Button love

I was tempted to buy a large bag of multi coloured buttons last week and since bringing them home have had endless fun sorting through them.

The colours are just yummy and they'll mix and match well with my rainbow selection of knitting yarn.

I placed a small selection of buttons on various ginghams and was surprised how different the colours of the buttons appeared on each. The same buttons are used in each photo.

 

The bag of buttons is just the sort of thing my mum would have bought for me at the start of a school holiday as she'd have known they would have kept me occupied for days. A needle and thread were always within easy reach at our house and I know for sure that apart from stitching them onto dolly clothes etc I'd have had endless fun creating (and wearing) zingy coloured bracelets and necklaces.

With baby brothers in the family I would of course have been warned not to leave stray buttons within easy reach of inquisitive hands.

With the school holidays approaching I thought I'd recommend 'Made by Me' by Jane Bull. The ideas and illustrations are delightfully tempting and just right for young girls who show an interest in sewing and knitting. I know my own daughter would have loved it.

There are some clever storage ideas for all those bits and pieces every crafter collects.

Some great ways to decorate a plain T-shirt

An easy rag doll to make and dress

There's even a knitted hat for your dolly to wear. I was thrilled to see knitting had been included in the book as I'd like to see all youngsters learning to knit.

Simple sewing and embroidery stitches are described and illustrated and there are numerous cute items to tempt young crafters.

Last week I stumbled across blogs by two youngsters Karn and Margo. They use their blogs to post pictures of their drawings and paintings. I think this is a wonderful way for children to keep a record of their work and of course show their artistic creations to a large audience.

You can see their blogs here:
Karn Draws.
My Strawberry Unicorns

If you have a creative little person (under the age of 10) with a blog that is used to post art or craft work done by this child please do let me know, I'd love to see it and will add it to my list.

Until next time,
Eli

Fishing for fairies

Here at Flutterby Patch we all love reading Mabel Lucie Attwell annuals and my little dolls especially like the pictures of the tiny fairy folk. One of their favourite stories is this one where a little girl catches a fairy in her fishing net. But when she lifts the net the rascally fairy flies away.

My two dolls Tilly and Kate long to catch a fairy but the weather outside today was cold and damp and so Tilly decided she would open the playroom window and she and Kate would take turns to hold the fishing net ready to catch any little fairy that popped in for a look around. They waited.....and waited........

..........then suddenly..........Plop! Something tiny landed on the window sill and Kate was quick to catch the 'something' in her net. Could it possibly be a fairy?

Kate held tightly to the net whilst Tilly closed the window.

Then Kate removed the net and picked up the little 'something'.....

........... and much to her delight it was indeed a tiny fairy.

 Measuring just 15cm (6in) he was the sweetest little fellow dressed from head to toe in scarlet and green.

He showed no sign of wanting to escape.

He even danced a little jig, much to the amusement of the two girls.

I think he might have come to stay for a while and the dolls will spoil him of course. If he should get lonely he'll find plenty of companions in our Lucie Attwell Annuals.

A BIG thank you to those of you who left thoughtful comments with my previous post (A skip down Memory Lane). It was good to see Milly Molly Mandy is such a great favourite worldwide. It seems the books never fail to stir happy childhood memories.

Several of you asked about the little dolly I featured. You quite rightly presumed she was inspired by Waldorf dolls. Her head, which is roughly the size of a conker (horse chestnut), is made using the Waldorf method. It was quite a fiddly process working on something so small but I've always loved making miniature items and so persevered. She measures 15cm (6in). Her arms and legs are covered pipe cleaners, her hair is mohair knitting yarn, her dress is Liberty lawn and her cardigan is knitted with 4 ply Shetland wool. The head and features of the little fairy found by Tilly and Kate is also Waldorf inspired.

Before I started blogging three years ago I knew very little about Waldorf dolls and their history and hadn't a clue how one was put together. Creating the head and features is a fascinating procedure and the resulting dollies are just the sweetest little characters. I've seen many of these dolls featured in blogland but the blog that has always been in my favourites list is Little Jenny Wren. Jenny never fails to amaze me with the little people she creates. She never seems to run out of ideas and as a result every doll is different. Jenny's lucky little dollies regularly travel to new homes around the world. Do pop over and take a look.

Meanwhile, if you'd like to know more about making Waldorf dolls you'll find plenty of information online and there are several good books (with patterns) available. Another blogging friend of mine has just completed her first doll and what a pretty little girl she is. You'll find her at Mary Jane's Tearoom.

Time to visit Tilly and Kate and check their new found friend with his mischievous grin isn't wreaking havoc in the playroom.

A skip down Memory Lane

I went for a happy skip down Memory Lane this week. It all started when I read a few Milly Molly Mandy stories and it ended with the making of this little dolly. . . . . . But more of her later, first the books.

I'm sure these delightful stories will be familiar to most of you. They were written and illustrated by Joyce Lankester Brisley. The first tale was published in the 1920s and more appeared on a regular basis until the 1960s.

Milly Molly Mandy lives in an English village in a nice white cottage with a thatched roof. You can see it in the top left hand corner of the map (click on map to enlarge). Across the lane lives her little friend Susan. Wouldn't you love to have a home here and be part of this happy village community?

Milly Molly Mandy lives with what today would be referred to as an 'extended family'. There's father, mother, grandpa, grandma, uncle and aunty and happy family meals are always taken at the kitchen table. When this story was written there was no TV so there were no 'unmissable programmes' to lure anyone away from the table.

Little girls who wanted to look 'grown up' would try on mummy's old clothes and grandma's hat. Cosmetics for children were unheard of in those days and applying real lipstick was not encouraged. So youngsters would rely on sweets like Smarties. The red sweets when licked and smeared on the lips would obligingly deposit a rich scarlet stain (needless to say the tongue was also stained scarlet but that didn't matter).

Toys were few and so treated with care. But who needed toys when the 'bestest fun' could be had from building tents from old table cloths and counterpanes draped over chairs and broom handles.

Or how about a game of 'horses' played by galloping astride a sturdy stick.

Perhaps the picture I find most poignant is this one showing the two little girls heading off alone into the open countryside in search of blackberries. With so many of today's children confined to their gardens for reasons of security I can't help wondering when and why childhood became so very different. 

My own childhood spanned the 50's and 60s. We were free to roam in the surrounding countryside and the simple games we played were very similar to those described in the stories. My early years were spent at a village school that had just 50 pupils which was considered large compared to other village schools in the area.

After my nostalgic journey through these lovely books I decided to make a tiny doll that would resemble the little friends I once had at my village school. I trawled my memory for the way we looked in those days and this is the little character that evolved. She's 15cm (6in) tall and wire framed which enables me to pose her (something I like to do with dollies).

Girl's hair was often short and tied with a ribbon at one side. Long hair was never worn loose but always plaited (braided). Cheeks were rosie from much outdoor activity including the walk to and from school in all weathers (mums with cars were rare).

Cardigans and jumpers were usually hand knitted in 3 ply or 4 ply wool. DK yarn was only just putting in an appearance as were synthetics. Dresses were short and had full skirts and were often handmade by mum or granny. A petticoat was usually worn under the dress.

White ankle socks were worn in summer and grey or beige knee length ones in winter. Fashionable and trendy shoes were not an issue as little girls (and boys) wore the same style of summer sandal with a ‘T’ bar. These were brown leather although occasionally girls wore red in the Mary Jane style.

I hope you've enjoyed skipping down Memory Lane with me. Perhaps some of you have similar memories to my own . . . . . happy days indeed.

Have an enjoyable weekend, wherever you are.

Dollies dilemma

Here we are again! Only a few months since the last fall of heavy snow and Britain has again ground to a halt. Admittedly it's come early this year and taken everyone by surprise so the only thing to do is stay snug and warm indoors and enjoy the prettiness outside. As you can see, unlike other areas the white stuff hasn't hit us too hard in England's Lakeland ....yet!

Needless to say I'm using my enforced confinement to work on my dolls house and am surrounded by books containing pretty pictures and fascinating information about dollies from days gone by.

This engraving dates from the 1500s. Isn't it wonderful.

And here is an eighteenth century engraving showing a doll with strings attached so that it could be taken for a walk by its young owner.

Early dolls were very precious and were only taken out on special occasions when play would have been strictly supervised.

Early wooden dolls like the one above are known as 'Queen Anne dolls' and they have always fascinated me. I'm wondering if I should have made mini replicas of these for my early Georgian house rather than the more contemporary style that I made (pictured below). What do you think?

Lady Danville of course is completely oblivious to my deliberations about whether she is the correct style of doll or not. She is spending her days choosing fabric for windows and four poster beds from a vintage pattern book of damask swatches.

Meanwhile, if you live in the northern hemisphere like me then I hope you are keeping warm. If you live in the south I'm envious as I'm sure you'll all be basking in warm sunshine.

My miniature world

Greetings friends. After spending several weeks concentrating on my knitting I decided to take time off and do something completely different. So sit down for a while and I will explain.

I love dolls (as I think you know) and it has always been my ambition to create a tiny family to reside in their own miniature world. Several years ago I made the family but never got round to giving them anywhere to live.

However, for the past couple of weeks I've been busy building a dolls house from a kit I acquired. I want everything to be as historically accurate as possible and have chosen the early Georgian period.

Here is the front of the house waiting to be painted.

The children are very excited and can't wait to move in.

But moving day is some way off as the stairs have yet to be fixed in place.

I'm fascinated by antique miniature houses. The one below dates from the 1730s and is on display at Nostell Priory in Yorkshire. It is early Georgian so is giving me lots of ideas and inspiration.

Of course my house won't be anything like this one!

Lots more inspiration is comng from the dolls house books I've collected over the years. This one is a great favourite

My tiny family will want to fill their rooms with early Georgian furniture so the book below is proving very useful.

and fireplaces, lighting and other period details must look just right throughout the house.

Meanwhile, Squire Danville, head of my household, is happily going about his daily business and ignoring the building work going on all around him.....typical!

I'll keep you updated on my progress, but now I have some stairs to fix.