Saturday 29 July 2017

Sailor Mars Bow Hair Clip & Transformation Pen Key Chain


A few weeks back I made a Sailor Moon Bow Hair Clip that turned out to be such a sweet little hair accessory that I decided to create another for my other favourite sailor scout Sailor Mars. I also thought it would be fun to create her transformation pen. I have a few Sailor Moon accessories, mostly necklaces like the one my Niffler is holding, and wanted something to represent Sailor Mars so when I saw a pattern for her Transformation Pen online I just had to make it.


The Sailor Mars Bow Hair Clip is a bit bigger then the Sailor Moon Bow Hair Clip I made, but I like that its a substantial size and the Sailor Mars bow colours of purple and red are quite lovely. I found the pattern for this Sailor Mars bow with a google search and used iron beads hot glued to a hair clip to create this. To make this you can use any type of iron beads you prefer including perler, hama and pyssla.


At least my efforts to photograph the back of my head this time resulted in a half decent picture, without the blurry effect you can see just how big this hair clip is and as I said I think the bigger size is quite lovely. The process of designing and creating with iron beads is such a fun and relaxing craft and the possibilities of what can be created with these beads is endless.

Friday 21 July 2017

Topsy Turvy Doll - Supergirl & Wonder Woman


When I was very little I was fascinated by a vintage up-side down doll that my great-grandmother had made, I'm told she was also a very crafty person and from her work it is obvious she was very talented. I loved flipping that doll over and over and finding two very different faces greeting me. It was such a unique doll, the only flip doll I had seen, and I thought it was about time that these particular dolls made a comeback.


I first had to find a pattern for this style of doll and found a number of topsy turvy doll sewing patterns online but I wanted one that had a vintage feel to it. Also I was looking for a pattern that would have a more 3D type head shape head rather then being a flat doll type. I found two doll patterns that I liked but finally settled on this doll pattern that I found on etsy. It has a nice shape to it, I like how the skirt sits, and also it has the 3D head shape I was after.


The basic shape of this flip doll is wonderful and so reminds me of that doll my great-grandmother made, also the face of this doll is easily adapted to other characters as I have done here. The finished size of this topsy turvy doll is about 14 inches from head to head and about 16 inches from head to hem, as the skirt hangs a little lower to fully cover the doll under it. This particular doll was made as a gift or a special little girl who happens to love the DC Superhero Girls, so I chose characters from that show for her flip doll.



Supergirl is a favourite character and her face was actually copied from a picture of Supergirl from the DC Superhero Girls that I found online. I love how much fun it was to embroider her face, something very new to me, and her quirky smile turned out great. She has her headband, cuffs and belt from ribbon and of cause her Supergirl symbol to finish her outfit.



Wonder Woman is such a great character and pretty popular at the moment so I thought a good choice to accompany Supergirl. Again her face was taken from a DC Superhero Girls image and I'm so pleased with how she looks. She has a tiara and ribbon highlights on her top as well as a ribbon belt and cuffs. The skirt for this Wonder Woman was inspired by the classic Wonder Woman image, mostly because I love the look of the stary blue material.


This Topsy Turvy Doll was so much fun to make and such a joy to see come together at each stage. I learnt so many new skills creating this and have requests to make more which I am planning to do, although it will be a few weeks before the next one is finished. Hand-sewn with embroidered faces, defined hands and yarn hair, the clothing for these dolls was somewhat simplified but the characters are obvious, I hope, and I just love the finished look of these dolls.

Saturday 15 July 2017

A Little Peekaboo Turtle


A few months back I posted about these Peekaboo Turtles that I made as gifts. They were so cute I decided to make one for myself, only this one was made at about half the size. It features the same removable shell, this one is a pretty floral, and was hand-sewn. The only difference in making this little one was the eyes are stitched on as the safety eyes I had were too large for this little one.


As mentioned in the previous post, the pattern for this little turtle comes from the book Flip Dolls and Other Toys that Zip, Stack, Hide, Grab, and Go by Laura Wilson. She has a lot of fun patterns that are just as interactive, to find more information about this book and Laura's other patters visit her on her blog We Wilsons.

Friday 7 July 2017

Sailor Moon Bow Hair Clip

 

Sailor Moon has long been one of my favourite superheroes, though I am not sure about the new 20th Anniversary reboot of the anime where she looks super skinny. I actually prefer the classic Sailor Moon anime from the 90's with her chubby cheeks, this image more matches her age and personality. Yes she is clumsy and yes she is a crybaby, but despite this she is fiercely loyal, always hungry and shows great courage in the face of danger, at least she does eventually.


For those who have read some of my other posts, they may remember my Niffler who had managed to get his hands on my Sailor Moon Star Locket necklace, but I thought a hair clip would be super cute and so I decided to make one from a design I found doing a google search. The hair clip is made using iron beads laid out on a special board, ironed together then hot glued to a hair clip. There are a number a different types of iron beads you can use including perler, hama and pyssla.


It is actually very difficult to take a photo of the back of your head, which I found out the hard way, so apologies for the quality of this last picture. But when not blurred this Sailor Moon bow hair clip is really a sweet looking hair accessory and quite a fun and simple project to put together. I think it would be great to eventually have a bow hair clip for all the Sailor Scouts, but I may just make one or two more, Sailor Mars is also a favourite of mine.