Here are enough limbs for 2 Saturns. The little orange strings in the arms will be cut off. I sew them in to make it easier to turn those super-skinny tubes right-side-out. I use a crochet hook to hook the string from the inside and just pull it through!!!

Only 3 of these faces are recently stitched. Since I began sewing these dolls last October, I’ve made an effort to have stuff to embroider around in case I need something to do with my hands while in front of the TV in the evenings. One of these faces was completed last Christmas, in fact!! She has since been waiting around to be made into a doll. Saturn is the newest. She is the only one who has yet to become a finalized doll. I think I will tackle her next.

I think embroidering is my second favorite part of the process (the first being the moment I turn the girl inside out– the moment of truth!!!) I find it very relaxing.

Click on the faces to see the stitches and the fabric details up close!!!

I did all these in the past day and a half. Can you believe I still have to do more? The Moon, Neptune, Mercury and Uranus still await the beginnings of their faces. I can’t believe I have to embroider all these….

Over and out,
Mother Earth

One of the toy stores that is interested in selling my dolls has a weird requirement….. because of their shelf space, they can’t stock my 24″ dolls, so they’ve asked for a smaller, 18″ version. I literally reduced my pattern down to 70%, expecting that it wouldn’t quite work right and I would have to modify it and alter the proportions (which I was loathe to do.) But when I put her together, it worked fine!! As you can see, she is slightly too small. With her shoes, she’ll probably only be 16″, so I’m making the final prototype 75%. She’s almost ready to sew up, but I have to wait for the ribbon I ordered for her hair.

Over and Out,
Mother Earth

Unfortunately, I did not complete my marathon of cutting. I did cut out enough to make two large Milky Way dolls and 2 small ones (more on the small Milky in the next post.) So, just so I have stuff to embroider while I’m sitting on my butt in front of the TV in the evenings, I moved onto the next step— STENCILING! And this, like the cutting, took more time than I expected, I had hoped to get through all the Milky Way outfits in one evening, but I wasn’t able to make it to her shoes. But at least I have plenty to embroider in the meantime!

In the days to come, I’ll be working on designing the smaller doll, and more cutting and more stenciling.

Over and Out,
Mother Earth

Up to this point, all of the dolls I have made so far (except for two I gave as gifts) are in CHINA (!!!) being priced and most likely taken apart for reproduction. So, I have spent the last few weeks spending my free time cutting out new ones. Previously, I had cut out one part, then sewn, then cut out the next part. Frankly, cutting out is the worst part of sewing for me, so this time around, I’m cutting everything out at once— and in multiples! Instead of cutting out one shirt, I double or triple up the fabric and cut out a few at once!!! Yeah, I know, the idea is hardly novel, but the less cutting I have to do the better.

Hopefully this means I will have more dolls completed sooner. We shall see!!

Over and Out,
Mother Earth

It’s been over a month since I started this blog, and the pressure to be clever and the feeling of obligation that I have to inform folks of the (so far) 4 year history of this project has kept me from updating. But some amazing developements have come about in just the last 2 weeks, so I’ve decided just to dive in.

Basically, after 4 years of on and off developement, pitching and numerous false starts, last October I started making dolls of these characters just because I wanted one. Since then, I have completed 5 designs. Here they are:

2 weeks ago, I put one of these dolls (the green one, Mars) up for a silent auction for charity. The winner of my doll is now in China with all 5 of them. He is meeting with Chinese manufacturers to start producing them for an exclusive deal in a famous toy store for this Christmas.

It’s exciting and terrifying at the same time.

I will tell you how it all progresses!!!

Over and Out,
Mother Earth