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Mixtape is a maga(ZINE) about making time for the small things! Mixtape zine is a collision of craft, eco-cool and pop culture kitsch! Order a copy
Traci Hudson is a crafty mama exploring the handmade world. Find instant sewing pattern downloads, handmade dolls and play food at myhouseboutique.com and crafty tidbits at her blog.
Rina Ward is a New Zeeland-based creator of Nostalgems, featuring jewelry making kits, notions and curiosities. Return to CraftSanity for details on how to win this kit free from Rina.
If she was still alive, Grammy B. would be very proud to know that her tomboy granddaughter just bought two Blythe dolls.
She was a big-time doll collector in her day and, well, I was not.
As a young girl, I wore baseball caps and collected baseball cards. I crocheted and did other crafts, but I thought playing with dolls, especially those with unattainable figures, was a total waste of time.
Then, I saw a big-eyed Blythe and few years ago and it made me reconsider my lack of enthusiasm for dolls.
Morgan Doane, the talented Blythe dressmaker I mentioned Friday, is the subject of today’s Grand Rapids Press column. Her story in inspiring in the way it reminds us all to follow our own interests and do what we love. Good things happen when you follow your passion.
As a young girl, Morgan Doane spent many hours crafting with her mom and styling Barbie and Strawberry Shortcake dolls.
“I was a doll maniac,” she said. “I had 7 million Barbies.”
Fast forward two decades and Doane, 27, of Grand Rapids, still is crafting and playing with dolls. The difference is she makes money at it. A lifetime of experience is paying off in the form of a crafty side business — selling handmade doll dresses online.
After a day of work as the youth librarian in the Walker branch of the Kent District Library, Doane heads to her sewing room to make party dresses for the popular Blythe dolls many adult women clamor for on the Internet.
Doane’s dresses, many made from Japanese prints, sell quickly for $10 to $15 each. She has made more than 200 dresses since opening her online shop in April and has shipped them to Blythe fans around the globe.
Below is Morgan’s pattern for a crochet Blythe top and fabric skirt. The outfit will also fit skipper dolls and can be adapted to fit other dolls, too. For example, the skirt will fit Barbie, but you’ll have to adjust the top to allow for her unrealistic curves. You can download a printable pdf.
Skirt
* Cut a 11 1/2” x 3 3/4” piece of fabric.
* Sew a 1/4” hem along the bottom.
* Fold down a 1/2” on top to create casing for elastic
waist.
* Use at least 6” of elastic and mark it at the 3” mark.
* Pull elastic through waist and sew into a circle at the
3” mark. Cut excess off.
* Sew the back of the dress up with a 1/4” seam.
* Embellish with trim, beads or embroidery.
Crochet Top:
Row 1: Using bedspread cotton and size 7/1.65mm
crochet hook, chain 32.
Rows 2-8: 32 sc (single crochet).
Row 9: *6 sc, increase 1*, repeat across.
Row 10: 6 sc, chain 6, skip next 6 sc, sc in next 14,
chain 6, skip next 6 sc, sc in next 6.
Rows 11-12: 38 sc.
For back button loops:
* At the end of row 12, chain 5 and attach to row 8
with a sc. Chain 5 and attach to row 4 with a sc. Chain
5 and attach to row 1 with a sc.
*Weave in loose ends.
* Sew on three micro buttons to opposite side of the
button loops.
Today on WZZM’s Take Five & Company (see video below), I showed something to help gadget owners fight the chill.
It’s cold outside and a real pain to have to remove our gloves to answer our cell phones.
Here’s how to make a pair of gloves “conductive” so they can use an iPod, iPhone, or other touch-screen device without removing their gloves.
Switch Craft: Battery-Powered Crafts to Make and Sew
This is a quick and super easy project that can improve a techie’s life with just a few stitches. And it looks like Apple is thinking about making their own version of iPhone gloves.
Check Sunday for instructions on how to make this outfit.
Today on WZZM’s Take Five & Company (see video below), I showed how to make clothes and accessories for Blythe dolls, including handmade dresses made by Grand Rapids crafter Morgan Doane.
Doane bought her first Blythe in March and started selling dresses for the popular 12-inch doll in April. Since then she’s sold more than 200 dresses to collectors all over the globe and sales are still picking up.
Doane will be the subject of my Sunday Grand Rapids Press column, which will also be available online at mlive.com and include a free doll skirt and top pattern for download on Sunday.
I’m bringing these lovely, borrowed Blythe dolls along for one of my Friday craft segments on “Take 5 & Company.” If you’re local, tune in for a discussion about Blythe dolls, hip, locally made doll clothes, high tech crafting and more. The show airs live at 9 a.m. on Channel 13 in Grand Rapids, Mich. If you live outside the area, we’ll post the video online for you. Okay, wish us all luck.
Have an idea for an upcoming TV segment? Feel free to email me your ideas. I’d love to hear them.
When the glitzy ball dropped in New York City and another slightly less glitzy ball dropped in downtown Grand Rapids, Mich., I was warm and toasty at home cutting out pattern pieces for doll clothes. With my daughters tucked in as snug as two little bugs, I sat across the kitchen table from my husband, Jeff, (the guy you’ll be hearing more from on the blog this year), and rang in 2009 exactly where I wanted to be: at home.
While every New Year leads many of us to reflect on the previous year and write a new set of goals for the next, 2009 feels bigger to me. I’m expecting big professional changes this year that I believe will lead me in some wonderful new directions. Change is difficult. And uncertainty is unsettling. But both these things can lead to amazing opportunities and grand adventures, so I’m going to go where the wind blows me this year and I’m going to do my best to enjoy the mystery of it all. I’m sure I will have anxious moments along the way, but I hope those are fleeting because worrying is such a waste of time. I don’t know what’s going to happen next and that’s kind of exciting.
I do have goals and plans for 2009, but I’m not going to let the list consume me. All I know for sure is that I plan to make a record number of projects with my daughters and wear these boots as much as possible …
along with lots and lots of handmade aprons. (I don’t think I’ll ever lose the apron love.)
Thanks for reading and tuning in to the podcast. I really appreciate all of you out there in Blog Land. It’s an honor and privilege to interview talented and lovely people and share their stories with you. Really, you have no idea how much I love doing that. (I love it even more than I love aprons. Seriously, that much.)
All the best in 2009!
- Jennifer
P.S. What do want to make this year? I want to make some fun new kids’ clothes with my daughters and more fiber art.
What would you do with these charms? Post your response in the comments below and enter to win a similar Nostalgems jewelry-making kit from CraftSanity episode 91 sponsor, Rina Ward. She will send kits to authors of the five most creative posts. The deadline to enter is Jan. 4, 2009. Good luck everyone!
I made the bird charms above and found them to be super easy to put together. I used “Amazing Goop” to glue two of the bird images in place and skipped the glue on the third piece when I realized that the prongs are strong enough to hold the plastic dome and bird image in place. I always like to avoid toxic fumes when I can. : ) These little guys would look great on a charm necklace or bracelet, or maybe they’ll end up as new additons to Abby & Amelia’s mini Christmas tree. We’ll see what they think when I show them tomorrow.
I’m back with another exciting episode of CraftSanity. This time we’re checking in with Alicia Paulson of “Posie Gets Cozy” blog fame. Alicia and I first chatted in 2006 on episode 17 of the podcast, so it was great to catch up with Alicia and hear about the exciting developments in her creative life.
She’s been very busy making beautiful things in her lovely home studio and writing books. Her first, “Stitched in Time: Memory-Keeping Projects to Sew and Share From the Creator of Posie Gets Cozy” (Potter Craft, 2008, $22.95) is in bookstores now.
If you enjoy Alicia’s blog, you’ll love this book. From a family photo memory game, to silhouettes, recipe aprons and fabric dolls, her book is loaded with wonderful projects to make and share with those you love.
On this episode, Alicia takes us behind the scenes of her book-creating adventure that included shooting all the photos.
Win Alicia’s Book: Post a comment below about your favorite craft memory below by Jan. 10, 2009 and we’ll get you entered into the random drawing for a copy of Alicia’s book. Good luck everyone!
Thanks to our three fabulous episode 91 sponsors!
* Mixtape is a maga(ZINE) about making time for the small things! Mixtape zine is a collision of craft, eco-cool and pop culture kitsch! Order your copy at www.mixtapezine.com.
* Traci Hudson is a crafty mama who explores the handmade world with her vivacious 2-year-old in Austin, Texas. Find instant sewing pattern downloads, handmade dolls and play food in her online shop, myhouseboutique.com, and crafty tidbits at her blog, myhouseboutique.typepad.com.
* Rina Ward is a New Zeeland-based mother of two and creator of Nostalgems, a lovely online shop featuring jewelry making kits, notions and curiosities. Create your own heirloom-worthy treasures as though you’ve unearthed them from your grandma’s jewelry box with the bits, bobs and timeworn treasures Rina offers at www.Nostalgems.etsy.com.
Check CraftSanity.com later this week to find out how you can win on of Rina’s charm pendant kits. There wil be FIVE lucky winners!!!
Visit the sponsors page if you’re interested in sponsoring episode 92, an interview with Daniel Vosovic, who was part of “Project Runway.”
I first interviewed Drew for episode 15 of the CraftSanity podcast, so it was fun to check in with him again.
He’s come a long way since we recorded the podcast and still crocheting up a storm.
Here’s how the column starts:
As a shy teen walking the halls of Saugatuck High School in the early 1980s, Drew Emborsky never imagined he would be receiving fan mail two decades later about his passion for crocheting.
“When I was in high school, I didn’t go around saying, ‘I crochet,’” he said.
Now he’s the Crochet Dude, and can’t stop talking about it.
I wasn’t popular in high school either, so I LOVE stories about people finding their groove later in life. God bless the Internet and the way it lets us craft geeks unite.
Drew co-authored “Men Who Knit and the Dogs who Love Them,” (Lark 2007, $24.95), and his first solo book, “The Crochet Dude’s Designs for Guys: 30 Projects Men Will Love,” (Lark 2008, $19.95) was released in November.
Drew has contributed to several books and magazines in addition to his work as a pattern designer for several yarn companies. He’s also appeared on several HGTV and PBS television programs and most recently was cast as the crochet expert on PBS’ “Knit and Crochet Today” for seasons three and four. (I got to meet up with Drew and the rest of the cast when they were taping the show in Detroit. So fun!)
Free Pattern! Get out your crochet hooks, folks. In the spirit of holiday giving, download Drew’s free crochet pattern for coffee sleeve and make one for yourself and a java-loving pal. Thanks Drew!
The doll pillows and quilts I made for my daughters and niece were very well received today. I didn’t use a pattern for the quilts and I adapted this pattern for the pillows and cases. I just love handmade holidays. Merry Christmas, everyone!
We’re snowed in here in West Michigan and I couldn’t be happier. I have loads of last-minute Christmas sewing to do, so I’m very grateful to Old Man Winter for buying me some more time. It’d be great if the plow truck would come down our street so we’d have the option to leave, but I have plenty of fabric to keep me occupied. I’m making doll quilts and pillows, aprons, cloth napkins and more if I’m lucky. What last-minute gifts are working on?
On the podcast front, my voice is finally back to normal, so Jeff and I are going to try to kick out a podcast while we’re snowed in. In the meantime, check out the post below and add an antique sock knitting machine to your Christmas wish list. : )
Today my Grand Rapids Press art & craft column is about Mike Bronkema, a fire-fighting farmer who cranks out cozy socks on one of those fabulous antique circular knitting machines. Check it out, then watch the video below.
OLIVE TOWNSHIP — The first time our paths crossed, Mike Bronkema was sporting an Olive Township Fire Rescue T-shirt and knitting a pink sock on a hand-crank antique circular sock knitting machine.
We were at the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan County so this public display of crafting was socially acceptable, even celebrated. Bronkema was attracting quite a crowd with his 1920s machine that intrigues men and women alike.
Women dominate the world of fiber arts, but the knitting machine appeals to men, because “men love mechanical equipment,” Bronkema said.
I stopped to chat with him against my better judgment. I knew the conversation would be great for readers, but would be personally dangerous as it would nudge me to explore yet another expensive corner of the fiber arts map.
I already had been casually looking for a hand-crank knitting machine online, so I knew hanging out with Bronkema would only cause trouble. Fiber enthusiasts are enablers. We can’t help ourselves. We like to “help” each other find looms, spinning wheels, etc. We love it when newbies join the flock, so to speak.
Sure enough, my casual and completely manageable obsession with someday becoming the proud owner of a refurbished sock knitting machine flared up in a massive way as I snapped pictures of Bronkema cranking out a wool sock in the August heat.
It’s been roughly four months since our first meeting, and I’ve yet to swan dive into the fantastic world of sock knitting. However, after visiting Bronkema at Shady Side Farm, the business he operates with his wife, Lona, I know it’s just a matter of time.
If you’ve never seen a circular knitting machine in action, here’s your chance. I shot a short video of Bronkema explaining how it works.
If you live in West Michigan and looking to get your wool fix, go meet Bronkema next week and watch his sheep get their annual haircut at Shady Side Farm Shearing Day from 9 a.m.-noon Dec. 27 at Shady Side Farm, 13275 Blair Street in Olive Township. A selection of socks, woven rugs and other handmade items will be available for sale. For more information call (616) 786-3827 or check out the family blog or shop online.
I’m prepping for tomorrow’s “Take 5 & Company” craft segment that airs live during the 9 a.m. broadcast on Channel 13 in Grand Rapids, Mich. Here’s the pdf tutorial. Enjoy!
If she was still alive, Grammy B. would be very proud to know that her tomboy granddaughter just bought two Blythe dolls.
You can download a 
The doll pillows and quilts I made for my daughters and niece were very well received today. I didn’t use a pattern for the quilts and I adapted 
I’m prepping for tomorrow’s 