When I taught 9 and 10 year olds in elementary school, one of their favorite art projects was covering egg shells with colored tissue paper. For a month or two every spring, I poked a hole in the top and bottom of each egg that I needed for cooking. I blew the egg out of each shell and saved the shells. When I had enough empty eggs, The children painted the shells with white glue and then covered the eggs with small pieces of colored tissue paper.

I decided to substitute fabric scraps for paper. I used Mod Podge instead of white glue. I suppose that Mod Podge is a type of varnish. I find it less intimidating than varnish, because it is sold in craft stores rather than paint stores and cleans up with water before it dries. It looks like white glue, but it has a plastic smell, like fingernail polish. I like its clear finish when it dries, but white fabric glue would probably work, too.

Because it is thicker, fabric is harder to smooth out than paper. I found that small triangles of fabric are easier to smooth out than squares or irregular shapes. I used small flower prints and checks for my patchwork egg. I covered my gold egg will small triangles of gold lame’ and then added gold braid around the middle.

Next week I have a request for a blog about Toto.

sherralyn New Things other sewing projects

I have only had four people to comment on my blog during February. Since I have enough copies of my book to send each of you a copy, I am declaring everyone a winner. My piano teacher would have enjoyed drawing the winners, but she is very tenderhearted, so she will be glad that everyone has won. John Nickolaus, Damerose,  Melissa, and Annette, If you will email me with an address, I will send you each a copy of the book this week.  Send me e-mail You can also find the email link at the bottom of my main page.

Thank you for all your comments. I hope that you will continue to read my blog and comment.  Next week I hope to write about decorating eggs with tiny scraps of fabric and Mod Podge. Be sure to check to see if my eggs turned out okay.

sherralyn Uncategorized blog theme

The eighth comment on my February seventh post is from Annette Lunnon. She talks about a group of Church ladies that makes two hundred dolls a year to send as Christmas presents to needy children. I asked her if I could post a picture of two of the dolls that were made for this project and she graciously said yes. I am amazed that the charming doll faces are drawn free hand. I spent years learning how to draw faces and place them accurately on the dolls’ heads. Now when I make a doll, I draw the original face and then trace and color it on fabric before I construct the doll. I make more mistakes on the faces than I do sewing the dolls.

sherralyn other people's dolls

Here are the three small dolls that I working on right now. Twinkle Star is around 6.5 inches tall. Foribunda Flowers is about 7.5 inches, and Tender Heart is about 8.75 inches. Little dolls have always been a favorite of mine, maybe because they don’t take up too much space in my collection.

Remember that there are only two weeks left to make a comment if you want to be included in the drawing for free books.

sherralyn Pattern Making, my patterns designing patterns, sewing for small dolls

Is anyone else besides John Nickolaus interested in winning a copy of my book? If you make a comment on any of my blog posts, you will be eligible for the drawing on March 2. There are suppose to be two winners, but so far, it looks like John will be stuck with two books, if someone else doesn’t make a comment in the next three weeks. John collects Oz memorabilia, so I am going to explain a little about the Dorothy in my pattern book. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was one of my favorite books as a child. (I still love it.) I loved the movie, but I loved the book more. Sometimes in our culture after a movie is made from a popular book, the movie defines the story, rather than the book. It may not matter much that in the original story Dorothy wore silver rather than ruby slippers, but I wanted to make a doll with silver slippers. The dresses I made for Dorothy were inspired by the original book illustrations. When I wanted to design a larger wardrobe, I began to realize how much the movie had influenced me. The first Oz book was illustrated by W. W. Denslow. In Denslow’s illustrations Dorothy has braids. I was certain that she had black braids like Judy Garland. The rest of the original books were illustrated by John R. Neill. In his illustrations Dorothy has short blond hair. I designed Dorothy some clothes using the later books as models, but I can never imagine Dorothy with anything, but a braided hair style. I tried to bring something from the books to my Dorothy doll, but I have to admit that I am also influenced by the movie.

sherralyn my patterns memories

I am going to have a contest during the month of February. Two lucky winners will receive a free copy of my book, Easy to Make Storybook Dolls. If you write a comment in February on any of my posts you will have your name in the drawing, unless of course, you request not to be included. You do not need to include your email address in order to comment. Winners will need to email me their mailing address so that I will know where to mail the books. I live in the USA, but would be glad to mail the book to other countries. The sewing measurements are given in inches, however, so the book might not be useful to everyone. I promise to post at least once a week during February, but remember you can make comments on any post and be eligible for the drawing. My piano teacher will draw the winning names on Tuesday March 2, before my piano lesson. I hope that I will be hearing from you this month.

sherralyn blog

If you are looking for a good new year’s resolution, why not resolve to keep your sewing machine in good working order. Dig out your sewing machine manual and give your machine a good overhaul. Follow the directions to remove lint and add machine oil to the suggested moving parts. Change the needle if you haven’t changed it in a while. It is a good idea to clean and oil your machine after each large project. Because some of my doll projects are small, I try to clean and oil my machine once a month rather than after each project. Changing needles is a little trickier, because I use several sizes when I am making dolls. I save the exchanged needles for reuse. Trying to remember how long that I have used each needle is a good memory exercise.

sherralyn getting organized, sewing tips sewing tools

My sister-in-law has inherited stacks of what she calls vintage linens. Earlier this year we looked through some of her stacks to find pieces that I could turn into doll clothing. She found a set of table runners that she liked and asked me to make a doll for her guest room using the pieces. It was suppose to be a birthday doll, but I didn’t finish it until Christmas. I designed the 18” doll. I have not yet developed publishable a pattern for the doll.  The dress and pinafore pattern was designed by Susan York. Her pattern was published in the Fall 1995 edition of Sew Beautiful Magazine. I have used her pattern many times and have always been happy with the result.

The center panel of the pinafore was marked on this piece before it was cut.

Two pinafore pockets were marked on this piece.

Here is the finished doll. She was hiding in the cloth sack that I showed you on December 19.

sherralyn Patterns from other designers, my patterns

I have seen ideas for last minute gifts since December 1. To me December 19 is a much better day for last minute ideas.

The bookmark on the right side of the picture is designed for use with puzzle books, such as sudoku or crossword puzzles. The elastic loop at the top of the bookmark should extend past the book’s spine and hold a pencil to use when working the puzzles. To make one cut a rectangle of cloth the desired length and twice the desired width of the bookmark. Add iron on interfacing to to back of the cloth rectangle. Fold the bookmark in half down the length of the rectangle, so that the bookmark is the desired size. The right side of the fabric should be on the outside. Cut a length of elastic and fold it in half. Pin the elastic at the top of the bookmark. The raw edges of the elastic should be between the two folded sides of the bookmark with the loop extending far enough out to to hold a pencil. Zigzag around the three open sides of the bookmark to finish the raw edges. Sew through the elastic as you zigzag. Use a straight stitch to topstitch ¼ inch inside the zigzag stitching. Add embellishment if you wish.

I made a small draw string bag to hold a mechanical pencil plus extra lead and erasers. It is shown on the left side of the top picture. I made a large draw sting bag from Christmas fabric to hold a hard to wrap gift. Draw string bags are easy to make. Decide the size that you want the bag and draw a rectangular pattern. Add a seam allowance to three sides of the bag pattern. Add 1/2 to 1 inch at the top of the bag pattern for a ribbon casing. Cut a bag front and a bag back from your pattern. Sew the ribbon casing at the top of the bag before sewing the sides. Remember to start sewing the bag sides together below the casing so that the ribbon will have a place to go into and out of the casing. Sew the bag’s sides. Insert the ribbon through the casing. When measuring a present before cutting the bag, remember to leave plenty of room for the depth of the object. The first gift bag I made this year was too small.

I will show you what is hiding inside the large draw string bag  after Christmas.

sherralyn New Things other sewing projects

When I started using pens and pencils to color my dolls faces, I used Prismacolor pencils and Pigma Micron pens. The pencils can be purchased separately rather than in a box and come in an amazing variety of colors. They make beautiful faces. The main problem with these pencils is that they are not water proof. If you are planning to wash the doll, the eyes and mouth should be painted with clear fingernail polish after the face has been completed. Recently I discovered EK Success Memory Pencils. They are water proof and dolls made with faces using them can be washed without further treatment. The Memory Pencils come in boxes of twelve. I use colors from the primary colors box and the earth colors box. I still use the micron pens, but I have found that Sakura Gelly Roll pens also work well. I have read of dollmakers who use Sharpie micro pens, but I have problems with bleeding colors when I use Sharpies. I still use Prismacolor pencils when I transfer pattern markings and embroidery designs. The lines wash out beautifully and I can color code my embroidery designs.

sherralyn sewing tips sewing tools