, or letter opener). The foil will stick only to the glue. Pretty nifty!

The stippling was done with metallic thread and monofilament in the bobbin. I created my own pattern which was just a scrolly left circle-right circle meandering stitch. I tried not to cross lines, but sometimes you just gotta! Matching the stippling pattern to the backing (a batik print that looks like a lot of oblong pebbles), and using gold thread to match the foil brings it all together nicely. The square has a lot more shine 'in real life' -- hopefully the final quilt photo will bring that out.

Embellished Art Quilt

I am starting a wall quilt (about 3 feet x 4 feet) that will consist of six blocks (approximately 8 x 10) embellished in different ways. As it's for my hallway, the color scheme matches my house decor in yellows, reds, and  oranges. The 'theme' is hearts, and each block will incorporate the theme using different techniques. I've finished two of them -- one crazy quilted and the other 'manipulated fabric':

This one was crazy-quilted by attaching random pieces to iron-on interfacing and then doing random decorative stitches around the edges and over the entire square. The three yellow hearts were needle felted (wow -- new addiction!) and then I attached store-bought charms for the heart detail. This was fun and fast. Some were swatches from old Sawyer Brook swatch packs.  I knew I saved them for a reason!

The second block was made by 'bubbling' fabric -- again onto interfacing.  The process is to wet the fabric and then poke it through a grate -- I used a purchased kitchen item with a 3/4" wire mesh grating. Let it dry, steam to a piece of iron-on interfacing, and pull from the grate. For this particular use, I also attached muslin to the interfacting for backing. If this piece was for a garment or handbag I would have machine-stitched between each 'bubble' to hold the shape.

 

What you can't see very well is the beaded heart I did afterwards. I used size 8 sead beads in purple and gold, stitching them 'in the ditch' of the bubbles and then outlining the heart. This took some time to do -- hope it shows up well in the final quilt.

Next up -- I am waiting for my order of foiling paper to arrive so that I can do some fabric foiling. Looks like a fun and easy technique!

Welcome to 2012!

The crafter within me has re-awakened, and thus my blog will as well. I have a new commitment -- whenever something new comes into the house, it needs to REPLACE something, not just add to the growing stashes. Thus, over the holiday break I decided to attack the fabric stash so I could purchase more fabric (fabric --> garment-->toss/donate one garment-->get more fabric). Love the circular nature here!
Two projects emerged -- a dress for work, and a wall quilt. The dress is fnished (and yes, I DID donate a dress...several, actually!).

This was my first Marfy pattern, and I realized that I actually CAN sew dresses without the directions. The pattern needed alterations as I purchased the wrong size pattern, but the fit is nice. It's a soft light-weight Italian wool -- nice subtle light blue damask-type background pattern reduces the intensity of the plaid.



Fabric diversions

I recently came across a quite properly tailored Pendleton jacket that I bought some time ago because (a) it was on sale, (b) a good color for me, and (c) my hubby liked it. It's a bit too small for me (4P) but see above for rationale (same thing applies to 8P -- a bit too big but see a, b, and/or c above). I have never worn it, and was almost ready to toss it in the Goodwill box. It was saved from that fate by a trip to a department store to look at way-too-expensive basic blazers. "Hmmm, thinks me. I can re-design that into something wonderful." This, of course, after watching Project Runway.


Here is the before and after -- a perfectly serviceable basic blazer, released from its collar, pocket flaps, and buttons, and with a potentially shorter hemline. I'm thinking about a ruffly collar attachment at this point, although it's not looking wonderful in muslin.

Cruising through my fabric stash, I spy a fabric that just might work to spruce things up a bit! I have a habit of being attracted to splashes of color. I get the fabric home (or open the FedEx delivery) and think "what WAS I thinking! I'd need to be twice my size to be able to wear this much color!" So, it stays in my stash until I figure something out.  In this case, the camel is a perfect match, and now I'm inspired.

Could be quite nice. I play more and come up with a nice collar proportion. I like the way it 'bunches up", so more play time is in order.  Stay tuned!