Sew Inspired, LLC - Sleepless Crafter

I often find fabric that I really like and I just can’t seem to picture how it would look in a quilt.  I have searched for quilting software that could easily drag photos of fabric into the blocks to see what it would look like, but only found really expensive software.  I decided to use PhotoShop. I found a quilt pattern that I really like by Janet Houts, found on Bear Creek Quilting Company, called Savoy. 

I am a member of the facebook group “ Purely Primitive Dolls ,” with Barb Moore, author of the book “ Purely Primitive Dolls .”  She put on a challenge to follow her book, step-by-step and make an extreme primitive doll.  The only rules were to follow her instructions step-by-step, no skipping or cutting corners, and to document each step as we went along.  I accepted the challenge, and it really was a challenge.  Barb said to really put your emotions into it, so I decided to make a doll that represented me and all the pain I have been through.  I lost my mom to ALS two-and-a-half years ago, and now I have lost my two oldest daughters to my ex-husband who lives thousands of miles away. 

I ran across some patterns that call for 20 stitches per inch.  I don’t have that setting on my machine.  All I have is numbers from 0.8 to 5.0.  So I printed a ruler on a piece of paper and started from 0.8 and sewed a one-inch line, counting the stitches as I went, then went to the next number up and so on.  I made a chart with the stitches length to go back to for reference.  These numbers are approximate, so please don’t be mad at me if they are not the same on your machine. I have a Singer Quantum Stylist 9960 and I used a #14 needle.

A few months ago I made my first Prairie Doll . She was made simple, faceless, and with not much “aging.” I have since then studied Primitive techniques and dolls, from Prims Magazines to facebook groups such as Purely Primitive Dolls, from Barb Moore’s book. So I “grundged” my first Prairie doll. I used a pattern I found from Happy Heart Patterns , which is SO much easier to follow and has better directions than the pattern from my first Prairie Doll. I stained the muslin using Rit dye before I cut out the pattern. I threw it in the dryer, then ironed out the wrinkles and went to work tracing the pattern onto the muslin. She turned out just lovely . . .

I’ve began a new adventure in sewing. I made my first Prairie doll! I found the pattern on etsy by Sweet Meadows Farm. I wasn’t too impressed with the instructions, because it’s like she was trying to cram it all onto one page. It was a jumbled mess. She didn’t even have diagrams or steps. I ended up doing the hands differently because the way she had it was so different than what I’m used to—no seams; just trace the pattern onto the fabric and sew exactly onto the lines, then cut it out. I didn’t do it that way at all. I had never even heard of doing it that way, so instead, I redrew the pattern to include seams. Needless to say, my faceless prairie doll came out pretty darn cute. So cute, in fact, that my oldest daughter who is 15 years old, wanted the doll, so I gave it to her to cherish forever, as something her mommy made. And of course, my other kids now want a doll, too.

You can read my full review here . This was a nice change of quick and easy. I have been sewing things that have been taking all day long to finish, so when this dress only took two hours, I was so happy.