Topsy Turvy Doll mini - Doll & Sailor Mars

I was in such a hurry to get these last few dolls wrapped that I forgot to take a photo of this topsy turvy doll with both heads showing, like I have for my previous topsy turvy dolls. So I instead had to edit the picture above to give you an idea of how these dolls look together, not that you will usually ever see both dolls at the same time being flip doll.

This particular doll is a gift for my sister, I have a few sisters so I have a few dolls I have made for them. As with my other mini flip dolls I used the face template that came with the pattern, that of the traditional happy / sad face. I embroidered black for the eyebrows, black and white for the eyes, a pale tan colour for the nose, then I used red embroidery for the happy lips and a light pink for the sad lips.

The last bit of embroidery was done to the hands of each doll to give definition and create fingers. The hair for each dolls head is made from yarn stitched first in a layer to cover the head, then followed with a second layer to create the length of the hair. This was done to ensure no bald spots on the dolls heads.

I loosely based the ginger haired doll on my sister, as her hair is gingery, and the material for the dress was once a skirt of hers that she gave to me a while back. I like to use recycled materials as opposed to buying new materials and as my sisters tend to donate their old clothing to me for this purpose, so they often find familiar patterns in the items I make them.

This black haired doll is actually based on the sailor scout Sailor Mars, from the amine Sailor Moon, I chose her as she represents the month of my sisters birthday. The hair for this doll was sewn in the same ways as the ginger haired doll, only with the added fringe that Sailor Mars has. The outfit is a simplified version of Sailor Mars' fuku, that is a white top with her signature red skirt, only as I didn't have red material I used a maroon instead.

This mini size topsy turvy doll was made with the intention of it being a display piece as opposed to a play piece, however that dosen't mean that a doll this size is no good for play. This doll measures about 8.5 inches from head to head and about 9.5 inches from head to hem as the skirt hangs a little lower to fully cover the doll under it. As with everything I sew, this flip doll was completely sewn by hand, including the hair and dresses, so as a result these dolls do take some time to make.

Mistletoe 3D

While searching the net I came across this design for a 3D Mistletoe and loved it so much I had to try it myself. Unfortunately I can not remember where I found this or who originally made up this design, but regardless it makes a beautiful decorative piece to hang for this time of year.

This piece is made up of two separate pieces that interlock, sliding together at the stem of the mistletoe. Iron beads such as perler, hama or pyssla were used to make this along with two large peg boards for each piece. To the top of the mistletoe I added two jump rings to thread a ribbon through for hanging.

Mistletoe is not something I have ever seen in real life, but I have always loved the look of it as a Christmas ornament, the simple look of green and white is so pretty. So with this mistletoe measuring 18cm tall, without the ribbon, and 20cm wide, it seemed the ideal size to round out my Christmas decorations.

Mooncalf (inspired by the Harry Potter Series)

Sometime ago I became the adopted mother of a Baby Mooncalf that had been separated from its herd after dancing under a full moon. I had fully intended to insure that this shy little creature was restored to its proper home amongst its own kind on the next full moon. Months later this still had not happened, until finally one night I was able to coax him out into the night. The last thing I expected was to adopt yet another mooncalf. But this is exactly what happened and I couldn't be more happy about it.

At the time of making my first baby mooncalf, over a year ago now, there were surprisingly no patterns available to make this sweet fantastic beast. Even more surprising is that in doing a more recent search, there are still no sewing patterns available to make a mooncalf. So I returned to my original pattern I designed myself. I do think that the first small version I made using this pattern turned out quite well actually.

Back then I designed the pattern by starting with a basic body shape I was happy with, adding to that an extended neck and slightly rounded larger head. The feet were a bit more tricky, in order to get a more webbed like look I used the Cornish Pixies feet as a guide. The shapes for the ears, tail and eyes were easy enough to draw and my pattern was complete. Only for my baby mooncalf I used buttions for the eyes which was a simple alternative for a plush that size.

This larger mooncalf was made in the exact same way and with the exact same materials as my first. The only exception to this is that for this larger mooncalf I instead sewed the eyes on using needle turned appliqué, the eyes were then also stuffed a little to give them a more round shape and a black safety eye was added to the centre of each for the pupil. This larger mooncalf was also given a mouth, something I did not do for the smaller version as it would have been too fiddly.

The baby mooncalf I made previously was only 4.5 inches tall, but this larger version is exactly double this size measuring 9 inches in height. This larger sized mooncalf made the job of turning out the feet so much easier then it was with the baby mooncalf, as seen by comparing the feet of each below. I also really like the wide eyed look of the larger mooncalf as it stares of into the distance in search of moonlight.

While I am very pleased with the pattern I created and the two mooncalf creatures made from this pattern, I am a little sad that there is not a bit more love in the world for this adorable yet shy creature. Newt Scamander's text Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them does not do these majestic creatures justice, however their appearance in his suitcase has seemed to create greater appreciation for these lovely, shy beasts.