Pocket Witch Dolls

Just a quick little something, Halloween inspired, are these pocket sized witch dolls or totems. These little witches are very small, the standing witch measuring 7cm tall and the witch on broom is 5cm tall. This miniature size made these quick to hand-sew but very very tricky when it came to turning the sewn fabric inside-out, or right-side-out. Stuffing these was also quite fiddly.

For these pocket witch dolls I decided to use a floral pattern, keeping the witches more abstract in design. As it is technically Spring here in Australia where I live, I liked the idea of softer colours for these little dolls as opposed to the traditional witchy colours of orange, green, purple or black. The actual design or pattern for these comes straight from a couple of witch cookie cutters I own, only I shrank the image to making these smaller then the original size.

Mini Hanky Pouches

These sweet little pouches were actually made from a paper printable. I have printed onto fabric a couple of times before with some success, seen HERE and HERE. So I decided to print these very pretty vintage inspired hanky designs onto fabric also. This was done by taping the fabric to a piece of paper before putting it through the printer in order to give the fabric more stability. Unfortunately there was one hanky design that misprinted along the top edge. So when sewing these pouches together by hand, as I do with everything I sew, I instead decided to use velcro to complete that pouch.

For the other two pouches I used a waxed cord to make the drawstrings. These pouches are only small, with the two drawstring pouches measuring about 12cm by 12cm, and the velcro pouch measuring about 12cm by 10cm. Originally these paper hankies were designed to be letter writing sheets for guest to leave messages on, then they could be hung up, bunting style, as decoration for that celebration as an alternative to a guestbook. However I'm sure there are many creative ways this Freebie can be used. Download from the Eat Drink Chic blog HERE FREE.

Faery Rag Doll #7

It's been a about a year since I made one of my faery rag dolls, but I recently had the desire to make another and so I did. This new beautiful redhead faery doll has found a home next to my brunette faery doll on my bookshelf amongst some of my favourite books.

This lovely faery was made in the same way as my previous faery dolls, and I'm finding the more of these I make the faster I am getting at making these. This is a good thing because I plan on making more of these and as a hand-sewer, sewing anything by hand takes a long time.

As with all my other faery dolls, this faery has a blanket stitched fringe, embroidered ears and black safety eyes. I just adore her bright red hair with her blue flowered dress, and the floral wings are the same material used for my previous brunette faery rag doll.

The full height of these dolls are about 24cm from head to toe and the full wingspan is about 16cm. All my faery dolls have reinforced wings that allow them to hold up one their own without flopping over but are still soft enough to allow them to be squashed and played with by little hands.

Luna Lovegood Dirigible Plum Earrings (iron beads)

These Luna Lovegood Dirigible Plum earrings, more commonly referred to as Luna's Radish earrings, are made from iron beads, also known as perler, hama and pyssla beads. The 3D red earrings design above was created from a pattern by Karen Kavett, the flat orange earrings were created by slightly changing the same pattern.

These earrings are about 4.5cm in height, making these a statement piece, especially the red 3D earrings. They are super cute to wear and very simple to make. The pattern and instructions to make these can be found HERE on Karen Kavett's youtube channel, along with a few other free Harry Potter iron bead designs.

Sailor Moon Brooch PATTERN!

This was just a quick and simple design for Sailor Moon that I decided to make into a brooch as I had a few bar brooch pin backs left over. She is the same size as the Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Poison Ivy iron bead figures I created, only those were made into key chains. I initially thought to make this into a key chain also, but I worried that her hair might break too easily with being handled so much.

I used a square peg board and iron beads, also known as perler, hama and pyssla beads. Once I was happy with the design, I ironed it together. After it had cooled I added the bar brooch pin back using a hot glue gun. All finished this Sailor Moon brooch is about 7.5cm tall, making a little big for me to actually wear, but as it turns out, a cute size to pin to a bag as a unique accessory.

I have created a pattern, as seen above, that is also a wallpaper for this Sailor Moon iron bead figure. Below is the same Sailor Moon image as a simplified wallpaper. To better view the pattern just click on the picture to enlarge it. To download as a wallpaper, click on the picture you want and "Save Image As" to save to your computer or alternatively you can select "Set As Desktop Background".

More Acromantulas (inspired by the Harry Potter Series)

Friday the 13th is not the best day to be following a random trail of spiders, especially after what happened the last time I made this mistake, although luckily at that time I ran into only one smaller acromantula. This time it seems I was not so lucky, or maybe I was as I escaped with my life. I don't know what I was thinking, but suddenly I found myself face to face with a number of these giant magical spiders.

These acromantula are of course still very young, I know this because of their size and my ability to escape from them. Also their colouring is very different from the acromantula I encountered at the beginning of the year, which makes me wonder if there is more then one giant acromantula nest out there in the bush by my home. Not such a friendly thought knowing these creatures have the highest classification of XXXXX.

For these new baby acromantulas I used the same pattern I created when I made my first acromantula. However, this time I decided to use an old pair of jeans as I use only materials I have on hand and like to upcycle old clothing and materials when I can. The worn jean material made these spiders very soft, especially after filling the body with plastic pellets. The feet are all filled with a little stuffing and the eyes are all black safety eyes.

These acromantula have been made as gifts and will soon find themselves in new homes as paperweights, spooky decor or as simply something soft and fun to toss about. Initially these little spiders were tricky to put together, especially as I created the pattern myself and had no instructions to refer to, but the more I make these the easier I am finding these to make. Plus with their round little bodies and mismatched eyes, they are too adorable not to make. 

Celtic Knot Woven Brooches

Its been a long while since I did some knitting work, and by knitting I mean using a knitting nancy not knitting needles, which I have yet to become completely competent in. I would love to one day be able to knit properly with needles and knit myself a proper Ravenclaw scarf, as it is most difficult to find a Ravenclaw scarf that has colours true to the book, that being blue and bronze, instead of the movie colours of blue and silver/grey.

For now through I have been using my knitting nancy to create some Celtic designs that I have turned into brooches. This first grey knot design is of the Celtic Cross. This cross is formed from a single line as the Celts believed that the one-line weave represented Eternity, enhancing the virtue of faith. The circle woven through the cross brings all things together,  meaning that of the mind, body, spirit as well as self, family, world.

This second knot design is of Longevity. This cross is made from one continuous line conveying hope for a long life. Also known as the Celtic Eternity Knot, it represents eternity in all things, such as eternity of the world, of life, of love, friendships and relationships. This type of knot is seen in many cultures and is also known to represent compassion and wisdom along with long life. This knot design is identical to the ancient Mongolian symbol that also has the meaning of 'Long Life'.

This third knot design is of the Mother and Child Celtic Love Knot. This knot design expresses the protective, nurturing and unconditional nature of a mothers love. This knot design features a top loop to represent the mother and a bottom loop to represent the child held within the mothers loving embrace. The meaning conveyed with this knot is one of deep connectedness and eternal love that bonds a mother to her child.

This last knot design is of the Triquetra or Trinity Knot that in this variation is depicted as the Celtic Triangle of Inner Strength. The original Triquetra Knot design represents the triple aspects of the Celtic Goddess. The addition of the inner loops in this knot design represent inner qualities, such as self-worth, self -assurance, self control, that flow outward to manifest into personalities. It can also represent inner thoughts manifesting into outward actions.

To create each Celtic Knot piece I took the knitted cords made with the knitting nancy and arranged them into the knot designs that I found online. Using a single piece of yarn, the same used to create the cords, I stitched each knot design together at the connecting/overlapping points of the design, before attaching the bar brooch pin back to the back of each knot design with a few stitches.