Olive Sparrow Child Profile: The Sisters
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.
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.
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.