The Olive Sparrow Children: Holly and Lina

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It is natural that people fall in love with an Olive Sparrow child that is posted on line or that they meet in person at a show. This is what happened with Lina. H, a fellow waldorf mom was taken with Mia when she met her at the TWS fair. Lina already had a home at that point, so I agreed to make a sister, very much looking alike. 

Here is the result. This shows very clearly that how each doll has it's own character and personality, even as I attempt to make them look very much alike. Yes, their skin tone is different, mainly because I do try to not make them look identical.

Pia-holly-1 

The clothes are sewn and knitted from the same fabrics.

Pia-holly-2

 

Same colour eyes and lips, a similar, yet different expression, just like in people.

Pia-holly-portrait 

Holly grew to be a little bigger than Lena, which I find very endearing. Different shoe soles. I love the purple soles, made for dancing, don't you think? Holly is about one inch taller than Lina. I guess they are fraternal twins, not identical ones.
Pia-holly-3

Goodbye Hug!
Pia-holly-hug

Easy it is not to let the Olive Sparrow children go on their way. Maybe it is a blessing that I don't have a daughter, as I would probably create way too many of these for her..

This post sums up the custom dolls created for Christmas 2009. Currently my dear old Bernina is in the shop to get fixed and I have to also finally get to wedding pictures — organizing, preparing thank you cards and getting prints. There are a few new Olive Sparrow Children already in the works and I will also show you one that was created for a birthday girl a week ago, so more pictures are to come.

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
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, north-eastern-Ontario green processed wool stuffing, her own hand-dyed wool/mohair for the dolls hair.

She uses 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. 

All Olive Sparrow Children’s hair is made from a crochet 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). The hair of each doll is made from wool or mohair yarns.

     

Olive Sparrow Child Profile: The Sisters

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I had a chance to create a pair of little sisters for a client this past Christmas. I did not name them, as I felt it would be more appropriate for the little girls to name them. 

They are both 44 cm tall and one has curly hair, the other straight. Their clothes were back-up creations, as Canada Post decided to not deliver the package from my client with heirloom fabrics until after the deadline, so I improvised with fabrics from my stash. One of the girls loves purple, the other one pink. The butterfly clips I found at the mall (oh, gosh… I never admitted to that, did I ??). 

I have now received the fabrics and wool for hats and am busy creating their intended outfits. Because I felt they looked a bit barren I created the little felted bags with each carrying an acorn in it. 

Sister-curl-2 

Sister-curl

Sisters-2


Sisters-3 

Sisters-hug

This picture shows my recently re-developed foot pattern. Although I love the traditional waldorf pattern for the foot (i.e. the long leg bent upwards and stitched to create a foot), I find that especially the larger dolls don't look right with it. There is a pattern that has an actual foot, but there is a seam running down the front of the leg, another detail that doesn't appeal to me. Hence I have a stash of extra, different lets from my pattern developing tests. I love the new feet and although they make the cutting and sewing more labour intense, it is an improvement. I'm now developing shoe patterns, some will be made from pure leather, others with up-cycled felt. 

Sisters
        

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
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, north-eastern-Ontario green processed wool stuffing, her own hand-dyed wool/mohair for the dolls hair.

She uses 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. 

All Olive Sparrow Children’s hair is made from a crochet 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). The hair of each doll is made from wool or mohair yarns.

Olive Sparrow Child Profile: Kalle

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Kalle is Silas's (scroll down to see him) cousin. He now lives together with Lina and Mia and a wonderful family that has four children. Kalle is 45 cm tall and a very sweet and attentive brother.  

Kalle-1

He is also very stylish and loves to stay warm with a felted cashmere scarf and shoes.

Kalle-2

His linen shirt is sewn with french seams and has two snaps to hold it closed (easy on little hands). His vest is an up-cycled wool sweater and looks very hip. His pants are made from a beautiful cotton-linen mix.


Kalle-pia-1
   As you can see, he is Lina and Mia's older brother. 

Pia-mia-kalle
Here are the three of them. To see detail pictures of Lina and Mia scroll down on that page. 

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
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, north-eastern-Ontario green processed wool stuffing, her own hand-dyed wool/mohair for the dolls hair.

She uses 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. 

All Olive Sparrow Children’s hair is made from a crochet 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). The hair of each doll is made from wool or mohair yarns.

Olive Sparrow Child Profile: Amanda

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The new year is already in full swing in these parts. Before I am again way out of sync with its documentation, here are images of custom Olive Sparrow Children that I created for holiday gifts. 

First in line and very eager for you to get to know her is Amanda, also known as Amy. 

Amy-1

Amy is 45 cm tall and a very smart, inquisitive little girl. 

Amy-2 

She loves butterflies and even has a butterfly hair clip that she proudly wears in her hand-dyed hair. 

Amy-4 

Her pinafore is reversible (flowers on one side, dots and stripes on the other side) and she wears a lilac, sateen tunic underneath, as well as purple capri pants. The wool for her hat was dyed with kool-aid and has a fun knot on top. 

Amy-5-full

Her booties are made from the softest cotton fleece fabric and she likes to wear them on the large side so that she can wriggle her toes. She told me that she her biggest dream is to one day go with her new big sister J. to France. I think she already looks the part of a little french girl. 

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
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, north-eastern-Ontario green processed wool stuffing, her own hand-dyed wool/mohair for the dolls hair.

She uses 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. 

All Olive Sparrow Children’s hair is made from a crochet 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). The hair of each doll is made from wool or mohair yarns.

 

Just a Medley of 2009

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In order to get some review of 2009, for posterities sake, I will post some images of this year that is fast and furiously coming to a close.

Okay, it's a bit mixed up, but here is a picture that I just found of Huxley and I at Halloween 2009. We had to get some shopping done on the 31st in the afternoon and decided to dress up… unlike other years, besides a toddler in her stroller, and the girls in the toy store, we didn't see anybody else dressed up. Yet the day before, at Huxley's school, most of the other children where dressed up (yet Huxley wasn't)… it is rather hard to be in tune with the rest of the world…

Halloween-09
 

Halloween-09-2
 

He wanted to be a knight again, but with a light saber, and a scabbard for it and his sword. I on the other hand just combined items from the sewing room, the closet and the living room. He's the knight, I'm his handmaiden.