*Meet the Ragamuffins, my prototype dolls. Esmeralda is the crone, Serendipity is the maiden, and Aurelia is the playful child.*

I’m excited to announce my Serenity Blooms fabric line with Poppie Cotton is now in stores, and to celebrate I am sharing my behind-the-scenes adventures of sewing with it ♡

Designing this fabric took me into a place of whimsy, and reawakened my love of sewing. Once I got the machine whirring again, the gentle whispers started to get louder—it’s time to make dolls. I’ve loved dolls deeply and dearly since I was a child, and for years it has been popping up that I want to make them. My friend Nellie was over for a creative date and I started drawing out a doll pattern freehand. From there the inspiration grew, the drawings morphed, stitching and playing began, and it took on a life of its own.

The Ragamuffins

As a kid, I was often called a ragamuffin. Raised by hippie parents who valued non-capitalist living, we thrifted and made things ourselves, and were a little bit wild and untamed. This doll series is a celebration of the young me who wandered through wildflowers and made things with her hands—a ragamuffin. She may be you too.

Attaching the limbs on my doll turned out to be quite a learning curve. Fitting them inside the body and strategically leaving unstitched spots for them to temporarily poke through while I sewed the body was a real feat. Constant shuffling of pieces, and trying to spatially visualize things, which I must admit isn’t my strong suit. I’ve got the hang of it now, after multiple practice runs and lots of seam-ripping.

Serendipity – The Maiden Doll

I made my first doll—Serendipity—from an old ripped duvet cover. This was an inexpensive way to dip my toes in and learn. I made her dress from samples of my Serenity Blooms Meadow Dream and Sacred Flight prints, plus some lace. I sewed her hair onto a strip of fabric, then attached the strip to her head. It’s pretty efficient, though a bit thin at the back. You can see her scalp underneath when the hair shifts. Next time I would add more rows of yarn. I gave her cute mouse ears, nesting them into her hair crown. I embroidered a simple face, and blushed her cheeks using dry artist’s Pan Pastels in red iron oxide tint. I did a simple embroidered face, which was a learning curve for me. I got better with each doll.

The yarn is by my friend Heidi at Vegan Yarn. They hand-dye all of this gorgeous vegan yarn in their home studio.

Esmeralda – The Wise Crone Doll

With Esmerelda I started experimenting more with finishes. I added boots, refined the dress pattern, tried doing decorative stitching on her face for the nose, and attached the hair one strand at a time by sewing it into her scalp with a yarn needle. She ended up with a lot of hair. It covers well. I tied it back with a thin peach velvet ribbon. Now that I had a test doll done with cheap fabric, and my pattern was feeling pretty solid, I went ahead and used my nice Poppie Cotton samples from my collection Serenity Blooms. I used a different print on each pattern piece (legs, arms, body, dress). The prints I used are Sacred Flight, Sewing Seeds, Woven Dreams, and Hummingbird Dance.

Aurelia – The Playful Child Doll

My third doll, Aurelia, is playful with big pink felted cheeks, short pigtail hair and minty blue, well… everything. My large Eurasian Hoopoe bird print First Kiss is prominently featured on the front of her body, which I think is such a pretty adornment. I used Sacred Flight and Hummingbird Dance prints on her arms and legs. Her eyes have lashes, she has a little button nose, and her mouth is better than my previous embroidery attempts. I took a beginner’s embroidery class at The Stitchery and learned the satin stitch, french knot, chain stitch, and a few others—very useful, and fun to learn in a circle of others. I accidentally put her arms on backwards, but decided to leave it and call it character. Sometimes imperfection is what makes things enjoyable and unique—happy accidents.

Doll Clothes & Pillow

Scrappy Improv Doll Quilt

My doll-making foray was accompanied by a doll quilt. I started with simple paper scissors, rough cutting while chatting with a friend on the phone, so it’s definitely not perfectly straight. I had no particular plan. Just play. I started piecing the little squares and rectangles together into a scrappy improv doll quilt. I took classes and drop-in sewing at The Stitchery in Port Moody, and quickly learned how to quilt more strategically in a quilted potholder course, including doing the finishing binding (closing the edges of your quilt) and all the basics of sewing too. I learned about all the good tools— including the handy roller-cutter and mat, fabric ruler, magnetic pin tray (best thing ever), heat-friendly pin heads, and snips (love these).

Zippered Pouches

I made these zippered pouches for my niece, following this Skillshare class by Dylan M. The ballerina mouse isn’t mine, but it’s a perfect pairing.