Stella is 52 cm tall and went to a very special girl that Huxley used to be in Kindergarten with and whose parents are friends of ours. The little Girl had visited me at the booth and had held Eloise in her arms and really, really wished for her, however, I had already been in communique with her mom about a special doll for just The little Girl. So between her dad and I we had to persuade her in the most gentle of manners about why Eloise was not the right one for her.. That was so hard… But it made it even more fun to secretly work on Stella (named so by The little Girl).
The little Girl had originally seen Meg after her friend was gifted with her at her 6th Birthday last November (That little Girl) is also a friend of Huxley's. That little Girl took her doll to school and The little Girl became enthralled with Meg and so the wish to an Olive Sparrow child of her own came to be.
Stella is walking on Love through life.
Eloise, whom The little Girl had seen at the Winterfair was not the perfect child for her, because Eloise has little braids that can be undone, but doesn't have a huge head of hair to play with, and hair for play is what the mom of The little Girl felt would be exactly right. The little Girl is 6, and at that age hair play is huge. So Stella has long hair that was hand dyed by me. Each strand is fairly fine, so there are many hair styles possible.
Stella also got another dress to take with her, here it is worn by Eloise (who will be in my Etsy shop when it opens in the next few days)
Here are a few pictures from Christmas Morning when The little Girl received Stella:
The Little Girl put Stella into a dress that was meant for The little Girl, but I agree with the little girl, she looks like a Christkindli.
So sweet!
Stella in her birthday suit, but still decent. This picture illustrates well how large a 52cm doll is. The little Girl has tall parents and she is tall herself for 6. You can also see her that The Olive Sparrow children are plump dolls. They have a nice weight and can give very nice hugs….
This past weekend I heard from another friend of my that her son was visiting The little Girl and admired Stella. The little Girl then continously commented to her mom how wonderful it was that The little Boy seemed to love Stella as much as she did. This shared love really moved her.. and I stood there with goosebumps on my arms, knowing that through my hard work and care I was able to play a small part in The little Girls life. I can never say anything though.. because Stella was gifted to The little Girl by Santa… then again… Santa has elves working for him in mysterious ways.
Each doll is made up of the following materials.
Skin: 100% cotton (Swiss-made to Öko-Tex-Standard 100)
Stuffing 100% “green-processed” wool batt from Canada
Hair: 100% Wool, or a Mohair/Wool Blend
Clothing: 100% natural fibres (linen, cotton, silk)
Shoes: Recycled felted wool sweaters, or pure leather
Face: 100% cotton Embroidery Thread
Workmanship:
Each doll is created individually by artist Monika Aebischer, the proprietor of The Olive Sparrow. She sources and uses only the highest quality materials in her creations – swiss-made skin fabric, Canadian green processed wool stuffing, wool/mohair for the dolls hair (often hand-dyed by her). Hair for the Olive Sparrow Children is made by crocheting a cap that is sewn to the head, allowing for replacement should it ever become necessary (although most children will object to this, as it changes their doll dramatically). For the wispy hair, a special german mohair is used and a labour-intense technique, for the loose longer hair each strand of wool is individually knotted into the crocheted cap. This is the prime technique for doll-wig creation.
Doll clothing is made from up-cycled vintage and clothing fabrics, in either pure linen, cotton or silk. Up-cycled fabric is wonderful for doll clothes, as the cloth has been washed soft, gentle and free of textile manufacturing products. Monika also felts used woolen sweaters to use for doll shoes and clothing. She knits the doll’s hats out of prime quality knitting wool. Each seam on the doll’s body is sewn twice to allow your child to fiercely love their Olive Sparrow Child. Clothing is sewn with French seams and some are fully reversible.
