STITCHED STUFFIES NATURE INSPIRED TEXTILE ART DOLLS

Heartfelt

2011-02-23T10:51:00.004Z

rose cottage

Oh dear!

I don't seem to have posted much here in a long while

I do have dolls and stuffed figures in my head and heart
but they never quite make it to the studio table

The hearts I make have been keeping me busy and I must say I do love stitching them ... each one turning out differently ... one of a kind ... with little stories to tell

♥

some are romantic

and full of love

some are dreams of summer holidays by the sea
perhaps in a Cornish cottage right on the beach

St. Ives and seaside hearts

some celebrate the beauty of a seaside in winter

some are for celebrating special occasions

a heart of gold

some are for Christmas
with golden snowflakes

some are wintery

and some are icy
with silver snowflakes and icicles

all are made with lots of love

now I must work to get some stuffed figures
from my heart to the sewing machine

and hope it isn't too long before I post here again ...

Carolyn

♥

Spring dress form

2010-03-21T18:59:00.014Z

This is my Spring figure for a seasonal challenge that Chris Gray and I set ourselves to make an art doll/stuffed figure for each of the seasons during 2010

This is my art figure for Spring

I wanted the figure to be inspired by Spring so my starting point was the silk fabric I used which I dyed with Spring berries (red Skimmia Japonica berries) which I picked during March

The dye fetched from the berries was an earthy brown with pink tones and the various fabrics came out in this very pretty earthy pale rose pink shade

I left the silk to dry crumpled as I wanted a layered look (similar to the rock pool themes I sometimes work with)

The dress form idea evolved because I wanted to create a figure with an elegant neck and when I drew out my design I couldn't envisage the head and so I cut it straight across at the neck like a mannequin or dress form.

The form itself is made from calico and the lace collar (previously a pristine white) was dyed with tea to blend

Inspired by the earthy pink sheen of the silk I embellished the form with pink pearly shells (found on a local beach near me at Godrevy, Cornwall) which I couched down. Then I added lots of french knots in pink/brown variegated rayon, pink metallic thread and lots of beads

There is a vintage button on the back

I stencilled the word "WOLF" across the neck ... a famous brand of dress form

The next figure for Summer will be posted on the June quarter day and ideas are already "forming" if you will excuse the pun (intended)

Thanks for visiting me today! Please also hop over to Chris Gray's blog and see her doll "Blodeuwedd" for Spring

Carolyn ♥

Textile art doll - Spring

2010-02-20T16:33:00.005Z

Update - I'm working on a series of four fibre art dolls as part of a collaboration with Chris Gray Textile Art. The first of my textile art doll/figures will be posted on the weekend of the Spring Equinox (Sunday 21st March) ... watch this space!

My stuffie is in Cloth Paper Scissors

2009-11-14T15:11:00.001Z

This week I received two copies of the December issue of Cloth Paper Scissors with my "Winter Sparkle Stuffie" in it

The first copy was from Sharne who very kindly sent one to me in the post. It arrived on exactly the same day that Cloth Paper Scissors returned "Winter Sparkle" with a complementary copy of the magazine! Thanks also to Chris Gray and Viv for sending me copies of the page so that I could see what she looked like before my magazines turned up!

So, my "little cutie" has returned from her journey to Stow in Massachusetts, which is a lot further than I've ever been! She enjoyed her adventure but is now glad to be home in time for Christmas

Carolyn ♥

Three stuffies

2009-11-13T17:38:00.006Z

My little cuties!

Frosty seedhead stuffie
Winter sparkle stuffie
Christmas berry critter

Stitching the stuffies

2009-11-13T17:36:00.007Z

At the time, I forgot to take photos of the stitching stages so I will show you some finished details

I wanted to give my stuffies some distinguishing features so they all have machine stitched decoration on their bodies, pretty chokers at their necks and have the same heart shaped face with big closed eyes that feature eyelashes. Originally, I did think of using false eyelashes and ordered some which took an age to come. I couldn't wait, so I stitched my own!

Christmas Berry Critter

This is the tea dyed stuffie that I call "Christmas Berry Critter"

Christmas Berry Critter

The design was free motion machine stitched with the berries painted in 3d paint, heated with a heat gun then painted with rose madder acrylics

The face is painted with white acrylic paint and edged in machine stitching. The eyelashes were machine stitched, then the lashes were hand stitched with beads on the end. I quite like them because the stuffies don't have mouths but the eye lashes sort of smile. They are smiley stuffies!

Heart shape face and feature eye lashes

The collar and choker is machine stitched with beaded detail in berry red

Although I've made dolls before, it was so long ago that it was like starting again. A real learning curve! The biggest thing that I had a job with was the thinness of the neck. I stitched all the seams together leaving only a small opening on the base for stuffing, which was rediculously tiny if I'm honest, and the neck was so thin I had a real job turning the stuffies inside out. Note to self: give myself more room for turning and a bigger opening for stuffing!

Frosty Seedhead Stuffie

Next, I stitched on the painted calico. Both designs have sparkly seed head shapes but are different

This one features seed head shapes free motion machine stitched in silver metallic thread, a silver ribbon and shisha choker and eye lashes with silver beads

Frosty seedhead stuffie

Sparkly

Choker detail

Winter Sparkle Stuffie

This is the stuffie that got in Cloth Paper Scissors

The seed head design was inspired by a collage I did at art college a couple of years ago. I used pieces of fabric, net, mesh, plastic, silk and lace stitched down with free motion machine embroidery in silver thread

Seedhead detail

Seedheads

I used a pretty diamante button on ribbon for the choker

Pretty choker

I hope I didn't bore the pants off you too much showing you these!

In summary, I'm not all that keen on the "extra terrestrial" look of my stuffies but I have got attached to these strange but cute little critters!

I've got new challenges in the making and ideas for new dolls that do not look like they've come from another planet! I hope to blog much more here next year

Carolyn ♥

Stuffies in the making ...

2009-11-13T06:54:00.004Z

The first thing I did was make a small hand-made journal in which I could keep my ideas for Winter themes. I brainstormed. I wrote down lists of words and thoughts that popped in my head, made small diagrams of details that I might incorporate, played with mixing my paint colours, added a few small samples of fabrics that I might use along with some thread choices

Being constantly inspired by nature, I immediately felt that my direction was to go along with a nature in winter theme ... of frost or snow on seedheads ... maybe pretty red berries

The shape of my stuffie was really inspired by keeping to the size specified in the challenge. I drew a box shape for the specifications and then made the stuffie "fit" the box, really loosely, being free and not worrying about the shape. In hindsight, I do think the shape is rather "extra terrestrial" but that's what came ... so I went along with it!

Making a paper pattern

I kept this one as a template and made a few more patterns

Pinning and cutting out

I cut out three stuffie dolls from medium weight calico

Three stuffies

I machine stitched part of the spines together. This was to make it easier for me, when I painted the calico, to get a good match either side of the seams

Part stitched seams

The calico is ready to be painted and dyed

One of my stuffies was tea dyed for a natural look by soaking the cut pieces in very strong tea

The other two of my stuffies were painted in the colours of a Winter sky. The perfect backdrop for sparkly frosty seed heads

I painted the calico using acrylic paints in an abstract way

While the paint was still wet I added dark midnight blue/black inks and sprayed very fine silver glitter onto the grey

Three stuffies painted and dyed

After leaving them to dry overnight they were ready for stitching

Carolyn ♥

Winter Sparkle Stuffie

2009-08-03T14:31:00.008+01:00

My Winter Sparkle Stuffie may appear in Cloth Paper Scissors

I've just had the RESULTS of the Winter Holiday Critter Stuffies challenge and I am really pleased to be a finalist. Now my Stuffie is on it's way to Cloth Paper Scissors to be considered for publication

... more soon :o)

Stuffie Journal

2009-05-02T10:34:00.010+01:00

I've had a busy week, but an exciting one! I started a small art journal for the stuffies and have begun brainstorming, getting my ideas down, drawing designs and thinking about making up some patterns

This was a quick first drawing which actually turned out to be the pattern I used. My objective here was to keep the stuffies within the specified size limits

I'm still very keen on the idea, a week later, which is good news! I'm just blogging my progress here, so I can look back on it later!

Secret Stitched Stuffie Stash

2009-04-26T14:47:00.009+01:00

My copy of Cloth Paper Scissors dropped through the letterbox (yesterday) Saturday morning and I hardly got a wink of sleep last night. I was so excited!!!

The reason for this "extra" excitement is the "Critter Stuffie" challenge!

Diana Trout's critter stuffies in Cloth Paper Scissors

The challenge is to create up to three stuffies each with a Christmas/Winter theme for their Christmas issue

Now, this is exciting to me because:

I love Christmas and have Christmas all year round in my cottage; and
For some time, I have been wanting to extend my textile art to making 3D art dolls and just haven't had time/got round to it - so this is the push I need to get started!!

As some of you know, I already manage two textile art blogs and belong to textile challenge groups in blogland, so this blog is going to be solely dedicated to my "stuffies". I'm brimming with inspiration and ideas!! I can't wait, but I really should finish off my other projects first!!

My stuffies need to be ready before 13th July to be in with a chance, so I won't be able to show you them till after that. In the meantime, I shall be keeping an art journal, developing my ideas and creating a secret stash of stitched stuffies